Chapter 81. Louis’s Awakening

Louis’s POV

The palace is quiet tonight. For the first time since the war began, no alarms, no gunfire, no screams. Just the faint hum of the medical ward’s generators and the steady rhythm of snow falling against the windows.

Louis’s room is dim, with only the blue light of the monitors breaking the darkness. He’s propped up against the pillows, eyes half-open, staring at nothing. His skin is pale but no longer bloodless. The faint outline of my mark glows against his throat, pulsing softly with his heartbeat.

He wanted to move back to his room in the Alpha wing of the palace, but the healers want him here for a few more days. He fought and pouted like a child, but in the end, Levi pulled his age rank and sent him back to the medical ward.

I linger in the doorway for a long moment, unsure if I should go in. The last time I saw him like this, he wasn’t breathing.

“Are you going to stand there all night?”

His voice is rough, but it’s there.<