Page 32 of Virtually Guarded

But Xavier was there. My mate. Like he’d promised. He wouldn’t leave me, and that gave me the push I needed to get through the rest of the shift.

I didn’t notice when he started to shift, but when I finally managed to get up on my four paws, Xavier was wolf too. He moved closer to me. Can you hear me?

Y—yeah. Surprised, I stared at him. Bond?

Yes.

That was good to know. If I needed to tell him something, needed him, I’d be able to say so. Like with the Anax.

As I thought it, I heard the Anax in my mind. Go. Stay in the boundaries.

The crowd of wolves around us suddenly erupted into yipping, whimpering, running. I cringed as some ran too close to us, and Xavier instantly placed himself in front of me. You’re safe. The Anax told me to stay with you. I’m here.

Yeah. I really hoped he didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Like he was only there because the Anax had said so.

Come with me. He took a few steps toward the trees and turned. We can run. Don’t have to hunt. But it’s time to run.

Suddenly, running was the only thing I wanted to do. Far and fast. I couldn’t go too far, of course. The Anax had ordered us to stay within the boundaries, and I couldn’t disobey. None of us could. But I could run, and I did. Past Xavier, away from the others. They followed. I heard them behind me, and the human part of my brain started to panic. But I wasn’t human right now. I was wolf, and I knew that my mate was one of the ones following. The others were friends. Allies, at least.

I was safe.

Being on four legs felt odd. Wrong. My mind didn’t want to fully integrate with the reality.

I managed to run, though, because I was with my mate. Where I was meant to be. Others were with us, but they were friends. My mate clearly trusted them, so I could too.

As we ran, the tiny portion of human thought that I retained prayed we would hunt no animals tonight. My wolf was fine with that. Tonight was for running. For being free. For being with my mate.

At first, I was reluctant to join in chasing the others in our group. When Xavier ran at me, I cringed, dropping to the ground to show him I wouldn’t fight back. I couldn’t understand why he was trying to fight me. But then he went at Garrett instead, and I realized he was just playing. Not a fight, but a game. And Xavier was sorry he’d scared me. I felt the apology through our bond. To show him I forgave him, I joined in the running and chasing. And I felt free. Right. My body was right. My mind was right.

This was where I belonged. Running beside my mate. And maybe tonight was the night to let him claim me.

The property was huge, large enough to allow hundreds of wolves room to run and take down prey without impeding on each other, though during the night, I heard a few belligerent snarls in the distance. Each time, I flinched. Each time, Xavier told me not to worry. No one would hurt me. He was protecting me, and so were our friends.

As the night went on, my body began to feel heavy. Lifting each paw even to walk took effort, never mind running. I slowed, head bowed, and trailed after Xavier and the others until Xavier stopped and hurried back to me. What’s wrong?

Tired. Hurts. There wasn’t actually any pain, but my wolf brain didn’t have the human words to describe what was going on.

He turned his head and yipped at the others, who quickly joined us. We can go back. Feel it? The moon is letting up.

Maybe that was what was making me so heavy. The moon’s effect was wearing off. I didn’t have to be in my wolf body anymore, so maybe the heaviness, the dragging, was my human side trying to get back in control.

I didn’t want to shift back, though. In this form, I was right. I was a man no matter what meat suit I wore, but as a wolf, everything matched. No one looked at me and thought I was just a woman with short hair and guy’s clothes. Everyone knew I was male.

There was nothing I could do about that in human form. Sure, there were hormones. Surgery, even. As a homeless guy trying to find enough to eat that my body didn’t break down entirely, those weren’t things I’d been able to access. Now, with the Anax apparently bankrolling my existence, maybe I could, but I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to decide how or even if I wanted to alter my human body.

Being a wolf was easier. The body matched the mind. But now that Xavier had pointed out that the moon no longer had complete power over us, my human side wanted out.

Let’s go back, I said. Please.

Okay.

I didn’t know if the others would go with us or stay out to run longer. They didn’t need to cut their hunt short just because I wasn’t up to continuing. But as Xavier guided me back toward the house, the three Boston wolves followed.

At the house, a bunch of wolves milled around. A few had started shifting back to human. On the back steps, a human stood, tall, light brown skin, two braids hanging over his shoulders. I couldn’t remember his name, though I knew he was one of the Anax’s allies.

Zane Wolfskin, Xavier said, though I hadn’t asked. Arkhon of the Northeast Region. We aren’t under his rule. We’re directly under the Anax’s rule. But we are technically Northeast Region wolves because that’s where we live.

Oh. Too much information. Even my human brain might not have been able to process it. My wolf brain didn’t care. The only part that mattered was that the human on the steps was a leader.