Chapter 25

POV: Adrian

Morning didn’t come softly.

It pushed itself into my consciousness through a haze of lingering exhaustion, a faint ache behind my eyes, and the heaviness in my limbs that even sleep hadn’t fully dissolved. But the first thing I became aware of wasn’t the light, or the stiffness in my muscles.

It was her.

Isabella.

The quiet rhythm of her breathing drifted across the room, soft and steady, brushing against the raw edges inside me like something dangerously close ...