Suddenly, the chilling, irresistible song of a wolf echoed through the pines. The moon was full, and the wolves were out tonight, running free through the forest as I’d done with them last year. The call sounded again, and I closed my eyes and let it wash over me. The hair on the back of my neck and along my arms stood up, and a shiver of unbearable excitement zinged up my spine. The hunt was on.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was running in their direction, faster than any human or animal should be able to run. The call lured me like a siren’s song. Only when I remembered that I was no longer one of them did I skid to a stop. My heart collapsed in on itself at the knowledge that I would not be welcome in their pack tonight. They didn’t want me to run with them, to hunt with them, to bay with them at the rising moon.
Well, fuck that. They had made me a wolf, and that’s what I was. I had as much right to run and hunt in these woods as they did, or at least as much as Brooklyn did. I peeled off my clothes, tossing them at the base of a pine, and dropped to all fours. Within seconds, my wolf form had overtaken my human one. The shift had been painful the first few times, but now it was sweet relief. It had been too long since I’d shifted, and I’d done it too seldom before that. Since turning into a vampire, I’d been so consumed with that side of myself that I’d neglected my wolf side.
My white paws struck the pine needles as I raced forward, padding across the earth underfoot, the air rippling in the fur along my shoulders and sides. I answered the call of my Alpha, my wolf, my mate. Maybe it wasn’t predestined like Lindy and Vance, but I’d chosen Alarick for a mate, just as he’d chosen me.
I burst from between the trees and into the pack gathering. The wolves lowered their muzzles and watched me warily. They’d known I was coming, of course, could feel me as well as I’d felt their presence in the woods.
Brooklyn bared her fangs and growled, low and menacing in her throat. I growled back. Alarick gave a short, sharp bark, and she fell silent and lowered her head. He approached me, his hackles raised. When I didn’t turn and run, he pounced, knocking me to the ground. We rolled over and over, coming to a stop when we slammed against the trunk of a pine, making the trunk sway.
I scrambled to gain a footing, but Alarick pinned me to the ground, flipping me onto my back and clamping his massive jaws around my throat.
Chapter Ten
Like in human form, Alarick was at least twice my size in wolf form. There was no fighting him. I squirmed further onto my back, baring my belly to him in a sign of submission, letting him know I didn’t want to fight. He was the pack’s Alpha, and I wasn’t here to challenge that. All I wanted was for them to take me back.
Alarick’s jaws fit around my throat, but he didn’t rip out my jugular. I didn’t move, even as he squeezed his jaws tighter, until I could barely breathe. I lay frozen beneath him, knowing it would be no use to fight now. My heart hammered in my chest as he stood there, clutching my throat between his deadly fangs. I let out a soft whine, running my front paw down his chest.
At last, Alarick released his grip, standing over me while I rolled up onto my feet. I understood his display. He wanted me to know that he could kill me if he wanted, that I was at his mercy. That he was sparing me because he wanted to, because he chose to let me live. Oddly enough, I didn’t really mind. I knew that somehow, in their minds, I had betrayed them. Even though I hadn’t chosen to become a vampire, I was one. Because of what I was, and what vampires wanted to do to wolves, what they had already done, my very existence was a threat to them.
But I’d given them Lindy, the answer to their problem. And I was here to beg forgiveness, to prove to them that I was still a wolf. So, that’s what I did. I ran with the pack, hunting with them and bringing my catch to Alarick. I lay down and watched him eat the rabbit, not offering me even a bite. I didn’t want one. It would have been an insult if he’d returned my gift. We ran free, streaking through the trees, down the gulley and up the other side, standing on outcroppings and baying at the moon. We mated. We ran more, until we were worn out, and we flopped down with the others in a clearing next to the little shack where I’d found Amy all that time ago.
Lindy flopped down next to Vance, fitting her smaller body against his side, and he curled around her. Alarick had lain down already, so I made my way to where he lay in the pine needles, and I fitted myself against his body in the same way, claiming the spot at his side that had always belonged to me, even when I wasn’t among them.
Alarick licked the back of my neck, his rough tongue grooming my fur. Resting a commanding paw on top of my head, he licked around my ears, sending waves of happiness and
