Brie's POV
The door closes as Damien’s boots fade down the hallway.
I count the heartbeats I can hear until the silence settles down. One. Two. Three.
My skin still remembers the feel of his hand, it was just a warm space on my shoulder where the cold didn’t touch for three seconds.
Three seconds and the feeling won’t leave.
I touch the cloak he left behind. The wool is thick and heavy, it smells like cedar and seawater. It smells like a wolf that doesn’t know what he wants, to be gentle or to break.
Just then I hear heavy footsteps, closing in on my location.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The steps too heavy for a normal wolf.
Jackling wakes up inside my mind, scratching her nails in alarm. ’He is here. His father is here.’
I don’t answer her, I step back from the table, plant my boots f
