They fed me first, which felt surreal in a way I couldn't quite articulate.
Not just food, but the act of it — Kael bringing a plate from the kitchen while Riven poured wine I didn't remember asking for and Draven adjusted the pillows behind my back like I was something precious that might break if handled wrong. Thorne disappeared and came back with a blanket that smelled like pine and earth, draping it over my legs without a word before settling on the floor near my feet.
I sat there surrounded by four alphas who looked at me like I hung the moon and tried to remember the last time anyone had taken care of me like this.
I couldn't.
My mother had tried before she got sick, but those last two years had been me taking care of her, and after she died there'd been no one except myself and the constant background noise of survival. I'd gotten good at it — at being alone, at needing nothing, at building walls so high that wanting anything felt like weakness.
