The moon hung low over the forest, casting long silver shadows. Saphira moved through the trees, senses sharp, wolf instinct thrumming beneath her skin—but held in check. Every step a careful calculation. Every breath measured.
Because she could feel him.
Kael.
Not just near her. Inside her. The mate bond, once a whisper, had become a roar. Every heartbeat, every pulse of blood, echoed with the gravity of their connection.
She cursed it silently.
She could not shift fully. Could not let the wolf take control. Not here. Not yet.
Yet every movement of Kael—every brush of his presence across the clearing, every slight tilt of his head—sent a spark through her chest. Her wolf wanted to run to him, claws and fangs flashing, but her mind screamed: Stay. Calm. Control.
Kael mirrored the struggle. From across the patrol line, he kept his posture rigid, shoulders squared, voice clipped. Each time Saphira moved, he shifted just slightly—never too close, never too far. A predator and a protector, simultaneously.
He wanted to close the distance. To step forward, touch her, reassure her—and claim her wolf without ceremony. But the Council's eyes, the pack's whispers, the politics… restraint was mandatory.
"You're too tense," he finally said, voice low, carrying just enough warmth to be dangerous.
"I'm not," she snapped, though her ears flattened, tail twitching with irritation. Her wolf protested violently, pawing at the invisible leash around her instincts.
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Your wolf disagrees."
She glared at him, jaw tight. "It's my wolf. Not yours."
"I know." His voice softened, almost vulnerable, though his wolf rumbled beneath the surface. "But it's responding to me."
Silence stretched between them.
Every step they took, every glance, every breath, pulled on the threads of the mate bond. Their instincts whispered what their minds refused to say. She should flee. He should restrain. And yet…
The snow swirled around them, glittering like a cage, enclosing them in a space where no rules of packs or politics applied—except the ones they enforced themselves.
Saphira pressed a hand to her chest. "If I let go…" Her voice was barely a whisper. "If I let my wolf take over…"
"You'd never stop," Kael interrupted, voice tight with warning.
"And you?" she challenged. "If I let my wolf claim me?"
He exhaled slowly, jaw flexing. "Then I'd lose every ounce of control I have left."
The wind shifted. Both felt it. The pull intensified—stronger, hotter, unignorable.
They were two wolves circling, tethered by invisible chains stronger than any law, any pack, any ritual.
And neither dared break the distance.
Because if they did…
Nothing would ever be the same.
He exhaled slowly, jaw flexing. "Then I'd lose every ounce of control I have left."
The wind shifted. Both felt it. The pull intensified—stronger, hotter, unignorable.
They were two wolves circling, tethered by invisible chains stronger than any law, any pack, any ritual.
And neither dared break the distance.
Because if they did…
Nothing would ever be the same.