The sound broke the bedroom's stillness like a stone through still water.
Kade rose from the edge of the bed in one fluid motion, the Alpha surfacing over the man with the speed of reflex. His expression sharpened.
"Takoda."
His voice was leveled and not raised, because it did not need to be. The power that lived in it carried its own volume.
"You knock before entering a room."
The words held their line without softening. There was no cruelty in them, but there was no yield either. A rule was a rule, and rules existed for reasons, and some of those reasons were lying in the bed behind him still working her way back to herself. He would hold that line even now. Especially now. Even against three years of missed mornings and a small face bright with the uncomplicated relief of being in the same room as the people she loved.
