DERRICK POV
The first sound I registered was Dalton’s breath—soft, even, a steadying metronome in the quiet of the room—then the world hit me like a wave.
It started as a fizz under my skin, the mate-bond waking like a live wire: tiny pricks along my forearm, a warmth behind my eyes, a pleasant pressure in my chest. Tingling. Electric. The kind of touch you feel through bone.
When my lids opened, Dalton was there—leaning over me. His green eyes were too wide, too bright, curls in disarray as if he’d been running his fingers through them until they went wild and Shade was right there with him, glowing in his eyes.
‘Is she pregnant?’ His voice hit my mind like a thrown stone. Not a whisper, not a soft worry—an urgent, raw question, threaded with fear and an ache so tender it almost made
