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I let out a slow breath, my jaw tightening. “Yeah. We do.”

“We’ll figure it out. Together.” He said it so simply, like it was a fact. Like it wasn’t something I needed to carry on my own. “Go back to sleep now, Wildcat,” he commanded, and I closed my eyes.

For the moment, I let myself drift, safe in his arms, my last conscious thought nothing more than a quiet, whispered truth.

I belonged here with him, as his mate.

* * *

The soft knock at the door pulled me from sleep.

I groaned, rolling over, my body still aching from everything that Silas had put me through. The warmth beside me was gone, and as my eyes fluttered open, I realized he had already moved, his weight shifting the mattress as he sat up.

Another knock. More insistent this time.

Silas swung his legs over the edge of the bed, running a hand through his messy hair before grabbing a pair of pants and yanking them on. He cast a glance over his shoulder at me, his golden eyes still hazy with sleep.

“Stay here,” he ordered.

I sat up, blinking blearily at the door as he strode across the cabin. I grabbed his shirt off the edge of the bed and pulled it on, covering up just in case. The second he opened the door, though, the breath rushed from my lungs.

Kendra stood in the doorway.

For a split second, she just stared at Silas, her eyes narrowing in instant suspicion. Then her gaze flicked past him and landed straight on me.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. “Lia!”

I was off the bed before I could think, my legs tangling in the blankets as I practically lunged at her.

Kendra barely had time to brace herself before I crashed into her, throwing my arms around her shoulders, clinging to her like she might vanish if I let go.

She wasn’t just some familiar face from the past—Kendra wasfamily. We’d survived together in the city for years, scraped by on stolen food, hiding from patrols and keeping each other alive. She and Mariah had been the first people to ever look out for me without wanting something in return. The three of us had been through hell, and we’d been there for each other through every second of it.

“You’re alive,” I breathed. My throat constricting, eyes burning. “I thought?—”

“Youthought?” Kendra pulled back just enough to glare at me. “Bitch, I thought you were back in the city.”

I laughed—a breathless, disbelieving sound—because I hadn’t let myself hope for this, for her.

Her fingers clamped over my shoulders, her eyes scanning me, like she was checking for injuries, making sure I was real. Then her gaze flicked over to Silas, lingering on him, taking in his half-dressed state.

She raised a single eyebrow.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

Silas, who had been watching our reunion with his usual inscrutable expression, leaned lazily against the doorframe, arms crossed over his broad chest.

“Lia’s mine.” His voice was calm, steady, unflinching. “And I won’t hear anything different.”

Kendra turned slowly back to me, lips pursing.

She snorted. “Oh, you poor, delusional bastard.”

Silas narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”

Kendra smirked, folding her arms. “I understand the whole overbearing Alpha thing better than you know,” she declared, then muttered under her breath, “Trust me.”

My brows furrowed. “What does that mean?”