SLOANE
I could still feel his hands on my waist long after the room went quiet.
They had been warm. Solid. Certain.
Adrian Navarro stood behind me, tall and unshaken, his chest pressed to my back like he belonged there. Like it was natural. Like it had always been his place. His mouth leaned close to my ear, his breath brushing my skin, and his voice dropped low so only I could hear him.
“Don’t take it to heart,” he whispered. “I have to prove to the council of elders that what we have is real.”
Real.
That word hit me harder than any insult ever could.
Every scalding warmth inside me died in that second. Every foolish hope. Every soft thought I had been fighting since the moment he claimed me in front of the pack. My chest tightened. My breath turned shallow. I felt stupid for how f
