CHAPTER 213

CHAPTER 213
The night continued to envelop the Silver Pack residence in a mantle of serenity that rarely graced an alpha's territory. Outside, the sentinels still patrolled the edges of the forest, torches burned steadily atop the stone walls, and the occasional howls of the guardian wolves drifted through the ancient trees as a reminder that peace was never permanent. Yet within that corridor, softly illuminated by the silver light filtering through the great windows, time itself seemed to have stopped moving, as though the Moon Goddess had chosen to grant them a brief reprieve before fate once again came to claim what belonged to it.

Geneva remained nestled against Catalina, listening to the calm rhythm of her breathing, a sound that was becoming as essential to her as the air itself. She had never imagined that peace could possess a scent, a warmth, or even a texture, yet there, sheltered within the alpha's embrace, she discovered that it could. The dark wool of Catalina's shirt still held the warmth of her body, while the unmistakable scent of her wolf, as deep as a conifer forest after the rain, surrounded every one of Geneva's senses until, if only for a moment, she could forget the invisible scars she still carried upon her soul.

Catalina, for her part, had no desire to bring that moment to an end. For years she had learned that every peaceful moment was nothing more than a brief truce before the next conflict, which was why she had always lived ready to act, to respond, to protect. Yet beside Geneva she experienced something entirely different; it was not a pause before another battle, but a place where she could stop fighting for a few precious minutes without feeling guilty for doing so.

"You're very quiet," Catalina murmured as she slowly caressed Geneva's back.

The she-wolf lifted her face just enough to look at her.

"I'm trying to memorize this moment."

The alpha smiled softly.

"Memorize it?"

"Yes."

Catalina frowned slightly.

"Why?"

Geneva drew a deep breath before answering.

"Because for a long time, the only memories I kept were the ones that hurt. I learned to survive by reliving the worst moments of my life over and over again so I'd never let my guard down. Now... I want to do the opposite."

Catalina remained silent.

"I want to remember this with the same clarity I once remembered fear. I want to remember the sound of your voice when you speak softly, the warmth of your hands when you hold me, the way your heartbeat changes its rhythm whenever you smile, even when you try to hide it. I want to fill my memory with something that doesn't hurt me."

Catalina's breathing grew deeper. No one had ever described a feeling to her with such honesty.

"Geneva..."

She offered a faint smile.

"Do you know what's strange?"

"What?"

"For many years, I believed forgetting was the only way to heal."

Slowly, she raised her hand to gently trace the edge of Catalina's jaw.

"But with you, I'm discovering that healing also means beginning to remember beautiful things."

Those words completely disarmed the alpha.

Accustomed to resolving conflicts through strategy, authority, and strength, she had no defense against a woman who spoke from such a profoundly sincere place.

With infinite tenderness, she took Geneva's hand and slowly kissed the center of her palm, a gesture that surprised even Geneva herself.

Her eyes widened slightly.

"I didn't know you did that."

Catalina smiled with a hint of shyness.

"Neither did I."

Geneva let out a soft laugh.

"Then I suppose we're still discovering new things."

"It seems we are."

A brief silence followed, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was a silence filled with shared breaths, quiet smiles, and glances that no longer needed to hide.

It was Geneva who spoke again.

"Can I ask you something?"

"As many questions as you like."

"Weren't you ever afraid of falling in love?"

Catalina remained motionless for several seconds.

Not because she didn't want to answer.

But because she had never truly allowed herself to think about it.

"Yes."

The answer came out in a whisper.

"Terrified."

Geneva watched her carefully.

"Why?"

Catalina slowly released the breath she had been holding.

"Because an alpha always has enemies. Rivals don't always attack head-on. Sometimes they go after the people you love so they can destroy you through them. I grew up watching the families of former leaders become bargaining chips, seeing children inherit wars they had never started, and destined mates become the greatest vulnerability of powerful alphas. I eventually convinced myself that the only way to protect someone was to never let them become important enough to hurt."

Geneva felt a sharp ache in her chest.

"That must have been incredibly lonely."

Catalina smiled sadly.

"It was."

She slowly lowered her gaze.

"I became so accustomed to that loneliness that I eventually convinced myself it was my nature."

Geneva gently took both of Catalina's hands in hers.

"No."

The alpha looked at her again.

"You weren't born to be alone."

The certainty with which those words were spoken made Catalina feel something inside her crack open.

"How can you say that with such confidence?"

Geneva smiled gently.

"Because all I have to do is watch you with Noa, Alan, Nicolás... even with the pack's pups. You always try to look stern, but your eyes tell an entirely different story. You never stopped taking care of your people. You simply forgot that someone could take care of you too."

Catalina let out a quiet laugh.

"I'm beginning to think you're far too observant."

"It's because of my old life."

"How so?"

"When someone spends so many years locked away, they learn to read the smallest changes in people. A different breath, the movement of a hand, a shift in someone's voice... any of it could mean that day would bring either punishment or another chance to survive."

For a brief instant, the light faded from her eyes.

"It was the only way to stay alive."

Catalina felt her heart tighten painfully.

Without thinking twice, she embraced Geneva again.

This time more tightly.

With a need that was impossible to hide.

Geneva closed her eyes immediately.

"It's over now," Catalina whispered beside her ear.

The she-wolf took a slow, steady breath.

"I know."

"They'll never hurt you again."

Geneva smiled with quiet melancholy.

"There are wounds no one can reopen because they've already learned how to live inside you."

Catalina slowly shook her head.

"Then we'll face them together."

Geneva rested one hand against the alpha's back.

"You always speak in the plural."

Catalina smiled.

"Because a long time ago, I stopped thinking only about myself."

The she-wolf lifted her face until they were looking directly at each other.

"I like that."

"Only that?"

Geneva pretended to think about it.

"I also like it when you stop talking like an alpha."

Catalina raised an amused eyebrow.

"And how do I sound now?"

Geneva slowly traced the outline of her face with her fingertips.

"Like a woman who's finally allowing herself to be happy."

That sentence brought a deep silence between them.

Catalina closed her eyes for a few seconds.

She had never associated happiness with herself.

She had fought for the safety of the pack.

For the well-being of her people.

For the future of the pups.

But never for her own.

Geneva gently caressed her cheek.

"What are you thinking about?"

Catalina slowly opened her eyes.

"That I've spent so many years teaching everyone else how to be strong... that I forgot to learn how to be happy."

Geneva smiled with overwhelming tenderness.

"Then we'll learn together."

"Do you think it's not too late for us?"

Geneva didn't answer immediately.

She simply cupped Catalina's face with both hands and kissed her with infinite calm, a long, unhurried, deeply intimate kiss in which there was no urgency born of desire, only the need to express everything words could never fully say. When they finally parted, she rested her forehead against Catalina's and smiled with the peaceful serenity that little by little had begun to illuminate her face once again.

"As long as we're still breathing beneath the same moon... it will never be too late."

Catalina gazed into those eyes so full of life and realized that, for the first time since inheriting leadership of the Silver Pack, she desired something for herself without feeling guilty for it.

She wanted a future.

And in that future, Geneva already held a place that nothing and no one could ever replace.