Chapter 44

Maren

Morning sunlight spilled through the blinds in thin, pale stripes, warming the sheets tangled around me. For a heartbeat, I didn’t move. I let myself sink into the comfort of it—the weight of Kaelen’s arm draped across my waist, his slow, steady breathing brushing against the back of my neck, the way his body radiated heat like a living furnace.

Safe. That’s how it felt. Safe in a way that a