Chapter 8: The First Move*
Thirty days.
That’s what Mara gave us. Thirty days to prove to a room of elders that what Kade and I had wasn’t possession, wasn’t control, wasn’t a lie.
It felt like a countdown to a bomb going off.
I didn’t go back to work the next day. Kade didn’t argue when I said I needed space. The hospital had already put me on leave “pending investigation.” Translation: Damon had been busy.
So I stayed in the pack house.
Kade’s pack house.
It was weird, being back in a place that used to feel like a cage. The walls were the same, the scent of cedar and smoke still clung to everything, but the rooms felt emptier. Or maybe I felt fuller. The bond hummed under my skin now, quiet but present. Like a second heartbeat I couldn’t ignore.
Kade gave me space.
