Ryder’s POV

Two months without her turned me into a machine. I woke before dawn, signed off patrol routes, checked border cameras, trained the recruits, sat through reports, then stared at walls until the hours ran out. I ate when Kara shoved food into my hand. I slept if sleep ambushed me. I spoke only when I had to.

None of it touched the void.

Samantha was the only one who broke the loop.

“Again?” she asked the first night I knocked on the old prayer room door.

“Yes.” My voice ...