And the deal? It didn’t sound so bad. Not when he’d never felt so grounded, so rested, as he did this morning. He woke with her in his arms and, for once, there was no rage clawing through his skin, no wild need to retreat into the woods to release the animal in him. His beast had been quiet, even purring in the background of his mind like some great wolf content to nap.
But still, the question kept haunting him, crawling into the corners of his thoughts no matter how busy he tried to stay. During training, during strategy sessions, even while discussing border issues with his father, the same unanswered thought lingered:
What makes her so different?
He had tried. Gods knew, he had tried. Other women, none had ever lasted more than a few moments. His beast rejected them immediately, vio
