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16
I woke to screaming and chaos. Snarls, growls, teeth, and fur. All around me was a battle that I was somehow in the middle of without warning.
A huge gray wolf bounded toward me and I rolled to the side, just as another wolf tackled my attacker.
Heart racing, mind spinning, I crawled away from the mess so I could figure out what was going on. This was not what anyone expected to wake up to. Wolves were attacking each other and honestly, I couldn’t tell which were my friends and which were foe. I had to shift. I should be able to feel my friends better in wolf form. It was the only option.
I called to my inner wolf, begging her to come to me. She rose up, but fell flat.I thought we worked through this. I need you.She didn’t respond. Of course she didn’t, but I didn’t even get an emotional response. This was not the time I needed her to fail me.Come on.I closed my eyes tight and tried to urge her to the forefront. It was futile, she wasn’t responding.Fuck. My eyes snapped open. If my wolf was having performance anxiety, I needed to figure something else out.
The fight seemed to be moving them away from our campsite, pushing into the woods. I wanted to follow, but in human form, I’d be a liability. Shit, who was I kidding, in wolf form I was a liability. Alec was right, I didn’t know how to fight yet.
Frantic, I stood and moved behind a tree, observing the violence. If there was a way to pinpoint which wolves were friends, maybe I could do something to help.
Someone grabbed me and I screamed just as a hand moved to cover my mouth. “Shhh, it’s me.”
I caught Alec’s scent and relaxed a little. He lowered his hand.
“What the fuck is going on?” I hissed.
“They ambushed us. We gotta get out of here.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the fight. “Can you shift?”
My wolf responded to that and I felt her snapping to attention. She clawed at my insides as if she’d been desperate to get out.Oh, so you want to run away. I get it.Pissed that my inner wolf was a coward, I pulled on his hand, stopping in my tracks. “We need to help them.”
“You aren’t ready. You need to shift,” he said as he released my hand. “Now.”
He was in his wolf form quickly and my wolf reacted. The shift was uncomfortable this time, my body breaking and reforming in a stressed hurry.My wolf and I weren’t on the same page and I was resisting her desires. I wanted to fight, and she wanted to flee. I glanced toward the action, wanting nothing more than to charge in and help, but my wolf held her ground, forcing me in place. Why wouldn’t she let me go to them?
I could sense that Alec’s wolf was impatient, he lifted his chin and took a few steps. It seemed like this was my only option. Human me was useless in a wolf fight, and wolf me wanted to run.
I felt like a failure, like I was abandoning my friends but I was new to this and if they had to protect me, they probably couldn’t fight as well. Running might be better for all of us. I hated myself for it, but I needed to get out of here.
Alec’s wolf growled and my wolf responded, instinctively trusting him to lead us away from the fight. I ran ahead, Alec at my heels. Someone had attacked us, that was clear. And my other friends had stayed behind to give me time to escape.
It was either Wolf Creek, or somehow, the shifter king’s guards had heard about me and were making good on their punishment for my father. Either way, I was the cause. I stopped running and turned around. I should go back, I should help. This was my fault, not theirs. If anything happened to them because of me, I’d never forgive myself.My wolf tried to urge me forward, but I resisted. It felt wrong to leave them.
Alec’s wolf was by my side, his teeth bared in a threatening manner. He didn’t want me to stop. He gave a sharp, gruff sound like a command. I whined, lifting my chin in the direction we’d just come. My wolf was pulling me toward Alec, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was abandoning my friends. His wolf nodded the other way, insisting I follow him. I could feel his urgency. It was an almost desperate fear radiating from him. He was worried about me.I could sense how badly he wanted us to flee.
What if the attackers left to chase us? It was possible they’d leave my friends if they didn’t find what they wanted. I had to hope that was the case, and if it was, I had to create more distance between us.We could be leading them away.
Reluctantly, I turned away from the camp, and took a few hesitant steps. I didn’t know where I was or where I should go, and even as a wolf, I wasn’t confident in my sense of direction. Alec bounded in front of me and started moving forward. He must have remembered how often I got lost when I first arrived at his camp. He picked up the pace quickly, and I matched it, following him through the woods.
We’d lost our friends, our supplies, everything. And it was all my fault. If it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. What had I been thinking allowing my friends to risk their lives for me? I should have done this on my own. Or maybe with Alec, since he apparently had a death wish. That was the only reason I could think of that he’d risk getting caught by my pack after everything they’d done to his. He was probably the only other shifter outside Wolf Creek who knew just how brutal they really were.
I wasn’t sure how long we ran, but I was struggling to keep up. Alec’s wolf seemed like he could run forever. My wolf wasn’t used to this. I was struggling to get over the rocks and tree roots. A few times, I got caught in bushes or scratched by branches. My body wasn’t the same size it used to be and when I slipped into taking full control over my wolf self, I made mistakes.
It was a challenge to find a balance between my wolf self and my human self. I wasn’t trusting enough to let her take the lead for long, but I wasn’t great at navigating life as a wolf. We’d run together so beautifully on my first shift, but under pressure, we weren’t finding our stride. There had to be a better way to work together but I had a feeling the key was going to be practice. I wasn’t sure I had time for that. I had to figure this out quickly.
Finally, Alec’s wolf stopped and turned to face me before sitting back on his rear legs. He was panting and I was glad to know I wasn’t the only one who was exhausted.
My body shuddered and my muscles felt like they were stretching and bending in ways they shouldn’t. I’d never started a shift without another wolf going first, but I think my wolf was too tired to stay in this form. A few more uncomfortable twists and a couple of snapping bones later, I was sitting naked in the dirt. Everything hurt.
It took all my willpower to stay seated. All I wanted to do was curl up and lay on the earth.
Then I saw Alec naked and the exhaustion was replaced by my sex drive. My heart raced and warmth spread to my core.Oh, fuck, not this again.In this moment, there had never been a more desirable male in my presence.
I knew Alec was hot. I’d been attracted to him since we first met, but he was off limits. There was too much history and too much at risk if I jumped on top of him.
But those muscles, those gorgeous eyes, his full lips.
