Arthur’s POV
The world came back in pieces.
Not gently.
Not slowly.
Not like waking up—
but like being dragged, heartbeat-first, through broken glass.
The first thing I felt was weight.
Her weight.
Tyla, collapsing back into my arms.
My body reacted before my mind did—arms locking around her, pulling her tight against my chest as if any gap between us would invite the void to come screaming back through. My heart was still racing from the fight in the realm—the woman’s voice, the wolf’s snarl, the way Tyla had chosen me so fiercely it burned the realm apart—
Her choice still shook through me like a second heartbeat.
“Tyla,” I whispered, brushing hair from her face, “stay with me.”
Her skin was hot.
Too hot.
Not fever-hot—
moon-hot.
Mark-hot.
A pulse throbbed beneath her co
