Free Web NovelChapter 13: Morning Shifts
I woke up to sunlight and the smell of rain before a storm.
Riven.
He was still there. Still holding me. His chest rose and fell in the slow rhythm of sleep, one arm draped over my waist, the other tucked under his head.
I should have moved. Should have put distance between us before this got more complicated than it already was.
I didn’t move.
The heat had dropped. Not gone — I could still feel it humming under my skin — but manageable. Survivable. Like my body had decided to give me a break after burning me alive for twelve straight hours.
Small mercies.
Riven’s eyes opened. No confusion. No disorientation. Just awake and aware like he’d been waiting for me to wake up first.
"How do you feel." His voice came out rough with sleep.
"Better." I cleared my throat. "The spike broke."
"I know. I felt it around four."
"You stayed up."
"Someone had to make sure your fever didn’t climb again." He shifted slightly. Gave me space without actually letting go. "Are you hungry?"
My stomach answered before I could.
He smiled. Actually smiled. "I’ll take that as a yes."
The pack house kitchen was busier than I’d seen it.
Wolves moved through in a comfortable chaos — grabbing breakfast, pouring coffee, arguing over who’d left the milk out overnight. Normal pack life. The kind I’d only ever seen from a distance.
I stood in the doorway and felt like an intruder.
Riven’s hand found the small of my back. "You’re fine. Come on."
He guided me to the counter where someone had already laid out plates. Eggs. Toast. Bacon. More food than I’d seen in one place since before my mother died.
I grabbed a plate. Started loading it.
"Selene."
I looked up.
Isabelle stood on the other side of the counter. Mid-twenties, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, the kind of face that looked like it smiled easily when it wanted to.
Right now she looked cautious.
"I’m Isabelle." She wiped her hands on a dish towel. "I run the kitchen rotations."
"Okay."
"I just wanted to say—" She glanced at Riven. Back at me. "If you need anything. Or if pack dynamics get overwhelming. I’m around."
It was the gentlest offer of friendship I’d received in years.
I didn’t know what to do with it.
"Thanks." The word came out stiffer than I meant.
She nodded. Went back to the stove.
Riven leaned in. "She’s good people. Give her a chance."
"I didn’t say I wouldn’t."
"You’re doing your exit-mapping face."
I shot him a look. "I don’t have an exit-mapping face."
"You absolutely do." He grabbed his own plate. "There are currently three routes you’ve clocked from here to the nearest door."
He wasn’t wrong.
I followed him to one of the long tables. Sat. Started eating because my body demanded it and I’d learned not to ignore basic needs when I actually had access to food.
The bacon tasted like heaven.
I was three bites in when I felt it.
The prickling awareness on the back of my neck. The specific quality of being watched by someone who didn’t want to be noticed doing it.
I turned my head slowly.
Thorne sat at the far end of the table. Alone. Plate in front of him he’d barely touched.
Amber eyes locked on mine.
I’d forgotten how direct his stare was. How it cut through all the pack house noise and landed with weight.
He didn’t look away.
Neither did I.
Riven noticed. "He’s been worried."
"About what."
"You. Your heat. Whether you were going to let any of us help or burn yourself out trying to prove you didn’t need us."
I looked back at Thorne. He’d gone back to his plate. Moved food around without eating it.
"He doesn’t talk much," I said.
"No." Riven took a drink of coffee. "But he listens. And he notices things most people miss."
I watched Thorne push eggs around his plate. Watched his jaw work like he was chewing on words he’d decided not to say. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Is he always this—"
"Isolated?" Riven followed my gaze. "Yeah. Feral wolves don’t integrate easily. He’s been with the pack eight years and most of them still treat him like he might snap."
"Will he?"
"Not unless you corner him or come at him wrong." He set his mug down. "But he won’t hurt you. If anything, he’s more careful around you than the rest of us."
"Why."
"Because he knows what it’s like to be feared for what you are instead of who."
I looked at Thorne again. This time he was looking back.
We held each other’s gaze across fifteen feet of crowded pack house kitchen. I couldn’t read his expression. Didn’t know if what I was seeing was interest or assessment or just the baseline intensity he seemed to carry everywhere.
Then he stood. Grabbed his plate. Left without a word to anyone.
I watched him go.
"He’ll come around," Riven said quietly. "Give him time."
"I’m not asking him to come around."
"No. But you want to understand him. I can feel it through the link."
I’d forgotten the link was open.
I slammed it shut.
Riven didn’t react. Just went back to his breakfast like I hadn’t just kicked him out of my head.
"Sorry," I muttered.
"Don’t be. Your boundaries are your boundaries." He ate another bite. "But for what it’s worth? You don’t have to wall us out to feel safe."
"What if I don’t know how to feel safe without walls."
"Then we teach you." He looked at me. "If you let us."
I spent the afternoon in the library.
Not reading. Just existing in a space that was quiet and mine and didn’t demand anything from me.
The heat had settled into a low constant burn. Uncomfortable but survivable. My body’s way of reminding me the clock was ticking without actively trying to kill me.
I could work with that.
I was staring at the same book I’d been holding yesterday when I heard it.
Not footsteps. Just the awareness of someone in the doorway.
I looked up.
Thorne.
He stood in the entrance like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to be there. Like the library was my space and he was waiting for permission.
"Hi." My voice came out quieter than I meant.
He nodded. Didn’t speak.
We looked at each other.
The silence stretched. Not uncomfortable. Just... there. The kind of quiet that didn’t need to be filled.
"You can come in," I said finally. "If you want."
He considered that. Then he stepped inside. Didn’t come close. Just took a seat in one of the chairs near the window — far enough to give me space, close enough to be in the room.
He pulled a book off the shelf beside him. Opened it.
We sat in silence.
I read my paragraph three more times and retained nothing. But having him there — present without demanding anything — settled my nerves in ways I hadn’t expected.
Twenty minutes passed.
Neither of us spoke.
Then he closed his book. Stood. Looked at me with those amber eyes that saw too much.
"You’re safe here."
Three words. Rough and quiet and absolutely certain.
Then he left.
I sat in the library alone with my heart doing strange things and the realization that the feral wolf who barely spoke had just offered me the one thing I’d been searching for since my mother died.
Safety.
Not the kind you fight for. The kind you’re given. No conditions.
I pressed my palm flat against my chest and felt the heat pulse underneath.
Four of them. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
God help me, I was already in too deep.
