Aurelius’s POV

After the hallway incident, Ivan went quiet.

For three days, he stopped showing up at my morning workouts. Stopped engineering “accidental” encounters. Stopped with the provocative clothing and the heated looks. He was polite when I accompanied him to business meetings with his father, professional when I drove him to appointments in the city. But the playful flirtation was gone, replaced by a careful distance that should have been a relief.

It wasn’t.

My wolf was restless, pacing constantly, agitated by Ivan’s withdrawal. And I… I was going slowly insane wondering what I’d done wrong by doing exactly what I was supposed to do.

On the fourth night,...