Caelan POV:
Vaelor wakes me before the knock comes, not with alarm or the sharp jolt of threat that usually tears sleep away, but with a controlled, deliberate awareness that slides through me, my senses aligning even as my eyes open to the dark.
The room isn’t empty of sound, I can hear the packs muted nightly movements, the night pressing close with the low, steady hum of the territory sitting just slightly off balance, not breached or broken, simply nudged, as though something has leaned against it and then stepped back to see if it would respond.
The knock lands once against my door, the simplicity of it sharpening my senses as I sense Kieran at the other side.
I’m upright before the echo fades, dragging on shorts as my awareness pushes outward in a practiced sweep, skimming the ed
