Chapter 157

** Ryder’s POV ** I’m worried. No matter how many times she says she’s fine, that she’s got it under control, all I can see is power that shouldn’t exist running wild beneath her skin. Power that could burn her from the inside out if we don’t understand it soon. She’s standing at the stove now, Parker’s arms still around her, Jax eating like nothing’s wrong, and for a second, I can almost pretend it’s just another morning. Almost. Because I can smell it… that electric tang that doesn’t belong to wolves or humans. The air vibrates around her, heavy with something alive. She’s radiating light, buzzing with the heat of the sun and the cool calm of the moon. My instincts can’t make sense of it, can’t decide if I should be in awe or on guard. She shouldn’t carry both. No one should. Yet she does, and it’s the most beautiful, terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I watch her, catching a familiar gesture I’ve seen a hundred times before, one that never fails to undo me. She tilts her face toward t