The cold was a living thing, a sharp, crystalline blade that cut through the thinning mist of the high ridges. But as we ran, the cold didn’t matter. There was a furnace burning within me—a literal heat generated by the Adhiero bond that thrummed in rhythm with the pounding of my paws against the frozen earth.
Running with Lorenzo was unlike any hunt I had ever known. In my years as a Beta, I had led patrols and followed Alphas, but this was a symphony. Every time his massive shoulder dipped to navigate a sharp turn, my body moved in anticipation. When he leapt over a fallen cedar, I was already in the air beside him. We weren't just two wolves running; we were a single predator with two bodies, our minds woven together by a golden thread of shared consciousness.
The quarry is ahead, Lor
