The air in the training room was dense, charged with sweat, effort, and a tension that wouldn't dissipate. The rookies ran back and forth under my supervision, but my mind was elsewhere. On another face. On another story. On Eliza.
Lucian, my Alpha and brother in everything but blood, was on the edge of something I couldn't name. Something I didn't fully understand, but that worried me more than I was willing to admit. Eliza wasn't like us. She was human, fragile, a spark of life that didn't belong in our wild and ruthless world. And yet, there was something about her that turned him into a different man. More human, yes, but also more vulnerable. And for someone like Lucian, that was dangerous.
