‘Jealous that you’d be trapped in the snow with old men?’

His words had nearly made her insides recoil.

In reality, the extent of her situation—the almost arranged marriage she would have been coerced into—had yet to fully materialize as a thing in her mind. For now, it was still a pipe dream of her mother’s, a probability that would never come to be. And for that, for Malakai, Nadya was thankful.

She didn’t want to be tied down to some old man in the snow.

She didn’t want to be tied down at all.

Kai’s words brought her back from the rolling of her belly, and for a moment, her ears warmed to the sound of his words. She could not explain why, but there was something comforting in his delivery. Nadya held back the softer, wobbly smile that peppered her lips before she laughed, a half-baked chuckle as she drew her gaze to his. Tell that to my mom, she snorted, her words fighting to find something humorous to say rather than succumb to the warm, gooey feeling she was noticing inside.

His mischievous grin brought one of her own to her lips, as Nadya flashed Kai a toothy one herself. They’d be—HEY. The slap of her fur against her cheeks swallowed her words within a second; their peaceful utterance no more than a grunt as she whipped her gaze towards his.

He was running.

But he wouldn’t be for long.

Nadya took off after him, a playful growl reverberating from the walls of her chest as she soared to his side, hopeful that if she got close enough, she could headbutt him in the shoulder and send him flying.