ny kind of send-off w

de our door as the sun sank low in the sky, shadows stretching out long on the ground

s right behi

showing any emotion might break something fragile between us. I wanted t

lowed Eld

lt different now, like I was strolling through a memory instead of the present. People avoided

e went, the q

ing. My chest buzzed again, that strange warmth spreading slowly beneath my skin. It wa

it before

boun

ad, the forest loomed thick and dark, trees packed tightly together

as the village g

without thinking

t solid, not painful...just firm. I held my breath as I reach

of the boundary,

oticed t

hing us in complete silence. My heart raced, a flutter of fear, but it

hape

trying. The moonlight caught in his dark fur, revealing streaks of silver and fain

. "The Alpha," he murmured. "He

gaze locke

a spark of recognition. I swallowed hard, unable to l

re... k

, the Alpha lowered

ubmis

wledg

. "Why does it fee

d as he watched the forest. "Because some bonds do

elt his presence like gravity pulling at me...gentle but impossible to ign

t inev

oftly, like it was

one flared beneath my hand, I wasn't

hat would happen

8

5