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With a snort, the lynx let his staff go, her twin tails flicking left and right in strange harmony.
She turned to face me.
I stiffened as her eyes locked with mine.
The happy glow in her gaze switched to lethal intrigue.
I couldn’t look away.
Couldn’t stop staring.
Couldn’t stop the rise of something vast inside me.
The lynx braced herself, her mouth opening as if to drag my taste along her tongue.
Her eyes snapped closed.
But then they opened, and her haunches sank.
I knew her intention as surely as if she’d spoken.
I tripped back a step.
“Don’t worry.” Solin held up his hand. “She won’t—”
She leaped for me.
Her giant paws landed on my shoulders, and her weight slammed me to the ground. I gasped as all the air in my lungs vanished. I cried out as the lynx pinned me down, her whiskers tickling my cheeks as her cool, wet nose pressed to mine.
It felt like a kill.
Like an embrace.
My heart pounded as my hands sank into her dense fur, and the cat growled as if my touch physically hurt her.
“Syn, get off her at once,” Niya shouted, tugging on the cat’s antlers.
But it did no good.
The lynx merely lay down over me, blanketing my entire body with her golden-spotted heat.
The cat let out a low whine. A cry. A whimper.
The sound arrowed through my heart, and I found myself crying with her. Giant tears rolled down my cheeks, unbidden and without reason. Raising her head, she pressed her nose to mine, breathing my breath, staring into my eyes.
And the world fell away.
The starry night disappeared.
The fire and the clan were no more.
It was just me and Syn, locked in place where golden light surrounded us. Bright, blazing light that glowed and warmed and whispered of wicked, archaic power.
It felt...familiar.
Right.
Home.
His kiss tasted like moonlight and honey—
I gasped.
My tears turned into a river as the lynx tenderly licked my salt-wetted cheeks with her gentle-coarse tongue. Purrs rumbled in her chest. She nuzzled my chin, and I wrapped both arms around her, hugging her so, so tight.
She huffed and buried her face into my neck, kneading my shoulders with her paws, pinpricking my skin with her claws.
Something swelled between us.
Something full of recognition and importance, rife with answers and—
“Get off her!” Solin snatched the beast around her waist and threw her off me.
The moment shattered.
I was disoriented and confused.
Syn growled and whipped her tails, throwing me a beseeching look while hissing at Solin. And then she was gone, bounding around Niya, and leaping into the thick swaying grasses that ringed the outskirts of the camp.
For a moment, no one moved.
I sucked in a shaky breath, wiping away my nonsense tears.
Solin reached down and grabbed my wrist. “I don’t know why she did that.” Without warning, he jerked me to my feet and steadied me. “Are you okay?”
I swayed, but this time, it wasn’t from malnourishment but because of the brief, intense connection I’d shared with a creature I’d only just met.
“I’m so sorry,” Niya said. “She’s never done that before. She knows not to tackle. She’ll be dealt with and—”
“No.” I shuddered at the thought of Syn being disciplined. “She meant me no harm. I’m well.”
Solin let my wrist go, his eyes scanning my body. “She reacted as if she knew you.” His head tilted to the side, sending his decorated braids sliding over his shoulders. “Did you come across a lynx before we found you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Never.”
Solin didn’t reply, but he didn’t stop studying me either, his thoughts full of things that worried me.
“Are you hungry?” Niya suddenly asked, breaking the tension that’d gathered. Clapping her hands to dispel the awkwardness, she added, “Come. We’ll eat, and then the rest of the clan wants to meet you.”
Solin didn’t say a word as Niya grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the fire.
I looked back over my shoulder.
Solin remained unmoving, his eyes narrowed on me, his lips pursed with questions.
He looked at me as if he had no idea who I was.
And it terrified me that I didn’t know either.
Chapter Six
. The Stranger .
I SAT OUTSIDE THE CAVE, staring at the full moon.
Behind me, the gentle rustles of wolves, their claws on rock, and occasional yips and snarls kept me company.
I’d only been a member of their pack for one night, yet I couldn’t imagine returning to the empty, starving world of before.
I no longer had the incessant compulsion to walk and walk, forever searching for someone I couldn’t remember. The desperation to find what I’d lost had faded, almost as if what I’d been searching for was here.
Somewhere.
A juvenile she-wolf slinked past me, sniffing my side before swiping her tongue over my thigh and leaping down the small ledge to the plains below. Two other females followed, copying what the other had done, nuzzling me, licking me, saying hello and goodbye.
