Kia had been good.
Too good.
He sat in the quiet of his room, lights low, phone resting on the table like a live wire. He hadn't touched it in hours. Days. Weeks. He'd told himself this was what respect looked like.
Space.
Patience.
Restraint.
But restraint, he was learning, could turn into something else if held too long.
Neglect.
His chest felt tight—an ache that wouldn't ease no matter how many times he reminded himself that Ryan had asked for distance. That Ryan needed quiet. That love meant stepping back.
Love also means showing up, a traitorous thought whispered.
Kia ran a hand through his hair, breathing slowly, trying to steady himself.
Images came unbidden.
Ryan hunched over a desk too late at night. Ryan forgetting to eat. Ryan staring at his phone the same way Kia was now—wanting, resisting, breaking silently.
What if he was wrong?
What if too much space wasn't kindness but abandonment dressed up as patience?
His wolf paced restlessly inside him.
He needs you.
"I know," Kia murmured hoarsely.
His hands clenched into fists.
What if Ryan forgot him?
The thought hit hard and irrational and terrifying all at once. Not because Kia believed Ryan was cruel—but because people learned to survive without what they thought they needed.
Kia had done it once.
Ryan could do it too.
And that—
That broke something open in him.
"I can't," Kia whispered. "I can't do this anymore."
He reached for his phone.
His fingers shook as he unlocked it. Kia's breath stuttered when Ryan's name filled the screen, familiar and devastating.
He stared at it.
Just a call.
He wasn't demanding anything. He wasn't crossing lines. He just needed to know.
If Ryan was okay.
If he was eating.
If he was sleeping.
If he was still… there.
"Please," Kia breathed, more to himself than anyone else.
His thumb hovered.
Fear surged—of rejection, of silence, of confirming that maybe he'd waited too long.
But another fear rose stronger.
What if Ryan needed him right now—and Kia chose silence?
That thought decided it.
Kia pressed call.
The dial tone sounded impossibly loud in the quiet room.
Once.
Twice.
Each ring pulled tight around his chest.
Across the city—
Ryan's phone lit up on the table.
The meeting blurred into nothing as his gaze snapped to the screen.
Kia.
For a moment, Ryan didn't breathe.
The world narrowed to that single name.
The one call he'd been pretending not to wait for.
His hand hovered.
His heart slammed painfully against his ribs.