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Chapter Thirty-Seven
Wearing his shirt overa pair of leggings, no shoes and her hair a tangle, Zee ran at Niko’s side, stride for stride. In the back of her mind, there was a vague awareness, something new, not brought on by the wolf’s keen instincts or her Fae self’s eerie otherness.
When she focused on it, that awareness sharpened. Under it lay a visceral need to keep running—to hunt. To track. To kill.
That latter part was the final clue, telling her just where this eerie, familiar awareness came from.
The man with her.
The bonds they’d once shared had been savaged by pain, grief, by the bleak understanding that her mate had rejected her. She’d thought those bonds were gone, faded and left to decay and fade into nothingness.
But the bonds weren’t gone. They’d only gone dormant.
Zee loved, fiercely. She rarely let anybody get close enough to breach the solid stone walls she’d built around her heart, but if it happened? Her heart had a tendency to grab on tight and never let go—even if it wouldn’t be the wiser option.
In the few short days since he’d shoved his way back into her life, older, wiser, harder, Niko had made it clear that the space he’d claimed in her heart was still his. He wasn’t going to be careless with her heart this time, either, or her love.
Deep inside, where she didn’t hide from secrets or herself, she’d sensed that truth. She’d felt the promise of it that night she’d huddled in on herself, still in her wolf’s form and quivering at the sound of his voice while he spoke to her on her balcony back in Provincetown.
When she’d seen the shadows of love lingering in his bluer-than-blue eyes, her subconsciousness had already been ready to make the leap. Again. Because this time, he wouldn’t fail her.
Her instincts, whether guided by wolf, Fae senses or just desperate yearning, had been right, too.
That awareness at the back of her mind grew ever sharper as she acknowledged it for what it was—the echo of her bond with Niko, his instincts as Prime pulsing through him, every protective instinct shoving to the fore as the killing rage threatened to take him over yet again.
If something pushed him too far, she’d be the only one who could pull him back.
That was a heavy responsibility she wasn’t entirely ready for, but she’d handle it. She’d shoulder every burden necessary to be at his side.
A new scent came to her on the wind and she slowed to take it in, teasing the threads apart in her mind.
Niko instantly altered his speed to match, both of them moving at a slow jog now. He stayed quiet as he waited to see what had caught her attention.
“Trespassers,” she murmured, lifting her eyes to his. “I can scent them now. Blood’s been spilled.”
It was distant yet but the breeze picked up again, bringing her the faint traces of blood and other, darker things came to her. Her wolf stretched to its full awareness inside her, claws pricking as the animal demanded release.
Hunt, the wolf begged. We hunt.
Yes, Zee said. We hunt. But we need to be patient.
“Let’s keep moving,” Niko said, not questioning her. His eyes darkened, then went wolf-gold. Although the color might resemble many other wolves in Therian packs across the world, the resemblance began and ended there. The Therian feline ancestry from his mother’s side was made apparent in his elliptical pupils, enlarged to take in all every bit of light available. “You’ve still got an excellent nose on you, Zee. Among other things.”
Her lips twitched at the light compliment, but she made no other response. There wasn’t time for it as they settled back in the earlier rhythm. Zee breathed in deeply as she ran, following traces of blood she picked up in the air.
Her wolf rose to the surface, sharpening her senses and increasing her speed until she ran at a pace no human could ever hope to meet. She swayed and ducked to avoid branches, leaped fluidly over objects blocking her path or simply flowed around them.
When the path became too narrow for the two of them, she pushed to the front.
Niko, in turn, surrendered the lead at those times, both the man and his complex dual-natured beast aware her sense of smell was more attuned and better suited for this part of the hunt.
A faint change in the scent markers around her told her others had joined their hunt. Her wolf wanted to snap her teeth at the interference. Zee, and her wolf, knew the others were pack—they were Niko’s—or he would have already taken action.
Logic said they were his scouts, too. Scouts were useful.
“Prime!”
Nico abruptly veered toward the right and she flowed easily as she changed direction, staying in pace with him.
