جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

Avelin POVThe first thing I am aware of is light.It comes through the curtains in long, pale strips, falling across the floor and reaching the edge of the bed where I have been lying, not sleeping, for the better part of the night. I know I was awake. I know because every time I closed my eyes, I was back at the door. His hand on my face. The warmth of his mouth. The bond surged so sharply through my chest that my knees went weak and I had to grip his shirt just to stay standing.I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling.The apartment is quiet. Baby Shen is still asleep, his small breathing audible through the wall if I listen for it. Outside, the city is already moving, cars and distant voices, the ordinary sounds of a morning that does not know anything happened last night.I press one hand flat against my chest. The bond mark is warm under my palm. Not burning the way it did at three in the morning, not sharp or desperate, just steady. Present. Like something that has been wa

Leander POVI start memorizing him on purpose. I do it because I want to, not because anyone tells me to. This realization makes me feel uneasy.I have spent months trying to recover pieces of myself after the accident. I have seen doctors and therapists. Gone through endless reports. Everyone around me has been focused on restoring the man I used to be. With Avelin, I stop chasing memories for a while. Instead I start paying attention to him.I learned that he drinks his coffee slowly when he is tired. Quickly, when he is anxious. I learned that he presses his lips together when he is trying not to smile. I learned that he hates restaurants because they overwhelm his senses. I learn him carefully piece by piece, choice by choice. Every time I discover, I feel something deep inside my chest. It's not a memory. Something else.It starts with coffee. Again. It always seems to start with us.Three mornings after our conversation in the café, I arrive at work carrying two cups of coffee.

Leander POVThe boardroom smelled like expensive coffee, polished wood, and tension.Rain hammered softly against the glass walls surrounding the top-floor conference room, turning the city outside gray and distant. Twelve executives sat around the massive table reviewing quarterly projections while screens flashed graphs and market reports across the walls.Normally, this kind of meeting bored me.Today, I was already in a dangerous mood before it even started.Because Avelin skipped breakfast.It was ridiculous, and I knew it was ridiculous. My instincts had become harder to control around him. Every little thing affected me: the scent of his stress, the exhaustion beneath his smile, the way he rubbed his wrist when he was overwhelmed.This morning, he smiled softly and told me he was late for work before rushing out with coffee instead of food.Now my Alpha instincts were restless and irritated without reason.Or maybe there was a reason. Maybe my body simply hated seeing my mate e

Avelin POVLeander was making pancakes in my kitchen.Sweatpants, gray shirt, sleeves pushed up. Baby Shen sat on the counter, stealing chocolate chips with the casual confidence of someone who had never been caught in his life and never planned to be.Three years ago, I thought this man was gone. Now he was in my kitchen, and my son was eating contraband, and somehow that was just Tuesday."You're a criminal." Leander didn't look up from the pan. "I can hear you."Baby Shen said, completely unbothered, "I'm checking the quality.""Eleven chips.""That's right."Leander made a sound, not a polite laugh, a real one, and my chest pulled tight because I still knew the difference. I'd spent three years trying to forget the difference.Baby Shen swung his legs against the cabinet. Then, with great seriousness: "I forgot something."Leander looked genuinely alarmed. "That sounds dangerous.""It's a plan.""Last time you had a plan, Renlo had marker all over his face.""He looked beautiful."

Leander POVI approved the retreat proposal at 6:12 a.m. By 6:14, I hated myself a little for how obvious my motivations probably were.“Three days at a luxury mountain resort for executive bonding?” Elias asked dryly, standing in my office doorway. “You truly are a visionary leader.”I ignored him and kept reading the event itinerary on my tablet.The quarterly Voss Corporation retreat happens every year. Nothing about this one was unusual: senior staff, department heads, executive planning sessions, team-building activities, everyone secretly hated and normal.Except for one detail, Accounting had never been included before.This year, suddenly, they were “essential to interdepartmental financial cohesion.” Completely coincidental, of course.Elias walked in with coffee and an expression that said he was deeply disappointed in my life choices.“You maneuvered this,” he said.“I run a company,” I replied calmly. “I manage logistics.”“You rewrote the department participation structur