Devotion Is a Kind of Rot

Some secrets don't stay buried.

When they were twelve, Kye learned the truth about Noah---that beneath the quiet, careful exterior was something that didn't bend the way other people did. Something that could look at what it had done and feel... nothing.

He should have walked away.

He didn't.

Years later, their bond has rotted into something unrecognizable. People disappear. Explanations come apart under pressure. And Kye finds himself caught between fear and devotion, cleaning up the aftermath of things he no longer understands---and maybe never did.

But Noah is changing.

What once felt like curiosity has become something sharper. More deliberate. More dangerous. And the closer Kye gets, the harder it becomes to tell where loyalty ends---

and whether he's protecting Noah...

or protecting what Noah is turning him into.

Because some kinds of love don't save you.

They consume you.