The weeks after Xander returned to Harvard blurred into a relentless grind. Lectures, group projects, late-night study sessions, and pack conference calls that stretched into the early hours. Xander threw himself into it all with the same discipline he brought to everything — but every night, the mate bond pulled at him like a physical ache. Claire was thousands of miles away, finishing her senior year, dealing with lingering rumors and the shadow of the stalker notes she tried to downplay.
He missed her with a depth that surprised even him.
Tonight was the first video call they had managed in nearly three weeks. His schedule had been brutal, and hers was packed with college applications and pack training sessions Alissa was leading in his absence. Xander sat in his dimly lit dorm room,
