I leaned against the cold wall just outside Aliyah's infirmary room, my body tense with frustration and an unrelenting sorrow I couldn't shake.

A week.

A whole damn week, and she still wasn't awake.

It was tearing me apart from the inside, like a slow poison. No one knew I was spending my nights here except Cillian. I had to keep up the façade of the unfeeling Alpha, but in reality, every night felt like an eternity of torment.

Never in a million years did I think ...