Nyra
The moonlight spilling across Kael’s chamber was silver and cold, too sharp to invite sleep. I lay there, staring at the high stone ceiling, listening to the distant wind comb through the treetops beyond the fortress walls. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, restless.
Shadow… closer…
The whisper wasn’t a sound, not really. It thrummed in my blood, coiling through me like smoke. My body tensed before I even knew why. Someone was out there—someone who didn’t belong.
Kael’s scent reached me first, warm cedar and the bite of steel, before his shadow filled the doorway. His eyes softened the moment they met mine. “You’re still awake.”
“You’re still dressed,” I countered, noticing the dark shirt clinging to his shoulders, the faint sheen of sweat at his temple.
“Council meeting,” he sai
