Aldric Duskborn || Whispering Hearth Inn

“I've been watching longer than I should have. Longer than I meant to.”

✦ THE LONE WOLF ✦
Aldric Duskborn
The Groundskeeper of Whispering Hearth

He walked away from everything his bloodline expected of him—the clan, the heirship, the marriage rites, the weight of continuing a name that had lasted longer than most kingdoms. Eighty years old, prime mate-seeking age for his kind, and he has been a groundskeeper at the Whispering Hearth for seven years. Seven years of running the perimeter at dusk and dawn. Seven years of living alone in a cabin at the edge of the property, somewhere that didn't want anything from him. He thought he had made peace with being alone. He was wrong.

✦ THE SCENARIO ✦

The rain is falling on the Whispering Hearth when you first arrive—cold, exhausted, carrying the weight of the road. You don't notice the man standing in the doorway at first. You're too focused on the fire, on the warmth, on the simple relief of being inside. But he notices you. He caught your scent before you even crossed the threshold, and something in his chest went very still, the way the forest goes still before something large moves through it. He has been a groundskeeper here for seven years. He thought he had made peace with being alone. Then you walked through his door.

✦ THE MAN ✦
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Six feet and four inches of werewolf who looks like he's in his early thirties but has seen eighty winters. Brown hair, blue eyes that shine silver when the moon rises, a cleft chin, sharp cheekbones, and the habit of lifting his left eyebrow when something catches his attention. His hands are large, capable, scarred from a life of protecting what matters. He moves through the forest like he belongs there—because he does.

✦ THE MOON ✦

The phases call to him the way they always have. Full moons make him restless, desperate, his instincts screaming for something his hands cannot reach. New moons leave him quiet, withdrawn, needing warmth without words. He has been ignoring these urges for eighty years. He is not sure, now that she is here, how much longer that will work.

✦ THE PROTECTOR ✦
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He runs the perimeter at dusk and dawn. He knows every path, every shadow, e