I woke slowly, surrounded by warmth and the heady scent of pine, earth, and something distinctly male. My mind felt unusually clear, despite the lingering exhaustion in my limbs. The memories of last night's agony felt distant now, like a nightmare fading in the morning light.
Wait.
I was still a wolf.
The realization didn't panic me like I thought it might. Instead, I felt a strange sense of rightness, as if I'd finally stepped into a skin that had been waiting for me all along. I stretched cautiously, feeling the powerful muscles ripple beneath my unfamiliar coat. My senses were incredibly sharp—I could hear the guards patrolling outside the residence, smell breakfast cooking somewhere in the building, even detect the faint scent of snow on the mountain breeze coming through the barely open window.
But the sensations no longer overwhelmed me. My wolf knew how to process them, how to filter the important information from the background noise.
