Without the safety of Scythe’s homes to hide within, I felt exposed. Raw and anxious all over again.

It was then I was forced to consider that perhaps it wasn’t revealing myself to this city that was not my own that caused it, nor was it the fear of Rorn finding me—should he even be looking. It was just me.

I’d done this to myself.

For endless months, I’d hidden. I’d made sure very few souls saw me in order to somehow better protect myself. Now, it was hard to shake that need. The desire to escape as best I could behind walls and closed doors.

I swallowed over the tightening within my throat and lifted my chin.

But the street was now empty, void of even outdoor tables and displays before the restaurants and shopfronts I passed. I heard it, though—life beyond the doors and the cracked open windows.

Perhaps the people of Vordane just needed some time to hide and learn how to breathe amongst others again, too.

My bare feet slowed at the sight of that tavern, and I remembered that Olivianna’s was nearby. I paused outside of the narrow, two-story building and inhaled the scent I’d carried within my memory of stale ale and spiced nuts. The murky windows of the tavern were damp and dimly lit, the occupants within boisterous.

Growing cold, I made to keep walking when a familiar scent trapped my next breath within my lungs, and I turned back.

Inside, I shouldered gently through a large throng of females. Nearly every table was occupied, laughter and cussing and even singing overwhelming my senses. But his scent had never been more unmistakable now that he’d bound us together.

I followed it, relied on that pull that was so much stronger than ever before, to the bar.

Scythe stood at its end in discussion with what smelled like another wolf. Sensing my approach, he stilled, then he turned just far enough to see me as I struggled to squeeze between a rowdy crowd of young males.

One of them hollered a greeting at me and offered his drink, of which I declined with a slight smile and a shake of my head. By the time I was free and nearing the end of the bar where Scythe stood, I could see the wolf had left him, but he wasn’t alone.

A female with dark shoulder-length hair now hung from his arm. Another wolf, I noted when I inhaled her perfumed scent and saw the brighter hue of her pear-colored eyes.

She smirked at Scythe and shook her finger, saying something I couldn’t hear when one of the males behind me called to someone across the tavern.

My wolf wasn’t looking at her. He was staring straight at me while he placed a hand upon the female’s waist.

I scowled. My heart paused painfully.