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The description surprises me. “Aloof? Griffin?” The words escape before I can stop them.

Leanna’s eyebrows shoot up. “You don’t think so?”

“No, he’s not—” I catch myself, but it’s too late. “I mean, he can seem that way at first, but he’s actually quite...warm. Once you get to know him.”

A slow, knowing smile spreads across Leanna’s face. “And you’ve gotten to know him, have you?”

“Not particularly,” I lie, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. “Just well enough to know he’s not as cold as he may appear to others.”

“Uh-huh.” Leanna’s tone is heavy with skepticism. “And that’s why you’re blushing right now?”

“I’m not blushing,” I protest, even as I feel my face grow warmer. “It’s just chilly out here.”

Leanna stops walking and turns to face me, her expression suddenly serious. She leans in, and I realize too late what she’s doing.

“You smell like him,” she says quietly, her nostrils flaring slightly as she takes another deliberate inhale. “Like pine and earth and...Griffin.”

There’s no point denying it to a wolf’s nose. “He stayed with me last night,” I admit.

Her eyes widen. “You and Griffin—”

“Not like that,” I interrupt hastily. “I couldn’t sleep indoors. The walls...” I gesture vaguely, uncomfortable with explaining the full extent of my trauma. “Anyway, I went outside with someblankets, and he saw me. He slept there with me under the stars. Nothing happened.”

Leanna’s expression shifts from shock to something more contemplative. “Griffin, the true king of the Human Wolf Kingdom, slept outside, on the ground, just to keep you company?”

Put that way, it does sound strange. “Yes.”

“That’s...interesting.” She studies my face carefully.

“What do you mean?”

“Griffin is known for being proper, Maya. Disciplined. Formal to a fault. Erik used to joke that he probably slept in a perfectly pressed suit. You know, whenever he would mention Griffin.” Her lips quirk upward. “And yet here he is, sleeping on the cold ground, just to be near you.”

“He was just being kind,” I insist, though even to my own ears, the explanation sounds flimsy.

“Kind,” Leanna repeats, unconvinced. “Yeah, sure.”

I don’t know what to say to that. Ahead of us, Finn—in his human form now—has discovered a particularly interesting rock and is turning it over in his small hands, completely absorbed.

“What are you saying, exactly?” I ask my friend.

Leanna’s smile is gentle. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

I watch Finn place his rock carefully on top of a fence post before darting off again, uninhibited and free. I wish I could feel that way.

Free. From everything.

Chapter Nine

Griffin Wild

“If it’s human-owned, private property, we have very little chance of finding the place.” Erik sounds tense.

Cedric stands by the window, his broad frame silhouetted against the morning light. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet as I’ve recounted the events of my captivity and the past few days.

Erik is sitting behind his desk, his expression thoughtful. Unlike me, he has never bothered with the formalities of royal bearing. Where I am disciplined, he is casual. Where I am reserved, he is expressive. It has made him an excellent diplomat—people trust his easy smile and relaxed demeanor—but it also makes him infuriatingly difficult to read at times. On the battlefield, however, my relaxed and normally charming brother is a demon. That is why he and Cedric get along so well.

“So,” Erik says after a moment, drumming his fingers against the polished oak of the table. “We approach the human government for permission.”