Kenna
My heart is in shambles as I walk up the slight rise to the willow tree. The forest groans all around me in a stiff breeze that promises cooler weather and storms tonight. It would be a welcome relief from the heat and a distraction from the raw conversation I just had with my parents about everything that happened and will soon happen.
I’ve been blessed to have never experienced the torment of war. Sure, small tangles and skirmishes have occurred during my parents’ reign, but nothing like this. Nothing that promises what could be years of battle and bloodshed while Gabriel fights his way to my parents’ throne.
He’ll never take it. He’d have to overthrow the entire royal family in both kingdoms to succeed.
But he’ll lay waste and leave bodies in his wake.
I move the branches out of the way and step inside the cool sanctuary of the willow.
“Evander?” I call out.
He steps out from behind the tree trunk, his hands tucked in his pockets. His gentle smile in my direction is the only glue holding me together as I hug myself and step toward him, heaving a breath. “We need to talk.”
“I figured,” he says, his voice soft and lighthearted despite the resigned look in his eyes. My lips part to start explaining what I just heard and now think, but he says, “If you’ve changed your mind about what kind of relationship you want with me, you just need to say so. I won’t force you–”
“No!” I nearly shout, stopping short of him. I blush, then clear my throat, “No, it’s not that at all.”
I sink to the ground with my back against the tree trunk and close my eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. The rich, damp forest scent all around me mingles with Evander’s warm vanilla and leather as he sits beside me, hugging his knees.
“It’s about Brie,” I tell him, my throat feeling tight. “My parents made some good points about our decision to adopt her as our own.”
“Like, she doesn’t have Firestone or Shadowsynger blood, and therefore can’t inherit titles from Veiled Valley or the Firestone Throne of Eastonia?”
I open my eyes, meeting his gaze. “How come I never gave that any thought and you did?”
“Because the first thing on your mind when it comes to her is keeping her safe and loved now, not twenty years from now.” He stretches out his legs and leans his head against the tree. “I had a similar conversation with my parents.”
“They think this is all so abrupt, don’t they?”
“My parents?” He looks down at me and smiles slightly, chuckling, “My parents got together during the Rite, remember? They were living together in Veiled Valley within a few days of that and expecting me to arrive in a matter of months.”
“Oh, yeah.” I let out my breath in a whoosh. “But they didn’t take in a baby within days of being mated.”
“They weren’t at war.”
He takes my hand, squeezing. “Brie is ours.”
“I know, I just think… my dad made valid points about her future. She won’t be my heir, Evander. Is this fair to her?”
“Is it fair for her to be with two people who can love her and raise her surrounded by family and protection?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Are you reconsidering?”
“No, I’m not.” I draw in a breath. “I’m not. I feel it in my soul that she’s meant to be with us.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
I close my eyes, screaming internally. “My dad is being a hard-headed jerk right now.”
“He has every right to. His kingdom is under attack and his family threatened–”
“He has a serious problem with you!”
“I’m mated to his daughter. Of course he’d rather see me banished to another kingdom than accept it’s time to let you go, Kenna.” He shifts her weight, turning to face me. “Your dad doesn’t scare me. He never has. His feelings toward me are surface level, all right? Deep down, he’s probably elated that we’re together, but I understand his current feelings because I feel the same way.”
He tries to tuck my hair behind my ear and caress my cheek, but I pull away, asking, “What do you mean by that?”
“He was separated from his mate, and she was in danger. His home was attacked, and he was injured. His family is at risk, and he’s scared, Kenna.”
My dad is never scared. At least, I’ve never thought so. But I look into my mate’s eyes and see the stark compassion there.
“Are you scared?”
“Yeah, I am. I’m not scared to go into battle. I’m not scared of the idea of putting my life on the line to protect my family and my kingdom. But I’m scared of what this means for you, and our daughter, and our future together. If your dad needs to take his frustrations out on anyone, I’d rather it be me than anyone else. I can handle it.” He shakes my shoulders a little, lowering his forehead to mine. “And we can handle raising Brie. One day, when she’s old enough to understand, we’ll tell her everything. She’ll have freedoms neither of us had, Kenna. Freedom to choose her own path. That’s a blessing in itself.”
I fight the urge to cry. Evander’s right. Sometimes it’s incredibly annoying how often he’s right, but still….
He takes me by the chin and forces me to look at him. “Now, we have something we need to do.”
I sigh. “Shift?”
He nods. “It’s time.”
“I don’t know if I can just… shift like you can. When I shifted a few days ago it was because I was—I was scared, I think. It just happened.”
“You can shift because you marked me. You’re mated now; that’s an exclusively shifter trait. Our powers are bound.”
“I didn’t realize you paid attention in your Wolf Arts classes.”
He smirks, his eyes glistening like raw gems in the moonlight drifting through the willow branches.
“We’ll take it slow, okay?”
Under the protection of the willow, we slowly undress. Evander doesn’t shy away from staring as I remove my clothes. In fact, he gathers them up and folds them neatly next to his, murmuring encouragement as I try, and try, to ignite those lupine powers again.
I wonder how it feels for him, being able to shift whenever and wherever he wants. He can shift into two creatures, which is insanely rare. Unfathomable, really. Tonight, he chooses his wolf, and a part of me is disappointed.
