ALAN POV
The faint light of dawn crept through the blinds, pale and uninviting. I blinked awake, my body heavy, sore in ways that hadn’t completely healed from yesterday’s training. The ache lingered like a shadow, as it always did, dulled only slightly by my wolf, Blake, when he wasn’t shoved to the back of my mind by poison.
*Amber.*
Her name was a whisper in my head before I was fully conscious, an uninvited thought that pushed through the pain. I couldn’t help it—couldn’t stop picturing her. Today was her birthday. Her *eighteenth birthday*. My chest tightened at the thought. Blake stirred in the depths of my consciousness.
"Finally," he rumbled. "Maybe today she’ll meet her wolf. And if she does, we’ll know for sure."
I swallowed hard, dragging a hand through my hair. I didn’
