Titus’s POV
The Man falls into the black water of sleep. He sinks like a stone, heavy and spent, and I sink with him, feeling the bone-deep ache of our shared exhaustion.
We are drained. My human half poured the golden fire out of our veins until we were dry, until the marrow in our bones felt brittle. He gave her everything. I gave her everything. There was no hesitation between us, no argument. When the Mate fades, the Alpha bleeds. It is the law of the blood, and tonight, Alexander followed it perfectly.
Rest, I tell him, soothing the edges of his consciousness. I have the watch.
He does not fight me. There is no wall tonight. The barrier between Man and Wolf is gone, melted away by the heat of the fever and the terror of losing her. We are one entity now. One protector.
I rise to
