POV: Riley
The night should have been peaceful.
The pack slept. The forest was calm. The bonfire from earlier had long since faded into glowing embers. I lay awake beside the open window, the moonlight spilling across the floor in pale silver ribbons that warmed my skin.
But my heart would not slow.
Something was wrong.
Not danger—
Not fear—
Something new.
I pressed a hand to my chest, then lower… to my stomach.
And felt it.
A strange, unfamiliar flutter.
Not pain.
Not weakness.
A pulse.
Soft.
Steady.
Alive.
My breath caught in my throat.
“No…” I whispered.
Another flutter followed—stronger this time—sending a wave of warmth through my entire body. Power rippled beneath my skin, not my own, not Alex’s… something smaller, quieter, yet impossibly ancient.
I stumbled from
