The silence between them thickened until it felt like breathing through water.
Caleb had not moved away.
If anything, he seemed more present — more focused — as though every second she hesitated only sharpened his attention. His gaze did not leave her face. Not once.
Iva could feel the pressure building around her like an invisible vice.
Her fingers curled against the fabric of her clothes, nails digging faintly into her palms. The thread between them pulsed again — bright, insistent, impossible to ignore.
“Avalon… what do we do?”
Her wolf did not answer immediately.
That alone terrified her.
“If he believes it is magic,” Iva whispered internally, panic creeping into every thought, “he will think we are manipulating him. That we are a threat. And the last thing that we want is a sc
