Elle POV
I wake slowly this time.
Not because my body refuses to move—though the ache is everywhere—but because for the first time, I don’t feel the need to jolt awake ready to run. The fortress hums softly around me, its wards steady and calm, and beneath that is something else.
Blake.
I feel him through the bond before I even open my eyes. Awake. Grounded. Watchful—but not tense. There’s a quiet reassurance threaded through him, like a hand resting between my shoulders, keeping me anchored.
My wolf stretches lazily inside me, golden and warm.
We did not die, she says with unmistakable satisfaction. And more than that—we were seen.
I smile faintly at the ceiling.
“Yes,” I whisper. “We were.”
When I finally sit up, my muscles protest in earnest. My ribs ache where the dragon’s tai
