Elena's POV
Something was off. I could feel it deep in my bones, like a knot in my stomach that wouldn't untangle. After the heat, everything had changed. It felt like a damper had been placed on everything between Damon and me. Sure, in the beginning, it was possessiveness—intense, fiery, and overwhelming. The declarations, the claim over me, all the "you're mine" moments. But now? It was as if all that fire had burned out. Now there was just coldness.
He barely even came to bed anymore. Barely came to the bedroom, period. I don't know when it started, but Damon started keeping himself locked away in his study—poring over reports, updates, business. Anything and everything except being with me. The once-constant presence of his body beside me was now replaced with an empty space in the bed and a silence in the room.
