Sophia
The silence that followed my question was so thick that it felt like the air itself had solidified.
Time slowed as I watched him.
His jaw clenched, his shoulders stiff, and his formerly sharp gaze clouded with something I couldn’t quite read.
His fingers tightened around the photograph Erick had handed him just moments ago.
Alan, Blackthorn’s Beta. Alan, the fierce warrior who was said to never waver.
Alan, the man who’d just returned from a dangerous mission, glowing with pride about finding his mate, now stood frozen, staring at the image of a woman he was sent to bury.
My breath caught in my throat.
“Do you know her?” I asked carefully, the words soft yet firm.
Alan blinked, as if shaking himself out of a daze. He opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again, shak
