Although she was swift of foot, he was much larger than her, and never before had she been able to outrun him. Today she was leaving him far behind and the feeling was . . . euphoric.
Crashing through shrubs, she saw the buck running and in her mind, she knew it was fleeing as fast as it could for its very life, but to her eyes it looked as if it were running in slow motion. Sheba caught up with it in no time at all, launching herself high into the air and landing easily on its back, all four paws digging into its body as her jaws opened wide and sank deep around its neck. It squealed in fright and pain, legs buckling under her weight as blood filled her mouth, her jaws clamping down to end the beast’s suffering quickly. When its heart stopped beating, she released her hold, her head rearing back as a wild roar rumbled up from her chest and tore free before she leaped off, using her claws and teeth to start consuming her kill.
Her pure white fur soon turning blood red as she demolished the buck, leaving nothing but some meagre bones lying on the forest floor, swiping a paw over her snout one last time and looking around the clearing to find her Beta watching her silently.
Finally, through their Pack link, Ray spoke. “Alpha, I think we have a problem.”
Sheba shook her head, blood spatters dropping to the ground as she eyed Ray. “No shit, Sherlock. You think I don’t know that?”
Ray’s beast rose, towering over hers and slowly came toward her, he looked at the place where once there was an entire prey that should have fed several Wolves and then back to her. “How could you eat that all by yourself? Even I couldn’t do that. It’s . . . strange to say the least.”
“I know that, Ray.” Sheba’s voice came out as a whine and she knew it was filled with her own worry at what was happening to her. “I have no idea what’s going on and yeah, I’m worried too. But what do I do? I don’t feel ill, apart from this damn hunger thing.”
Sheba forced herself to stay in place as his beast stalked around her, his nose sniffing feverishly as he went before he stopped, his head shaking and his dark eyes looking confused. She couldn’t stop herself from asking. “What?”
“It’s strange, little one, but your scent has . . . changed. You smell different, it’s subtle but it’s there. It’s almost like . . .” He stopped, once again shaking his massive head and turning away.
Sheba followed, nudging him roughly. “Tell me! Almost like what?”
Ray turned back, a look of shock in his eyes. “If I didn’t know any different I’d say you were mated . . . or something similar. It’s strange, Sheba, but your beast’s scent has changed, although I haven’t noticed a change when you’re in your human form. Damn, girl, this is getting weird and I say after we’ve been to Lunar that we need to go and speak to Tilly. She may be the only person that can shed any light on what the goddamn fuck is going on.”
His words struck her like a blow, right in her chest. Her beast seemed to welcome them, but she damn well didn’t. “You’re speaking in riddles, Ray. I’ll go to see Tilly, but only to show you how much shit you’re spouting and to hopefully get rid of this hunger. It’s driving me insane and I can’t go much longer with it burning my insides like this. I’m going to see Myla, get home, see Tilly and put a stop to this once and for all.”
She whirled away, throwing over her shoulder. “First I need to go soak in that stream we passed and get rid of this blood. I’ll see you back at the truck.”
Not waiting for a reply, she sped away, a frisson of unease running through her as she ran toward the stream to cleanse herself of the gore of her kill. What did it mean? Her scent couldn’t have changed . . . that was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? Yes. Absolutely. Ray must be wrong. There was no way her scent had altered, it just wasn’t possible. She’d show him. Tilly would smack him upside the head with his nonsensical talk, and she’d laugh herself silly when the Healer did so. Yeah, that’s what would happen, definitely, absolutely, and with any luck Tilly would then tell her just what the hell was going on and fix her on the spot.
Her beast slowed and let out a whine, pawing at the ground and shaking her head. “Don’t start!” Sheba snarled, jumping right into the middle of the brook in front of her, shaking herself in the cold water and watching as it turned pink, floating downstream quickly. She stayed until the water ran clear before leaping out and retracing her steps back to the truck, wiggling herself around to get rid of the excess water as she went.
By the time she reached the road she was almost dry and Ray sat waiting on her, arms crossed and his usual inscrutable look back in place. She transformed and dressed quickly, getting in and giving him a huge smile. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Lunar was the Shifter club she’d started and ran until her father had died. After his death, she’d handed over its day-to-day management to Myla and she had to admit, she’d done a great job. She’d brought in more business and taken it to the next level, making Lunar the best Shifter bar in the area. Hell, it wasn’t just the best in
