"In her arms, I found the home I never dared dream of and in her eyes, the future I'd fight to the ends of the world to build."
The sea breeze drifted through the wide-open windows, carrying the scent of pine and salt into our home. Elle sat beside me on the wooden porch; her fingers laced through mine as we watched the waves lap gently at the shoreline. Our home, rough-hewn but solid, stood proud on the outskirts of the Bay Shifter pack lands, where forest met sea, a sanctuary for us both.
It was the kind of quiet I did not take for granted. "Do you hear that?" Elle murmured, tilting her head.
I listened to footsteps crunching over gravel, purposeful and steady. Before long, two figures emerged from the trees: General Mortas, tall and imposing, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings with a soldier's precision, and beside him, Enforcer Troy, younger but no less formidable, Elle's brother.
Elle stood smoothly, her calm unshaken. "Father. Troy."
