Page 9

NICHOLAS

T he scent of damp earth and decaying leaves filled Nicholas's nostrils as he made his way through Echo Woods.

This weekly patrol was supposed to be routine—check the perimeter, look for signs of poachers or injured wildlife, report back.

Simple. Except nothing had been simple since that day in Sylvie's shop.

The band pulsed faintly, reminding him of her. Three days had passed, and his tiger remained agitated, pacing beneath his skin with growing impatience. Nicholas rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension that had settled there.

"Easy," he murmured to the beast within. "We're working."

His tiger rumbled in disagreement. Working wasn't what it wanted, and Nicholas knew it.

The animal recognized Sylvie as mate, even if Nicholas himself was trying desperately to maintain his distance.

Not that distance helped. The bond zapped him with tiny electrical shocks whenever his thoughts lingered too long on the witch, which was becoming embarrassingly frequent.

Just that morning, he'd nearly spilled coffee down his shirt when a particularly vivid memory of her stormy eyes flashed through his mind.

He knew he had to see her more than he had, something told him the pain would ease then, but the stubborn part of him was resisting as long as he could.

The violet band seemed to tighten around his wrist in response to his thoughts, as if it could sense his reluctance.

His tiger clawed at his insides, frustrated by Nicholas's human hesitation.

The animal didn't understand complications or consequences, it only knew what it wanted. Who it wanted.

He didn't want another slip up like the other day where he had told her how long he had his eye on her.

That admission still burned in his memory—the way her expression had shifted from surprise to something softer, more dangerous.

Something that threatened the carefully constructed walls he'd built around himself.

Years of casual flirtations and keeping women at arm's length hadn't prepared him for Sylvie Sage and the way she effortlessly dismantled his defenses with just a raised eyebrow or the hint of a smile playing on her lips.

The path narrowed as he neared the eastern border of the sanctuary, an area few visitors explored. Old-growth trees towered overhead, their canopies blocking most of the midday sun. It was darker here, the air thick with age and secrets.

Nicholas paused, head tilting as his tiger's senses picked up something... off. A faint vibration in the air, like the aftermath of a thunderclap. His amber eyes glowed slightly as he scanned the surrounding forest.

"What is it?" he asked his inner beast. "What do you smell?"

Following his instincts, Nicholas veered off the trail, pushing through a tangle of underbrush. The vibration grew stronger, a discordant hum that made his teeth ache. After a few minutes of tracking, he stepped into a small clearing he'd never seen before.

A perfect circle of ancient stones stood arranged in the center of the space, half-buried in moss and earth. Nicholas had heard whispers of old mating circles in these woods, places where shifters of the past had performed bonding ceremonies, but he'd never stumbled across one before.

"Well, hello there," he said, walking the perimeter of the stone circle. "Aren't you interesting?"

His tiger growled, low and warning. Something about this place set his hackles rising—not the circle itself, but something nearby. Nicholas crouched, enhanced senses searching for the source of his unease.

The ground seemed to shift slightly to his right, drawing his attention to a patch of disturbed earth. Nicholas dug his fingers into the soil, pushing aside layers of leaves and dirt until his nails clinked against something solid.

"What have we got here?" He brushed away more debris, revealing what appeared to be a small stone figurine, cracked down the middle.

It was roughly the shape of a big cat—a tiger perhaps—but unsettlingly distorted, its proportions all wrong.

The figurine's eyes were unusually large, made of some dark material that seemed to absorb rather than reflect light.

As Nicholas lifted it from its earthen bed, the shadows beneath the trees appeared to deepen, swirling in patterns that made no sense. His tiger snarled, the sound reverberating through his chest.

"Yeah, I feel it too." Nicholas turned the relic over in his hands. Despite its unsettling appearance, he felt strangely drawn to it. "But it's just a carved stone. Probably some old shifter artifact."

The violet band flared momentarily, as if reacting to the relic. Nicholas hesitated, then slipped the figurine into his pocket.

"The museum folks will want to see this," he justified to himself, ignoring his tiger's continued unease.

As he stepped away from the circle, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him. For an instant, Sylvie's face flashed in his mind with her stormy eyes wide with something that looked like fear.

Nicholas shook his head to clear it. "Get a grip. The woman's turning you into a sentimental sap."

His phone buzzed in his pocket—Rollo checking in.

Nicholas took one last look at the stone circle before heading back toward the trail.

Whatever history this place held, whatever significance the broken relic might have, it could wait.

Right now, he needed to finish his patrol and figure out how to face Sylvie without his tiger taking control.

The relic felt heavier than it should as it bounced against his thigh with each step, but Nicholas pushed away any second thoughts. He'd always collected interesting trinkets from his excursions—this was no different. Just another curiosity to add to his collection.

Besides, what harm could one broken little statue possibly do?