“You have a daughter too, Dad! Where do I fit into all of that?”
Frustration and sorrow spilled down her face, glistening on her cheeks. She was saying things she didn’t mean, hurting her father in a way he didn’t deserve. Turning on her heel, Eva ran from the cabin, ignoring the twinge of pain in her hip and the eyes following her. She raced away blindly, not sure what direction to take, lost in a world that wasn’t her own. It was like she was losing her father and brother too. They were slipping through her fingers, galloping ahead into the future, and Eva was trapped, surrounded by grief she didn’t know how to handle and an emptiness that threatened to swallow her whole.
“Eva? Eva?”
Pausing, she dragged in a breath, swiped at the tears clinging to her face. Katalina was coming toward her, concern all over her face. These people wanted to be her friends. They wanted to welcome her into this strange, large family as if she was one of them. But Eva wasn’t a shifter. She was human. She didn’t belong here. She was a stranger in a foreign land, unable to speak their language. While a part of her wanted to learn, move on like her brother and father were doing, the larger part of her was stuck, drowning in a sea of grief while being torn between becoming someone new and leaving her mother behind, or staying forever frozen in a life with nothing but her mother’s ghost as company.
It was too much. Eva needed to escape. Taking the only one available, she took off into the trees, pushing her sore, injured body to cover the rough terrain. Trees blurred passed her, becoming thicker and thicker the longer she ran. It took seconds to feel like she was lost in a wilderness far from civilization, but Eva didn’t stop. She was in wolf territory now; they’d find her easily, and Eva wasn’t ready to be found.
Crossing a stream, water splashed up her legs, soaking her sneakers and chilling her skin. Pushing past the biting cold, Eva placed one foot in front of another, her pace hindered by the uneven ground. At one point, she fell and ripped her leggings, grazing her skin, but still, she didn’t stop. There were some sorrows too hard to face, and despite knowing it was useless to do so, Eva raced on, hoping somehow, she’d be the first to outrun fate and the pain it promised.
Chapter 7
John
“John!”
Turning, John took in Zackary’s state as the boy raced toward him. The wolf was in his eyes, a frantic, almost desperate plea to his face. His hair was messy as if he’d pulled at it a few too many times, and there was a fine coat of sweat covering his skin. As Zackary skidded to a halt, dragging in a breath, John first scented anxiety and then fear.
“What’s happened?” Because something had, he was sure. Zackary might have been a newly turned wolf with volatile anger he sometimes couldn’t control, but being afraid wasn’t something he sensed on the boy very often.
“My sister,” he panted. “Her and dad had an argument, and she ran off crying into the trees, wouldn’t stop when Katalina called after her. She figured she wouldn’t go far and sent me in to make sure she was okay. I tracked her scent to the stream, and after that, I couldn’t pick anything else up. I’ve been looking for ages, but I can’t find her, John. What happens if she’s lost or hurt, or both? She’s human, John, she’s—”
Placing a hand on the kid’s shoulder to stop him, John lowered himself slightly. “I’ll find her. I promise.”
“Here.” Zackary thrust a sweater into his hands. “She only had a thin top on, and the temperature’s dropped. Sometimes I still dress like I’m human and forget the cold doesn’t affect me anymore.”
He nodded. “It won’t take me long to find her. She couldn’t have traveled that far.” Plus, there was also the fact Eva was his future mate, and his instincts would guide him as well as his nose. “You’ve done good, Zac. I’ll take it from here.”
“I’ll be with my dad. He’s pretty upset with himself. She took off in that direction.” He pointed ahead.
John set off, picking up her scent within moments. Surprised at how far she’d traveled, he took a moment to suppress his wolf when he found her sitting on the ground. Blood lingered in the air, the soft sounds of her crying cutting to his heart. His natural instinct was to go to her, to hold her and comfort her until the pain she was in was erased, but John didn’t have the luxury of giving in to his natural urges.
“Evaline,” he murmured gently as he approached.
Startled, her head whipped around, tears like glistening diamonds on her cheeks. Sad, reddened eyes widened as she took him in, and then they dimmed and lowered to the hands she held in front of herself. “I fell,” she said simply. The sound broken and empty.
A growl rumbled in his belly. John wanted nothing more than to snarl and bark until his Eva came back. “I can see that,” he answered, bending at the knees before her. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
Shifting around, Eva brought her knees toward him and pointed. Then after a pause, her glassy gaze met his, and she pressed her hand over her heart. “And here.”
John reached out and brushed the tears from her face and smiled gently. His heart hurt for her. “I can help with the hands and knees, but your heart is going to take a bit longer to heal.”
“Do you think it will?” she
