Chapter 54

Ryker

I stood beside the bed, watching Avery sleep in the soft lamplight. Her breathing had finally evened out, her small body curled on its side, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. She looked impossibly young like this, fragile in a way that made my chest ache with the need to protect her from everything—from the cruelty of her family, from wolves like Axel, from a world that had taught her she