She hesitated, her feet rooted to the floor. "Kade?"
"Yes."
"…What happens now?"
He was silent for a moment, his gaze drifting once more over the shattered boardroom, the tomb of her old life, before returning to her. The look in his eyes was a promise.
"Now," he said quietly, guiding her toward the door, "you heal."
"Heal?" How could someone heal from all this? How could someone overcome all this?
Kade had never experienced this, the slow, deliberate unraveling of someone who'd spent their entire life holding themselves together with fraying threads. He knew battles. Knew strategy. Knew how to conquer territory and break enemies and command respect through sheer force of will.
But this? The careful, patient work of helping someone piece themselves back together? He had no reference point. No tactical manual. No inherited wisdom passed down through generations of Alpha Kings.
