POV: Clara

By three in the afternoon, the library was a coffin. The air too still, the silence too loud. Every scrape of a chair, every shuffle of feet was amplified. I jumped at the smallest sounds. Skin crawling with imaginary eyes trailing behind me down every aisle. And in reality, they did. I didn’t have to see the windows to know Daniel was there.

The tether made sure I felt him.

Every heartbeat, his need shot directly into me—thick, aching, merciless. Chest ...