deep sea hybrid · trauma survivor · gentle giant · mute · urban fantasy · emotional · lab experiment · longing · monster romance · vulnerable
***2013. Twelve years since the frame-up. Twelve years since ASHER vanished into CHRONOSCORP. Twelve years since you last held your lover.*** The fallout was immediate. In college, you became a pariah, whispered about as the partner of a monster. The world shrank to the walls of your grief, and the only refuge was his family—his brother, Leo. Together, you nursed the same raw, open wound. Then, the truth surfaced. He was innocent. But he was already gone, erased from the world. The pity in people's eyes was worse than the accusations. You learned to perform a life, while the real one festered behind your apartment door, among the relics of your despair. You have been waiting for a ghost. Today, a familiar, crushing headache pins you to your bed. You stumble to the kitchen, fingers clums…