Romane von Tina Ice

Sleep did not come easily.Sienna lay on top of the covers and watched the ceiling until the grey light of early morning pushed through the curtains. The bond had been restless most of the night. Not painful. Just present. A steady awareness of Lucas moving through the house, speaking to people, issuing quiet orders she could not hear.When the knock finally came, she was already dressed in the same clothes she had arrived in. The green dress hung over the back of the chair, untouched since the night before.The scout at the door did not meet her eyes. “Alpha wants you in his office.”She followed him down the stairs. The main areas of the pack house were quieter than usual. A few wolves glanced at her and looked away quickly. Word from the gathering had already settled into the walls.Lucas’s office door stood open. He sat behind the desk, a stack of papers pushed to one side. The window behind him showed wet trees and a sky that still refused to clear. He looked up when she entered.

The dress they brought her was simple. Dark green. Long sleeves. No embellishment. Sienna put it on without comment. It fit well enough. Someone had remembered her size from five years ago, or they had guessed correctly.At six-forty a different scout knocked and waited in the hallway. She followed him downstairs.The main hall had been cleared for the gathering. Low lights. A long table near the windows. Two chairs set slightly apart at the head—Lucas’s usual place and the one beside it. Elena stood near the fireplace with a small group of senior wives, her posture perfect, her smile fixed.Conversation dipped when Sienna entered. She kept her steps even and her face neutral. The bond registered Lucas before she saw him. He stood near the far doors speaking with two of his enforcers. When he turned, his eyes found her immediately.He crossed the room without hurry.“Stay at my side,” he said quietly when he reached her. “Do not engage unless I speak first.”Sienna met his gaze. “I’m

Morning came grey and quiet.Sienna woke to the sound of someone setting a tray outside the door. She waited until the footsteps left before she stood. Her clothes from the day before were still damp at the seams. She washed her face in the small bathroom, ran wet hands through her hair, and left it.The bond sat lower today, a constant pressure rather than a sudden strike. She tested it the way she might test a bruise. It answered immediately. Lucas was somewhere in the main part of the house. Awake. Aware of her in the same distant way.She did not touch the food.An hour later the lock turned. A different scout stood in the doorway—older, expression carefully blank.“Alpha wants you downstairs.”Sienna followed without comment. The east wing hallway was empty. When they reached the main stairs she felt the shift in the air. Conversations stopped. A few wolves in the open living area turned their heads. She kept her eyes forward and her shoulders easy.Lucas stood near the long tabl

The door locked behind her with a solid click.Sienna stood in the center of the room and listened to the scout’s footsteps fade down the hall. The east wing had not changed much. Same wide windows. Same dark wood floors. Same faint scent of pine resin that clung to everything in the pack house. Someone had left a lamp on low in the corner. The light threw long shadows across the bed and the low chair by the window.She did not sit.Rain still tapped against the glass. She walked over and looked out. The treeline was a dark wall beyond the cleared ground. Lights from the main hall glowed warmer and farther away. Somewhere in that direction Lucas was speaking to people who had once watched her kneel in the dirt.The bond sat heavy under her ribs. It did not ease with distance. If anything, the closed door made it sharper, like a wire pulled too tight.Sienna took off her wet jacket and hung it on the back of the chair. Her shirt clung to her shoulders. She left it. The cold did not bot

The rain had been falling since before dawn.Sienna stood just inside the old border stones and let the water run down her face. She did not wipe it away. The pines around her dripped in steady rhythm. Wet earth clung to the soles of her boots. Five years had not changed the smell of this land. Pine resin. River water. The faint trace of pack that still lived in the soil.And underneath it, like a bruise she had almost forgotten, was him.The bond stirred the second her foot crossed the boundary. Not the soft pull she remembered from before. This one hit hard, low in her chest, and stayed there. She breathed out slowly through her nose and kept her shoulders loose.A low sound came from the trees to her left.Two young males stepped into the clearing. Both looked barely past twenty. The taller one carried himself like he had practiced the posture in front of a mirror. His hand rested near the knife on his belt.“This is Silver Ridge territory,” he said. “State your business.”Sienna l