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I nodded. “Yeah, pretty progressive. Well-integrated, too.”
“Even so, it’s hard to share a city with a bunch of humans,” Eugenio said. “So many of them are still so nervous about what we can do, you know? I grew up in a pretty small but progressive town, but I didn’t really feel like myself until I came here. It’s nice to just be sometimes, you know? Shift when I want to, take human form when I want to, without worrying about city ordinances and junk like that.”
I’d never really thought about that, but it would be nice to just exist as a shifter.
“You guys about to head out for a run?” I asked.
“Yeah. Want to join us?” Eugenio asked. “We were gonna take a swim by the waterfall. Perfect night for it.”
“Sounds nice,” I said. “Lead the way.”
A few moments later, the group shifted into their wolf forms—a myriad of different sizes, shapes, and colors. I followed suit, running after them as they tore into the tree line.
They were faster than most of the wolves I’d encountered back home. Most notably, though, they had an almost feral quality to them as they ran. I felt like a domesticated husky among wild wolves.
I was reminded of the conversation I’d had with Wyatt back at the shifter club, when he’d talked about how we’d forgotten our roots, our connection to our wild sides. Seeing these shifters dash through the woods, kicking up clay and moss as they streaked past the majestic pines and oaks, made me wonder if Curt and Wyatt had even realized how far removed they were from the true ferocity they claimed to be so obsessed with.
I stayed in the rear of the group for a while, maybe a mile or two. When I started to get the hang of the terrain, the group naturally parted, allowing me to pull ahead next to Eugenio. A show of respect, no doubt, for my position as alpha of my pack.
We broke through the other side of the forest, finding the rushing water of a narrow river that widened as we followed its course. I leaped into the air, letting out a triumphant howl. The cool, damp air caressing my fur made me want to run even faster. If I knew where we were going, I’d have taken the lead.
The longer we ran, the more connected I felt to the earth beneath my feet. To me. I’d always been content to go for a run in my local reserve, but I’d not realized how all the concrete and landscaping lacked the true energy of the wild ground.
I’d never felt this alive before.
Up ahead, the waterfall came into view. I put all my power into my legs, pushing myself harder to get near the water. Eugenio kept pace—they all did. They’d slowed down for me, and now I was playing the game on their level.
They all slid to a stop just at the edge of the cliff. I overshot the stop, almost falling off and into the water. They started to shift back into their human forms, laughing warmly.
“Get ahead of yourself?” the sharp-eyed girl asked me, giggling.
I shifted back into my human form as well, a little baffled as to why we weren’t remaining in our lycan forms. “I thought we were swimming,” I said, panting heavily.
“We are, but wet clothes are the worst,” Eugenio said.
“Wet clothes?” I asked, catching a movement in my peripheral view.
The sharp-eyed girl had stripped off her shirt and was already unhooking her bra. I looked away immediately. “What the fuck?” I snapped.
“What, you’ve never been skinny-dipping before?” she asked, clearly unbothered by her nudity.
“Not with someone who isn’t my fucking mate,” I growled.
“Oh, ease up,” she said as her pants fell to a puddle on the floor. “You haven’t even claimed her yet.” She walked past me, trailing her fingers down my arm. “We’re animals, after all. We can still play, even if you’re tied to someone else.”
I grabbed her wrist, looking pointedly into her eyes and nowhere else.
“Let me make it exceedingly clear,” I hissed. “Claimed or not, I’m absolutely devoted to my mate. And the next time you touch me with this hand, I’m going to rip it off. Understood?”
The girl’s eyes got even sharper as her smile curled. “Understood, Alpha,” she said mockingly as she wrenched her hand away. She walked off, ample hips swaying before she dived into the water.
I looked at Eugenio, and he gave me an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that,” he said. “She’s a bit hedonistic and definitely not sorry about it.”
I looked at the water and watched as she came up from the water in her wolf form.
Eugenio shrugged again, then stripped down with the others and leaped into the water.
I hemmed and hawed for a moment, not sure if it was wise for me to swim with a woman who’d just come onto me so brazenly. Maybe it was some kind of test of authority. But I supposed I’d made my boundaries clear—I was more than happy to follow through on my promise to tear off her hand if she tried touching me again. And we weren’t swimming in our human forms.
