Michelle
The world broke open into speed.
Storm-gray fur surged beneath me, Nicolai’s muscles flexing like coiled steel as we tore across the frozen earth. The cold cut my face raw, wind screaming in my ears, but the heat of him bled through his coat and anchored me. Every time my fingers tangled deeper in his thick ruff, sparks leapt across my palms and raced into my chest.
I’d never ridden a wolf before. Never trusted anyone enough to let them carry me. Yet here I was, clutching Michael’s wolf like my life depended on him—because it did.
The trees whipped by, black silhouettes against a sky alive with color. The aurora rippled in faint ribbons, pale green and blue chasing one another across the stars. Each lunge of Nicolai’s paws sent the world tilting, and each time I thought I’d fa
