His Darkest Craving

His Obsession Breaks

I had always been good at cataloguing things.

It was the skill that had kept me alive through eighteen years of leading a pack that other Alphas spent considerable energy trying to destabilize: the ability to observe precisely, retain completely, and retrieve accurately under conditions that were designed to make clear thinking impossible. I cataloged threats, assets, and territorial variables, as well as the particulars of every Alpha I had ever negotiated with across two decades of pack politics.

I had been cataloguing her since the summit hall.

This was not a new admission. I had known I was doing it from the first day and had watched myself do it with the detached awareness of someone who had learned to observe their processes with the same precision they applied to everything else.