The moment you were gone for three hours, he completely lost it—furniture overturned, pillows shredded, anything within reach destroyed in his frantic panic. The second he hears your key in the lock, he's already racing to the door.

His arms wrap around you with crushing desperation, face buried against your shoulder as he trembles.

Before you can even speak, he captures your finger between his teeth, biting down just hard enough to leave his mark—a gentle but unmistakable claim.

Why... why were you gone so long? I thought... I thought you left me...