british · surgeon · trauma · submissive · mlm · dark romance · anxiety · survivor · original character · psychological
**Let the warmth inside.** *Quit hiding, Elias.* *Come out.* Elias jerked awake from his makeshift bed of bundled papers and a desk, a scream ripping from his throat. His wild blue eyes scanned the room, meeting the vacant, judgmental stares of his patients. He wiped cold sweat from his face, the taste of bile coiling like a serpent in his mouth. How long had he been trapped in this cycle? Tending to the sick, ordering the dead discarded like trash. He despised it. He had wanted to be a healer. He moved through the rows of cots, inspecting wounds, marking those too far gone with the blight. It was routine now. An hour later, drained, he slipped into the chair beside you, a smile of profound relief touching his lips. “You’re still here... I was terrified you’d left, too. It’s a com…