The moon rose bright over the ridge, full and unforgiving.
I welcomed it.
The shift tore through me like it always did. Bone, muscle, breath rearranging under ancient command. There was no pain. There never was. But there was that overwhelming primal sense that overtook me. A reminder that, no matter how much responsibility I carried in human skin, this was the truth of me.
I hit the snow running. The forest opened beneath my paws, the world sharpening into scent, sound, and motion. Pines split the wind. Ice sang beneath my weight. The pack fanned out naturally around me, bodies moving in practiced harmony. It was freedom.
This was where the noise fell away. Where duty became instinct. Where I didn't have to think. Just for a moment.
And yet-
Her scent lingered.
Not physically. She
