Chapter Ten
Aria
I wake in the sunlight.Warm, safe, and alive.
The grass is cool under my cheek.My bones feel heavy, but not with dread, just the lingering ache of shifting for the first time in too long.When I blink my eyes open, the light filters through leaves overhead.
The Forest.The Sky.The Wind.
Freedom.
I shift slowly back into my human form, my breath hitching at the sensation.This time there’s no panic.No choke of dark and painful memories.No claws of fear.My body rearranges itself with a soft ripple, landing me naked in the grass with only a thin blanket draped over me.
Silas.
I look around.He’s sitting beside me, back against a tree, his massive dire wolf energy thrumming around him even in human form.His arms rest loosely over his knees.He isn’t watching me but he’s notnotwatching me either.His awareness wraps around me like a protective shield.
“Good morning,” he murmurs.
His voice curls through me warm and deep.I sit up slowly, pulling the blanket tighter around myself.
“I shifted.”
One corner of his mouth lifts in something close to a smile.“You did.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.”
“But I ...I wanted to.”
His eyes soften.“I know that too.”
Heat blooms in my cheeks.My leopard stretches lazily inside me, content and confident in a way she hasn’t been in years.She purrs at the sight of him.
My heart stumbles.
Everything feels different today.Clearer.Sharper.Like something foggy inside me has finally burned away.
I take a slow breath.“I want ...more.”
Silas goes very still.
“More?”he repeats quietly.
My face burns.“Of the bond.”
His throat works, a visible swallow.“Aria...”
“I can feel it,” I whisper.“When I shifted yesterday ...it felt like something inside me reached for something inside you.And it didn’t hurt.”
His gaze is intense now, warm and laced with hunger, but still careful.
“That was your leopard,” he murmurs.“And my wolf.”
“Dire wolf,” I correct softly.
