still feel it-the gaze, heavy and relentless, watching her as if she were prey caught in a snare. He

t between the trees. Nothing. Only the silence of the forest

she

asn't

gh her voice trembled, betraying the

had heard before brushed across her mind

lost. Yet des

around her as if that thin barrier of fabric could shield her from th

shadows seemed to breathe, shifting

, restless. Not safe

l's rejection, not deeper into the unknown. She felt trapped in a c

her all at once, her body trembling under the weight of heartbreak, hunger, and f

vision blurred as tears welled again, not from sorrow

andoned her was the gleam of eyes-piercing, s

kness cla

-slipping beneath her just as her body crumpled to the earth. She should hav

felt something strange. Not the cold indifference of

e hidden beneath ice, it seare

ntly in her dreams, com

e to claim.

woke to

she thought she was back in her pack house, waking from a nightmare. But the scent hit her before

sn't

y she'd known, thick furs cushioning her beneath the weight of a he

oom. It was larger than her chamber at the pack house, though built of rough-hewn logs and stone, warmed b

not a s

n she s

ough he'd been waiting for her to stir. The flames licked acr

lar, wild and unrestrained. But it was his presence that struck her hardest-t

tur

ting like molten sil

eath c

ensity of his dominance. This was no ordinary wolf

ol. Precision. As though every movement, every brea

art thudded

is voice deep and smooth,

elene whispered

urved, though not into a smil

head. "I didn't... I didn't mean to cross into you

his size. "You collapsed in my forest, half-dead from exhaustion. Do you t

lene shrank against the headboard, torn between

way, but his silver

ou?" she a

g his head slightly, studying her as thou

d finally. "Alpha of

blood r

ess warriors and their Alpha who had never once lost a battle. Mothers whispered the

he lay in

les raised, torn betwee

, to her shock, he crouched slightly, leveling his gaze with hers. The

low but steady. "If I wanted you dead, lit

nd they did. But they also held truth.

bled as she whispe

ng with something unreadable. Fo

r, almost like a growl. "Becaus

into her, chilling a

w, he knew what

ace away, unwilling to let him see

softened-not much, but enou

id flatly, no question in

ated the word. Hated that even a str

your pity,"

rose to his full height, towering over her again. "No, little wolf. Pity

him, startled. "Y

rved again, this time

pulse racing as his wo

led, trapped between disbelief and the undeniable truth: s

e heart of en

of the north had just cl