I watched Artemis through Aeson's eyes, her white fur gleaming like captured moonlight against the dark forest floor. My Lycan's senses registered every detail with heightened clarity – the subtle rise and fall of her sides as she breathed, the occasional twitch of an ear picking up sounds beyond even my perception, the particular wild-honey scent that was uniquely hers. Two centuries of waiting, and now she sat beside me, this magnificent creature who carried half my mate's soul. My claws tingled with residual energy from our run, but I felt a warmth in my chest, an expanding heat that I recognized not as guilt, but as its opposite – hope.
Beside us, the lake stretched dark and still, mirroring the star-studded sky above. The natural clearing where we'd settled offered a perfect vantage
