Chapter 178: 178

I smiled instantly, realizing it would sit right over my chest when I shifted.

“I’ve been decorating it like mine,” Cassius said quietly. “I hope you like it.”

There was a flicker of doubt in his eyes.

That alone made my heart ache.

“I love it,” I said quickly.

I rose onto my toes and kissed him.

When I pulled back, I looked at it again. “It’s beautiful.”

My vision blurred slightly with emotion, and Cassius pulled me into his arms.

“Those are happy tears, right, moonbeam?”

“Yes…” I sniffed. “It’s just… I never thought I’d need something like this. I never thought I’d reach this point.”

He gently eased me out of the hug, then helped slide the strap over my head so the bag settled across my chest.

“If it needs adjusting for your wolf, we’ll fix it,” he said.

Hearing him say my wolf still felt unreal. Even now, everything from yesterday and last night felt like something I had dreamed about.

But reality snapped into place the moment he led me outside.

A huge black wolf stood waiting in the yard.

As soon as it saw me, its attention locked on sharply.

“Are we shifting now?” I asked quietly.

“We could drive to the border,” Cassius said, “but it’s not far for us.”

He nodded toward the sling bag. “Put your clothes in.”

Before I could respond, he had already begun stripping on the porch beside me without hesitation. His long black hair fell forward as he moved, brushing over his shoulders in a way that caught my attention despite everything else.

Only Cassius among his pack had hair as long as mine.

He placed his clothes and phone into his bag, secured it across his chest, and stood waiting.

Completely unbothered. Completely certain.

Even like this, he looked every bit the alpha he was.

I didn’t waste time. I pulled off my clothes in a hurry, folded them without care, and stuffed them into the sling bag Cassius had given me.

Cassius gave a small nod.

I glanced toward Rowan, remembering what he had told me about shifting the night before. Becoming a wolf under the full moon had felt natural like my body had been waiting for it. Returning to human form had been harder, like I had to convince my wolf to let go.

So I tried it differently this time.

We hunt, I told her inside my mind.

The change hit instantly.

My body bent forward, and I braced for impact on my hands but instead, strong paws met the wooden porch beneath me.

“You’re already adapting fast,” Rowan’s calm voice echoed inside my head.

“It’s because of you,” I replied honestly.

Cassius stepped closer, still in his human body, and adjusted the sling bag hanging from my side.

“It’s a bit loose, but it’ll work for now. I’ll fix it properly later,” he said softly.

A moment later, his body shifted, bones and muscle reshaping until a large brown wolf stood where he had been. A moonmark stood clear on his forehead.

“Move out,” Cassius said.

Rowan took the lead.

We moved into the forest together.

Familiar scents hit me as we passed through traces from last night still clinging to the trees, tangled together with ours. I could separate them if I focused: Cassius, Rowan, Luca… and my own.

And beneath it all, a lingering scent that made my thoughts scatter.

I lowered my head slightly, suddenly shy for no reason.

Cassius walked beside me like nothing mattered, even though I knew he could smell everything just like I could.

I’m glad last night was good for you, his voice came quietly inside my mind.

It was, I answered.

There was a pause.

But?

He always caught things I didn’t say.

Sometimes I still feel guilty… for wanting all of you, I admitted.

His response came with a soft laugh in my mind.

Selena, I’ve never been confused about that. I knew from the beginning you’d be ours.

It’s easier for you to accept it than it is for me.

Don’t overthink it, moonbeam. Your happiness is enough for me.

Rowan kept guiding us deeper until the forest opened near a boundary marked by yellow paint on tree trunks.

A few steps beyond that, red marks appeared on another line of trees.

I slowed slightly. “So this is how they mark territory?”

“The Elder Forest is too vast to fence in,” Cassius explained. “They use markings instead. It guides the pack and the patrol routes.”

“Yellow is for younger wolves,” Rowan added.

“And red is for patrol limits?” I guessed.

Cassius nodded. “Exactly. Now stay alert. Use your senses.”

I let out a short laugh. “That phrase always sounded strange, but now it makes even less sense.”

We followed the border for a while, but everything I picked up smelled stale. Old traces. Nothing fresh.

“This area feels empty,” I said.

“Overhunted,” Cassius agreed. “We’ll go further in.”

So we did.

Deeper into the wildlands, the air changed.

But it wasn’t prey I smelled next.

It was wolves.

“Shifters?” I asked quietly.

Cassius paused. “Do you smell anything else?”

I focused harder.

Human scent.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“They’re shifters,” Cassius said. “But there’s no clear territory line.”

His tone shifted, measured, and careful.

Something about it unsettled me. Then I felt it through the bond of Lucien's presence, distant but sharp, like tension pulling tight between unseen threads.

Lucien? I reached out the way I had before. Can you hear me?

Nothing answered.

Only silence.

A strange emptiness settled in my chest, even with Cassius and Rowan beside me.

“Maybe they’re like the Howling Evergreen pack,” I said quietly, trying to make sense of it.

Cassius slowed. “We should head back. Most packs don’t move like that, and…”