The shift never gets easier, not when I fight it the way I always do. But tonight, I welcomed it.
The second my bones snapped and stretched, and fur broke through my skin in a rush of silvery ash, I exhaled for the first time in days. Hockey stress, Ford’s heated glances, and the tension of carrying a secret under my skin—it all bled away the moment my paws hit the cold forest floor.
Ford was next to me, his midnight fur brushing against mine, solid and familiar. Our wolf forms matched the way we moved on the ice—instinctive, fast, flawless. Only out here, it wasn’t about winning. It was about freedom.
We ran. Hard and wild. Between the pines, under the moon, where no one could see us or try to contain what we really are.
Then I heard them.
Voices. Human. Too close.
I skidded to a ha
