Chapter 56

• KNOX
• The heavy oak door of my private study creaks as I pace behind my mahogany desk, afternoon sunlight streaming through tall windows and casting long shadows across scattered reports. Three days have passed since the Awakening Ceremony, and while the ritual itself was flawless—the wolf spirits blessing our union with ethereal beauty that still makes my chest swell with pride—everything afterward has felt wrong. Like watching storm clouds gather on what should be a clear horizon.
• Noah sits in the leather chair across from my desk, his wire-rimmed glasses catching the light as he studies a collection of documents with growing concern. The familiar scratch of his pen fills the silence between us, but I can see the tension in his shoulders that mirrors my own unease.