Night wrapped the estate in quiet darkness.
The wind carried uneasy silence.
Clouds drifted slowly across the moon while the old stone mansion rested beneath the dim silver light like a fortress holding too many memories inside its walls, and though the grounds appeared calm the fragile bond connecting two souls within the estate pulsed faintly with unresolved emotion that neither time nor victory had managed to heal.
Elara stood alone on the balcony.
Her fingers rested against the cold railing.
The forest beyond the hills stretched endlessly beneath the night sky where shadows blended together like whispers hiding secrets among the trees, and the distant howl of a wandering wolf drifted softly across the valley as though the wilderness itself sensed the storm quietly brewing inside her heart.
She exhaled slowly.
The mate bond stirred again.
