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Katie’s POVThe manor was hushed at this hour, the halls stretched long and sleepy ahead of us, lit only by the flicker of the occasional candle left burning low on the walls. Vladimyr walked beside me, his hand brushing against mine now and then, each accidental touch sending ripples of warmth up my arm.I couldn't help glancing at him from the corner of my eye. His hair was still damp from the fountain, curling boyishly at the ends. His jacket was missing—still draped over my shoulders—and every few steps, he would glance at me like he wasn’t quite sure I was real. Like he was afraid he might wake up and find himself alone again.I tightened the jacket around myself and smiled softly.I wasn’t going anywhere. Not now. Not ever.When we reached the familiar dark wood doors of our bedchambers, he paused. His hand hovered at the handle for a moment too long.I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves—uncertainty, maybe even fear. Not of me, though.Of what this meant.
Vladimyr's POVKatie’s hand in mine was the only real thing. The night could have collapsed around us—the stars could have burned out one by one—and still, I would have known the shape of her palm pressed to my skin."I'll try," I'd said. But even that word felt too small for what this moment deserved.She squeezed my hand gently, grounding me. Not demanding, not forcing. Just there. I breathed in her scent once again as if it's the only thing that is keeping me sane and still. And for the first time, it didn’t feel like a ghost whispering through my ribs. It felt alive. She felt alive. And so did I.We sat there long enough that the chill crept through my jacket, but I didn’t move. Neither did she. The silence between us was comfortable now, not sharp. Like an old quilt draped over bruised skin. Healing, even if it hurts."I remember," I said at last, the words rough in my throat. "Not everything. But... you had this ridiculous red cloak once." I slowly took off my jacket and p
Vladimyr's POVI hadn’t meant for the piano to become a confessional, but there I was—spilling pieces of myself I didn’t understand to a woman whose scent had begun to haunt my every breath again.And now, even after she left the room, the scent lingered. Lavender and wolf. Her heartbeat was etched in the air, pounding in my ears like the last echo of a dream. And me? I sat there like a man who had walked into a burning building hoping the flames would remember his name.A quiet knock interrupted the haze of my thoughts.“Come in,” I said, voice rough with disuse.Sebastian entered, ever the shadow in well-tailored formality. His gloved hands were folded behind his back, eyes downcast at first—but I caught the flicker of something in his gaze when he looked up.“You missed dinner, sir,” he said. “Again.”“I wasn’t hungry.”“You say that every night.”I said nothing.He hesitated. “Lady Katie took her meal in the garden. Alone.”The way he said it… the weight in that single word.Alone
Katie’s POVI didn’t realize how long I’d been standing there, giggling like a lovesick fool in the middle of the courtyard, until Miranda cleared her throat behind me.“My Lady?” she asked gently.I nearly jumped. “Oh—Miranda. Sorry. I was just… um. Thinking.”Her expression softened, though her eyes flicked toward the space Vladimyr had vanished from. “He called you little wolf, didn’t he?”“Yeah. So uhm, you also heard that huh? For a second I really thought I was dreaming..” I said, my cheeks heating. “He hasn’t done that in… well, since before the memory loss.”Miranda nodded slowly. “That’s something, then. You’re getting through to him. In small ways, my lady”Baby steps.I turned my face toward the sky, letting the breeze cool the storm that still stirred in my chest. The ache hadn’t gone away—not completely—but it felt different now. Like a splinter had been pulled loose. A sliver of something familiar had finally broken the surface.But the question still burned in my mind—w
Katie’s POVDays had passed and I gave Vladimyr what he wanted most, peace and space. I am on the verge of losing my mind because of it.I eat my meals whenever he’s done. Walking outside the halls whenever he already passed by—a weird but refreshing thing is, Vladimyr has a specific time where he walks around the castle. He didn’t do this last time though, but Miranda said that it is his habit from the old days before I came into his life. I also spar with the twins because apparently he is too busy catching up with today’s duties.In short, I did everything to stay out of his sight.Even the problem about the broken barrier was fixed without us seeing each other. So imagine how hard and agonizing it is for both me and Kath.Goddess, I just wanna die at this point.Kath growled in the back of my mind, restless and seething. ‘You’re letting him win, you know,’ she grumbled. ‘All this hiding and avoiding—it’s not who we are. We’re wolves, Katie, not mice.’‘What do you want me to do, K
Katie’s POVVladimyr cleared his throat and tried to ignore me. Shifting his focus to the documents in front of him.I took a step closer, feeling the tension in the air thicken as I approached his desk. His posture was rigid, but his fingers betrayed him—tapping nervously on the edge of the papers he had just organized. For all his attempts to seem distant, there was a crack in his armor, however small.“Vlad, I know this is hard for you,” I continued, my voice steady despite the lump forming in my throat. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to wake up and feel like a stranger in your own life, but that doesn’t mean you’re alone in this. I’m here. Whether you want me to be or not.”He looked up sharply at that, his crimson eyes blazing with a mixture of frustration and something I couldn’t quite place. It even looked like his eyes softened for a split moment, not until he dropped his next words.“You think this is easy for me?” he snapped, his voice low but dangerous. “Do you have any id