"Look at me for a moment."

His eyes had been fluttering dreamily for a while now as he wavered between his dreamland and our reality. I could see everything behind his eyes in a way that I could never explain. It was so mesmerizing to enter his dreams and just exist with him in a timeless world of his designing. But I knew I had to leave his company for at least a while now, so I wanted to make something clear.

As his eyes opened wide enough for light to reflect off his soft onyx spheres, consciousness settled in. He gave me a bashful smile as he realized how close our faces were to each other and whispered, "Hey."

"I love you, Jake." Immediately, heat rushed to his cheeks and all traces of sleep burned away it. I know he wasn't expecting this kind of direct confession, but I wanted to say it as clear as day. "I don't say it enough, but I do. I love all of your stupid thoughts and your silly smiles and your sensitivities. You make me feel like I can do just about anything."

His lips parted as if to speak, but I took that as an invitation and leaned in to kiss him softly. His lips just barely met mine, but the feelings that sparked through me reminded me of the first time we'd slept together. Which was weird since I hadn't been anywhere near as gentle then.

"I really have to get moving, but I will call when I get the chance." Getting out of his bed was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I picked myself up and perched myself on the open windowsill.

"Wait! Hunter, your shirt is still somewhere around here." He started searching and I just had to roll my eyes.

"I'm a werewolf, idiot. Why would I need a shirt?" with that said, I leaned back and shifted as I dropped from the window. When I landed on all fours, I narrowed my attention on a scent that had been growing far too strong in my territory. Royalty.

I had a hunch on where I could find the closest royal apart from the queen, and a feeling that he was expecting a visit from me. The forest felt almost foreign as I bounded through it, heading deeper into its depths. The soil was cold and thin patches of frost melted under my paws. The air grew colder and less welcoming the farther I ran until my breath began forming visible clouds in front of me. I was close.

"Cease, Alpha!" a voice shouted so suddenly I nearly tried biting at the sound. A beta camouflaged in a thick tree jumped down to stand in my way. He looked like an average Alaskan wolf with the exception of his fur. The beta's fur was colored in various shades of green and brown to match the terrain. When he spoke again, he tried a more respectful tone. "You cannot go further without formal notice. This area has been claimed by queen Luminaria, and she has not asked for any guests."

My blood began to boil. I must have outweighed the beta by at least 50 pounds and was large enough to simply brush him aside, but he stood his ground under my glare. This was my territory. My area. This was my home and now they had decided I would need permission to enter? "Move, sentry, or I will move you," I growled as my first and final warning. It wasn't my intention, but a patch of grass under my left paw caught fire.

The green beta backed off almost instantly and retreated out of site. I rushed forward passed a few more trees before coming to the clearing I'd woken up in days ago. It was in the same place, but the area was nothing like it was last time. In place of the enormous crater, rose a thirty-foot dome of ice and stone that dominated the landscape. Hexagonal slabs of snow-tinted ice patterned the curved rooftop like frozen honeycomb. Polished white stone walls looked like they had erupted from deep within the ground at an angle to support the arctic structure.

My mind couldn't begin to process how the Lycans could have constructed something so massive and complicated so quickly. They lived in a frozen underground cave before Nicole brought them here!

A flicker of movement caught my attention and my eyes narrowed on a small white bundle atop the dome. A wolf pup and a bird the size of a sparrow, both with fur as white as snow. As I noticed them, the wolf's head turned to me and somehow locked its neon green eyes on mine. I could practically feel him smile and beckon me closer as if whispering in my ear, "Welcome to our new home, we've been expecting you."

It looks like the Lycans are really planning to stay a while in Hunter's slice of Viridian.