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“I’m no father of yours. Get her the fuck out of here, Kofu.”
Falling back into the sand, I’m slammed into the present, although the searing pain of the past lingers, all too real. Tainting my veins, causing my blood flow to sizzle beneath the surface. The illness passed through her system swiftly. From healthy to lifeless within two days, her body dumped on the steps of the exile hut for me to deal with.
Like that night, a pair of tiny talons drop onto my shoulder. When I held her to me, she was cold and pale, with cracked lips and eyes drained of color. After burying her, I unleashed my wolf, giving her complete control whilst I hid from the world in her furry cocoon. There’s no telling how long for, but I do know Sawyer stayed the entire time. When I ran, he soared overhead. When I curled up and whined, he curled into my fur.
“Don’t leave me,” I whisper into the soft breeze. I can bury my past, concealing my grief. I’m well-practiced. But losing Sawyer now isn’t a reality I would survive.
The sound of a steady drum of a heartbeat, soon joined by two more, reaches me. Apparently, the vampires following couldn’t hang back any longer. Jax's earthy scent, crisp with an underlying sweetness, rolls over me first. I raise my head from my palms and look straight ahead, thankful that the tears have finally stopped and the numbness has settled back in. He settles into the sand on my left, the other two dropping on my right. Chase outstretches his legs like he’s in a spa, all of us content to sit beneath the moon.
Gentle waves roll back and forth under a blanket of midnight blue embedded with glimmering stars. The lunar face shining down at its own reflection in the water soothes us all until the easing beat of my heart falls into rhythm with those nearby, and my thoughts drift away. A hypnotic trance lost to the waves.
"Let's place a wager." Chase's sudden words make me flinch, his deep voice at odds with the serenity of our surroundings. Quirking a brow around Torsten, his green eyes seek out mine. His face is relaxed, the glow from above accentuating the harsh lines of his cheekbones and jaw. Tilting his chin upwards, he purposely gives me a clear view of the fluttering pulse in the side of his neck.
My fangs extend, and my eyes start to glow before I’m able to snap them closed. But it’s too late. I’ve latched onto the sound of blood rushing through his veins and the scent of leather creeping beneath the salty breeze. Crippling hunger tears through me, my nerve endings sparking for another hit of Chase. Too akin to addiction for my liking.
"What kind of wager?" I manage to croak out, facing forward to avoid his probing stare.
“If you catch me before sunrise, you can have the master bedroom.” Chase chuckles. My heart stutters. A race? No, not a race – a hunt.
“Ha!” Jaxon pitches in from the other side. “I’m not missing out on this. We can all outrun Aspen until sunrise. Count me in.” Another stutter. A shrill of excitement races along my spine.
Sawyer tightens his claws on my shoulder while Torsten grunts, dropping his arms over his knees. “I’ll raise you one better. I bet I can evade Aspen in wolf form." At this, my head snaps to him so quickly that my hair whips me around the face. Torsten’s eyes are sparkling with mischief. I steel myself, not melting into those gray depths. His white hair, cropped at the sides and left longer on top, tosses about in the wind. My hesitation doesn’t go unnoticed, but a quirk of his brow brings me back to the present.
"And if, for some reason, I don't manage to catch you?" I ask, taking shallow breaths. My wolf quivers with excitement, just as she does when anticipating a full shift. A slow smile stretches across Chase's full lips as I lean forward.
"Whenyou lose, you have to kiss one of us. A little kiss-Chase, if you will." My smile spreads to copy his as Chase’s eye glistens, his tongue passing between his parted teeth. He knows what he’s doing. Giving me the perfect outlet for my anger, shaking the weight of bone-deep stress. The wind changes behind me as Sawyer shifts, his legs appearing on either side of me in thick, black material. Heavy boots push into the sand, and strong arms wrap around me.
“Think about this,” he growls into my ear. “Once you shift, your wolf takes over. She’ll act on base instinct, hunt for the kill.” A raw chuckle leaves me, the ache to stretch my wolfy legs already taking over.
“I know that, but these vampires reckon they can handle it. Besides,” I twist my head to grace lips with Sawyer’s. “You can’t be jealous if you don’t participate.” Both beasts inside snicker, in harmony for once. Timidness may have won without their approval, but there’s no backing down now. Sawyer’s breath fans my face, his black hair sweeping low and tickling us both. On either side of my arms, I can feel the vampires drawing closer, shuffling into the reckless decision I’m about to make.
