fear. Still unpolished, still sloppy in places-but he

his shoulder flew past me. "You're thinking too much,

s heel to face me again.

s you alive. Fear, rage, instinct-they're no

as holding something back. Pride? Doub

my forearm and used his own weight to throw him of

ting him feel it. "Yo

nd looked up at me, pantin

eting his eyes. "T

something-hurt maybe.

born an alpha means nothing if you

from his arms. "You speak

oked

or, but because someone told me I had to. Because so

't tell him

too soft on your feet. Trust your instincts. You don't

th a strange intensity. "And w

te, until we were just a breath apa

een us shift

d. "You're

've been...

He didn't move aw

ping me, Lyra?"

y truth I could safely share. "Because

my lips, then back

breaking the spe

cheekbones. He looked powerful, even whe

ck tomorrow

to stop him. To say don't go. That this-what

my back and stared i

time,"

t in s

ded into the trees did

red the name I had buried

a

o I was, even if

that didn't reach the ground. The brushing against my feet as I moved.

never really left.

t. It felt like a warning or

unsure, like he was stepping into a world he hadn't decided to trust yet. He didn't

last light died be

said, ar

arly," he

brow. "I'm

arned

tra

pushed him. Taunted

ntrol. And underneath Kael's control li

needed him

y shifted-scraped the edge of my sleeve. I dodged, flipped, landed be

both bre

mproving,

ftly. "You're

You're starting to

up at the stars, chest rising and f

to touch, but close enough to feel th

ause. The kind tha

ren't trained for war," he

d

rained

s written across the sky. So many sec

t something I

y n

o bleed into this." I turn

ether. "You think

ou shouldn

ere. Breathing. Listening to

n it ha

chest. Like somethin

and for the briefest second, I saw it: a faint glow

Moon

wakened. Bu

h

too, conce

head. "It

new it

as changing

m was wakin

My instinct

... somet

e to longing, and it may b