Victor stands alone on a terrace facing the waterfall, a large glass of whiskey in his hand. He stands close to the railing, his eyes closed, savoring the feeling of the spray on his face. He does his very best, in this moment, to feel nothing, lest his emotions completely overwhelm him. He breathes a sigh through gritted teeth, and then a laugh. He is an Alpha, for god’s sake. He is supposed to be better at this, at controlling himself, his situation, his world. Or even, at the bare minimum, his emotions. But he feels, truly, that if he feels even one thing in this moment, that the tumult of everything in his life, everything he wants to feel and has been pressing down, will overwhelm him, and he’ll just collapse. Victor steels himself against this, imagining that his bones are ti