Ryder's POV
He did not give her back.
For three heartbeats I thought I would have to take her from him, and Kaelith was already awake under my skin, counting the distance. But Xander did not clutch her. He did not try to quiet her with the desperate bouncing of a man who thinks noise is a problem to be solved. He just held her, badly, while she screamed, and he looked at her like he was finally seeing the actual child instead of the heir his council kept describing.
Then he did something I did not expect.
He lowered his head and pressed his forehead to hers. The wolf greeting. The one that says you are mine in the way that matters. The same thing he had done in my courtyard months ago when he left.
Amara screamed louder.
Xander straightened. Whatever he had been looking for in that,
