ELODIE'S POV~
I didn't plan on fighting for Liora's custody. I'd already made my peace with that. She was Dante's daughter as much as she was mine, and if he wanted to raise her under his pack's roof, I wouldn't stop him. Still… when she turned to me with those soft amber eyes that mirrored his and asked me to peel her shrimp, I couldn't say no.
"Alright," I said quietly, setting my chopsticks aside.
The table was filled with laughter and clinking glasses, but everything sounded distant to me like I was hearing it through a wall. I tried to focus on peeling the shrimp, to pretend I didn't feel Dante's presence sitting right beside me, cold and distant as ever. I could feel him without even looking, his scent, that sharp cedar and faint smoke I used to crave. Now it only made my chest ac
