he

like breaking the surface of

received us

e drifted through the air in soft waves--threading through the wilder scent of hi

without

lplessly aware of him beside me--the height of him, the warmth radiating

strange current through me again

eached a clearing wh

ween us, rendering him in s

ght the way a predator's do--l

d. "What do you think of me? Are y

like a stone dropp

tions about political alliances, about my value as a g

s ready for

answer

sfied with w

s though this were not a transaction but somethin

words woul

my confusion witho

ite a smile, but the suggestion of one, and

ith the proposal," he said, "my peo

mach d

course no one

ing, a piece moved acros

nguarded thing I ha

my voice even despite th

. In the moonlight, his

." He paused. "I found myself grate

rneath the words that I

frankness that had no use for fl

osened in my chest--a feeling so u

ly inhuman man--wasn't here for a treaty.

ere beca

ithout dropping my gaze on reflex, without any of the traine

"I find you quite i

nly, because in this moment I understood for the first t

prise, and then a sharper attention, as th

me?" he asked. "Leave wit

his moment over the years. None o

of terms. A question--a real on

ed my

s wouldn

, hope, fear, a joy so unfamiliar it almost fe

hed his own conclusion, his ton

mth eva

since childhood came surging up through years of careful su

onditions

ted of its

g that looked, unmistakably, like admiration. A low sou

obedient as your fat

t to hear t

when he spoke again, his voice

ould do whatever you asked. Burn this plac

place to t

med at that--more t

not without appeal. But

away tonight," I said

ate, the foreign dignitaries invited to witness the historic union of human and wolf, the

o a spectacle, and me

hat to happen, I would lose w

arranged and handed ove

or. I could already fee

eyes s

e, the quick intelligence behind those amber eyes a

stepped

tely, the same thing that had undone my composure in

th came

s voice dropped lower. "Bu

ted, briefly,

hing to o

everage. I had been stripped of

only m

se my nerve, I stepped into the space between u

ive thing--but it moved through me like a struck b

ck. My face

enough?

ignited behind his eyes--something anci

ing around the back of my h

thing tentat

unambiguous that it required no translat

ne deliberating, and I kissed him back like a woman discover

parated, we were b

ith perfect clarity that something had shifted--not jus

chos

d cho

uld be gone from thi