The soft rustle of sheets, the faint golden hue of dawn bleeding through the curtains—Ari stirred, her body heavy with the ache of healing and the warmth of something she hadn’t let herself feel in a long time: safety.
Ronan lay beside her, one arm slung over his eyes as if shielding himself from the world. His bare chest rose and fell in steady rhythm, the covers tangled around his waist. He looked younger in sleep. Less like an alpha-in-training and more like the boy she’d glimpsed beneath the layers of duty and pressure.
She turned onto her side, her fingers brushing his forearm.
“You’re staring,” he murmured, without opening his eyes.
Ari smiled. “You snore.”
That made his lips twitch. He dropped his arm and turned his head toward her, his eyes soft and dark in the dim light. “I d
