Rafe POV
The room still glowed faintly when I left her.
Evelynn lay tangled in the sheets, skin gilded by the dying firelight, her marks shimmering like gold dust across her throat and shoulders. The bond thrummed steady between us - hers soft and steady now, mine a barely leashed growl under my ribs.
I should’ve stayed. Every instinct demanded I guard her, curl around her, keep every threat away.
But Alphas don’t get to just stay. Not all.
Calder moved beside me, silent as shadow, pulling a shirt over his still-damp skin. The marks on his chest caught the light - her marks. Our marks.
“She’ll sleep for hours,” he murmured. “Her wolf’s finally sated.”
“For now,” I said. “But the house isn’t.”
He understood without another word. The unrest had been brewing for days - questions, whi
