The cool night air kissed Rose’s skin as she slipped away from the suffocating warmth of the feast hall. Every stare, every whispered word had crawled across her like static, clinging to her until it felt like she would drown in it. She needed air. Space. Freedom.
Her bare feet made no sound as they carried her down a shadowed corridor lined with torches, the flickering flames casting dancing patterns across the marble walls. The stone was smooth and cold beneath her soles, a quiet relief from the fever in her veins.
Her thoughts spiraled, tangled in power, fate, and the stranger’s gaze—Leo’s gaze. The Lycan Lord had watched her like he owned her, like his very soul staked a claim she hadn’t agreed to. And yet… something in her stirred at the memory of his eyes, the way they seemed to re
