Four days passed in what looked, on the surface, like routine training. Selene was taught gently, almost reverently, as if the ground itself might bruise her if she stepped too hard. Akashi corrected her posture with words instead of force, adjusted her grip with patience instead of reprimand, and stopped her long before her muscles began to tremble. She learned slowly, not because she lacked intelligence, but because she was being protected at every turn.
Fang was there every day.
Not close, not distant enough to be absent either. He watched from across the grounds, leaning against posts, standing among the pack, sometimes jogging past with the others. When their eyes met, he smiled at her, an easy, unguarded smile, warm enough to make her chest tighten. But he never came over.
Now, he did not for her at least.
