LOGINDarius POVFrom the corner where Rylan and I were observing, I watched the whole thing unfold.We had come in a few minutes behind Eliana — different entrance, keeping the distance she'd asked for, honoring the whole *I don't want people to know we live together* arrangement she'd made very clear this morning. Which I had respected. I was respecting it.What I was finding harder to respect was standing here with my arms folded watching Sara Owen perform for an audience at Eliana's expense like it was a sport she'd been training for.The laughter from the students around them kept coming in waves. Each one a little louder than the last because crowds did that — fed off each other, built momentum, got bolder the more the other person stayed still and absorbed it. And Eliana was standing there taking it, which I understood, I could see the calculation in it — but every second that pass
Rylan's POVIt was Monday morning and Darius and I were already dressed and ready to go to school but were still waiting for our cars to be ready.The house had that specific early morning quiet to it — not peaceful exactly, more like the kind of silence that existed before the day decided what kind of day it was going to be. I had already eaten — or done what passed for eating in my case, which was a different matter entirely — and was standing in the sitting room doing nothing in particular while Darius leaned against a stool nearby, doing the same.So, I decided to sip some water from the glass I was holding while Darius stood beside the stool in the sitting room, looking like he was thinking about something he wasn't going to share.He had used a lot of energy over the weekend. I had watched it happen and said nothing — the full moon did what it did to wolves, and Darius being Darius had pushed through it rather than acknowledging it. The result was sitting right there in the sligh
Eliana's POVI got to the particular hospital where my mum was as fast as my legs could carry me, the moment I alighted from the taxi.The ride over had been its own kind of torture — sitting in the back of that cab watching the streets pass outside the window, phone still warm in my hand from the call, the doctor's words playing on a loop in my head that I couldn't find the off switch for. *The Ethics board just ruled against us. They are pulling the plug tonight.* Over and over. Each time landing with the same weight as the first time, like my brain was refusing to absorb it properly and kept making me hear it again.Tears already filled my eyes before I even got inside.And then I saw my mum.Not in the ward. In the corridor. Her bed had been moved out of the ward and into the hallway — like she was already in the process of being removed, like the decision had alr
Darius POV"You know, maybe me and you could just have dinner together." I said it in a tone that came out closer to seductive than I had planned, and in the same breath I moved my hand to the fridge drawer and closed it casually — like the whole thing had been one smooth, connected motion and not a desperate recovery from nearly letting her open it.She blinked at me. "Yeah…" She started, then continued through the slight stutter. "…but I mean, I don't want Rylan to just be hungry since he couldn't eat the meal. So, I can just quickly fix something else for dinner for everyone. It's fine, I'll—"She turned back to the fridge and reached for the handle again.My hand was already on it.I felt her register that before she fully turned to look at me — the resistance of the drawer not moving, the presence of my hand holding it where it was — and
Darius POVIn no time, Eliana came forward with the food as we were already at the dining table.The smell reached us before she did — and I mean that in two completely different ways. For me, it smelled like an actually good meal cooked by someone who knew what they were doing. For Rylan, sitting across from me with that carefully maintained expression he thought was unreadable, it smelled like a problem.I could already see it. The slight stiffness that had entered his posture the moment she rounded the corner with the plates. The way his jaw had tightened by exactly one degree. The very controlled effort he was putting into breathing normally, which told me he was putting effort into breathing normally, which told me the garlic had already reached him and was doing exactly what I had planned for it to do.I looked away before he could catch me looking."Guess what I made
Eliana's POVHe was that close to me.Close enough that I had to make a deliberate decision about where to look, because looking directly at his face from this distance was doing something to my ability to think in straight lines and I needed my thoughts to at least be in the same general area as coherent right now.And he simply said, "Thank you."When I had thought he came for something else. You know, these guys can be unpredictable."Yeah." I responded, the word coming out before I could choose a better one … which, as soon as it left my mouth, I registered was not actually the correct response to ‘thank you.’ You said ‘you're welcome.’ Or ‘no problem’...in this scenario. Or basically anything other than ‘yeah,’ which sounded like I had been agreeing with something rather than acknowledging something.He didn







