“Fine,” I mutter. “I could use a break. The High Priestess is still coming tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah. We’ll show her the manuscript, let her dig through the crazy with us. Maybe she’ll have something to help.”
My paws barely skim the forest floor, Neris laughing in my head, wild and high.
We’ve been running for what feels like hours, but I’m not tired. Not even close. The trees part for me. The wind howls with me. The forest sings back to my steps. And above it all — above the forest — I feel him. A shadow of wings that circles high, gliding like a dark god against the clouds.
“I could outrun him in a race on foot,” Neris pants, determined. “He’s big and fast, but I’m small and slippery.”
“You're going to crash into a tree,” I warn her.
And not even a second later — bam — her side clips a low branch and she tumbles in a heap of tangled limbs and fur.
“Don’t say it,” she groans.
I smirk. “I told you so.”
With a huff, I take control again and shift back. My human form returns in a ripple of heat, muscles stretching, bones cracking. I gasp through it, skin steaming in the cold air. I'm naked, of course, but I remedy that instantly when I see a big shirt hanging on the branch of a tree. They’re everywhere here, ready for any shifter to use after a run.
I barely have time to shake out my hair before I hear the rush of wind.
Draven.
He lands like something out of a dream — or a nightmare, depending on the day — and the moment his boots touch the ground, he’s smiling right at me.
Wings spread wide behind him. Bare chest gleaming with sweat — hmm, that dark bruise is starting to worry me.
His eyes drag over me once. Slowly. Intently. And then, without warning, strong arms scoop me off the ground.
I yelp. Loudly.
“What the hell are you doing!?” I shout as the world tilts.
He laughs and unfurls his massive wings with a thunderous snap. My stomach drops as we shoot into the sky.
“I’m giving you a new perspective, mate. See the world in a way you haven’t seen it before.”
The air is cold but his body is fire. Every beat of his wings sends a gust of wind past my face, sweeping through my hair, tightening the skin on my cheeks. I wrap my arms around his neck tighter. His grip never wavers.
We soar even higher.
Above the trees. Above the palace. Above everything.
The sky is endless here. Burned orange at the edges where the sun’s just about to bow. And beneath us, the forest stretches like a living sea. Wild and boundless.
And gods, I laugh.
I laugh so loud it echoes into the clouds.
It bursts out of me like sunlight. Like freedom. For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m not thinking. Not planning.Not worrying. I’m just here — wind in my hair, sun on my skin, arms wrapped around the Alpha King while his wings cut through the heavens.
Even Neris is giddy, tail wagging, soaking it all in with big, bright eyes. And she’s a wolf, she shouldn’t be enjoying this!
In this moment, the world isn’t in danger of catching fire.
In this moment, I feel light. And free.
Chapter 9
