Though I've experienced the intense sensations of the bond firsthand, it’s another thing entirely to witness Fenryr enraptured with the possibility of bonding with Dagny. Seeing a creature so possessed and consumed with a mere possibility… defies all logic.

Yet it’s what’s happening.

“Mine,” he growls, his tone full of desperation. “My mate. No one else’s.”

I sigh, shaking my head in a show of indifference despite my own bond thrumming rapidly, threatening to send me over the edge. “Yes, yes, I know. Just stay quiet for a moment, would you?”

I watch Echo stand, then bound over to Dagny with twice the intensity as he did with Nya—pulled by that invisible force tying all of our souls together—like it’s the most natural thing in the world. His head knocks against Dagny’s calf, and the pup stumbles back, blinking rapidly as he tries to right himself. Unprompted, Dagny crouches and pulls the wolf into her chest, running her hands over his back and up by his ears, giving him the tender scratches he’s been craving.

While she’s petting him, her eyes find mine, the silver ring around her iris growing with each rapid beat of her pulse. Malice… What's going to happen to me? You know… if I…

Only what you want, I whisper into her mind, crouching in front of her, careful not to touch. Echo will leave if he senses any hesitancy—as the other familiars would have. This is all up to you, Dagny. I can’t force this kind of bond. No one can.

She looks at the wolf pup, a frown creasing her forehead. You can only facilitate it…

Clever thing. As always…

Dagny takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes before offering her hand to Echo. The pup sniffs the back of her hand as Fenryr looks on from the shadows, straining against his chains in a desperate attempt to get to her.

It happens so quickly, I nearly miss it by blinking. One moment, Echo’s coal-colored nose is pressed against her skin, that strange green tongue darting out and licking her palm lovingly. In the next, the wolf pup's razor-sharp teeth are lodged deep into the flesh of her hand, and Dagny’s eyes are glowing with enough brilliance to rival the silver sun.

And on her left hip, just above the crease of her thigh, is a brand new swirling bond mark, beaming with the same light that’s in Fenryr’s eyes. Vicious snarls and howls break out over my shoulder as Fenryr loses control, and I don’t need to look to know his transformation is well underway.