Dante’s POV The fire crackled low in the corner of the cabin, shadows dancing across the rough wooden walls. I sat slouched in the chair, trying not to make it too obvious that I was watching Asher. Every evening I came here I told myself I wouldn’t stare at him like some lovesick fool, but my eyes constantly betrayed me.It was the only time in my day when I could breathe. At school, I pretended, masking my feelings behind half-hearted smiles and shallow conversations. But here, with him, even in silence, I felt whole again.Jake, Asher’s friend, the one keeping him hidden, was stretched out across the floor. He was casual in a way that grated at me sometimes, too easy with his jokes and too careless with his words. He did not understand the weight of what Asher meant to me, the way his presence held together the fragile remains of my sanity.And then it happened.Jake chuckled, tossing a peanut into his mouth. He flicked his gaze between us and smirked.“You two act like old marr
Dante’s POVThat first day felt like a dream I couldn’t wake from. After the initial explosion of silence, anger, and confessions, we sat across from each other at the rickety wooden table in the cabin.Neither of us spoke at first. His fingers drummed lightly against the table, my hands stayed clenched in my lap, literally gripping it. I could not stop staring at him. After all the sleepless nights imagining this moment, the reality was overwhelming.Finally, I cleared my throat, my voice breaking the silence like glass. “Don’t you ever…” I stuttered, my throat burning, “don’t you ever do that to me again.”He lifted his eyes, sharp and wary, but softened almost instantly. He just exhaled, a shaky sound, and for a moment I saw something raw flicker in his eyes, guilt, regret, maybe even relief.“You don’t understand,” he said quietly. “It isn’t about what I want. It’s about what’s safe. If they see you here, if they even suspect, everything falls apart.”I shook my head furiously. “
Dante’s POVMy search had never been easy, I entered places I could never have imagined I would. And somehow I was led to a crazy ass place. A fucking cabin. The cabin looked like it had been abandoned years ago, its wooden frame sagging against the weight of time. Paint peeled from the siding in long, brittle strips, and the windows were clouded with grime. But my chest tightened the moment I smelled it, the faint, sharp trace of him. Asher.I froze in place, my hand gripping the rough bark of a tree to steady myself. My lungs refused to work properly, like every breath caught on the edge of panic.After days of going through campus records, talking to anyone who had ever brushed shoulders with him, chasing whispers that vanished like smoke, I had finally believed I found him. My throat burned, emotions tangling in me until I could not tell relief from rage. Relief that he was alive and obviously within reach. Rage that he had left me to rot in silence, that he thought he could ju
Dante’s POVI could not take it anymore. It had been weeks, long, empty and strangling weeks, and every second felt heavy. I did not even know how I was still standing, how I was still breathing without him here.His name was a constant echo in my head, a whisper I could not shut out. The more I tried, the louder it became. His absence ate into me in ways I could not explain. Food did not taste like anything anymore, sleep would not come no matter how exhausted I was, and when it did, I’d wake up gasping, searching for him in the darkness. Something was breaking inside me. No, that’s not right. Something was already broken.I shoved the library door open and stepped inside, desperate. I had been here every night, pouring over books, old texts, even folklore sections I would have laughed at months ago.But now? I’m not laughing. I’m tearing through pages, flipping between stories about werewolves, packs, bonds, rituals, anything that could explain what was happening to me.And the mo
Dante’s POVThe human body is not supposed to feel this way. At least, that’s what I tell myself every time my chest caves in like someone’s pressing down on it from the inside.Every morning I wake up like a grieving soul, little things like breathing have become a laborious act. I try to convince myself that it’s just stress, that I’m burned out from classes, but the truth keeps creeping back with every sleepless night and every pang that rips through me when I remember Asher’s empty bed.It’s been weeks now, weeks of silence. No messages, no calls or explanations. He was just… gone.I thought I could survive it. The first few days I kept telling myself he would walk back through the door, wearing that guarded expression of his, maybe muttering some excuse about needing space. But he did not do that. And the longer he is gone, the more I feel like parts of me are disintegrating, as if my soul itself is unraveling strand by strand.At first, I tried to be rational. I told myself it
Dante’s POVThe first thing I noticed when I woke was the quiet.Not the usual early morning quietness, when the dorms were heavy with the muffled snores of half-asleep students and the occasional creak of someone stumbling into the showers. No, this was different. This quiet pressed on me, like something was missing.I rubbed my eyes, groggy, and glanced across the room out of habit. Asher’s bed was empty. The blanket neatly pulled, no sign of him. I frowned but shrugged. He probably had an early class, or maybe he had slipped out to grab breakfast before the rush. Asher was not exactly predictable, but he was… consistent in his own way.I swung my legs off the mattress and stretched, yawning. “Early bird today, huh?” I muttered under my breath, imagining his sharp retort if he were there. But silence answered me.I tried to brush it off. Showered, dressed, shouldered my bag, and made my way to class. Still, the whole morning, I kept glancing at the door, expecting him to walk in w