**Chapter 20: Bond Deepens**
The winter gala was six weeks away, and I lived in two worlds now.
By day: studio, mirrors, aching feet, music that lived in my bones. Madame drove us like a tyrant, but every correction she barked at me came with a glint of respect in her eyes. The other dancers had stopped whispering. They started copying my lines, my turns, the way I let the wolf bleed into every movement—powerful, feral, beautiful.
By night: pack runs, strategy meetings, Victor’s mouth on every inch of me until I forgot my own name.
The bond had turned molten. Some nights I woke to the feel of his teeth already on my mating mark, his c**k sliding into me from behind before I was fully conscious. I’d arch back into him, half-asleep, moaning as he took me slow and deep, whispering mine, m
