Emma’s POV
I miss him so much it feels like a physical wound.
Seven days without his knot.
Seven nights of waking up, reaching for a body that isn’t there, thighs slick, p***y aching, the mating bite on my shoulder throbbing like it’s trying to call him home. I’ve become a ghost in my own skin, haunting the Alpha’s wing, waiting for footsteps that never come.
He doesn’t sleep in our bed anymore.
I know because I check every night, slipping through the door like a thief, pressing my face into his pillow just to breathe in the fading trace of Alpha. Sometimes the sheets are still warm—he was there for an hour, maybe two—then gone again.
Trials.
Patrols.
Meetings.
Anything but me.
Last night was the worst.
I heard him finally come in right after dinner. Heavy boots in the
