Lucas was quiet for a moment. Then: "The pack has been without a Lord's mate for generations. I waited four years for you. I would have waited longer. But the bond—it changes things for wolves. More than it might for serpents or birds or fish."
"Mer," Zale corrected mildly.
"Mer," Lucas acknowledged. "The pack knows what you are to me. They know the bond exists. But they don't know what it means for them. For the territory. For the future."
Alex understood, suddenly, what Lucas wasn't saying. "You need something permanent. Something that tells the pack this is real."
"The sanctuary is permanent," Lucas said. "That helps. But there's a difference between neutral ground and home. Between a place where wolves are tolerated and a place where the Wolf Lord's mate lives."
"You want to live here."
