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He taps his chest again. “When you figure out the answer to that, then you’ll know exactly why I won’t leave until you say yes.”
* * *
I don’t go backto the apartment after I leave Ryker in the park the second time. I tell myself it’s because I’m not ready to see Aleks again, but that’s the thing when it comes to being a wolfish lie detector: I’m not so great at lying to myself, either.
I don’t go to Charlie’s, mainly because I know for sure that that would be the first place that Aleks went to look for me. Since I’m off tonight, I didn’t bother taking my phone with me earlier. I left it on my charger, and I’m glad since it means I’m basically off the grid.
Basically, though, only because if I can feel my way back to Ryker, it has to be the same for him. He can follow me all the way across Muncie, especially since Aleks’s fang is back at the apartment. When he doesn’t, I try generously to think that he’s respecting my obvious need to be alone.
And then I pull my head out of my ass and realize that this is just the next part of his obvious challenge.
I’m an alpha. Staying away from him is a coward move, and we both know it.
I’d like to believe that I would’ve held out. Call it being determined instead of weak, I could’ve spent the evening walking around town, daring any vamp with a death wish to confront me now that I’m not wearing Aleks’s fang any longer. A dirty fight would help take the edge of the clawing need I’m feeling.
Fighting or fucking, it’s the wolf’s way.
The approach of the full moon’s not usually this rough for me. I don’t even have to hear my wolf’s constant, keening whine for its mate to know exactly while I’m struggling. No matter which way I walk, she keeps trying to re-orientate me so that I’m following that same invisible tether from before.
And, maybe I know what’s going to happen if I do, but I finally give in.
I almost expect it when she leads me right back to the park.
In Muncie’s urban setting, Ryker’s wolf is drawn to the only spot of greenery. And maybe if I hadn’t been wearing Aleks’s fang the whole last year, mine would’ve been, too.
I thought it was the chamomile that made me relax, that helped me get attuned to the city. Could’ve been.
Doubt it.
What I don’t expect, though, is that I actually find his wolf. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Ryker in his shifted form, but I take a few moments to appreciate it all the same. Alphas are just built differently than most wolves. He’s big—that’s the shifter size—but his legs are powerful, his muzzle pointed, his amber eyes intelligent.
As he swings his snout my way, I don’t just see a knowing look. I see relief.
It’s my turn to smile at him.
“I thought I’d take you up on that run,” I tell Ryker.
He cocks his head. Shifters don’t speak when they’re in their beast forms, but I can tell from that simple gesture that he’s asking me if I’m sure. Because, at that moment, I think we both understand that, if I join him for a run, if I strip down to my fur before shifting back to skin, that with the full moon so close… what happens next will be inevitable.
And it is.
We’re wolves.
We fight. And we fuck.
And even if I’m never his mate, I’m willing to give that up for just one moment in time with Ryker.
“Yes,” I whisper. I’m not accepting him as my mate, but I’m accepting him if only for tonight.
* * *
We run.And we run. On some level, we’re just free to be our wolves, eating up the ground, running together while also racing. Sometimes Ryker’s in the lead, sometimes I am, but we never get out of sight of each other.
It doesn’t take long for him to realize that he can’t catch me unless I want to be caught.
We also don’t forget that we’re in a Fang City. As if our wolves are leading us somewhere safe, somewhere private, they take the lead, pushing us through the park, down empty side streets, and some quiet residential roads. I almost expect to be guided toward the mountain, but as much as my wolf just wants to be with her mate, she’s still a part of me. And going back to Accalia? No. No way.
So we don’t. Ryker bumps into my side, trying to steer me one way, but I snap at his ear before choosing a different path. With the moon closing in on us, shining her light on my pale fur and his midnight-colored scruff, my nose is more powerful than ever. Over the fuel and the exhaust, the garbage, the humans, the vamps… over it all, I catch a hint of mud and water and trees and tear off in that direction.
