“You were right,”they chant.“You always were.”
I wake with a gasp, heart hammering, my wolf snarling awake inside me.For one panicked moment, I expect to see them—translucent shapes filling the room, reaching for me.
But there’s nothing.Just the empty space everyone else experiences.Moonlight through the window, and the faint hum of the mate bond, steady as a heartbeat that isn’t mine.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and breathe through the lingering panic.Dawn creeps closer, softening the shadows.Somewhere outside, someone laughs.The sound is ...nice.
I dress quickly, old habits are hard to break, and step out into the early morning air.The compound is quieter now, wolves stirring slowly, greeting the day without urgency.A few nod at me as they pass.No one stares.No one whispers.They just accept my presence as normal, and I struggle to understand or accept that.
I let my feet lead me like they’ve walked this ground before.Grayson stands near the tree line, shirtless, his skin damp with sweat from an early run.He turns when he senses me, gray eyes softening.
I lean against a wooden post, trying to distract myself from how sexy he is and how much I want to lick the sweat off his skin.
We stand there, the bond humming between us, comfortable in the shared silence.I don’t know how he does that, how he makes quiet feel like a gift instead of a threat.
“Peyton said you’d be training today,” he says.“If you want.”
“I do.”
“Good.”A pause.“You don’t have to prove anything.”
“I know.”I glance at him.“But I want to.”
His mouth curves in a small smile.“Figured.”
As we stand there and stare out at the forest, I feel it again, that fragile, terrifying thing trying to take root in my chest.Belonging.I don’t trust it.Not yet.But for the first time since my banishment, the dead are quiet and the living are giving me room to breathe.
That might be enough to stay.For now.
Chapter Four
Grayson
I wake before dawn because the bond shifts.
It doesn’t spike.It’s just a subtle tightening in my chest, like something important has turned its face toward me.And I know, Trinity is awake.
