The mornings in the healing estate were colder than in the south. Fog drifted through the silver pines outside my window, brushing everything with silence.
I slipped out of bed, still weak, but I needed to walk—anything to feel alive.
“You still walk like you did when you were little.”
The voice startled me.
I turned to see a tall man leaning against a tree, a faint smile on his lips. His gray-green eyes shimmered through the mist, too familiar to forget.
“Rogue Kael?” I whispered.
He nodded. “You remember.”
How could I not?
Rogue Kael had once been a candidate to become an Alpha in our youth—distant noble blood, quiet strength. But he failed the Marking Trial and vanished from our world, becoming a rogue by choice.
Until now.
He stepped closer, scanning me gently. “You look frai
