Ashina woke to sunlight streaming through unfamiliar windows and had that disorienting moment of where am I? before reality crashed back. Moonlit Pack. The manor. Kendrick's territory. Her prison.
She'd barely slept. Every time she'd started to drift off, the bond had pulled at her attention making her aware of Kendrick's location in the manor, his restlessness, his inability to sleep knowing she was so close yet so far away. Around 3 AM, she'd felt him standing outside her door, his hand pressed against the wood, wanting to come in, wanting to check on her.
She'd held her breath until he walked away.
Now, morning light painted her gilded cage in shades of gold and made everything look deceptively peaceful. Through the bond, she felt Kendrick already awake, had been for hours probably, judging by the exhaustion dragging at the edges of his consciousness.
Good. Let him be as tired as she was. Let him suffer even a fraction of what she was going through.
