Third Person's POV The moment the car door shut, the driver lifted the opaque divider and fixed his eyes ahead, steering toward the airport without a single glance backward. In the sealed backseat, Aysel straddled Magnus, knees parted as she sat facing him on his lap. Her arms looped around his neck; his large Alpha hands gripped her waist, pulling her in as the two kissed with a fierce, unrestrained longing. The enclosed space filled with soft, wet sounds-hungry, lingering, impossible to ignore. Magnus tightened his hold, pressing her so close she could feel the rough, heated cadence of his breath against the curve of her neck. "Baby... let's go home, please?" he rasped, inhaling the sweet, moonlit scent unique to her-his Aysel, his mate. His words tangled, almost slurred by instinct. "I'll book the flight right now. We'll leave together." Then, voice dipping into the delirious edge of an Alpha overcome by separation anxiety, he murmured, "If you could shrink, I'd tuck you into my luggage and never let you out." "Mm-kiss... kiss..." He peppered her face and crystalline-soft lips with desperate kisses, unable to break away, mouth brushing, returning, pressing again, even grazing her lower lip with the tip of his teeth in a playful nip only wolves made when reluctant to part. Aysel answered in kind-tiny bites on his lower lip, soft, reluctant, aching. "At home, you have to miss me," she whispered against his mouth. "And you'll video-call me to sleep tomorrow night." She kissed his cheek again. "Work is important, but no late nights. I'll supervise you." Magnus traced her brow with reverence, wolf gaze dark and tender. "I'll listen to everything you say, baby." He kissed her fingers. "If you have nightmares, call me. Don't worry about anything in Moonvale. I'll handle it all." "Magnus."She pouted, lips trembling slightly. "Kiss." He huffed a soft laugh, then captured her mouth in a deep, heated kiss. By the time the car finally stopped at the airport, the driver had already stepped out to give them privacy, and the two in the back only separated when they both realized Magnus would soon be too flushed, too scent-marked, too visibly lovesick to be presentable. At the gate, Aysel's eyes reddened. She hugged Magnus one last time. "Wait for me to come home." Magnus's chest tightened. He kissed her forehead. "I'll wait." Moonvale Pack Fenrir returned home exhausted, only to find workers moving back and forth throughout the estate. He frowned and called to a servant. "What's going on?" The servant replied nervously, "Luna Evelyn instructed us to renovate the Second Young Lady's room." Ever since Aysel had "left the country," the atmosphere in the Moonvale Pack estate had grown unbearably heavy. Alpha Remus and Fenrir were buried in constant work, their expressions worsening by the day. The youngest, Lykos had moved to a dorm near his academy, barely returning once in ten or fifteen days. After falling ill, Luna Evelyn had become withdrawn, murmuring to herself through tears. Even the servants acted cautiously, voices low, steps light. Fenrir rubbed his brow in frustration and waved the servant off. He glanced toward the second floor, took a steadying breath, and climbed the stairs to find Luna Evelyn. She sat on the carpet of a storage room, surrounded by several worn boxes. Their contents-small, childlike objects-were scattered around her. Fenrir crouched, picking up an old doll."Mother... why are you sorting through these?" Luna Evelyn had grown thin-sharply, painfully so. The truth about Celestine had shattered her: the daughter she had raised with care had committed acts so cruel and vicious she could hardly bear the thought. At the theater that day, when the elite matrons whispered behind their fans, mocking her for being blind, she had swallowed each word like poison. She stopped attending socials, leaving home only to visit Celestine in the Shadowcrest detainment ward. Reexamining the family with clearer eyes, she realized-too late-how much she had owed Aysel. And she feared, deep in her bones, that the "accident" that ended Aysel's dance career might indeed have been Celestine's doing. She took the doll from Fenrir's hands. "This belonged to Aysel." Her expression twisted between laughter and grief. "I only just realized... after she turned six, I never bought her another toy."