Cold Blooded

My body had become more accustomed to shifting with each change. The first time had been a train wreck. I’d fought it with everything I had, and it had been the worst thing I could’ve done. Now it felt natural and fluid. My back arched as my legs extended. Fur sprouted along my skin like a soft blanket.

The change took less than a minute.

Once I was finished, I blinked and glanced around. The night was clear. Everything was more detailed and easier to see in this form. We called our animal form our “true form” because it was our body’s most natural form. We hailed from humans, spent most of our time in a human form, but animals were our true nature. It felt unbelievably free to be in this body. This is what all shifters craved.

I lifted my muzzle to the sky, resisting the urge to howl. The darkness wasn’t absolute. Instead objects glowed around me in an amber haze, my eyes gathering light from everywhere so I could detect the smallest details. As I stood, I inhaled, raking air in over my sensitive tongue, tasting all the flavors of the night.

Then his scent hit me.

My wolf barked and our voice carried into the night sky. We were linked so closely in this form that control hung on a blink. My heart began to race as his musk engulfed us. I was in control now, but my wolf was agitated and a low growl escaped.

His scent was a thousand times stronger in his true form.

Cloves and rich molasses were intertwined with a kind of power that I didn’t understand. It didn’t feel godlike, like Selene’s had, but it was still incredibly strong. His smell calmed us, but his power frightened us. It sent currents of pressure into our body, warning us, urging us to flee. My wolf wanted to run. No, hold still. This is right. She whined and pushed herself into me, making us stagger. I know. I smell it, too, but he’s not going to hurt us. Focus on the signature, not on the power.

Rustling came from the bushes.

Rourke had finished his change even before we had, but he was letting us get used to him.

That may take longer than we had.

I opened my mouth and huffed into the air, telling him we were ready.

After a second, he stepped into view. One paw at a time until he stood only a few paces from us.

Oh, dear gods. What is he?

He lifted his tawny head to the sky and roared.

7

He took another step closer and stopped. Power surged off him in crisp waves and it was all I could do not to turn tail and run.

He was massive.

And one of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever seen. Is he a lion or a tiger? His fur was a rich gold, like a lion’s, but intricate dark stripes flowed over him, like a tiger. He didn’t have a mane. His fur was short, not shaggy—more like a puma’s. But he was clearly a Big Cat. His front incisors were curved and long, indicating his age. Nothing like him existed today. No lions and tigers had curved canines anymore. His weren’t massive like a saber-toothed tiger, but they were long enough.

Whatever he was, I’d never seen anything like it.

I took a tentative step forward and he whined at me, urging me to come closer. Cats and dogs were naturally leery of each other and this was strange in the extreme. For a moment it felt like fate had played a trick on me. And instead of being mated, Rourke would gobble me up the moment I stepped closer.

Sensing my trepidation, he sat down.

When I didn’t move, he sprawled on his stomach and lowered his head so I stood clearly above him.

It was enough to make me take another few steps closer.

My muzzle stretched out to him, scenting. He smelled like heaven, which was in direct odds with this scenario. When I got close enough, he reached up and licked my chin, his giant tongue covering all of it. I eased considerably, as did my wolf. She yipped, and the sound carried out of our shared vocal cords. I had to be careful, because all these heady emotions made our control bounce back and forth, and she would love nothing more than to take the reins.

He snuffed at us.

I moved back as he stood. He was a shoulder taller than I was, his beautiful eyes radiating outward. He was glorious.

He paced by my flank, rubbing up against me, scenting me and marking me to others. Then he started forward into the woods, and when I didn’t immediately follow, he huffed once over his shoulder before taking off into the night.

I took off after him, barking joyfully into the darkness.

We ran quickly, hitting the base of the mountain within moments. A cat was better tailored to pick its way over rocks as we climbed, but I kept up just fine, even though he kept circling back to make sure we were okay.

After the third time, I snarled a warning.

He can’t keep babying us. We may not be as seasoned as he is, but we’re strong too. My wolf growled at the thought of us being weak. I didn’t say we were weak, but on a scale of power, Rourke has us beat. She flashed an image of us tearing a similar lion to shreds. Come on, you felt his power. It’s off the charts. It almost hurts it’s so strong, and a minute ago you wanted to turn tail and run. She snarled, flashing a box in my mind. The very same one she’d shown me when we’d gotten into trouble with the Mahrac. I’d thought that once she opened it, it would contain more power than I could handle. But I’d absorbed it fully because it had been mine all along. At the time, I hadn’t known how to tap into it. I get it. I can sense the power inside us, but stronger than Rourke? That seems unlikely. He radiates it. Power leaks out of him like he can’t possibly contain it. Ours is not like that.

At once my body quivered and adrenaline raced out before I could stop it.

My wolf was teaching me a lesson.

Hey, no need to go crazy—Before I could say any more, my muscles coalesced under my skin, harder and bigger than they’d been a second ago. My fur started to prick as currents of energy raced along my spine, like fireworks bursting outward from all the nerve endings in my body.

Rourke snarled, turning toward us, sensing the power fluctuation.

He raised his head, trying to scent danger, wondering what I was reacting to. Not seeing anything around us, he charged into the trees roaring. A giant buck leapt out of the undergrowth and bounded off. Rourke paced back out, his body lithe and primal. He was so lethal; currents of his power whipped up and down my hide, reaching me easily where I stood.

There was no way to tell him I was only reacting to my stubborn wolf.

Power was still seeping out of me at an alarming rate, from every cell of my being, where it seemed to have been patiently waiting all along. I felt light-headed but invincible at the same time. It was a dangerous feeling. Why are you doing this now? She growled at me, frustrated. I can’t help that it’s going to take me longer to figure out the stuff you already know, just like it’s going to take you time to be patient with our human obligations. Manipulating power is no small task. She clacked her jaws at me. My wolf was an old soul, that much was certain. She was sure of herself in ways that came only with age. It made reasoning with her incredibly difficult when she was intent on proving her point. I had no idea how the Prophecy worked, and what it entailed, but this was the card I’d been dealt. She and I had to learn to work together for the long term. We were two sides of the same coin and we had to start acting like it.

Rourke paced around me, a low growl emanating from him in a constant thrum. Instead of trying to deal with the situation, since I had no words to give him, I took off, leaping ahead of him in one giant bound. I flew over the surfaces, making my way up the mountain quickly.

Rourke followed at my heels, quiet but alert.