The night stretched on endlessly, each passing moment marked by the heavy silence that enveloped us like a suffocating blanket. I lay awake in the darkness, my mind a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions that refused to be silenced. Nikolai lay beside me, his presence a tangible weight against my skin. But despite the closeness of our bodies, there was a vast chasm that separated us, a gulf of uncertainty and mistrust that seemed insurmountable. I couldn't sleep, not a wink. The weight of everything that had transpired hung heavily upon me, casting a shadow over the darkness of the night. The secret of my true identity as the silver wolf weighed heavily on my mind, a constant source of anxiety and fear. He felt like a stranger lying beside me, someone whom I did not know or perhaps had never
