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“So it just needs to hunt me?” It sounded too easy of an answer.
“No. You make it prove it’sworthyof hunting you.”
Luca’s mouth went dry. Sweat beaded on his skin. His breath quickened.
Worthy.
“You really think it will help?”
“I know it will.”
Luca nodded. “Okay.” He could do this. He would do it.
Hewantedto do it.
But only if it was the right thing for Nox.
Seung chuckled. “Make sure you undress before you get too far. Not sure if we have anything else that would fit you.”
Luca took the trail of flattened grass Nox had left in his escape. The dip of the valley, the density of overgrowth, made it impossible for Luca to catch any sight of Nox. As fast as he moved, he could be miles away.
But he wasn’t.
Their reformed connection hummed, creating the sensation of static needling the back of Luca’s skull. The storm churned, flashing rage and thundering aggression. Caught in the winds, Nox’s fear.
An emotion that fueled the Anubis’s presence.
Strand by strand, it worked to consume the man, leaving it to rampage.
It didn’t take long for Luca to reach the edge of the woods. Shielded from the house, he stripped off his shirt, then his jeans. His hands steady, his heartbeat slow.
He might have questioned his sanity at the thought of going out there to bait the Anubis, except the idea gave him purpose. As if he’d been waiting for this moment since Nox invaded his home and Luca looked him in the eyes.
And that made it impossible for Luca to doubt himself.
Seung was right. He could control the Anubis because the creature, the wolf, the monster, was his, not Nox’s.
It always had been.
A cloud of starlings collected in the trees, calling each other in sharp chirps, and the wind shook the branches, sending them skyward again.
Luca left his clothes in a pile and headed farther into the woods, where cold shadows enveloped him. Goose pimples raced down his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around himself in a futile effort to hold in warmth until he could make it to the next patch of sunlight escaping through the canopy.
The trees thinned and the ground sloped upward. He stopped at the ridge where the wide fields reclaimed the land, leaving him with shadows at his back, dying grass touching his toes, and silence so heavy it made his lungs ache.
Hairs on the back of Luca’s neck stood up.
Nothing behind him, nothing in the trees.
But the Anubis was watching, wanting, hunting.
Then hunger trickled in. Not the kind sated by food.
A hazy distant view of himself flashed through Luca’s mind.
He bolted.
Rocks bit into the soles of his feet, grass whipped his ankles. But none of that compared to the euphoric rush burning through his veins. Luca jumped a creek, darted around a fallen log. The ghost of forest litter pressed against his hands.
