<b>Natalia </b>stood frozen, her hand still suspended in mid–air as Alexander’s presence filled the boutique. His eyes were cold steel, locked on her like a predator assessing prey.


    “My card,” he said, his voice deceptively calm.


    She dropped the card onto the counter as if it had burned her, forcing a brittleugh. “Alex, darling, I was just having a little fun with your… guest.”


    “Apologize to my mate. Now.”


    Themand in his voice was unmistakable – pure Alpha authority that made even me shiver slightly. Natalia’s face paled beneath her perfect makeup.


    <b>“</b>I’m… sorry,” she muttered, the words dripping with insincerity.


    I lifted my chin, meeting her gaze directly. “Your apology is as genuine as your highlights, but <b>I’ll </b>ept it anyway.<b>” </b>


    Alexander’s lips twitched slightly at myment before his expression hardened again. He moved to stand beside me, his arm wrapping possessively around my waist.


    “We’re done here,” I said to the saleswoman, who looked eager to escape the tension. “I’ll take the dress.”


    As we left the boutique with my purchase, I could feel Natalia’s hateful stare burning into my back. I refused to give her the satisfaction of looking back.


    “Don’t let her get to you,” Lyra whispered, waddling slightly beside me with her pregnant belly. “That woman has been desperate for Alexander for years.”


    I squeezed her hand. “She can stay desperate.”


    The day of the Felix Winster Foundation g arrived with a flutter of nervous anticipation in my stomach. Lyra had insisted on doing my makeup despite my protests that she should rest.


    “I’m pregnant, not dying,” she huffed, carefully applying highlighter to my cheekbones. “But, there’s no <b>way </b>I’m attending that circus.I’m pretty sure Felix would cut me some ck.Too many people, too many judgmental eyes on my belly.”


    “You know Alexander would make sure-”


    “Summer,” she cut me off gently, “I love you, but I’m seven months pregnant. The only g I’m interested in is the one where I sit on my couch eating ice cream while watching trashy TV.”


    Iughed, conceding defeat. “Fair enough.”


    <b>Lyra </b>stepped back, brush still in hand, and gave me a satisfied nod.“There. You look like vengeance in silk.”


    I raised an eyebrow at her in the mirror.


    She smirked. “The ssy kind.”


    I smiled, just a little. Then turned my attention back to the reflection in front of me<b>. </b>


    I smoothed my hands over the delicate silver chiffon of my gown, watching as the mother–of–pearl embellishments caught the light from my vanity mirror. Tonight was important–more than just a charity g, it was my first formal appearance since Felix’s death. My first chance to show the world that while I was broken, I refused to be destroyed.


    My hands trembled slightly as I fastened the teardrop diamond earrings Alexander had gifted me. These


    past months had been the darkest of my life, punctuated by moments of unbearable grief that threatened to consume me whole. But somehow, with Alexander’s steady presence and my own desperate determination to honor Felix’s memory, I’d found a way to keep breathing.


    A gentle knock at the bedroom door pulled me from my thoughts.


    “Summer? Are you ready<b>, </b>sweetheart?” Alexander’s deep voice called.


    <b>“</b>Just a moment,” I replied, taking one final look at my reflection.


    The woman staring back hardly resembled the broken she–wolf who had lost her son. My long dark hair


    was swept into an elegant updo, my makeup tastefully applied to enhance rather than hide. The silver


    gown hugged my curves before cascading to the floor in ethereal waves, the slit along one side revealing


    just enough leg to be alluring without being inappropriate.


    I smoothed a hand over the small silver wolf pendant resting against my corbone–a miniature replica


    of Felix’s wolf form that Alexander hadmissioned for me. My mate bond to Alexander pulsed warmly in response to my thoughts of him, aforting presence that had be my anchor.


    With a deep breath, I opened the door.


    Alexander stood in the hallway<b>, </b>magnificent in his ck tuxedo. His powerful Alpha frame filled the


    doorway, but it was the expression in his eyes that made my breath catch. The moment he saw me, those piercing blue eyes softened with such profound tenderness that my wolf, Luna, whined with pleasure


    inside me.


    “Goddess above<i>,</i>” he whispered, his gaze traveling slowly from my face down to my silver heels and back


    again. “You are absolutely breathtaking.”