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“Should this window be open?” said a male voice.
“Hell, no. Check it out.”
Fuck. I needed to make tracks. I sprinted straight toward the river, away from the railroad tracks, but when I figured I wasn't being pursued by Thorn's guy, and after I passed several other buildings, slowed and turned my trajectory back toward town.
My stomach still rumbled, and a dark stout in a dimly lit pub with a bucket of crawdads sounded amazing.
But I caught a whiff of something in the air. A prickling ran along my skin that caused goosebumps to ghost over my skin. The wolves were all around me, and their power pressed in on me as they paced outside whatever boundary they couldn't cross.
For a moment, I considered turning back, returning to Thorn's warehouse and tucking myself back into my satin sheets. But I'm no safer there and couldn't hide from the wolves forever. Besides, that prickly electrical sensation was only growing stronger. It felt like I was getting stronger by the second.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, testing my balance. These last few days prepared me to go ten rounds in the sparring ring with any wolf. The knife in my boot went into my back pocket instead, and I continued to walk between the warehouses. I didn't feel any magical fields or boundaries keeping the pack at bay, so I chose my route carefully, keeping to the shadows and frequently pausing in doorways to check my position in relation to the night breeze.
I found a crowd of rowdy bar hoppers and blended in, my entire body warm and alight with something indefinable. Then two things happened at the same time. Kye moved into view across the street, and the clouds moved away from the moon, illuminating the entire street in a soft, white glow.
An electric sensation under my skin grew until I felt like I blazed light. I looked down at my hands and clenched and flexed my fingers. When I glanced up again, Kye had vanished. I sniffed the air and caught his scent and debated whether I should rush away from the town center.
No. I’m too caught up in these new sensations to replay drama with Kye.
I blinked and glanced around, and the people and the buildings lit as if it were noon. And the people. I had heard of auras but never thought people could come in such interesting shades. Someone bumped my arm, and I looked around to see a woman shrouded in anxiety that her husband would be angry she stayed out so late.
A man crossing the road in front of me shone green, relaxed, and happy, just leaving after having drinks with a friend he had lost touch with. A group of women my age passed me, shades of purple and pink, excited to be out together, ready to take on the world.
Power flooded through me, filling me until I thought my skin would split. For a moment, I thought I might finally shift. Panicked at the idea of that happening in the middle of so many humans, I rushed toward the closest sanctuary: my apartment.
It wasn't until I hit the stairs leading up to my floor that I realized I didn't have my keys.
Not that it mattered.
Instead of the usual way, I detoured through the apartment still being renovated, and climbed onto the fire escape. My fingers clung to the walls with a strength I never thought possible. Within a minute, I was around the corner and outside the same bathroom window I had locked tightly yesterday.
Fuck.
I was frustrated, and with increasing fear that I was about to go furry, I wall-hugged past my bathroom to Chastity's room. Thankfully, even though the bedroom window was closed, the latch hadn't caught. I pushed it open and half-climbed, half-fell onto the floor.
Even though I might shift, I was still graceful as a donkey. I grinned. The more things change, the more they stay the same, too, and that's more than reassuring. Besides, if Kye and the pack thought I was at the safe house, maybe I could stay here a while. It had been easier to break in than I had anticipated.
So I hurried back to my bedroom and stared at myself in the full-length mirror in the corner. Externally, nothing had changed. My pink hair frizzed out a little from the humidity. My skin no longer looked pale but had returned to its usual sun-tanned hue.
I gazed at my reflection in the glass. The breath rushed out of me, and my lungs refused to refill.
My breathing stopped. Staring back at me were sexy brown eyes with irises swirling with molten gold.
What the fuck was going on?
12
I drank my last bottle of wine and fell asleep on the couch under the moon’s light streaming in through my apartment window.
Wolf songs, grunts, and snarls invaded my dreams, but the brawl and combatants remained out of sight. My hands were pulled behind my back and bound by rope, and an ultra-soft silk blindfold covered my eyes. Then the blindfold evaporated, and the ropes fell away.
Got to hand out props for dream state flexibility.
“The change is here. Prepare!”
The last shout startled me, and I bolted upright and blinked my eyes against the dark.
Oddly, a sense of cocooned safety suffused me. Did Thorn cast a protection spell over me, or did the Hand of Belial shade me? I must find an occult library of heft to research this. Thorn told me he assigned people to watch my place. They would have reported my break-in, but they are probably partially responsible for the feeling of safety.
