Page 107 of Unveiled

Connor felt fear gnaw at the edges of him. His wolf bristled, pacing under his skin.

Adrian’s face twisted in pain as he was pulled. “Connor, don’t fucking risk it.”

Connor cupped his face, his voice low and rough. “I’m not risking anything.” He pressed his forehead to Adrian’s again. “I’m choosing you.”

The mark flared violently, and the world shattered into light. Connor followed him into the void.

Connor expected darkness. Instead, he opened his eyes to snow.

Thick flakes drifted around him, glowing faintly in the moonlight. Pines towered all around him, their branches bowed heavy with frost. The wind howled across an endless expanse of white. Connor shivered. Not from cold, but from recognition.

“This is,” he whispered, his childhood. His first shift. His father’s voice. His clan’s sacred ground. The Wolf Realm inside him.

Footsteps crunched behind him. Connor turned. Adrian stood at the tree line, wearing no coat, no shoes, and no visible mark. His body was translucent around the edges like a being halfway between worlds.

Connor’s heart clenched. “Adrian.”

Adrian’s eyes were wide as he looked around. “This is your mind?”

Connor swallowed. “Aye.”

Adrian stepped closer, the snow not touching his feet. “It’s beautiful.”

The wind shifted and something else stepped into the clearing. Connor’s blood chilled. His wolf. Massive, its dark fur streaked with silver and its eyes like molten gold. It was a creature of strength, violence, loyalty, and destiny.

His wolf stared at Adrian.

Adrian’s voice softened. “He’s magnificent. Like you.”

The wolf circled them, then stepped close. So close its nose brushed Adrian’s chest. Adrian inhaled sharply. The wolf exhaled, its breath warm against Adrian’s shirt, and then it pressed its muzzle to the faint shimmer of the sigils.

The mark flared. Light erupted between them. Adrian staggered back, straight into Connor’s arms.

Connor tightened his hold around Adrian’s waist, grounding him. “What happened?”

“He saw it. He saw the mark.”

The wolf stared at Adrian, not with hunger, but with understanding. With ownership.

Connor whispered, “He recognises you.”

Adrian’s breath hitched. “Why?”

Connor swallowed hard. “Because you’re mine.”

***

Adrian

The words echoed through the snow and the trees. Through Adrian’s entire body. Warmth bloomed in his chest. A dangerous, impossible warmth. Adrian touched the wolf’s mind, and everything went silent.

He was inside Connor’s mind.

Connor as a child, shivering in his first-shift fever. Connor as King at twenty-two, lifting his father’s fallen crown. Connor running across the glen with snow in his fur. Connor burying his face in Fraser’s shoulder after the death of a clanmate. Connor laughing with Laird in the stables. Connor gripping a glass of whisky too tightly after another lonely night. Connor whispering to the moon that one day he’d find someone who saw him. Connor roaring at the Council, vowing to protect Adrian. Connor pulling Adrian from the rend.

It hit Adrian hard. He gasped, his breath crushed from his lungs.

Connor pushed forward through the dream space and grabbed Adrian’s arm, shaking him. “Adrian. Don’t look at that.”