Alexander:
I should have walked away sooner.
I should have kept my distance.
Kept my focus.
Kept my thoughts from circling the same woman I told myself I was only protecting for the sake of the child she carried.
But as Alessia stepped beside me, still pale, still recovering, still putting on a brave face for a world she didn’t trust, I felt something dangerous coil under my ribs.
Something I refused to name.
So I pulled back.
Literally.
I put two steps of distance between us as we returned from the training grounds. Not enough for anyone else to notice… but enough for me to feel it.
Enough for my wolf to growl at the space.
She is our mate. You’re being an i***t.
Shut up.
I inhaled sharply, forcing my expression to reset into something unbothered, unreadable. “You should go
