Mira’s POV

I'd been awake for two hours when I gave up on sleep. Not anxious. Not worried. Just awake. Haven's Edge was quiet beyond my window. Seventy residents are sleeping peacefully. Everything stable.

Yet sleep wouldn't come. I lay in the dark and tried breathing exercises, counting, all the usual tricks. Nothing worked. Then I noticed it. The bond. Not pulling or demanding. Just there. Like a heartbeat in the distance. Steady. Constant. Undeniable.

I'd stopped noticing it most days. ...