Alex's POV
The celebration following the shifting ceremony had been one of the liveliest nights our pack had experienced in months, yet even the laughter, the music, and the teasing from my friends could not pull me entirely away from the quiet, overwhelming truth beating in my chest, that I finally had a mate. A real mate. A true mate. The one my wolf and I had prayed for countless times under different moons.
And she was standing right beside me now.
Daisy.
Petite. Soft‑spoken. Bright‑eyed. A survivor wrapped in gentleness. She was not the loudest, the strongest, or the boldest, yet she possessed a radiance that had crept unnoticed into the corners of my world long before I realized it. When she shifted, and her wolf pushed through the fog of her fear, the bond snapped into place so strongly that I had nearly fallen to my knees from relief.
