Chapter 197

** Ryder’s POV ** The cabin door shuts behind the others, and the silence they leave behind feels charged. Paige stands in the middle of the room, breathing slowly, the weight of everything we just planned pressing down on her shoulders. The glow under her skin hasn’t fully faded. It pulses soft gold at her collarbone, her wrists, along her throat like it’s following her heartbeat. She looks like pure power trapped in a human body… she looks like mine. Remy, Parker, and Callen left minutes ago, heading out for patrol. I know their absence leaves an ache in her, but the intensity of it lets something else bloom. Something that’s been circling us since the moment she said it. ‘I have to mark you.’ My wolf hasn’t calmed once since he heard the words, and neither have I. “It feels too quiet now,” she whispers. “It’s just us,” I answer, my voice low. Her eyes meet mine, and something flickers there… curiosity, want, uncertainty, all tangled together. For the first time since the attack, she