Kira tilted her chin up as Leo towered over her, the massive beast’s presence both awe-inspiring and intimidating. She had never been this close to a fully shifted Lycan before.

His black fur gleamed under the streetlight, and the sheer power rolling off him made the air feel thicker. Yet she wasn’t afraid. Deep down, she knew Derek’s beast would never hurt her.

Leo lowered his enormous head until his snout brushed her palm, nuzzling gently. The touch was surprisingly soft. Kira let out a startled laugh and slid her fingers into the thick scruff around his neck.

A deep, rumbling purr vibrated through the beast’s chest, so strong she felt it in her own ribs. She giggled again, delighted. The creature pressed closer until its snout was almost resting on her shoulder.

"He’s so adorable," she murmured, half to herself, scratching behind his ear. "Completely unlike the man. He is so grumpy."

Leo let out a soft whine and then turned, presenting his broad back to her. Kira tilted her head at him. He waited. She looked at the expanse of black fur, then at the ground, then back at him. He lowered himself slowly until he lay flat on the earth, patient and enormous.

"Oh," she said. "Right."

She climbed on carefully, burying her fingers deep into the fur at his shoulders to anchor herself. The moment she was settled, Leo rose to his full height.

Kira yelped as the ground fell away beneath her, heart racing, but the sound quickly melted into bright laughter as the gentle giant hunched low and launched into the night.

"Whoa!"

The word came out as something between a scream and a laugh as Leo plunged into the treeline, the branches blurring on either side, the cold night air hitting her face.

She flattened herself against his spine, gripping the fur at his shoulders, and felt the power of his movement beneath her, eating up the ground at a speed that made her eyes water.

She screamed, laughed, and screamed some more.

Leo yipped in response, a sound that was so undignified for a seven-foot apex predator, and it made her love him completely.

He carried her through the woods in great looping runs, weaving between ancient trees and bursting through open clearings where the half-moon hung low and full, and the frost on the grass caught the light.

They crossed streams in single bounds, scattered through undergrowth, veered through shadows so thick the trees disappeared entirely and then emerged into silver light again.

Kira laughed until tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and the cold had turned her cheeks completely numb, and she couldn’t have stopped if she’d tried.

Soon Kira sensed they had left Aethewulf Centralis city far behind. Leo slowed as they emerged into a wide clearing where the half-moon still hung above them, and he stopped in the centre of it, raised his great head, and howled.

The sound rolled outward through the trees, deep and resonant, carrying for what felt like miles.

And then the answers came. Howl after howl erupting from the darkness in every direction, voices she couldn’t see, the pack responding to their king.

Within moments, Lycans began to emerge from the shadows between the trees, moving into the clearing in silence, and then breaking into a run. They fell in around Leo and Kira without breaking stride, like a river of muscle and fur and controlled power flowing through the trees, moving as a single pack.

Kira held on and looked out at all of them and felt something she had no precise word for.

"This is incredible!" she yelled into the open air.

Was this what a pack run felt like? she thought. Was this what it meant to belong to something?

She had never felt anything like it. The raw freedom, the unity, the thrill of running with creatures who answered only to their king.

One by one, the other Lycans peeled away into the trees, taking different routes, until it was just Leo again, and the treeline ahead had begun to give way to something more familiar. Granite walls. Lamplights. The estate.

They were home.

By the time they reached the edge of the palace grounds, Kira’s hair was a wild bird’s nest and the cold had sunk deep into her bones, but she had never felt more alive.

As they broke through the last of the trees, she spotted Declan standing at the edge of the grounds in a long dark robe, a folded blanket draped over his arms, wearing the expression of a man who had been standing in the cold for an indeterminate amount of time and had accepted this as his lot in life.

The beast lowered himself so Declan could help her down. Once her feet touched the ground, Leo stepped back. Fur rippled, bones shifted, and Derek stood there once more, naked and unashamed.

He accepted the robe Declan offered with a chuckle and shrugged it on. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Did you enjoy yourself?" he asked, looking at her.

Kira could only nod. She was still too full of it to produce a sentence.

He took the blanket from Declan’s other arm and stepped forward, settling it around her shoulders. Then he looked at her hair, reached out, and made a hopeful attempt to smooth it down.

He abandoned the effort immediately. "Your hair looks like a bird’s nest."

"Part of the fun, isn’t it?" she said, with complete dignity.

His thumb moved to her cheek, brushing lightly along it, his gaze softening as he stared down at her. "You just ran with the Lycans," he said quietly, as though he were still accounting for the fact of it.

Declan cleared his throat pointedly.

They both turned. He was still there, standing at a respectful distance, expression professionally neutral in the way it always was when he disapproved of something but had chosen not to say so yet.

"I need a word in private, Your Grace, if you have a moment."

Derek laced his fingers through Kira’s without hesitation and started toward the mansion, tugging her gently along.

"Declan, it’s far too early for strategy sessions," he said, clapping his free hand on the man’s shoulder. "As you can see, my wife is cold, and I intend to do something about that."

Kira bit her lip hard to keep from laughing. She could practically feel Declan’s disapproval burning into her back, but she didn’t glance at him.

She didn’t hold it against him. She understood him better than he probably realised. She would be exactly that protective of Jessica if she thought someone untrustworthy had wandered into her life. Declan would come around, or he wouldn’t, and either way, she wasn’t going to lose sleep over it.

As they climbed the stairs, the door to Derek’s study opened. Ruby stepped out in a silk robe, her red hair loose, her face arranged into an expression of careful, sleepless concern.

Her eyes moved over them quickly, taking in the blanket around Kira’s shoulders, the dishevelled state of both of them, and then dropping to their joined hands, fingers laced together. For a moment, Kira caught the pure malice that moved behind her eyes in the half-second before she controlled it,

"Your Grace, Your Highness," she said, with a small bow. "I was so worried. You left so suddenly last night and never came back, and your phone was unreachable. I couldn’t sleep."

"Thank you for your concern, Ruby," Derek replied, not slowing down. He kept walking, fingers still laced with Kira’s. "But there was no need to worry. I’m not a child."

Ruby stood and watched their backs until they turned the corner and the bedroom door closed behind them. She stood very still for a moment.

Then she turned and hurled her phone at the wall with a growl.

Her chest heaved. Russet fur flickered along her forearm, her eyes flaring gold before she caught herself, pressed it back, and stood there breathing with her hands balled at her sides until the shift receded.

She arranged her face into something calm and went down the stairs.