Caelan POV:
The pack settles the way a forest does after a storm has passed through it.
Voices drop, movement slows, wolves peel away toward warmth and rest until the clearing holds only the quiet aftermath of something important.
Vaelor shifts once beneath my skin, massive and calm. I stay where I am long after most of the pack has gone, watching moonlight spill across the ground where the pack had gathered.
Elara steps closer beside me until her shoulder brushes mine. Mine. The word still hits like a slow burn in my chest.
“You’re quiet,” she murmurs.
I exhale slowly. “Thinking.”
Her lips curve faintly. “That’s rarely safe.”
I snort. “You didn’t say that this morning.”
Her eyes warm. “This morning you were distracted.”
That’s one way to put it I think as I smirk down at her.
I
