Chapter 169 One-hundred And Sixty-nine

• Abel
• Six weeks. Six weeks of waking up with Millicent in my arms every morning, of making decisions together, of presenting ourselves to the pack as a united front. Six weeks of the broken bond aching less each day, as if proximity alone was slowly healing what I'd so stupidly severed. And now, on this quiet Thursday morning, I knew with bone-deep certainty that she was ready, even if she hadn't admitted it to herself yet.
• I'd been awake for the past twenty minutes, just watching her sleep. Creepy? Maybe. But I'd spent months without her, and I wasn't taking a single moment for granted now. She was curled against my side, one hand splayed possessively across my chest, her hair a wild tangle across my pillow. Our pillow, technically, since she'd commandeered my favorite one weeks ago.