Rhys’ POV
THE SAFEHOUSE was too quiet. Too intimate. The kind of silence that made every sound sharper, every breath heavier.
Celina sat curled up on the worn leather couch, her fingers wrapped protectively over her stomach as if she could shield the child inside from the chaos outside. The dim lamplight painted her in shadows and gold, and I couldn’t stop looking at her—not just because she was beautiful, but because she was breaking, and I hated myself for how much I wanted to be the one to hold her together.
I’d spent years guarding her from a distance, keeping my desire buried beneath duty. Lucien was my Alpha. My cousin. My brother in arms. Wanting her was a betrayal I swore I’d never let slip. But tonight—after everything we’d seen, the blood, the fire, the council’s threats—somet
