The room breathed apples and cinnamon, and soft candlelight glowed against the walls.
After the hunt—after blood and steam and the crash of creature against beast—the quiet was disorienting.
Too soft.
Too human.
Sera moved through it without hesitation.
She set the dire wolf in the nest of blankets on the bed. The pup stretched long, yawned, then wriggled down into the pile as if he had always been there, as though the night outside had not existed at all.
His small sigh of contentment carried the ease of something that knew it was home.
Alexei lingered at the window.
Meltwater dripped from his hair, streaking down his chest.
His claws were still black at the tips, his skin still smudged with faint red that snow had not scoured away. He looked out at the ice beyond the glass. The bear's blood still steamed there in his memory.
His body still thrummed with the hunt.
He turned. "Can I stay here tonight?"
