THE ALPHA’S REGRET
“Maria, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you think it gets easier? Being here?”
Maria’s face softened. For a moment, she looked genuinely sad.
“No, Miss Leslie,” she said quietly. “It doesn’t get easier. You just get used to it.”
The words hit Leslie like a punch.
Maria reached out and touched her arm gently. “But you’re stronger than you think. I can see it.”
Something passed through Maria’s eyes when she said it. Something old and knowing, the look of a she-wolf who recognizes what she is standing next to and knows better than to say it out loud.