The taste of the earth was still sharp on my tongue as I staggered forward, silver fur catching the light like molten steel.
Somewhere at the edge of my frantic senses, I could feel Damien’s gaze locked on me.
Not with awe.
Not with fear.
With calculation.
He wasn’t surprised.
He expected this.
A deep, instinctual growl rumbled from my chest, vibrating through my ribs like a living thing.
Damien took a slow, deliberate step back.
“Didn’t think it would happen this fast,” he muttered under his breath, almost admiringly.
“Guess the mutts were right about you.”
Mutts.
The word scratched against something inside me, raw and furious.
Before I could lunge, before I could rip the smugness from his face, a new scent sliced through the night.
Wild.
Sharp.
Electric.
Killian.
He
