Elena's POV:
I stared at the wolf for a long moment, committing him to memory.
"You're handsome..."
The wolf purred, pleased.
He was still pressed against me, solid and alive, his heat soaking through my back and into places I hadn’t realized were numb. I breathed him in, and let myself believe, just for a heartbeat longer, that this was mine. That he was real. That I hadn’t imagined any of it.
My wolf—quiet, skittish—stirred, just enough for me to feel her presence brush against my awareness. Not fully here. Never fully here.
She retreated again, of course. Like she always did. It wasn't new at all.
Normally, that was the moment it hurt. The familiar ache of rejection, of being left behind by a part of myself that never stayed.
But this time… it didn't hurt as much. It didn't fee
