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I give an encouraging yip, staying still. I glance over my shoulder to see her hesitating and I laugh, just a little huffing sound in this wolf form, though my shoulders shake with it. She whips her head to me, glaring, and then rolls her eyes. Spurred forward by my laughter, Nadia swings her right leg over my back, settling herself astride my shoulders.

I wait until I feel her hands slide into my fur, wrapping it around her fingers. Then, quite carefully, I start to stand.

She shrieks in surprise, but the sound quickly turns to laughter as I get to my feet, balancing her carefully on my back. I huff a little bark, asking if she’s ready to go, which just makes her laugh harder.

I glance behind me again, turning in a circle to let her get used to the feel of me moving, and she grins at me, shaking her head. “All right, my shaggy little pony,” she says, still laughing, clearly thinking that this isbizarre. She’s not quite as high up as she would be if she was on a horse – my legs aren’t that long – but still, she gives me a nudge with her heels like she’s riding. “Let’s go!”

I grumble my agreement, turning forward towards the desert and setting out, balancing my mate carefully on my back. My heart sings with happiness to feel her close, to be able to show her this side of me. I don’t have a ton of time to do it these days, but Iloveshifting into my wolf – just a whole extra level of freedom, all my human worries slipping away.

I take a little time to let Nadia adjust to the way I move, padding softly through the desert, but within a few minutes I feel her hands loosen in my fur, her body starting to shift with mine as I move.

“Okay,” she says, pitching her voice louder so I can hear her, though she doesn’t need to. “I’ll tug on your…hair. If I need you to go slower.”

I growl to let her know I’ve heard.

“All right, then let’s pick up the pace!” she says, tapping me again with her heels, making me laugh. We’re going to have to have a chat about that – I amnota horse. “Come on, pony!”

I laugh harder and bound forward, making her laugh as she jolts backward a bit. But Nadia easily regains her seat as I start to run. And whether it’s because she has some experience riding – maybe on Shayne’s farm? – or because she’s my mate and was made for me, Nadia easily adapts to my pace. She bends down low over my neck, holding tight as I sprint through the desert.

And even if I can’t see it, I can nearlyfeelher wild grin as the wind whips through her hair.

Nadia

I’m almost sorry as Cole starts to slow. I’ve been on his back for about an hour now and it’s beenincredible, watching the landscape pass as we fly through it. The night sky above, the ground streaming by beneath his feet, seeing all the desert colors at night as we approached the line of mountains ahead, the windrushing over me…

Incredible. Every piece of it was wonderful, a memory I’ll never forget.

But he slows to a jog, and then to a walk. And then, as the broad craggy cliffs of a mountain’s base come into view, he stops. His sides heave with his breath, though I can tell he’s not winded. No, Cole’s wolf was built for this.

Intuiting that we’re stopping for a reason, I tilt myself to the side and allow myself to slide off Cole’s back, my feet hitting the ground hard. I groan a bit, stumbling back a step. There’s a flash and suddenly he’s there, his hand snapping out to catch my arm, steadying me.

“Are you all right?”

“Areyou?” I ask, looking up at him, a little incredulous. Then I laugh again, shaking my head at him. “You did all the work!”

He smirks at me, stepping closer, lifting a hand to brush his thumb over my cheek. “You’re all flushed.”

“It’s cold,” I murmur, shrugging. It’s true – my face and headarechilly, though any place my body was close to his is perfectly warm. Maybe next time I’ll need a hat –

Suddenly, I blush, realizing that I’m absurdly making plans for thenexttime I ride on the Prince’s back when he runs through the desert.

Heavens. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, aren’t I?

“Are you stiff?” he asks, looking me over.

“A little,” I say, shrugging and standing straight. He drops his hand from my arm as I stretch, turning towards the cliff face. “Are we here?”

“This is what the maps said,” Cole says, shrugging. He points to a shadowy part right at the base of the mountain. “That’s the entrance, there.”

I nod, determined, somehowsurethat I’m right. “Okay, let’s go!”

I start eagerly forward, but Cole reaches out, snatching my hand and pulling me back. “A couple of ground rules first, Amir.”

My eyes basically roll themselves. “All right, Kincaid. What’ve you got?”

Chapter 53 - The Caves

Nadia