Page 36 of Wolf's Prize

“Yes, you did.”

“My wolf wanted to attack you, and I would not let it. I made it do what I wanted. Made it sit like you asked me to.” Her smile lit up her face. “I did it.”

Her joy was infectious, and he grinned at her exuberance. She had done it. And quicker by far than he had.Well done, Kathryn.

His first transformation had been a disaster, and Gaharet had had to shift and take him down, Gaharet’s teeth buried around the scruff of his neck until his wolf had submitted. Not for one moment had Aimon felt the need to take such measures with Kathryn. She had fought for supremacy in her mind and succeeded. Living with it, repressing it for over a decade, had taught her ways of keeping her darker half in check. He could not be more proud of her.

“You have done very well, Kathryn. Congratulations on your first intentional shift. How did it feel?”

Her eyes lit up. “Wonderful. Powerful. Not at all what I expected.” Her face turned serious, and she placed a hand on his chest. “Thank you, Aimon. This means so much to me.”

Clutched about her with only one hand, the blanket slipped, revealing a pale, bare shoulder. Aimon’s gaze dipped, following the line of her throat, and slid across her collarbone. He ripped his gaze back to her face and stepped back lest he reach for her.

“Can we do it again? I want to do it again.”

Aimon nodded, gripping his own blanket tighter should it slip from his nerveless fingers.

“We will go through the process a few more times. I will ask you to do things—walk around the room, fetch items. Once I am confident you can shift and not lose control, not for a moment, then I will take you out into the forest.”

Kathryn gaped at him. “Are you certain?”

“Yes, I am certain.”

Things were progressing faster than he had expected. It would be good to be out in the forest. He eyed the cot. There were too many memories in here for him. The blanket around Kathryn’s shoulders slipped further. And too much temptation. He wanted out of this room, too.

Chapter Fifteen

“Do you trust me, Kathryn?” Aimon asked, exiting the keep and leading Kathryn down the hill to the bailey. So dogged was she in her determination to be out in the forest, she had pushed herself hard. In no time at all, Aimon had concluded her capable enough to continue beyond the training room. He, too, relished being free of that room, breathing the fresh air.

“I suppose I do. Why?”

He untied a strip of cloth from around his wrist. “Because it is time for your next lesson.”

Kathryn scrunched her freckled nose up at the material. “What is that for? I thought you were taking me for a run.”

“Not yet.”

“But you said…”

“I said I would take you out into the forest, not that we would go for a run. There is more to being a werewolf than shifting and running. You must become proficient with every aspect of your wolf before I will take you for a run. Small steps first.”

She huffed her disappointment.

“I am going to blindfold you, and I am going to test your senses. I want to see how well you can use them.”

Kathryn scowled, but she let him fix the material over her eyes. She pushed at it with her fingers. “I feel silly.”

“No more than I did when Gaharet blindfolded me. And it took me much longer to get to this stage of my training than you have.”

“Really? How long did it take you?”

“Weeks.”

“Weeks?”

He suppressed a laugh at her horrified expression. Had Gaharet told him it would take him so long he would have felt much the same.

“How long until I am fully trained? Until I can change one part of my body like you did in the library?”

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