The night after the claim felt unreal.
I lay in Tristan’s bed with my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart while the house slowly settled into silence around us. The events of the hall kept replaying in fragments—the weight of so many eyes, the cold challenge in that ranking wolf’s voice, the terrifying speed of Tristan’s fight, the moment the elder’s words made the claim law. Every time I closed my eyes I saw it again. Every time I opened them I found the same truth waiting: I was still here. He was still holding me. The pack had been forced to watch us stand together and had not broken us apart.
Tristan’s fingers moved slowly through my hair. He had been quiet for a long time, but the bond told me he wasn’t calm so much as tightly controlled. The Alpha in him wa
