Michael’s POV
The news broke just as the sky started to lighten.
I heard a timid knock and then the guard’s voice, shaky and thin.
“Alpha, the woman… she’s awake.”
I didn’t answer at first. My quill hovered, a bead of ink soaking into the parchment. I’d been waiting for this, running through every possible reaction in my head, but now that it was here, I just sat there, listening to my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Selene.
Awake.
I made myself breathe. Shut the ledger, slow and careful. “Good,” I managed, keeping my voice flat. “Make sure she’s comfortable. Tell the healer I’ll come when she’s stronger.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
The door clicked shut and silence rushed back in.
But there was nothing peaceful about it.
I spent hours pacing, my thoughts circling, restless, hungry. Ev
