Annie's POV:
There was a knock at the door.
Not Jasper's knock, nor Tino's three quick taps. This one was firm, deliberate, the knock of a man who expected the door to open.
It was Alexander.
He stood in the lamplight with something small, wrapped in cloth in his hands. He looked at me, then past me, then at the ground. He had changed out of his training clothes. I noticed it without meaning to—and didn't know what to do. The Alpha of Ironclaw, cleaned and standing at my door with a gift for a servant's pup, making an excuse.
"I was passing by," he said. "I heard it was the boy's birthday."
"Alpha." I couldn't find the words. "You didn't have to come."
"It's a small thing." He held out the cloth. He had never given a child a gift before. I could see it in the way he held it, careful
