LERA POV
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Lera had not thought about Ilsa Rowe in months, and she resented, walking into the Vrel pack's council hall with Elias on her hip, exactly how fast the thought returned the moment she saw the woman across the room.
Ilsa had always carried herself like someone who expected rooms to reorganize around her presence, and apparently five years hadn't changed that instinct at all — if anything, seniority had sharpened it. She was council-standing now, one of the youngest members ever elevated to the position, and she moved through the hall with the specific composed authority of someone who had built exactly the life she'd once told Caius, years ago, she intended to build.
Lera knew this because Caius had told her, once, carefully, early in their relationship — the history laid o
