Xander
The Starlight Ball moved on without pause.
Raleigh still hadn't returned when her name was announced.
"I present to you my new Luna—Raleigh Whitlock of the Shadowfen Pack."
Applause swept through the ballroom.
A moment later, Raleigh appeared at the edge of the crowd and started toward the stage. She kept her chin up, but there was something careful in the way she walked, as though she was making sure not to stumble beneath the weight of so many eyes.
As she reached my side, I slipped an arm around her waist.
She stiffened.
The reaction was brief, but I felt it.
I almost laughed.
Ryker had told me to take things slowly. Ask about her day. Check on her. Talk to her like we weren't strangers bound together by circumstance.
I'd tried.
The day before, I'd made an awkward at
