There was a sadness Angel couldn’t shake, a weight pressing behind every thought, relentless as a storm cloud. She wondered when it had stopped being a passing ache and become a permanent part of her.
Meetings, leadership, and endless decisions had buried it.
One small spark of light had come that morning — word that Eiko had survived the dark kiss. A miracle in itself. Still, Angel knew she stood on the precipice of something darker, older. Ragnar’s shadow crept closer by the hour.
Through it all, Lucian should have been her strength.
He should have stood beside her, his presence anchoring her through the storm.
And maybe he could have — if he hadn’t been weak.
He had fallen, and that changed everything.
She told herself she’d forgiven him. She hadn’t, but the mate bond made living
