Jaxon POV
The bedroom was dim, the lanterns casting a soft glow over Lyra’s sleeping form, her dark hair fanned across the pillow, her chest rising and falling with the steady rhythm of sleep. The cedar-scented air clung to us, heavy with the warmth of our earlier passion, her lavender-and-sunlight scent still lingering on my skin, a reminder of the vows we’d whispered, the love we’d reaffirmed.
My heart ached with love for her, but beneath it, a fire burned—rage, raw and unrelenting, fueled by the memory of Darius’s lips on hers, his hands claiming what was mine. My wolf growled, a low, constant rumble, his claws scraping at my soul, urging me to act, to end this threat.
I pressed a kiss to Lyra’s forehead, her skin warm under my lips, and slipped from the bed, my boots silent on the
