“Can we just enjoy this moment?” I asked, and he wore a questioning expression. “By not dwelling on the ex that hurt me,” I finished, choosing my words carefully.

“I…” Rho cut in, interrupting the King’s next sentence.

“Alpha Bright wants to meet you,” he announced.

“I will be back very soon,” he promised as he left.

Not long after Valtor and Rho had gone, a silhouette behind me drew my attention; someone was standing to my right, and something about the slope of that back, the way the shoulders set against the collar, tugged at a memory I could not yet name.

I felt an odd, magnetic familiarity, an...