Ivan’s POV

I’d never been patient. Not really. But I’d learned restraint in London, how to wait, how to play the long game, how to hide what I wanted until the perfect moment to strike.

With Aurelius, I was done waiting.

The library had changed something between us. He’d admitted I was his mate, whatever that meant in wolf terms. He’d looked at me like I was everything he wanted and everything he feared. And then he’d run.

Again.

So I decided to stop giving him places to run to.

Day one of my new strategy started at 5 AM. I’d set three alarms to make sure I woke up,...