WREN'S POV
The words hung in the air between us long after he'd said them, long enough that I heard them a second time in my own head, and a third, each repetition making them sound less like something that could be true and more like something designed to break me open.
You're my mate.
Somewhere behind him, Bram's sharp intake of breath had gone quiet, folded back into the stunned silence of every wolf in that yard, watching, waiting to see what I'd do with a claim that big. I could feel their eyes on me the way I used to feel them at Ravenhollow Academy, cataloguing, assessing, already forming opinions about whether I deserved what had just been handed to me in front of all of them.
I took another step back. My hand was still pressed flat against my sternum, and I made myself lower i
