"You're not angry with me anymore, are you?" Elliot asked as he moved closer, settling beside me on the lounge seat. His Alpha presence always carried that subtle pressure—controlled, restrained, but still impossible to ignore in a room charged with pack energy.
"I'm not angry," I answered too quickly, my wolf instincts still bristling from earlier. I turned away, refusing to meet his gaze for too long, because something in me didn't trust how easily his proximity unsettled my bond. "I said things I shouldn't have. Just… don't overthink it."
"I'm going back to the den," I added, pushing myself up. I needed space, distance from the pull of his dominance that always made my instincts blur.
I barely made it a step before his hand closed around my wrist—firm, not painful, but Alpha-strong. In one fluid motion, he pulled me back, and suddenly I was on his lap, trapped against his chest like I weighed nothing at all.
