A few days later, the training courtyard was silent, save for the ragged synchronized breathing of the two figures in the center. The morning’s frost had already been scuffed away by their boots, leaving patches of dark, wet grit. Rhiannon leaned over, her hands on her knees, sweat dripping from her chin despite the biting air. Her muscles thrummed with the familiar, electric heat of the bond, a sensation that had become as vital as her own pulse.
Fenris stood a few feet away, his chest heaving, his bare skin glistening. He looked less like the terrifying Alpha of the North and more like a man searching for his own center.
"Break," he rumbled, though he didn't move to leave. He grabbed a bottle of water from a stone bench and offered it to her.
Rhiannon took a long drink, the cold w
