(Catherine POV)
Kieran's hand was warm in mine as he led me toward the forest edge, our fingers interlaced with the easy intimacy that had developed since the mating ceremony completed whatever connection had been building between us for months. The pack dispersed around us with liquid grace, some already shifting into forms that belonged more to moonlight than civilization, others maintaining human shape but moving with predatory fluidity that spoke of barely contained wildness.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked, pausing at the treeline where ancient paths wound deeper into territory that had never known human habitation. His golden eyes held anticipation mixed with something that looked like concern—not for my safety, but for my reaction to whatever I was about to experience.
The tra
