Holly woke to silence.
Not the kind born of peace, but that strange deep quiet that only comes after a heavy snowfall. The storm had softened sometime during the night, leaving the world still, muffled, and white beyond the cabin windows. The fire had burned low, glowing embers casting faint amber light across the room.
She blinked sleepily from the couch where she’d dozed off reading and realized Rowan wasn’t inside.
Her heart gave a strange, unbidden flutter of concern.
“He’s probably just… checking things,” she whispered to herself, brushing her hair out of her face. “Alpha things. Wolf things. Whatever things he does.”
Still, she wrapped her arms around herself, uneasy until she heard the faint crunch of snow outside the door.
A moment later, the door pushed open and Rowan steppe
