en's

o me long after I should have walked away, long after I told myself she was nothing more than a villager under my

d, I lingered in the shadows of the forest, watching her return to her cottage with that

me growled,

tened. No.

The curse was unraveling faster each night, and near her, I felt it slipping beyond repair. H

m meant

ay from her and toward the forest. The hairs

rply. Wolf. N

ough the night air, and my

ocked on the trees where I stood. She could not see me fully, yet she paused,

ached-not from rage, not from the cu

truder stepp

s gleaming with hunger. His teeth ba

rol sha

round as I collided with him before he reached her. The impact cracked through

rced through the s

into me sharpe

ill, but my mind screamed to get her away, to shield her from the horror of

napping, Elara did not flee. She stood frozen in the

e Alpha. The

d not

ove me to snap his throat clean. Silence fell, bro

. They were locked on me with

ew then-she ha

jaws. She staggered back against her doo

ied no strength. Her fear was laced with some

to close the space, press her against that door

bones cracked and flesh knit. My body ached,

," I r

the sound of her

ot be here,"

ly, as if realizing it all at on

as a blade

I adm

orpse at my feet, then b

ere chains, and she was the key I could not afford to touch. Y

ady know,

her eyes did not leave

re than claws or

any longer. "Go inside. Do not step out

red, "What if the danger i

stion f

otect me. Then tell me why the wolves are hunting near my home. Tell

me like a strike to t

in triumph, clawi

ened between us, heavy with power, with fate, with

, my voice a warnin

rself-but to touch me. Her fingertips brushed agains

control shattered, and my wolf surged forwa

arting as if caught be

s..." she

I claim her now. My breath fanned over her skin,

s thundered th

d the sound, snarling.

eyes wide with the unspoke

she would see the worst of me. If I

e ripped

he night gav

he forest, a voice br

neered. "You cannot

r safe, and a riv