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Ahead, a thicket of brambles blocked the way. He saw the small gap where she’d crawled through and ignored it, gathering his muscles. Lunging up and over, he landed with a growl thundering out of him.
Another wolf stood at the edge of the river, head cocked as he studied Zee, eyes bright. The power rolling from the Prime slammed into both of them before the sound of Niko’s growl faded and both wolves sank to the ground submissively. Zee was trembling, her muscles bunched tight with the need to resume her flight, but she couldn’t force her body into motion now.
Fuck.
Niko shifted to his human form and rose to tower over them both.
Looking at the unknown male, he said, “Go.”
The male shot a look at Zee.
Niko didn’t recognize this male’s scent, doubted he’d ever met him. There were nearly twenty thousand wolves in Appalachia, along with several Therian cats and some nomadic non-predatory Therian herd-clans. All of them fell under his rule and lead. But with his father’s death so recent, he had yet to visit with all the subpacks.
This male likely belonged to the Wolves of Greylock.
He’d carry Phoenix’s scent, then.
And likely the scents of others from the pack.
“You’re Greylock.”
The wolf bowed its head, still on its belly.
“She’s mine to care for. Tell Phoenix she’s safe.”
Still, the male hesitated.
Narrowing his eyes, Niko said again, “Go.” Command infused the word and after one last look at the female, the other wolf rose and slunk.
The moment his eyes left her, Zee started to slink closer to the water.
“Don’t make me chase you again, Zee.”
She froze.
He said nothing else, just listened to the fading sounds of the other wolf, waited until his nose told him the unknown male was gone before looking back to her.
“We’re going back to Provincetown. Do you need to rest first?”
She didn’t even look at him.
“Zee.”
She pushed up onto her paws and padded over to the brambles, pushing through the barrier with a careless disregard for her body. The sharp scent of blood in the air had him swearing and he strode over to her, his keen night vision spotting where a thick, long thorn had snagged in her fur, piercing the flesh below.
“Let me—”
Zee threw herself forward, the thorn tearing a deeper furrow in her side as she wrenched away before he could help.
Niko squeezed his eyes shut, hands clenched into impotent, useless fists.
Her blood now a stain in the night air, she started to trot, moving farther and farther away from him.
“Fuck,” he bit off before taking his Therian form.
She didn’t speed up when she scented him on the air.
But he didn’t take any comfort in that fact. The air of defeat that clung to her only made his beast snarl and claw inside him.
