The night was unusually still, the air thick with the lingering scent of blood and ash from their recent battle. Caleb sat on a fallen log near the dying embers of their fire, his body exhausted but his mind restless. He could still feel the phantom weight of Rowan’s presence beside him, the memory of their synchronized movements in battle, the way their instincts had aligned despite the years of distance between them.
He hated that it felt so natural.
Rowan had once been his everything—his mate, his future, his promise of belonging. And then, just like that, he had become the source of Caleb’s deepest pain. The wound had never truly healed, only hardened into scar tissue over the years.
But tonight… tonight, something had shifted,he knew something had definitely changed between them bu
