Rook tensed slightly but nodded.
"What happened with your pack? The one you left?"
For a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer. His jaw tightened and his eyes fixed on the dying fire with an intensity that suggested he was seeing something else entirely.
"They didn't want me," his voice low and rough. "Or rather, they wanted parts of me. The strength, the fighting skills, the tactical mind. But not the rest. Not the questions, the doubts, the refusal to blindly follow."
"They kicked you out for thinking for yourself?" The injustice of it made my blood boil.
A bitter smile touched his lips. "They called it 'challenging the hierarchy.' Said I was disruptive, dangerous. The Alpha gave me a choice. Submit completely or leave." He tossed his stick into the fire. "I left."
"How long ago was that?"
"Twelve years." The words held the weight of a much longer time, years of solitude and self-reliance that had shaped him into the man beside me.
Without thinking, I reached out, placing my hand over his where it rested on the log between us. "Their loss."
He looked down at our hands, then up at me, something raw and unguarded in his expression. "You don't know what I was like then. Angry. Volatile."
"And now you're a paragon of calm and stability," I teased gently.
That earned me a genuine smile, brief but transformative. "Compared to then? Yes."
I squeezed his hand. "Well, for what it's worth, I like who you are now. Grumpiness, overprotectiveness, and all."
His fingers shifted, turning to intertwine with mine. The simple contact sent warmth spreading up my arm, having nothing to do with the fire's heat.
"The wolf...it wants to protect what it considers its own," his voice was careful. "Sometimes that instinct is hard to control."
"Is that what I am? Yours to protect?" The question came out softer than I intended.
His eyes met mine, amber depths reflecting something primal and ancient. "You're more than that. You're," he struggled for words, emotions clearly not his native language. "Important. To the wolf. To me."
My heart stuttered in my chest. Coming from Rook, those simple words held more weight than flowery declarations might from someone else.
"You're important to me too," I admitted. "All of you are. In different ways."
"I know." His thumb traced small circles on the back of my hand. "I'm trying to make peace with that."
"The whole 'Harbinger belongs to all' thing?"
He nodded. "It goes against wolf nature. Sharing is not our strong suit."
"Yet here you are, sharing a campfire and holding hands. Very evolved of you."
That earned me another smile, slightly wider this time. "Don't get used to it. I might revert to growling and territorial displays at any moment."
"I'd expect nothing less," I laughed softly.
The embers had dimmed to a soft glow, and the night had grown cooler. I shivered slightly, the day's swimming and sun leaving me more tired than I'd realized.
"Cold?" Rook was immediately alert to my discomfort.
"A little. I should probably head in."
Instead of releasing my hand, he shifted closer, his arm coming around my shoulders in a gesture that seemed to surprise him as much as me. His body radiated heat like a furnace, immediately warming me.
"Better?" His voice had dropped lower, a rumble I could feel where our sides pressed together.