“Deal.” Standing, I stretch my neck and crack my fingers. "You all should take the chance at a head start," I gesture back towards the tree line of the forest with my chin, striding towards the sea. A round of groans sounds, and when I turn, four huge alpha males are standing and facing me. Strong arms crossed over chests; eyes zeroed onto my body.
"Hell no,” Jaxon mutters. “We’re not missing this for anything." Heat crawls up my neck and into my cheeks. I've never had one male's undivided attention before, let alone four. They’re fascinated, thrumming with anticipation, as if I'm all that matters to them at this moment in time.
Kicking off my boots one at a time with the opposite foot, I hook my thumbs into my waistband and push the cargos down to the sand, stepping free. Then, I lift the hem of my vest and pull it over my head, chucking it aside and avoiding all eye contact. I’m comfortable with my naked body, being a shifter, and needing to shed my clothes regularly, but this is different. Under the guise of their stares and the moon, I’m thoroughly exposed for my nakedness and all the other secrets I try to hide.
Pulses quicken. The scent of his arousal penetrates the air. It’s a heady combination from multiple sources, filling my senses until a lust of my own overpowers me. Raising my gaze, I focus on Sawyer. He must have seen me like this hundreds of times, yet his fixed expression breaks me—strained, his jaw tight enough to crack a tooth. Onyx eyes with no hint of white consume me, pulling me into their inky depths. I take an unplanned step forward, the rest of the world fading. And then, before I do something stupid, I sharply turn to stare at the moon. Relenting to the lunar pull dragging my wolf to the surface, I start my shift.
My nails sharpen and grow into claws, white fur seeping from my skin. Abruptly, my back cracks, bending me in half. Every bone snaps, extends, and reforms, one after the other. Pain ripples through me as my body contorts at awkward angles. Yet, despite the agony, I barely release a whimper. I’m accustomed to the discomfort of shifting since I've experienced it more than the average shifter would in their entire lifetime.
Reshaped by the new alignment, my nose stretches forward to form a muzzle while a tail bursts free from the base of my spine, sweeping the sandy floor as my teeth stretch and sharpen. I rear forward, four large white paws finding the sand as I shake out my new fluffy exterior.
I’ve caught my reflection in the river before, and I know I’m not the average wolf. Compared to my mother’s gray-speckled fur, mine isn’t just white but luminescent. I’m the embodiment of the moon, glowing as currents of power move through me. My fangs are twice as long and twice as deadly, my eyes molten gold as the vampire within me shines through. Along with the additional speed and strength other shifters aren’t blessed with, I’m a force to be reckoned with, and I don’t know why I’ve kept myself caged this long.
Strolling in a lazy circle to assess the figures before me, my mind recognizes them individually, but all my wolf can acknowledge are the delicious scents. Fresh pine, leather, and honeydew hit me tenfold, my tongue hanging out desperately for a taste. Jaxon steps in front of the rest, every bit the commander of his army. My wolf bristles and croons at the same time. Jaxon is everything we would hunt for in a mate; strong, fierce, yet understanding and considerate. My inner monster also approves, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves thinking of mates. Tonight, we just need a distraction—a reason to feel alive and possibly wanted by another creature.
The vampires are equally as impatient, their fangs bared and snarling at the ready for a long-perceived foe. Through it all, Chase’s shit-eating grin is dazzling just before he shoots away, the others right behind, disappearing into the forest beyond. Let the games begin.
Chapter8
Chase
By the moon, she's magnificent. Even before she shifted, her lithe body had my pulse racing. Where the vampire females are all six-foot-tall and stick thin, Aspen is shorter and a thousand times sexier—curving in the right places, an expanse of creamy skin from the dip at her waist to the flares of her hips. Her perky breasts are the perfect size to fit in my hands, well-defined abs showing through. Practically drooling, I had to clench my fists to stop myself from grabbing her and driving her into the sand beneath me.
She tilted her face to be bathed in the pale moon’s light, appearing like a goddess. An ethereal being put on this earth to cross my path and tempt me with her perfect body and spunky attitude. And then, she shifted.
Her wolf is bigger than I expected, at eye level whilst on all four huge paws. A coat of white covers her impressive form, two rows of sharp teeth, including the protruding fangs, glinting in the moonlight, and her eyes…holy shit. Her navy irises are now glowing orbs of gold. She’s no ordinary wolf; she is truly a mix of both genetics that created her. And damn if she looks hungry.
