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There were no real trails, which was just as well. It wasn’t a good idea to hide from Cole by taking a pre-determined hiking trail.
I looked down at my phone, making sure I still had service as I went deeper into the forest. I was nearly half an hour into my head start, and I hadn’t gotten very far. I weighed if I should start jogging or save my energy for later when Cole was actively pursuing me.
I opted to continue at my normal pace but was more decisive about the direction I took. I walked in a mostly straight line as quickly as I could without exhausting myself. By the time I reached the end of my head start, I had put about three miles between me and Cole. The sun was starting to arc toward the horizon and paint the sky a brilliant reddish orange.
Anxiety roiled through me. I hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight, so I’d be running through the forest in the dark. Though I had my smartphone with me, which had a decent flashlight, I wasn’t relishing the thought of being in the dark forest.
What if Cole couldn’t find me and I got lost? If I used the flashlight on my phone too much, the battery would die. Nerves churned in my stomach as the sun crept closer to the ground and the air started to cool.
I reached a river and started following its curve in the hope of finding a shallow area to cross it. The sun finally dipped below the horizon, and the sky started to turn lilac above me, the first stars blinking to life near the milky half-moon.
Finally, I found an area where the water was only a few inches deep and had enough stones for me to walk across it. I was wobbling my way across the river when I heard it for the first time.
A howl.
I didn’t know how I knew it, but I knew it was Cole. The howl was long and trilling, and I wondered if it was a signal that he’d found my scent or just meant to unnerve me. If it was the latter, then it worked. Even though the howl sounded rather far off, I was so startled by it that I rushed across the river. The grip on my running shoes wasn’t enough to keep me from sliding on the smooth stones and falling to the ground in a heap.
Cold water seeped through my clothes, knocking the wind out of me. I tried to scramble to my feet, slipping twice more before struggling through the stones and water to the river bank.
By the time I rushed up the incline of packed earth and pine needles, I was almost completely drenched and already shivering. I couldn’t be sure if it was from the biting chill in the air or the adrenaline shooting through my veins.
Okay, okay, relax, Marley. Keep your head, stay aware of your surroundings. You have to stay calm if you’re going to fend him off.
River had mentioned that when faced with a formidable challenge—a real one—I might freeze and panic. He’d reminded me to breathe, to remember what I’d learned. Despite my best efforts to keep calm, I ran as fast as I could with little mind for pace or energy conservation. The hill kept getting steeper, my heart kept hammering harder. The whistle bounced against my chest as the lingering bits of sunlight abandoned me, leaving me at the mercy of the night stretching above me.
I had no idea how long I ran like that. It felt like miles. I didn’t feel like I could stop because Cole kept howling, each howl louder than the last. It got to the point where I couldn’t discern where the sound was coming from. It bounced off trees and distant mountains, sending my head spinning.
As my surroundings grew darker, I became disoriented.
Eventually, the howling stopped. Had he lost track of me?
I slowed, my breath sawing in and out of me in ragged gusts. And yet, despite the primal sense of being hunted, I wasn’t frightened. At least, not in the same visceral way as when I’d been pursued by Wyatt. A small part of me knew this was a game and I wasn’t in real danger, but the loudest part of me still felt the need to hide from the predator.
Maybe this was what Cole meant when he talked about surrendering to instincts. It was a thrill, even if it was intimidating.
I heard the trickle of running water and walked toward it. I wasn’t sure if it was a different river or the same one I’d fallen in before, but I hadn’t seen water for a while. Turning on my phone’s flashlight, I tried to catch my bearings and avoid falling into the water again.
As I walked, I came to the edge of a small cliffside. When I looked over it, I found I was a little farther ahead of where I’d crossed the river before. Water rushed below me, the inky wet stones bathed in silver moonlight. Maybe Cole had lost my scent there, and that was why I wasn’t hearing him anymore.
My flashlight shut off, and I checked my phone.
Dead. Shit.
Perhaps it would be wiser to head back, especially if Cole was nowhere nearby.
I turned to trudge down the hill, but something caught my eye. It was a glint, like moonlight shining off a mirror. I turned this way and that, looking for the source of it.
Terror rushed through me. Two eyes stared at me through the dark, catching the light like a cat’s. Only, these eyes were much larger.
I froze, every inch of me turning to stone as I heard the rough, heavy step against the cushion of pine needles. He grew closer and closer, taller and taller, until he stood before me.
He was Cole, without a shadow of a doubt. But he was…
Beautiful? Terrifying? It was hard to choose just one word to encapsulate what he looked like. His impressive height seemed to have doubled, though I was sure it was a trick of perception. Cole usually stood at least one head taller than me, but now he seemed to tower so far over me that I only reached the top of his abdomen.
His eyes were narrow, dark, and angular. His mouth was open, seemingly out of necessity given his sharper and larger teeth. Yet, his face had retained most of its humanity.
An inhuman growl rumbled in his chest as he stalked closer and closer to me. He was shirtless, and those brutal claws I’d become so enamored with had made their return. His hair was longer, the dark length of it tumbling to his shoulders, which were half-covered in beautiful fur that covered his chest and arms, making him look like some wild Viking warrior clad in hides and furs. The fur tapered to a point that disappeared behind the waistband of his black jeans. His proportions had become so elongated and narrow that the faded denim hung loose on his hips, so loose that I could almost see where the base of his cock started.
