Things I am choosing to walk away from.
"The work at Frosthaven matters," I say. "I know that. But I can do it from here."
Gavin looks at me for a long moment.
"Tonight," he says finally. "You stay tonight. The assessment happens at first light." He pauses. "If the assessment finds him unstable — clinically unstable, not difficult, not adjusting, unstable — he goes back into monitored containment and you go back to Frosthaven before noon. No contact. No exceptions." He holds my gaze. "That's not a negotiating position. That's the condition."
The word containment sits in the room.
I think about the yard. The circuit. The south fence.
"Understood," I say.
"The Frosthaven question goes to Tomlinson. I'll make the call." He moves to his desk. "Go."
I go.
Lumi is in the corridor.
"Tomlinson," she says.
"Gavin's calling him now," I say.
She nods. Glances toward Stone and RJ. "How is he."
"Bonded," I say. "Not fixed."
"No," she says. "Not yet." She looks at me. "Go. He's been watching that corridor since you left."
***
RJ's eyes find me as I round the corner. The bond pulls tight and releases the moment I'm in sight. He exhales — not steady, not fully controlled, but here.
I go and stand next to him.
His hand finds mine immediately. Grip too tight before he catches it and eases back.
Dalton comes down the corridor a moment later. He stops at a deliberate distance — not across the room, not crowding.
RJ's attention snaps to him and holds and his body shifts, angling toward Dalton, putting himself between us without deciding to.
Too fast. Too instinctive.
Then he catches it.
Stops.
His jaw works. He steps back to where he was, his hand still in mine, and I feel through the bond what it costs him — the instinct running hard against the choice, the dominant alpha fighting itself in real time.
Dalton watches this. His face is even. His eyes are not.
He looks at me and something moves across his expression that he doesn't let land fully — a fraction of something that is not quite okay, that is the look of a man holding more than he's putting down. His hand lifts slightly at his side like he’s going to reach for me—then stops. Drops.
"Assessment at first light," he says.
"I know," I say.
He holds my gaze one beat longer than he needs to. Like he’s choosing something and not saying it. Then, keeping his eyes on RJ’s, he leans in and kisses my forehead.
