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Chapter Seven
Of all the punchesNiko had taken that day, taken and deserved, the worst was seeing the dark flash of Zee’s tail as she ran from him.
He staggered, slamming a hand against a nearby wall, as the echo of her fear, the scent, the taste of it, cut through him like a blade. Squeezing his eyes closed, he whispered softly, “Zee.”
But she was already gone, her scent lingering to taunt him.
All these years, he’d tried to forget that scent, tried to bury memories that had become like an icy blade, carving into his heart at the drop of a hat. The whip of memory was still there, but now it served as punishment.
Instinct warred with logic. He had little time left. Meridia had seen him not even ten minutes ago and offered a mocking smile before telling him, Zee’s back in P-town. Your countdown has started, Prime.
Everything about her, from her attitude to the sneer in her voice, rubbed raw against the core of dominance in him, but part of him, the part that had never stopped longing for Zee was glad for Meridia Blue.
She’d been the one to care for Zee when nobody else had stepped up.
“It should have been me,” he said to the night.
The sound of Zee’s headlong flight, quiet as it was, had faded by the time he made a decision. If he had the luxury of time, he would have backed off and let her calm down, but that wasn’t an option. Moving into the shadows, he stripped. Merida had told him not to shift in her territory, but he’d never catch Zee if he stayed in his human form. She was running scared and she knew this territory. He didn’t.
Habit had him folding his clothes into a military neat pile, shoes on the bottom. His mind was already on the chase ahead, the cool brush of the salt-laced night air filling his lungs as he started to breathe deeper in preparation for the run.
She’d always been fast, his lovely, sleek Zee. He was faster.
Primes always were the strongest and fastest, but Zee was swift and had a natural cunning to her that had been a surprise to him the first few times they’d played as wolves.
Later, he’d assumed that was her true nature and he’d battered himself for not seeing through her guise.
Now he’d have to rethink everything—again.
But none of that mattered right now.
He had to find her.
He shifted and took a deep breath of the air, catching her scent, the layers of it showing him paths she often walked—he also took note of a particular male scent.
Donner. His scent was layered with hers, something Niko had picked up on almost immediately and he’d seen her wearing a male’s shirt, known which male it had belonged to.
The urge to rip out a throat was strong, but again, that wasn’t the important thing this very moment. The tangled skeins coming from the ocean, fish and seals, decay and new life, the certain uniqueness of a scent that could only belong to the local alpha—the Regnar. Meridia.
And over it all, laced through it and under it, everywhere, he tasted Zee in the air.
He started to track her.
It took longer than he liked, longer than he would have expected and the wolf in him was alternately frustrated and pleased. Zee had gotten stronger. It wasn’t just an adrenaline-fueled panic that had given her wings either. She knew how to run. Therian wolves had more strength, speed and endurance than their natural counterparts and while Niko still possessed the ability to reason in his animal form, he didn’t think in terms like speed, kilometers, miles or hours but he knew they’d run a long time.
Zee had gotten a head start and she knew the terrain, knew how to maneuver, knew the treacherous areas. She also knew he was tracking her and more than once, she’d gone through those dangerous areas, her smaller body slipping through narrow spots that would have trapped his much larger form, forcing him to backtrack and pick up her scent trail all over again.
But he’d finally gained on her and they were on flatter land. The woods around them made little difference. Off in the distance, he heard the howl of a wolf he recognized as Therian.
He ran on and within moments, he realized Zee’s scent had changed—now there was a thread of panic.
He reached deep and found a well of strength and speed he hadn’t known he possessed, his claws tearing into the ground beneath him to give him better traction. Ahead, he scented water and realized Zee had led him to a body of water—a large stream or small river.
He had to get to her before she reached it—
Another scent. Male.
Zee, her panic rising to choke the air.
