Chapter 223

Elodie's POV

The first morning of our new reality arrived not with a roar, but with a heavy, golden silence.

For the first time in years, I didn't wake up to the frantic, irregular thumping of my heart or the cold clinical beep of a monitor.

I woke up to the heat of a predator.

Kiernan was still asleep, his body a massive weight beside me. He was lying on his back, his bandaged chest rising and f