Watching Teagan interact with Link in his wolf form was an exercise in restraint, a battle against every instinct roaring within me. This feeling of being on the outside looking in was excruciating, especially knowing I was the architect of this scenario.
My absence, my decision to run when Teagan was in peril, had thrust her into a situation where Link's presence became her sanctuary. And now, returning with a declaration of possession, of claiming her as my mate, I realized the foolishness of such actions. They would only serve to alienate her further.
So, I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat as I watched them play together on the floor, a semblance of normalcy in a situation that was anything but. When Teagan asked me to shift, it opened a floodgate of explanations about the
