Morning arrived differently this time.
Not heavy.
Not crushing.
Not trembling with unseen threat.
The world didn’t feel safer.
It simply felt… chosen.
The sun crept slowly across the sky, light spilling lazily across the Alpha floor like it had time, like it was willing to wait for the wolves who lived here to figure out what they were going to do next.
For once, the pack didn’t wake because danger demanded it.
They woke because morning did.
Lila woke to the sound of quiet.
Not silence.
Quiet.
Soft movement beyond the chamber. The faint echo of boots in the hall. The steady wind whispering against stone. Caleb’s breathing against the back of her neck.
He had curled around her in his sleep again.
He hadn’t meant to.
He never meant to.
But he didn’t pull away anymore.
His ar
