The Chase

[Hyacinth]

Slate gives me a small head start. Bounding ahead, my heart pounding, I run on my new wolf legs, sprinting through the trees, weaving around them like the breeze itself, touching the branches and the bark with my fur as I brush past them yet easily missing any logs, rocks, or pitfalls in my path.

I am graceful and strong in my wolf form, and my legs are long and powerful. Even though Halcyon is the one in charge, I can still feel everything--the cool wetness of the soil beneath the pads of my feet, the smell of fresh rain in the branches of the tall pine trees.

And the scent of my mate not far behind me. He smells so good, so mouthwateringly delicious. Like the sweetest candy.

Now I finally understand the gravity of what had been taken from me when my mother chose to seal off my wolf. She took away a whole world of sensations.

I played in these trees as a little girl and ran through them gleefully as I played with the other pups. I had no idea what I was missing without