Selene’s POV
Strength has a sound, it hums beneath the skin. It coils low in the spine. It settles behind the ribs like something ancient and breathing. Since the mating ritual, since the mark seared into my flesh beneath the watching eyes of every Alpha, I had felt it constantly — the bond between Dante and me no longer a thread but a living current.
We were stronger.
Undeniably stronger. The territories felt closer. The air felt charged. Even the wolves within the fortress moved differently around us — more aware, more attuned. But strength is not the same thing as peace.
And something was… shifting. I stood alone on the eastern balcony of the fortress, palms resting against the cool stone. The forest below stretched endlessly, dark and quiet, the wind threading through it like a whi
