I took another breath and closed my eyes, trying to focus only on my wolf. It took me longer to settle my thoughts than I was used to. I reached out tentatively for my wolf’s presence and was relieved when she didn’t jump at me. Instead, she was simply there, as curious as I was. She almost reminded me of a puppy, and that made sense, in a way. She hadn’t grown up like those young shifters I saw playing in Snowmass territory. She’d just woken up one day. I probably felt as strange to her as she did to me.
I couldn’t figure out what she wanted, though. She was—well, she was a wolf. An animal. Her thoughts didn’t feel wildly complex. She wanted to be safe and warm and fed. And she cared about her fated mate.
I latched onto that. Fenris. I thought of him, of how beautiful his wolf was when
