Chapter 72

• Celeste’s POV
• Elijah had set up the account quickly, naming it “T.” He snapped a casual photo, catching the curve of his shoulder, the delicate sweep of his earlobe, and the line of his neck—something intimate, but not revealing. As he showed me the screen, I felt the faint stirrings of curiosity.
• While explaining the steps to me, he picked up the painting I’d done—the snow-laden green bamboo, heavy with cold resilience—and made a simple video out of it. Watching him work with such care, I felt a flicker of something I hadn’t felt in years: trust. Not naive trust, not the kind you give when you’re defenseless, but the kind born from seeing a wolf’s integrity.