Maelis’s POV
My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I typed to Riven, thumbs trembling as I typed and retyped the same message:
“So… when are you going to claim me? 🥺”
I hated the emoji. It made me look desperate.
Worse? I was desperate.
Riven hadn’t replied to my last four messages. Well, he had, technically. Short. Cold. Dismissive.
The last one just read:
“Soon.”
No punctuation. No warmth. No follow-up.
My birthday was in three days.
I could feel the mark he gave me weeks ago pulsing faintly under my skin, still healing. Still raw. And yet, it meant nothing if he wouldn’t complete the Claiming. I wasn’t officially his mate. Not yet. Not until he chose me publicly. Not until he bit me before the Pack.
And he hadn’t.
I sat hunched in my room, sunlight bleeding lazily through
