Alpha Nick couldn’t seem to understand why my attitude toward him had turned so cold, why I no longer clung to him like before, orbiting him like he was the center of my universe.
"Leona, what are you even saying? You've never acted like this before."
I answered with detached calm, "No. I've always been this way. You just never noticed."
"Why are you calling me by my name? You used to hate that."
His voice grew sharp, a faint flare of unrest flickering in his wolf-gold eyes.
Ever since we began our secret bond, I avoided using his name. It felt too distant—too much like how I addressed Alpha Roger, familiar but fundamentally apart.
"But you hated when I called you by your nickname too,” I replied with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “You told me not to stick so close. I listened.
