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My gaze drifts down to my hands again. They’re shaking as I turn them over, rubbing the blood. It’s dried and beginning to flake. Whatever I did must have happened hours ago for it to be dry like this. I curl my fingers and swallow thickly. I’ve missed having these hands, being able to feel and grasp things with them. Yet it’s been so long since my last shift that I’d started to resign myself to a life on four paws. I’d thought I was lost after what they did to me. To us.
Those men…
Hate floods me, and I swallow again, pushing those images out of my head. The horror of it. The constant fear. Uncertainty. Rage. So much hatred toward them.
And what about Mom?!
Where is she? Still there with the others? Are they safe? Or, at the very least, unharmed. Because I know without a doubt that where they are is not safe for anyone. Certainly not those of our kind.
I filter through more foggy memories – these ones more accessible. I know I’ve been prowling around here for days, trying to find a way to get to my people. I broke away somehow and found myself here. I know that much, too. A lot of it is so fuzzy it’s hard to grasp the misty tendrils of memories that seem to evaporate as I reach for them. I’m aware that I’d been in my beast form, and she’d taken over. Pushed me into survival mode. That much, I’m sure of.
But now, I’m back. Me. Cedara.
“Cedara…” My own name feels foreign on my thick tongue, the sound strangely loud within this quiet grove. It’s been too long since I’ve spoken. Too long since I changed.
Why now? What could have caused it? Was it the thrill of the chase that triggered it? Or something else entirely?
I take a shuddering breath, fighting back the panic rising within me.
Get a grip, Cedara. You’re human again; that’s what matters.
Bracing my palms on the ground, I push myself to my feet, my legs wobbling beneath me. I have to get cleaned up and find a place to hide out before anyone sees me like this. Then I can start figuring out what the hell is going on.
???
Barrett
I come to with a groan, flat on my back on the damp forest floor.
Shit…what happened?
Wincing, I gingerly explore my chest with trembling fingers. My shirt is shredded to ribbons, the fabric stiff with congealed blood. Deep gouges crisscross my torso in ragged slashes. The edges of the wounds are beginning to heal.
Double shit…I’ve been out for hours. Longer?
Memories flood back in disjointed fragments. The wolf…the she-wolf. Those molten eyes locked on mine, blazing with a wild energy. And that strange sensation, like an electric current sparking between us. An instinctual pull I couldn’t resist, dragging me helplessly closer despite the danger.
Fucking idiot!
I’d been so goddamn stupid, approaching her while she was feeding. Of course she attacked – I basically served myself up as her next meal. But part of me had been so convinced we shared some sort of connection. That she sensed the wolf prowling restlessly beneath my skin, just as I could feel the beast within her, hear the blood rushing through her veins.
Groaning again, I push myself upright, my back against the rough bark of a pine tree, taking stock of my injuries. My chest must have been shredded, but it’ll be fine soon. It’s my throat that has me pausing. With cautious fingertips, I probe the ragged flesh. The skin is lacerated, and there’s a gaping wound in the spot where my neck joins my shoulder. I can feel the indentations where fangs have sunk in, leaving their mark there.
What the hell was I thinking?
Getting mauled by a beautiful beast wasn’t exactly how I’d planned to spend my evening. Although…God, she was glorious – all rippling muscle and lethal grace as she launched herself at me. Even with her fangs bared, there was something undeniably alluring about her. Something that reached into my core and set my body humming in resonance with hers.
She bit my throat…
I touch the spot again. Then I shake my head, trying to dislodge the memories seared into my brain. Concussed ramblings – that’s all they are. She was acting on pure instinct. Nothing more. I need to get my shit together and focus on the mission at hand.
Still, as I shakily haul myself to my feet, I can’t quite banish the image of her magnificent, wild beauty from my mind’s eye. Or the feeling that we were connected by something deeper and older than either of us could comprehend.
“Gotta find Alpen,” I mutter through parched lips. Fuck, I could really use a drink of water. But as the sunlight streams through the trees around me, it occurs to me that Edirn may be long gone. It’s daylight. “Shit!”
I scrub a hand over my face, blinking hard to clear my blurred vision. Things are starting to come back into focus, but I’m still groggy. My steps are staggering as I stumble back to the trail I’d been on earlier. A trail that would have led me to the facility where the wolves are being held.
Why the hell did you go off course, you idiot?
