Anwen watched the little family reunion and couldn’t help but feel like this was not something they were meant to see. When the Prince returned with the boy, she nearly got whiplash from looking between him and his father. They were almost identical.

“Uncanny, the resemblance between father and son, isn’t it?” Prince Ehren asked her.

“Indeed,” she murmured.

A wet nose jarred her from her thoughts. Anwen looked down. A pup was sniffing her trousers and shoes. She was large for a pup and it seemed she wasn’t even fully grown, judging by the size of the other dogs in the room.

“Vix!” the boy called with a hint of exasperation lacing his voice. “Don’t go wandering off to sniff every interesting person.”

The pup grudgingly backed away from her.

“Sorry about her,” he apologized. “She’s only six months old but is insatiably curious.”

“Funny, she looks far older than that,” Anwen commented.

“It’s her size,” Akira replied joining them. “She’s a wolf-dog hybrid, so she’s bigger than your average Great Dane or Irish wolfhound.” She stroked the pup’s head. “She seems to like you, seeing as this is the first time she’s been out of the house.”

Anwen hummed in reply as she watched the pup for a moment.

“Come, we’re wasting time your brother may not have,” Anwen told her, tearing her eyes away from the playful pup.

None of them could have known the terrifying journey that awaited them.