When we were kids, he came into his fox powers. It made games of chase practically impossible. I used to watch from the hedges, picking berries and wild herbs with Grandma Cressendra while Amanda coached Evander in his new found ability, and felt more than jealous of their stealth and speed.
But they might be the only fox shifters in the world, and Evander grew up hiding that side of himself, just like his mom did.
But his wolf… it’s glorious. Golden with copper undertones that shimmer in the moonlight.
He looks down at me, his eyes still the same deep shade of green, and patiently waits.
I look down at my hands–at the shadows curling around my fingers–and feel…
‘Dig deep,’ he says. ‘It’ll happen.’
‘My other powers won’t let it overwhelm them.’
‘Remind those powers who’s in control, Kenna.’
I look up at him again as I take a deep, restorative breath, and strain my senses, burying my powers of fire and shadow as deep as I can and willing my wolf to take over.
I’m not sure how to describe the feeling of whole-body transformation. It’s like when my shadow takes over. It’s not totally painless, but it doesn’t hurt, either. It’s like every bone in my body goes to mush, and my muscles contract then relax, and a wave of pleasure wraps its way around every inch of my skin in ribbons that tighten and flex, building something new.
I hear Evander’s thankful exclamations through the bond over the blood thrumming in my ears–ears that can suddenly hear everything. I pick up scents I never thought possible–flowers and trees miles away, the smell of other wolves and people nearby, Evander….
‘Open your eyes,’ he commands, so I do.
I’m no longer standing straight up on two legs. My hands and feet have been replaced with taloned paws of the darkest black. A slight breeze whispers through my fur, tickling the skin beneath, but I’m warm. Warmer than I’ve ever been.
Before I can question it, Evander turns and runs at a speed that doesn’t seem possible.
‘Follow me,’ he says, the words a gentle, yet commanding, hum through my mind and body, and then a slight tug in my chest has my paws moving.
I feel like a baby deer or toddler just learning to run. I trip over my own feet as I follow Evander through the woods, bumping into trees and getting tangled in heather and alder crops.
My vision eventually catches up with the transformation and the dark night shifts to what could be a clear, cloudless day. Night-vision, basically. How strange. Why do people even bother shifting back to their human forms when we could just be… this?
By the time we’ve put a few miles between us and Moonrise, I’ve gotten the hang of being on all fours. I leap over a creek, marveling at how the water shines like diamonds, and land gracefully instead of skidding to a stop on my side.
Soon, I’m zigzagging through the forest, jumping over boulders and testing my stealth.
All while Evander simply jogs ahead, occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure I’m still within sight and not desperately tangled in vines or bramble bushes.
I’ve never been this far in the forest before. Moonrise is surrounded by dense woods that can easily disorient any rogue travelers. I know we must be approaching the edge of the wards surrounding Moonrise, but Evander keeps going.
He says nothing to me, likely to keep me focused on learning how to navigate the world in this new body. We dip down into a shallow mountain valley where the moonlight illuminates a lake high above the distant city. The water shines a bright silver, and a waterfall feeds the lake, sending a soft hum of movement through the still night air.
I look up at the stars as I follow Evander to the lake, crossing a field of boulders left behind by an ancient glacier.
I trip, twisting my front right paw. Evander lets out a snort, and I turn to look up at him.
‘We’re almost there.’
I trot after him, more carefully this time, until we reach the lake’s edge.
I think we’re about to stop, but he skirts the lake, walking along the smooth, ancient rocks I wonder if anyone other than us has touched.
‘Where are we going?’ I ask through the mind-link.
‘You’ll see. This is probably my favorite place to be… other than between your legs.’ If he could wink at me right now, I’m sure he would.
If I could blush, my entire face would be bright red, but his flirty comment has heat and desire spreading through my body like wildfire.
Evander notices and looks over his shoulder at me once more, his eyes alight, but then he cuts behind the waterfall and disappears.
For a moment, I hesitate. I really don’t want to be in another cave right now, not after the battle that ensued while Evander and I were underground during the Rite.
But I follow him anyway, and once I pass behind the cold spray of the falls and see what he brought me here to experience, I gasp.
My entire body ripples with energy as my human form takes over. I don’t know how to control that aspect yet, obviously, and apparently a little bit of emotion is all it takes to cause the transformation.
Naked, my skin prickling with the cold air coming off the falls at my back, I look around. My mouth parts as my eyes dance with shimmering light.
It’s a small, shallow cave, but the walls aren’t pure, raw earth.
Crystals coat every surface. Moonlight cuts through the falls and makes the crystals look like they’re dancing.
And Evander stands in his wolf form in the center of it all.
I meet his eyes and can’t stop the delirious smile from stretching across my face. “How long have you known about this place?”
He shifts back to his human form in a soft flash of light and stalks toward me. “Since the day after your sixteenth birthday,” he replies, running his fingertips over my upper arms. “I left Moonrise and just ran, ran until I found this lake. I found this place and wondered if I’d ever have a chance to bring you here.”
“It’s so beautiful,” I gasp, but the words turn to a gentle moan as he leans down to brush his lips across my temple and the top of my ear.
“You did so well,” he rasps, his touch on my skin shifting to something harder and more demanding.
And my body responds.
We’re alone. Finally.
“Kiss me,” I command, and his eyes darken with heat.