POV: Clara

The storm hadn’t abated. The whole world throbbed with it—rain thudded down on rooftops, filled gutters, drenched the brick wall at my back. It should have dulled me. But instead I was acutely aware of every drop, every roll of thunder, as if it was part of the tether. Drawing us closer.

Daniel hadn’t moved. Couldn’t. His knot was swollen thick and full inside me, locking us together so intimately that even breathing separately felt impossible. Every pulse ...