I woke to sunlight warming my face, filtering through the curtains of my bedroom window. The familiar weight of a quilt pressed against my legs, and for a moment, I simply breathed in the scent of home—fresh linens, pine from the nearby forest, and the faint trace of Kieran's woodsy cologne lingering in the air.
After a week in the pack's medical center, being back in our cottage felt like paradise. Dr. Michaels had finally cleared me to return home yesterday, though with strict orders for continued bed rest. The twins were stable, their heartbeats strong, but the healing backlash from saving Cassia had left my body drained in ways that wouldn't disappear overnight.
I stretched carefully, one hand resting on the small swell of my stomach. At fifteen weeks, my pregnancy was becoming more
