Author’s POV
Tonight was one of Nightforge’s fortnightly runs.
It was usually done to train the least dominant wolves in the pack—women, elders, pups, and some warriors who joined for the joy of it. Nothing serious, just a light run through the surrounding woods and back in their wolf forms, a chance to stretch legs, feel the wind, and remind everyone they were pack.
Emma had decided to join tonight.
Richard didn’t usually participate in these casual runs—he preferred the harder, faster border patrols—but he refused to let her go without him. He wouldn’t allow her to ride on anyone else’s back, and he certainly wouldn’t let her run alone in human form with the pregnancy so far along.
He stripped in the courtyard, muscles rippling under moonlight as he shifted into his massive blac
