Aidan had resented that lycan ever since he had first set foot in the temple following Rhiannon. He had hated his scent from the very moment he had smelled it, and he had envied his stupidity, or his determination, to let his wolf walk beside Raksha in front of everyone. But what triggered every last one of her nerve endings was seeing him achieve a partial transformation in a second, as if propelled by a small explosion.

His hair turned from gold to gray, extending almost to his waist; his body seemed to give off a shockwave full of power as his eyes took on a deep black color, and his claws emerged with a jolt.

With one of them he grasped the wrist Rhiannon was offering him, brought it to his nose gingerly, sniffing it for a brief second, and then, before Aidan could make a single move to avoid it, he closed four sharp fangs on the snowy, delicate flesh of her forearm.

Rhiannon did not utter a single sound of protest, but the muffled growl that escaped the Alpha’s throat made all ey