The hall doors suddenly opened again.

Several wolves turned immediately.

A guard stepped aside quickly, and then Adele walked in with Alpha Blackfen beside her.

The reaction inside the hall shifted almost instantly. The wolves closest to the entrance bowed immediately in reverence.

"Alpha Blackfen." they greated.

Alpha Blackfen barely acknowledged them.

His massive frame carried his signature quiet authority as he moved through the hall with Adele beside him.

He wore black as usual with heavy white fur rested over his shoulders. Beside him, Adele looked calm.

Her chin remained lifted gracefully, and her expression revealed almost nothing.

However, the moment she stepped inside, Torak’s entire world stopped completely.

The noise inside the hall dulled into a distant and hollow sound.

He had not seen her in weeks. For weeks, he had not heard her voice without memory interfering.

His fist clencged and unclenched at the sight of her as she stood there again beneath the golden light of the hall looking so painfully familiar that his chest physically tightened.

Torak stared before he could stop himself.

His heart dropped hard into his stomach. The longing hit him so suddenly it almost made him take a step forward without thought.

Adele on the other hand, pretended to glance around the hall politely. However, she was looking for him. Only him.

The moment her eyes found his across the distance, her breath caught softly in her throat.

Torak saw the tiny swallow that followed her gaze. He also saw the way her fingers tightened faintly against the fabric of her sleeve before she looked away immediately.

Then she looked away composed, like she hadn’t just found the only person she came into the room searching for.

Torak’s jaw clenched sharply.

Gods.

Weeks apart and somehow she still undid him instantly.

"I heard what happened," Alpha Blackfen said once he reached King Elijah.

His voice carried heavily across the hall.

King Elijah inclined his head respectfully. "Alpha Blackfen."

Blackfen bowed once lightly before straightening again, then his eyes shifted toward Aire.

"Luna." He bowed slightly toward her too.

Aire looked visibly startled by the respect. Most wolves had barely looked at her without fear lately.

Alpha Blackfen straightened slowly afterward.

"The eastern disappearances reached my territory this morning," he continued. "I came immediately."

King Elijah’s expression darkened again. "We are still gathering reports."

Blackfen nodded once.

He looked toward the council table briefly before his gaze moved through the hall carefully.

Torak finally forced himself to breathe again.

Adele stood several feet from him now, too close, and still impossibly far.

She wore deep blue tonight. The color wrapped softly around her figure beneath a silver cloak lined carefully at the shoulders.

Torak noticed everything instantly. He saw the slight tiredness beneath her eyes, and the fact she’d braided her hair differently.

Gods.

He missed her.

The realization hit him so brutally he almost looked away first. Instead, he stayed still, rigid, and controlled.

The hall was full of watching eyes, and hr could never be careless. At least, not again, and never here.

Adele finally looked toward him again despite herself.

Just one glance, and it nearly destroyed him.

Torak looked away immediately afterward before his control cracked visibly.

One of the military heads began speaking again near Elijah, discussing patrol routes and missing wolves, but Torak barely heard any of it.

Adele was here. She was close enough to touch if he lost his mind for even one second.

A servant passed between them carrying documents.

For one brief moment the movement shielded them from direct view.

Torak moved before he could think better of it. He did not walk toward her fully. He walked past her, close enough for his shoulder to nearly brushed hers as he walked.

And god, her scent hit him instantly. His whole world sparked alive atvher soft, warm. And familiar scent.

The breath Torak drew afterward felt almost painful. It was so pretty to think that all along, there’s an invisible string tying him to her.

For a second, his lungs had forgotten how to work properly without her near.

Adele went completely still beside him.

Torak kept walking because if he stopped.... If he stopped he might touch her, and if he touched her here, before everyone, he genuinely did not trust himself to let go afterward.

Adele’s fingers tightened subtly against her skirts.

Torak heard the tiny hitch in her breathing when he walked past. He closed his eyes briefly while continuing forward.

His yearning for her had become something dangerous now. It lived beneath skin and bone until it hollowed him out slowly.

He reached the far side of the hall and stopped beside one of the stone pillars, away from the sea of wolves who had slowly begin to leave the hall in light whispers.

Only then did he allow himself another glance.

Adele still faced forward beside Alpha Blackfen, composed beautifully. Yet, her throat moved softly once.

Torak’s chest tightened again.

"She looks pale," Xander muttered quietly as he approached him.

Torak didn’t answer immediately.

Xander followed his line of sight once before sighing softly beneath his breath. "You look worse."

Torak shot him a look.

Xander’s mouth almost twitched faintly despite the tension surrounding the hall. He chuckled softly under his breath, sounding all amused. "She’s looking at you every ten seconds." He said, the tension from earlier slowly leaving his shoulders, as half of the wolves made their way out.

Torak looked away again immediately. "Stop talking."

Xander folded his arms loosely. He smiled openly now, shaking his head in playful disbelief. "You walked past her just to smell her."

Torak finally looked at him sharply.

Xander lifted both hands slightly. "I’m not judging you."

Torak’s expression darkened. "Her father might hear you." He reminded.

Across the hall, Adele quietly accepted a goblet from one of the servants, but she never drank from it.

Her attention drifted once more, toward Torak.

Alpha Blackfen paused talking for a brief second, and immediately, he noticed it.

The older Alpha’s eyes flicked between them briefly before he looked away again without comment.

Knowing belief settled quietly into his expression.

Meanwhile, the discussion near King Elijah continued growing more heated.

"The wolves are demanding answers," one elder argued tightly. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"They are afraid."

"They should be," another muttered.

Alaric’s gaze shifted dangerously toward the speaker immediately.

The elder shut up fast. ’I hate this bustard,’ he cursed inwardly.

Aire stood silently through most of it.

Nate noticed the exhaustion beginning to settle visibly into her posture again.

Without thinking, he moved slightly closer beside her.

Whispers almost began again before Xander’s sharp glare silenced several wolves around him instantly.

The atmosphere remained fractured.

One wrong move from anyone here could still collapse everything.

Torak could only focus on Adele.

She finally turned slightly while Alpha Blackfen spoke with Elijah. Weeks of separation sat in her gaze.

Torak’s throat tightened painfully.

Adele looked away first again.

The knowledge that she also missed him nearly undid him where he stood.

A servant approached Adele quietly moments later to say something near her ear.

She nodded politely, then finally moved.

Torak watched helplessly as she crossed toward the western side of the hall beside Blackfen, further away from him again.

His wolf reacted immediately in irritation.

Torak dragged a hand slowly down his face afterward.