“Good. I’m not a pleasant person when my sleep is interrupted.”
I paused with my hand on the doorframe, glancing back at her. She’d laid the nightgown across a chair and was now examining the various weapons on my wall.
The sight of her in my space, touching my things, and studying my territory with her analytical mind did something to me I couldn’t define.
I left before my wolf could offer any more commentary about mates and claiming and forever.
The door closed behind me, and I took the stairs down two at a time, doing my best to get away from the woman who’d somehow become both my salvation and my biggest complication in the span of a few hours.
Outside, I strode across the compound, ignoring those of my pack who called out.
This would be fine. We had a strategic marriage. We’d set clear boundaries. We’d live separate lives under the same roof.
I shifted mid-stride, letting my wolf take over, and ran into the forest without looking back.
CHAPTER FOUR
VICTORIA
It had been two days since I’d seen my husband, and I was perfectly content with the arrangement.
You lie to yourself with a lot of conviction,Acorn said from his perch on the headboard.The alpha wolf sleeps elsewhere while you claim his den, and yet you tell yourself this brings you cheer, my friend.
On the third morning after our wedding, I pulled the covers back and climbed out of bed. “I’m not lying to myself. This is exactly what I wanted.”
The lady protests with words so bright, while she wakes alone after another night.
“Enough.” I strode over to the wardrobe and selected a practical day dress in deep green. “I have work to do. That’s all that matters.”
And it was true. This marriage had always been strategic. A political alliance. Feral’s absence wasn’t a rejection, it was efficiency. I didn’t need a hovering wolf king underfoot while I put my laboratory back together and continued my research.
The fact that the bed felt too large without another person in it was simply the adjustment period. Nothing more.
After bathing, I dressed quickly, pinned my hair into a practical bun, and left the bedroom. The suite opened into a small sitting area, and off to the left, a door I’d discovered the morning after the wedding that led to what had once been an office.
I pushed it open and surveyed my new domain.
The rectangular room had been carved from the living wood like everything else in this tree, with two window openings that overlooked the canopy. Dust had coated every surface in a thick layer. Cobwebs had stretched across the corners in delicate lace. The desk against the left wall hadn’t been touched in years, if the layer of dust was any indication.
What an inefficient use of space. Poor resource allocation.
I’d already cleaned and claimed two-thirds of the right side of the room for my laboratory. My equipment sat neatly arranged on tables I’d requisitioned from storage and the smaller, antique desk that had been hidden in a corner. My glass beakers, copper distillation coils, and collection of carefully labeled ingredients in jars spelled to maintain perfect preservation conditions rested on the smooth wooden surfaces. A small cauldron sat over a fire in the hearth, flames dancing without fuel thanks to a simple sustainment spell.
The other section of the room remained untouched. Feral’s office, clearly abandoned.
I moved to the desk, running my finger through the dust and noting the thickness. No one had used this space for a very long time. A good number of books sat on a shelf, their spines cracked with age. I cataloged a few of them automatically, texts on pack law, territorial disputes, and a manual on combat tactics.
Sitting in the enormous, Feral-sized desk chair, I opened the drawers, not finding much.
But in the last lower right drawer, pushed to the very back, I found a small wooden carving. I picked it up, turning it overin my palm. A wolf, crudely shaped, the work of a child’s hands. The proportions were wrong, the legs too short, but someone had taken care with it. The wood had been sanded smooth.
I set it on the bookshelf and closed the drawer.
Acorn had claimed the windowsill, stretching out in a patch of sunlight, and I’d placed his sleep basket in one corner.
He started humming, then singing softly.Dust and cobwebs, such a sight, an alpha’s office lost to blight. No wolf has prowled these floors of late, perhaps he’s given up his fate.
“He’s been busy managing a kingdom,” I said, rising and walking over to my work table. “Unlike some creatures who spend their days napping and stealing food.”
