The Gathering Storm

PIPER’S POV

The house was too quiet.

I stood under the warm spray of the shower, letting the water run down my shoulders, but the calm I had expected never came. Normally, showers helped me think. Helped me breathe.

But tonight, my mind kept drifting back to Kellan.

The bruise on his cheek. The quiet tension in his eyes. The way he held me earlier… like he needed to feel that I was real.

I turned