JORDAN:
The nights were quieter now, but not calmer. Peace was a lie this pack had learned to rehearse well. I sat at the edge of my bed, still half-dressed in my clothes, staring at the faint glow leaking through the window shutters. My wolf had been restless since dawn, pacing, snarling, whispering a name I’d been trying not to think about.
Xena.
The way she smiled. The sound of her laughter breaking through tension like sunlight through fog. The way she stood her ground, even when her voice trembled, gods, it was maddening.
I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes. I could still hear her teasing voice from earlier that day, could still see the way her eyes softened when she said, “I trust you. You wouldn’t hurt me.”
Trust. That was the part that broke me.
I didn’t deserve i
