EMMA
Sleep didn’t come easily after the woods.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard it again—the growl threading through the trees, the way Gabriel had moved like instinct had seized him whole. I kept seeing his back as he stood between me and the forest, solid and unyielding, like he was bracing against something ancient.
And worse than all of it—
He’d known.
By morning, exhaustion clung to me like damp wool. I moved through the estate on autopilot, smiling when spoken to, nodding when the bikers praised the New Year décor still glowing warmly throughout the halls. But my thoughts were elsewhere—circling the forest, the forbidden wings, the way the air itself felt alive here.
Clara found me in the sitting room just after noon.
She carried a teapot in both hands, steam curling upwar
