Elle POV
The sound woke me yet again from another sleep.
A soft click, then the scrape of metal.
His footsteps—slow, deliberate—crossed the room. The air shifted with his heat, brushing over my skin like a warning before he spoke.
“Little wolf.”
The words were quiet… too quiet.
I pushed myself upright, blind eyes blinking into the same suffocating darkness the potion had left me trapped in. “Is it night?” I whispered.
“It is,” he answered.
There was something different in his tone. Controlled. Heavy. As if an entire storm was clenched inside his chest and he refused to let a single crack show.
“Stand,” he said.
My legs trembled as I obeyed. His hand guided me by the upper arm—not harsh, not gentle. Just firm. Final.
Cold metal touched my throat.
A collar.
I flinched.
“You wil
