Caesar's POV
The moment I slid into the booth beside Viya, I deliberately invaded her personal space.
"Alpha Caesar," Julian politely pushed the menu toward me, "would you like to order something?"
My gaze swept across their table—steamed cod with minimal salt and no ginger; cream of mushroom soup without black pepper; lemon salmon; and her invariable roasted butternut squash. All Viya's favorites. The same tastes I'd developed over six years of following her lead.
Memories flooded through me like a tidal wave. Before her, I ate anything—food was merely fuel, nothing more.
But Viya... she had patiently taught me to distinguish between the exquisite and the mediocre, between nourishment that fed both body and soul and food that merely filled an emptiness.
"Caesar, try th
