I got in instead of leaving the bedroom to go to the sitting area where I’d spent every night since she’d arrived, pretending to read.
With a soft sigh, I settled on my back and stared at the ceiling, watching shadows chase each other through the gloom.
I waited to see what she’d do, but she didn’t do anything. She didn’t move away or make a point of the space between us or reach for a pillow to stuff into the tiny gap.
After a few minutes, she eased closer. She didn’t drape herself over me in the way she had when she slept, just got close enough that her warmth teased along my side.
Something about the fact that this wasn’t accidental but both of us awake and deciding, hit me behind my sternum and didn’t leave.
I turned on my side to face her, very glad she didn’t move away.
I slid my arm around her waist. Took my time to give her the chance to slide back.
She put her hand on my chest, and it was all I could do to breathe.
She fell asleep first. I felt the exact moment it happened. Her breathing slowed and deepened, the last small tension in her shoulders releasing as she settled into me.
I lay still for a while, not trying to sleep, just present in the way my wolf was always present when I roamed my territory. Aware of every small thing. Noting it. Filing it away.
The scent of her hair. The weight of her hand on my chest. The fact that the suite smelled like both of us now in a way thatwas different. Two people occupying the same space. Now the area felt more like one thing instead of two.
I thought about what she’d said about the healing spell that worked. PerhapsI’dalso been speaking a language wrong my whole life. Only now did it all make sense.
I thought about my father, but not in the usual way, with grief pressing down. I thought about him simply, a man who ran this territory and loved his pack and planned to teach his son things he ran out of time to teach.
The little wolf I’d carved when I was ten had sat in that drawer for thirteen years. She’d moved it to the shelf, somewhere it could be seen. I didn’t know how to explain what that had done to me.
Victoria would’ve liked my father, and he would’ve liked her.
Iliked her. If I was being honest with myself, I could admit it. Yet it was more than that. It had been more than that for longer than I’d ever admit.
I was falling in love with my wife.
The feelings reminded me of the way I’d felt the first time I ran the borders as alpha. Like I was finally being recognized by someone that already knew me.
My wolf said nothing, but I suspected my wolf was already asleep.
I closed my eyes. Pressed my face into her hair.
The thought surfaced again:I’m glad it was you.
Sleep claimed me.
CHAPTER TWELVE
VICTORIA
Isurfaced slowly, awareness arriving in pieces. Warmth registered first. The steady rise and fall of breathing that wasn’t mine. The weight of an arm around my waist.
My cheek rested against Feral’s chest. His heartbeat drummed beneath my ear, slower than mine.
The realization settled in without the usual jolt of mortification. We’d gone to bed together last night. Not accidentally tangling after sleep claimed us, but deliberately. He’d climbed in beside me, and when I moved closer, he’d wrapped me in his arms. Neither of us had pretended it was anything other than what it was meant to be.
The suite sat dark around us, only the faintest hint of gray touching the windows. Pre-dawn. The quiet hour when the forest held its breath between night and morning.
I didn’t move immediately. Just lay there, cataloging the scratch of stubble against my forehead where his jaw rested. Warmth radiated from him despite the chilly air. His fingers curved against my hip, even in sleep.
This wasn’t accidental proximity. I’d chosen this.We’dchosen this. I didn’t know what it might mean, though I wantedto find out. The weight of that sat in my chest, significant in a way I needed to examine alone.
