**Gaia's POV**

I've never seen Astrein look like this before. His expression shifts—warmth replaced by cold displeasure. Not anger exactly, but something harder. More distant.

It's the first time he's shown me this side, and the contrast makes my curiosity intensify. Who is this woman?

The white wolf in human form stands before us, and I can't help but stare. She's breathtakingly beautiful—the kind of beauty that belongs in paintings or ballrooms, not pack courtyards. ...