Alera’s POV
Training Begins
I woke before the sun touched the sky, before the wind remembered to whisper across the tall trees that marked the borders of the Lycan kingdom. My bones ached, not from sleep, but from memory. From everything I had let myself forget… and everything I was determined to remember now.
I wasn’t the same girl who used to walk these palace halls with downcast eyes and fragile bones. That version of me died the moment I decided that I would never again allow myself to be the weak link.
And the Lycan King—Kael—permitted it.
That was all I needed.
A single nod of permission from the male I had complications to acknowledge as my mate. I didn’t need his confused love. I didn’t need his protection. I just needed space, and the fire to forge myself anew.
“Up already?
