Asher POV
“You handled that quickly,” David says, his voice even, carrying easily through the quiet. There’s no gratitude, but it’s not accusatory. Just observatory.
“They shouldn’t have been here,” I reply.
“No,” he agrees, his gaze moving briefly toward the tree line before returning to me. “They shouldn’t have.”
A pause settles between us, not uncomfortable, but far from easy. There’s too much unspoken, too many layers beneath what’s already been revealed tonight.
Up close, his scent is clearer now. There’s faint traces of what he is beneath everything he’s done to try and suppress it, worn down by time and choice. But it’s there all the same, woven into the way he holds himself, the way he watches, the way he listens. He hasn’t been part of a pack in a long time—that much is obvio
