Chapter 21: Soren's POV: Asking

Soren's POV

I woke before she did, on a cold rock, with my coat over both of us.

The sun was coming up gold over the pines.

My wolf was quiet.

I lay still and listened for him.

He was there, steady and deep, no longer clawing at the inside of me. He was lying down.

For the first time in thirty years, I was only one creature.

Linnea slept against my shoulder with her hair across my chest and the new mark dark on her neck.

The circle on her wrist lay against mine, closed and silver.

I did not move for a long time. I was afraid it would stop being true.

Boots crunched on the path below. I knew the step.

"If you're decent," Emmett called, "say so, and if you're not, say it loudly, and I'll turn round."

"We're decent."

"That's a lie. I can smell it from here."

He came up over the rise with a thermos and two mugs, and his grin dropped away when he saw my face.

"You look like a man who's had good news."

"I think my wolf is asleep."

Emmett set the thermos down very carefully.

"Thirty years," he said. "You've never once said that."

"I know."

"I'm going to cry on you in a minute, and you'll let me, and we'll never mention it."

Linnea stirred against me, and her eyes opened, green and unfocused.

"Is it morning?"

"It is."

"Is it still true?"

I had the same fear, and she had said it aloud.

"Yes," I said. "It's still true."

She laughed into my chest and held on.

By the time we reached the packhouse, the yard was full again.