Selina’s POV
The pre-dawn air was bitterly cold, but I did not feel it. Walking back into the encampment with Finn at my side, the raw, aching mark at the crook of my neck was a brand of absolute certainty. The golden tether in my chest was no longer a fragile thread – it was a roaring, undeniable current. I was an Alpha bound to her mate, and for the first time in my life, I felt truly unbreakable.
That fragile peace shattered the moment I saw the golden-haired figure waiting by the embers of the central fire.
Lucian.
My father looked up as we approached, his posture carefully arranged into an image of weary humility. He held up his hands, palms open in a gesture of surrender, though the calculating gleam in his Devage eyes remained entirely undimmed. Finn instantly stepped half a pac
