Terran stared at my obsidian wolf, his eyes as wide as Vincent’s as they took in the size of the wolf who made their wolf form look like a pup.
“How do you know that wolf?” Terran asked me, eliminating my need to ask if Wolfie was one of his. I was sure he wasn’t, but with so many uncertainties and new discoveries, nothing felt concrete anymore. It didn’t hurt to be open to asking.
“He’s my p—” I started to saypetbut switched to “friend” when the wolf’s keen eyes turned in my direction. The expressive wolf appeared to give me a nod of approval at the designation. His posture relaxed. Terran and Vicent had moved back, scanning the tree line they’d ignored, their heads tilted as if tracking a distant frequency I couldn’t hear. Or perhaps they were listening for the sound of gigantean wolves approaching.
When the wolf directed his attention to the Alpha, he growled. Terran made a sound so feral, I couldn’t believe it could be produced by human vocal cords.
“I don’t like the way your pet is looking at me.”
“He’s not my pet and I’d strongly urge you not to call him that.” I looked at my wolf friend, midnight menace with a regal posture and self-assurance of the kind I’d only seen in Terran. My companion had mastered it with ease. “Do you think he’d be content being a pet? He’d probably eat me if I treated him like one.”
The wolf was so massive, I’d expect passersby to make a scene. Humans were cautious around all werewolves. Vincent’s and Terran’s lit eyes marked them as inhuman and therefore no different from the massive creature a few feet away. Nothing about this tableau could allow humans to believe that supernatural creatures didn’t exist—if they were of the camp who wanted to deny it.
“You always find me,” I said. His presence made Terran’s and Vincent’s seem a little less consequential. With the way Terranresponded to me and my new wolf pet, I was going to shed the moniker of “vampire’s pet” to “wolf girl.”
Terran’s attention jumped between the wolf, the trees, and me. It homed in on a space between some trees. His jaw ticked; the muscles in his neck distended. Taut and sinewy, he made me fully aware of how muscular he was and the power behind every movement, strike, and stride.
He was a bullet of speed, plucking something that whistled through the air. Instinctively, I ducked as both Terran and the massive wolf launched into the air. Terran landed with an arrow caught in his hand, and the wolf on the opposite side of me. My heart pounded against my ribs. Vincent bellowed curses—some I wasn’t sure were even curses, but he made his displeasure known before darting toward the woods with my wolf friend sprinting past him. Terran’s eyes narrowed to pins; he smelled the head of the arrow and sneered.
“There’s poison on it.” It must have been potent because he turned his face away, inhaling the surrounding air before taking another whiff.
Handing me the arrow, he said, “You should have Amelia or someone with knowledge of poisons examine this.” Taking hold of it, I knew Amelia would be my first stop. Magic hummed from it, but I couldn’t smell anything that hinted at poison. Everything in me told me that I was the target of the poison. And from Terran’s expression, he believed it, too.
Three. Three attempts had been made on my life.
Vincent returned ruddy-faced, predatory anger radiating from him. It wasn’t directed at me, but it was so intense my self-protective instinct had me put distance between us.
“They’re gone. No scent. No heat signature. Nothing.” Frustrated hands dragged through his auburn hair, making a mess of it. He closed his eyes, taking several slow, measured breaths, and when he opened them, the glow had dimmed butnot gone. Cobalt eyes attempted to peek through, but he was fighting for the level of calm needed to combat his wolf, who was lurking too close to the surface. His head moved in a rough arc from the arrow in my hand, to the baton in the other. Then to the woods. It fell back to me, double-checking my safety. His lips pulled back, revealing his teeth. He was panting, intense eyes looking for somewhere to target his anger.
I started to ease toward Vincent, wondering if my ability that had calmed Terran when he was similarly on the brink of losing control was a fluke. My wolf friend stalked toward me and lay directly in my path. Lowering to the ground, I sank my hand into his fur, my thumb stroking in a gentle metronome. His eyes closed, his body grew slack, and he whined a sound that sounded like a sigh. Then there was the unexpected sound of him snoring. The weirdness never stopped.
Before I could get to Vincent, he was standing taller, emotion back in his eyes, his breathing steady and body noticeably at ease. Terran displayed a similar calm, but it was quickly replaced with confusion. Both the Chicago werewolves stared at the wolf sleeping at my feet. Curiosity-laden glares seared into the wolf. He must have believed there was imminent danger because his eyes snapped open. He stood, growling.
“Everyone calm down,” I snapped, repeating my demand in a gentler voice, acknowledging we were on the precipice of a potentially violent situation and my tenuous thread of patience was about to snap and all of them were in danger of being whacked by my baton.
“I need to know who this wolf is,” Terran said, his voice also low and gentle, fully aware of the fragile nature of the situation.
Moving to the wolf, I kneeled in front of him.
“Wolfie.” I knew damn well wolves couldn’t roll their eyes or smirk in disdain, but he’d done a convincing imitation of it.Leaning in closer, I whispered, “If you let him change you to human, you can tell me what you want to be called. Okay?”
That animal smirk was still there when he lazily walked toward Terran with all the enthusiasm of saying “fine, damn.”
Terran stalked closer with the annoying cloak of arrogance and authority that every Alpha wore like armor. Crouching down, he stretched out a hand. The wolf’s eyes followed the hand intently as it moved toward him. Terran’s fingers brushed the wolf’s ruff. In an instant, Terran jerked upright, shoulders rolling, eyes wide and wild. His breath came in harsh, ragged pulls, veins standing out starkly against his skin. Sweat broke out instantly on his temples. His fingers curled as claws emerged and disappeared in a matter of seconds, a full-throated, involuntary howl ripping from him as he struggled to prevent himself changing into a wolf.
Terran’s response made Vincent recoil as if he’d been tazed as he fought against the triggering event that forced a whole pack to change when the Alpha was made to. The air vibrated with a peculiar power I’d never experienced. Virulent and feral. Vincent grunted and doubled over, bracing himself on his knees. Moisture pooled around his brown, matted hair that clung to his head.
Terran had wrenched his hand from the wolf as if he’d touched fire. A low rumble came from his chest. There wasn’t anything amicable about the way he looked at the wolf. My wolf. A wolf that was strong enough to force him into a change.
I didn’t like the way Terran’s glare bore into my wolf friend. I positioned myself between them.
“Are you okay?” I asked Terran. Behind his anger and bravado lingered curiosity and apprehension.
“He found me. I know as much about him as you do,” I said before he could prattle off an exhausting list of questions. It was shocking that Terran didn’t know more and that Lance hadn’tshared his experience with the wolf. But that was the nature of packs. In an effort to get an advantage, they withheld a lot of information from each other.
Terran’s expression softened. Emotions shone in his eyes as he teetered between the need to dominate the wolf and sympathy for whatever he’d experienced that forced him to retreat into his wolf. Distracted by the struggling Alpha, I split my attention between him and my environment, listening for more threats. From the perk of the wolf’s ears, he was doing the same.
“What happened to you?” Pity filled Terran’s question. It looked like he wanted to kneel by the wolf but thought better of it. I’m sure it involved some ingrained Alpha nonsense that prevented him giving the appearance of submission. Although the pack mentality remained, there seemed to be genuine concern for the wolf.
