Chapter Eleven — *The Morning After*
Mara woke up at five in the morning.
Grey light through the curtain. The lodge was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that meant something had changed while she was sleeping and the air was still holding the shape of it.
She lay still for a moment.
Then she remembered.
His hand on her jaw. His forehead against hers. His heartbeat under her palm fast and real and human.
And then he kissed her.
She pressed both hands over her face.
She was not a person who did things like that. She was not a person who stood outside in the dark and let the future Alpha of Ironveil cup her jaw and kiss her like she was worth stopping everything for.
She was Mara Voss.
She filed records. She wore grey dresses. She kept her eyes down.
Except she did not do any of
