It is the middle of the night that I should decide to make my move. I am leaving my realm, and I will not bring the wolves with me. After all, a rogue must embrace himself if he deigns to change an entire tradition. And that’s what this wedding will do. Bring a new union. Pouring over the history after our meeting, looking at a time when hunters must have attacked us before, forcing the realms to band together.

Though it had been hidden from us, the truth that is smothered beneath talk of war and famine for unknown reasons, I am seeing how much stronger we were as a joined realm. All of us marrying outside of our kind. We had all worked together. No borders.

And now we can begin again.

If only our people will let us, we must try. Lions and wolves, like the tigers and bears of the past, can start a new bond that will be a force to be reckoned with.

For selfish reasons, I want her, Liana, to be my warmth and fire in the land of Winter, but for my realm now too, I see potential. An unstoppable front against this new enemy.

But first, there is the matter of securing her hand. And I will not sit idly by and ignore the weakness that it will purvey to her realm if I do not challenge for that hand. I would never have their respect. Or hers.

So, it is with that in mind that I sneak past the guards and wardens as I so often do in wolf form, but only now I am myself. Riding my horse to the southern boundaries, I do not tie him, but rather remove his bridle and send him loose back to home. Just in case I should not return.

I try to ignore the guilt creeping up, the grief my family will be put through, should I fail. My mother would despair, my father would understand more, but equally blame himself. But, it is done already. I am committed to it.

For the betterment of our union, there cannot be any other way.

I risk changing into a wolf I can hardly trust, but I mentally try to impress upon him my purpose, so he will go where I direct for once. Inside my mind, I plead with him to head in the right direction. Because only as a wolf will I be stealthy enough to approach the lions alone.

This time, it’s as if he allows me to see more than usual, lets me into that side. Not for control, but perhaps to share what it is he sees during these ventures.

For the first time, I imagine myself being able to find some balance to this nature of mine. Maybe there is a treaty of my two halves to be had.

In the night, the prairie is nothing like winter. Our wolves prowl unceasingly at the borders. Though nocturnal cats may be, they stay close to their pride for strength in the dark, and they rarely leave it unless there is trouble. They’ve only a few guards miles apart so I make my way easily into their realm.

It troubles me that a hunter, too, could enter the same way. My first instinct, even as a wolf, is to protect Liana better than this. I could offer the king some wolves to help but hopefully without offending.

Also, their ability to sense me would be less than a wolf. Not less keen, perhaps, but more easily masked in this hot climate that would dull the senses with so many bright smells of the plains.

Even now I am bombarded with wet marsh smells, blossoming trees, everything that grows and enjoys the beauty of the sun. It hides devious entry.

The night is warm, and immediately the heat clings to my coat from humidity, a full winter fur so thick that I can lay in the snow without worry. But here, it slows me down. I’m not fully healed yet either. As I trot along the prairies, I feel doubt begin at my grand idea.

I get close to the pride when I sense that I’m being stalked. A large male lion has flashed in the pathway before me only to disappear into the brush once again.

Pretending I hadn’t seen him, I rush through the trap, and he pounces on me, but this time, I am prepared. Being on the road for the castle, no brush to hinder my stride, I take off at a run. Lions are fast, but I am lucky this is a male, heavy, brutish almost, he can’t keep up with the lightning swift pace of a wolf.

I make it to the palace, and I change back into myself at the gate. Naked now, I’ll have to beg clothes before I see the king. I call up to the servants at the tower and tell them who I am.

The male lion catches up finally and changes back as well.

Unworried about our nakedness, he seems unbothered by it in the least. In our realm, we would seek clothes immediately lest we freeze

“You must be Noble,” he says, trying not to seem out of breath.

“I am.”

“Crede,” he says motioning to himself.

When I don’t recognize him, he pushes out his chest. “I am soon to be king of this realm. Of all of the realms. You should recognize your future king of all kings.”

“Is that how we greet our guests, Crede?”

We turn to find Liana there, watching us, arms crossed, that chin stuck out. Her beautiful eyes shift between the two naked men at her gates. Her color is high, so it must not be as easy for her to go around in her skin as it is this male lion.

For some reason that relaxes me. I’d prefer it if every male in this realm has not seen my bride before I had. I have a moment to notice the keen jealousy I already feel for my future mate and enjoy the feel of it. Something about Liana screams “nobody’s” and that instantly pushes me to want to claim her as mine.

Crede, I see, is busy in his own assessment of the princess. This is the lion that has already been wanting to claim Liana as his own. He’d been betrothed to her or will remain so if I fail.

If I lose her, then the two realms will be tense over the attack and possible death of the wolf prince. Peace might only be a memory.

“I am here to see the king,” I say and Liana looks at me, really looks at me, with her narrowed cat eyes. She takes a deep breath, and I don’t see dislike sitting in her gaze. I see quite the opposite.

Crede notices, and he practically shifts back into lion so fast that I don’t see the change. The giant beast stalks into the weeds, but not before making a growl and hissing sounds so loud I feel it rumble through my chest.

“Come with me,” Liana says. “Let’s dress you.” Her mouth twists up into a smirk.

