“What are you doing?” I shout, spinning around so fast I nearly trip on the hem of my dress, pulling the blanket tighter, clutching my purse.
“Only way we’re getting there in time,” he calls back, smug as hell. “And I’m not ruining another shirt for it.” Kai grins. “Nothing you haven’t seen or tasted before.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re unbelievable. Fine. Shifting. Got it. But I’m still not looking.”
“Why not?” Kai deadpans.
“Well, this seems kinda intimate.”
“Not more intimate than what we did earlier.” His voice drops, suddenly right behind me, dangerously close. “This is way less intimate, if anything.”
My heart skips, feeling his heat at my back, his presence teasing the edge of my control. Against every warning screamingin my head, I turn around. Kai steps backward, bare skin catching moonlight in all the right places. His chest rises and falls with steady breath, tattoos twisting over his arms. The frost-light kisses the ridges of his shoulders, his body a living monument carved by Kvirr. His eyes blaze with that signature silver-blue light, his lycan mark pulsing faintly in harmony.
Then the change begins. Bones crack as tree limbs, flesh rips and reshapes. His growl starts low and rises, raw and visceral. The air shimmers with magic as limbs tear, skin bleeds, and muscles reform. It’s violent, not clean. Real raw power, but the aftermath of that violence is divine. A massive white wolf stands on the bloodied snow before me. His coat shimmers, and those piercing eyes, unmistakably his, lock onto mine, still Kai.
“You’re so annoying,” I murmur, but the sharpness in my voice is gone.
My heart beats too fast, my feet become numb in the snow, and I’m still flushed with the memory of him before the shift. I pull the blanket tighter and step forward. The frozen earth bites my skin as I gather Kai’s clothes in my free arm. Looking up, the white wolf lowers his head, an invitation.
62
Avilyna
IT BROKE FOR ALL OF US
Carefully,I swing a leg over his back, slipping my hands into his thick, soft fur. Radiating heat, my bare feet press against his flank, hiding from the sting of winter. Kai is steady beneath me, his body vibrating with power.
“You throw me into a snowbank, and I swear?—”
Not letting me finish, he takes off. Bolting forward with a sudden burst of speed, the world becomes a blur, making me squeal. The motion steals the oxygen from my lungs as I cling to his back, fingers buried in the thick of his fur. Snow explodes beneath his paws. He’s fast, unnaturally so, each stride eating up the distance with effortless grace.
The wolf moves with the fluid power of something born from wind and feral instinct. I duck instinctively as a low-hanging branch passes over my head, my heart thrumming with adrenaline. And I get it, why he’s so stubborn to drive his bike everywhere. It’s almost the same sensation, the same thrill, but this is wilder. Kai veers left, then right, weaving effortlessly between trees, barely touching the earth. The snow here is deep, untouched.
My laughter bursts from me, loud, unafraid. It gets lost in the rush of the wind, but I know he hears it, feels it, and alow, pleased rumble thrums from under me. Ahead, steam curls through the trees. Kai slows down, his pace gradually easing until the thundering rhythm of his paws fades into a gentle crunch against the frost. The ground levels out beneath us, and slowly the spring appears.
Hidden in a basin of dark stones and moss, half-sheltered by a natural rock wall. Snow crowds the edges, but the water is dark, clear, and warm—steam rising around the natural pool. Stopping at the edge, Kai lowers his body so I can slide off. My heeled feet stumble forward as I step onto the snowy ground, my fingers still tangled in his soft fur, reluctant to let go. But smoke starts to curl around him. For a moment, he just watches me, then the glow in his eyes shifts, sharpens.
I take a half-step back, already knowing what’s coming. The air thickens as magic begins to churn beneath his skin. The shift rolls through him. A low, guttural growl, then the wrenching crack of bone. His limbs contort inward, spine curling, and the fur falls as snow. Muscle tears and reforms in jagged bursts beneath the surface. He grits his teeth through the pain as his face reshapes. Muzzle folding in, cheekbones pushing forward, jaw snapping back with a crack. Kai is kneeling on the ground, naked, bloody and breathless. The moonlight spills over his shoulders, highlighting his tousled, damp hair. Kai looks up at me, his expression open in a way that leaves no room for armour. A slow smirk curls at the edge of his mouth.
“Were you watching?”
“Every second of it,” I breathe out, feeling my cheeks heat.
He huffs a pleased laugh, standing to his full height, unfazed by the cold or the fact that he’s very naked, and bloody. Looking wild, dangerous, addictive. Kai stretches slowly before walking toward the spring, stopping just at the edge, an invitation.
Stepping forward to follow him, I pause for a moment to take in the beauty of the place. The way the mist twists lazily in theair. The moon shines as fairy light, and the faint whisper of the wind cuts through the trees. The snow cocooning this pocket of paradise, muting the outside and letting the stars shine bright.
“So how many girls have you brought here?” The question slips my lips, no filter as usual, my nerves getting the best of me. I spot a flat rock and use it as a makeshift bench, dropping the bundle of clothes along with the blanket and my handbag.
“One,” Kai says, looking at me over his shoulder halfway in the water, making me slightly flinch. But my muscles relax when he adds it nonchalantly. “You.”
The way he holds my gaze, I know he’s sincere.
“My mom showed me this place. She brought me and my little brother, Sammy, here.” His voice gets heavy, and I feel the emotion this place holds, that name pulling at some hidden souvenirs. Making me feel honoured that he trusts me enough to let me in.
“My dad has always been... temperamental. However, he rarely lost it around my brother and me. Mom bore the brunt of it, then. So when it was too much, she’d bring us here to hide, to forget, to find some peace…” Kai’s stare is transfixed on the snow-covered trees, deep in thought. I silently slip out of my clothes and join him in the heated pool. Steam curls around us in a quiet veil, hiding us from the world. I don’t speak right away. Instead, I let the silence do what it does best–make space for grief, for memory, for what has been lost. My arm brushes against his under the water, barely a touch, but a presence, letting him know I’m here. Kai doesn’t look at me at first. His eyes are somewhere, lost in the echo of an old wound.
“You don’t have to say more,” I offer softly, not out of dismissal but respect. “Only if you want to.” My fingers slowly curl around his, and Kai tightens his hold as he lets out a breath that sounds older than he is, as if it has been trapped in his ribs for years.
