Page 20 of Hunted Ink by Trisha Linde

I splashed him, relieved to have a reason to laugh. “First, he’s an omega too—not that there’s anything wrong with that—but he’s also a rabbit, which means he’s a vegetarian.”

Apollo made a face. “My wolf says ew.”

“Mine too.” We shared a soft smile, and I felt like something had healed deep inside me. For so long, I’d avoided coming back here, fearing what truths I might find. But I wasn’t afraid anymore. Being back here in the place where my life had been destroyed, there was now a spark of life.

Carding my fingers through Apollo’s wet hair, I placed a tender kiss on his forehead. “Are you ready to shift?” I asked. I wouldn’t push him if this wasn’t what he wanted, but I could practically feel the vibration of his wolf beneath his skin.

His sigh was cool as it drifted over my damp chest, before he drew back and stared up at the full moon, his eyes flashing with his beast. When he looked back down at me, though, it was all my mate. “Will you show me how?”

“You’ve never…” I asked, just to confirm what I already suspected, and he shook his head. “I’ve got you.”

“I know. I trust you.”

I swore to the gods that I would do everything I could to deserve that trust.

Taking his hand, I led Apollo from the water. We didn’t bother to dry off. Soon enough, it wouldn’t matter.

A first shift could be painful. Our entire physiology had to adapt to our new form—bones breaking, tendons, muscles, ligaments stretching to make room for the change in morphology. And that was when it happened in our early teens, when we went through puberty. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like after having his beast suppressed for so long.

Apollo knew this, and he wasn’t afraid. He looked me right in the eye, head held high, and said, “I’m ready.” I thought of the scars on his back and realized with a revolting sickness that he was no stranger to pain.

Steadying my own nerves was nowhere near so easy. Standing to face Apollo, I balled my hands into fists to hide my shaking fingers. “Close your eyes,” I instructed, and he did. “Now breathe, deep and slow. Listen to the wind in the trees, the water’s flow pulling at the bank, insects and bats and small creatures crawling through the forest… Do you hear it?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

“We are surrounded by life, and that green feeling, it lives inside you too. Look inside yourself.”

A small gasp escaped his lips, eyelashes fluttering. “I feel it,” he said with a reverent awe, and then his lips twitched into a smile. “He wants to meet you.”

“Then shall we let him out to play?” I asked, teasing.

The change was immediate. His smile wavered, a grimace taking its place, his teeth clenched. A ripple seemed to travel down his body, starting at the top and working its way down to his toes, wiry gray fur sprouting down his chest. Apollo groaned as he dropped to all fours, his eyes still scrunched tightly shut, but even as his shoulders seemed to be wrenched from their sockets, he remained stubbornly silent.

I had to slap a hand over my mouth to keep from crying out and fell to my knees beside him. I wanted nothing more than to pull him into my arms and beg him to stop, tell him that it wasn’t worth it, but that would be a lie. He deserved to know this half of himself, and his wolf deserved to be free. The pain was temporary.

The snap of bone echoed off the trees, but still, he did not let out a single cry. His fingers dug into the dirt until they became claws, hunching forward as fur rippled down his flanks. I couldn’t see his face where he’d tipped it down, but his ears grew long, and then, as if all the pieces fell together with a final click, his back arched, and he threw his head back as a wolf at last, howling to the heavens in a haunting melody that I longed to join.

I didn’t even know I was crying until Apollo’s wolf licked the tears from my cheeks. “Hello, sweet boy,” I said with a snuffly laugh, digging my fingers deep into the thick fur around his neck. “I knew you could do it. You’re so beautiful.” He was all Alpha, far larger than any other wolf I’d seen, his fur a beautiful glistening silver.

His wolf stuck his cold, wet nose straight into my neck to take a good long sniff, then kept right on coming, crawling onto my folded legs like he thought he was a lap dog. Inevitably, I fell backward beneath his full weight, laughing, and he let out the wolfy equivalent, a chuffing kind of bark as I wrestled my way out from under him.

“What do you say, should we go for a run?” He barked in response, tail wagging, and I grinned in challenge. “Bet you can’t catch me,” I taunted, before taking my fur and bolting into the forest.

Chapter 14

Apollo

Bet you can’t catch me!

His playful challenge brought back flashes of a memory of chasing Kedi through these same woods as children. But instead of letting him win the race like I once had, my wolf took being Alpha far more seriously, and he wanted our omega beneath us.

Kedi had a headstart, and he made use of every second, his claws digging into the dirt for traction as he made it to the tree line first. We were right on his heels. I’d expected that maneuvering this new body would be difficult, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was as natural as breathing, my wolf and I working side by side in tandem. We tore through the woods, but it was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It was like sitting in the passenger seat of a truck, with someone else behind the wheel. I could feel the ground beneath my feet, but they weren’t my feet, they were ours. The air in our lungs, the wind tugging at our fur. It was me but not just me. I could see, hear, feel everything going on, but I wasn’t the one in the driver’s seat. My wolf was, and it was exhilarating, the lack of control adding to the rush.

Not long ago, I’d thought I was going crazy, hearing voices. But now, our roles had reversed, and I was the voice in his head, urging him to run faster as I saw flashes of Kedi’s wolf weaving through the trees ahead. As an omega, his wolf was leaner than mine, a shiny gray with flecks of black around his ruff.

He’s getting away, I taunted my wolf, while I knew there was very little chance of that.

He huffed, as close to an offended scoff as a wolf could get, and he put on a burst of speed just to prove me wrong. Nobody got away from us, especially our mate.