I can't stay still.
The roof of the lodge is the only place that feels far enough from her scent. Cold wind slices across my bare chest, but it doesn't cool the burn under my skin. The moon's fat and low, silver light pools in the valleys below. I pace the edge like a caged animal, wolf clawing at the inside of my ribs.
Mine. Protect. Keep.
The words loop endlessly. Every time I close my eyes, I see her swinging that lamp like she's ready to die for her friend. Seeing the way her hands shook when she pressed them into my chest. Seeing the fire in her eyes when she told me she wouldn't disappear.
She's twenty-two, still smells like coffee, old books, and stubborn human hope. Meanwhile, I'm thirty-four, carrying ten years of pack scars and bad decisions, wondering how the hell a girl li
