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“If I need to, I wouldn’t be able not to.” I wanted to tell Zena about my fated mates, about Kane, Seb and Blake being the ones I truly felt. But after the conversation with Gray Trent, I didn’t want to take the risk of that conversation going back to him. “But I won’t bind to Jack. Unless I have no choice and at the moment, I believe I don’t need to.”
Zena smiled and strode with extra vigour across the fields. Her pace was fast, but the dark fae were supposed to be quick. I kept up with her using no magic. Eventually, we tucked ourselves into a nice, steady pace as we chatted.
“Gray asked how you were,” she said as my eyes diverted to a clearing in the trees in the distance. I tried to focus on the glare shining off the sun at an object that seemed to be hidden by dense bushes. But as the figure moved out of the clearing, not quickly but letting us know it had seen us. A gasp left Zena’s mouth.
It was an enormous wolf, with a pelt so white there was no wonder why the sun shone from it. The torso of the wolf was so large and solid, with legs so muscular they’d catch up to us quickly unless I used magic.
“Fuck,” Zena whispered. “Turn back and run. It’s a wolf. I’ll keep running to it. You get to safety.”
She was going to risk her life for me once again.
My skin prickled, and the feeling of being watched had me scanning the field for more of the beasts. An uneasy feeling had settled in my stomach, a deep gnawing heaviness, telling me it was time to leave. My eyes connected with the wolf, but not long enough to work out its needs.
The beast stretched his hind legs. His ears flicked into points. I didn’t know what any of this meant, but my instinct was telling me it wasn’t good. I tuned into the scurrying sounds in the woods, listening for distinctions to determine the scurries from small animals to more wolves. I didn’t sense more wolves, but I wasn’t in any frame of mind to fight the beast, with or without magic.
“No, you won’t. Turn with me. Quick.” I grabbed Zena by the hand and yanked her in the opposite direction with me, and we sprinted back to the safety of the university. “It might not be a lone wolf. They run in packs. Don’t they?”
“Gray won’t be happy I didn’t tackle it,” Zena said.
“Fuck, Gray, I can defend myself against a wolf. It’s you I’m concerned about.”
Zena turned and grinned. “Thanks, let’s get out of here,” she said with a raspy breath.
When I felt we were at a safe enough distance away, I spun my head to see the wolf had not chased us and stayed in the same place.
I stopped and gazed at it. The wolf stood on all fours and stared back with interest with its large dark eyes and pricked-up ears. After a few seconds of watching, the wolf’s head tipped back, and he howled into the sky. At that moment, my heart nearly blasted out of my tightened chest, and my blood chilled hearing his unrestrained growling cries.
“Come on, let’s get out of here before he decides he likes the look of us,” Zena said, grabbing my arm.
“Or if he just called for the rest of the pack,” I said.
“Running is dangerous,” I said, drinking a long gulp out of a bottle of water.
Zena rolled her head back and burst into laughter. “In all seriousness, I haven’t seen a white wolf around here for years.”
I pulled my trousers over my thighs, shimmying into them a little because I hadn’t fully dried my body after my shower. Then I dragged a sweater over my head and walked back to my locker.
“I take it they prefer privacy,” I said, running my brush through my hair.
“Normally, they are not in cities. They prefer rural life where they can run freely in packs.”
“But apparently the light fae are secret wolf shifters,” I said, remembering back to the conversation I’d already had with Zena.
She nodded. “But can rein it in long enough to run freely once they’re at home with their packs. Unless a student had left it too long and their wolf needed to run.”
“Yeah, I suppose it didn’t run after us.”
“Probably more concerned we’d seen it. Maybe they run in the woods around here more than we realise,” she said.
I shrugged my knee-length coat over my shoulders and grabbed my backpack. “Lunch.”
Zena curled her arm into mine. “Yes, I’m starving.”
Chapter 33
Lacey
Ithadbeenovertwo weeks since Ryan’s funeral and four very long weeks since his death.