I follow her into the palace. “That might be a good idea.”

She walks ahead of me with her hands linked behind her back. Her hair is long enough to cover her backside. She walks like a princess of great privilege, although I suppose I must do the same. She is not lithe in her movements, more graceful and poised, but she is strong, more than feline, in her stature. There is nothing small about her. Not a thing.

Her lineage, I’d looked it up, is all warriors and warrioresses.

The great hall of theirs is littered with flags of each family line. She points hers out and I stare at it wishing for clothes, but interested in her history first hand rather than through tomes written by strangers. Makes sense that her shields are covered with a lion whose hair turns to flame. I smile and give a small laugh.

“What?” she asks, her eyes stern.

Good. She sees no comedy in her history. I like that she respects it. “I merely think the flame on your crest is…fitting, my lady.”

“Oh,” she replies, her mouth pursing prettily into a circle while her cheeks flare with color. Liana’s eyes wander my form boldly.

“Clothes, my lady?”

She brightens even further and rushes off to find the servants.

I wait in an alcove, hiding from the rest of the staff until they bring me something that fits well enough. Albeit with the stench of lion on each article. And then I am granted access to the king even at this late hour.

We approach the main room and I mutter, “So, it’s true then.”

“What is?” Liana asks.

I motion at the thrones. There are more than one. “You have three queens. How…does that work? It seems…”

Her mouth twists again when I don’t say the word, but she supplies it for me. “Barbaric…?” Liana sighs. “Yes, three queens for every king.” Her words are spoken softly but I feel some reluctance.

“You don’t approve?”

She stiffens. “Of what? It’s how it has always been.”

“But you’d change it, if you could.”

Her eyes shift away then back and stare deeply into mine, weighing my worth of her truths. She decides something from what she finds there. “To be honest, I would.”

Liana’s gold eyes are frank and open. No secrets. No manipulation. None of the wolves’ coy play. She’s a breath of fresh air. How she’ll survive in Winter, however, is another matter.

She goes on, “I’d rather there be one to a…”

“Bed?” I supply, and she cringes.

“Yes. What do you think of it, Noble?”

Is she fishing for more information about me? Does she wonder if I’ll have others in my bed? Seeing the lions, and their comfort with shared…everything, I bet that it’s a question on her mind. Do we take mistresses? Many of the wolf leaders have. Would I? Never. I was raised by a woman who believed in morality just slightly below love.

Deciding something myself as well, I pull Liana back to the alcove and inside. She stiffens in surprise, but then lets me tug her to the wall and speak into her ear. “My lady, if you and I are to be married, then I shall bed with you and you alone. Winter is cold. It is a lonely palace at times. I very much look forward to your sunshine in our court. I will promise you now, even before we are wed, that you and I will warm only each other. Share our bodies together and be one.”

She pulls back from me, her eyes wide.

I stroke her cheek. “Is this so foreign to you, Liana?”

“Why yes,” she whispers. “But you mean it, Noble? Truly?”

She looks so earnest that kissing her is my only answer. It’s a sneaky thing to do while she is so obviously unready. But she is not unwilling, and Liana surprises me by melting into this game as neatly as you’d expect a flame to fold around the very thing that it is burning.

She lets me kiss her, tasting, testing, before she begins to try her own machinations.

I let Liana kiss me how she likes, a challenge is in everything that she does, but I don’t want everything to be war between us, so I let her win while reaping the reward of her fervor.

Her kiss is asking if I am serious about promising myself to her alone, and mine is in answer equally as forceful that my word is my bond. The term ‘sealed with a kiss’ has never made as much sense as it does now. Better than a decree from each of us royals, is this shared passion and exchange of pleasure.

She finally pulls away, breathing hard. Her hair is disheveled, her face is so changed and softened, focus glazed with need, and I almost lose my control.

Liana stares at me. “Your eyes,” she huffs. “Do they do that before you change? I’ve noticed the coloring before. But, I swear, only a moment ago they were different.”

I close them and shake my head hard trying very hard not to change right here in the hall. Who knows what the rogue wolf would do with my emotions so high.

Once I have my thoughts back in order, I ask, “Don’t yours? Change, I mean.”

“Yes.” She smiles. “But not the color. You go from the deepest crystal blue to a storm in seconds. But that’s why I am asking. Stay yourself, Noble, as a man. We must speak with my father.”

She grabs my hands and yanks me from the alcove, and I almost laugh out loud at her excitement. I’m just now learning there is nothing more tempting than a woman who want to marry you and swiftly. Especially when you know the bedding must be on her mind.

But I sober immediately when I see the king on his throne.

He glares at our linked hands and then at Liana, before she drops mine and steps away.

Sinking into a curtsy, she motions at me to do the same.

I bow and swallow hard. What had I been thinking?

He’s a very big man. He looks double the size of any king before him. At least a head taller than most in this realm.

The king has dressed hastily, probably raised from the bed, but he’s alert, and his yellow lion eyes are on me like I’m already the prey.

“What do you want?” he demands.

I stand straight and say clearly, “I challenge you, sire, for the hand of your daughter, Princess Liana.”