His thumb brushed circles over my wrist. “I’m asking for a chance. Real moments. Real honesty. No power games. No politics. Just us. Getting to know each other”
“And if it doesn’t happen?”
“Then at least we tried for something real.”
His eyes softened. “Aren’t you tired of unions built only on advantage?”
His words hit with the force of truth. Five years with Axton had hollowed me out. And now here was Marcellus, asking for the one thing I thought I’d lost the ability to feel.
“So, what’s your call?” he murmured, giving my hand a gentle squeeze, “will you give us a real chance?”
I looked at Marcellus’s hand resting over mine, my pulse thundering like distant war drums at his unexpected binding offer.
Before I could speak, my moonstone communicator vibrated. A glowing rune from my father pulsed on the screen.
“Wintermoon Pack just breached the harbor territory.”
My breath snagged. The Wintermoon wolves had been testing our borders for moons, but striking our maritime routes?
That was an open challenge to our Crescentblood Domain.
“Is there something wrong?” Marcellus’s tone sharpened instantly, the charming façade dropping as the Alpha in him surfaced.