Catch him! Catch him!
The instinct to hunt him was strong. My legs pumped under me, kicking back dirt and dead leaves. Tree trunks blurred at my sides as I sped by them. Up ahead, Eric stopped and glanced back as if taunting me. My instinct redoubled, and I ran faster still.
He turned tail and started running again. Somehow, I sensed his surprise as the distance between us shrank. I gave it all I had. I would not let Eric with his arrogance and rude behavior show me up. He had no idea who he was messing with.
I was Antonietta Luna Sunder. I never gave up.
Energy thundered through my legs as my resolve grew. In a minute, I cut the distance between us in half. I snarled, letting him know I was close. He shifted directions on a dime, and I turned abruptly, narrowly missing a tree as I changed course.
My breaths came hard and even. My claws tore the ground as my powerful limbs strained to the max. Then I was on him. His tail an inch from my snout. I snapped my teeth, narrowly missing him.
Eric stopped and whirled on me, his fangs bared as he growled with savage anger. I snarled back, circling around him, teeth snapping, paws clawing at the ground.
“Heel,” Eric’s voice resonated inside my head, trying to break through my anger.
“No!” I shot back, my teeth snapping as I lunged forward, intent on tearing a chunk off his smug face.
“HEEL!” This time, his voice roared inside my head, while his growl nearly rattled my every bone.
Fighting my wild instincts, I lowered my head, gnashing my teeth together as I submitted to the order. It went against every fiber of my being. It sucked being an omega.
Gratefully, the small voice of reason inside my head prevailed.
He can tear you to pieces, Red. You’re nothing but a pup compared to him.
The wild anger that raged inside gradually passed. My breaths slowed, and after a moment, I found that I had no reason to fight the other wolf. It had been stupid to think I was hunting him when he was not prey.
I lifted my head and sniffed the air.
Eric relaxed and turned away. He walked over to a large boulder and sat next to it. I joined him and settled by his side. We were at the top of a gentle slope that dived into a small, gurgling creek. A quarter moon hung high in the sky, and a cool breeze rattled the tree branches above us.
The tawny wolf howled, stretching his neck up, his voice mournful and compelling. Before I knew what I was doing, I was howling, too, feeling as if I were releasing years of pent-up frustration and unfulfilled dreams—dreams that my wolf had thought would never come true.
But now...
Here she was, free at last, and no one would ever leash her again.
BACK IN ERIC’S HOUSE, he shifted from one step to the next, clothes appearing in place as he did so.
Huh? How?!
“Shift back,” he ordered, his back to me.
I had only one second to wonder how I could go back to my human shape, when my body elongated, my claws and fangs sheathed themselves, and my fur disappeared. I snatched my spare change of clothes from my duffel bag and put them on in a hurry.
“You’re going to have to teach me how to keep my clothes on,” I said, stuffing my arms into my T-shirt.
He scoffed. “There’s nothing to teach. In case you haven’t noticed, I wear a shifter ring.”
I slipped on my pants. “Shifter ring?”
Eric turned to face me and held up his right hand. “A witch made it for me, its only magical purpose is to spare my clothes every time I shift.
“Neat! Where can I get one?”
“I doubt you could afford it. They don’t come cheap.”
“How much?”
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
I choked. “You’re right. I don’t have that kind of money. Naked it is.”
Eric took a step closer, his blue eyes holding a question. “Well, do you remember yourself? Your wolf?”
“I...” I stopped, unable to answer as a landslide of memories suddenly washed over me all at once.
I saw myself in this room, yesterday, shifting, going wild. I’d attacked Eric, but he’d run out of the room, forcing me to chase him back into the woods. There, I managed to scratch him once, but he mostly stayed ahead of me, issuing orders that I wouldn’t heed. Instead, I had run until I tired myself out and passed out from exhaustion. Interesting!
After that, different images of Damien and Mom’s face flashed before my eyes. Damien looked the same, but Mom kept getting older in each of them. It took me a moment to realize I was seeing all the times that the Copper Mage had put his spell on me.
Next, I was at the repair shop the night Jake and I rescued Stephen. I remembered turning and fighting a massive shifter in the shape of a gorilla. Then I’d helped Jake. He was injured. Two vampires were on him, and I...
Oh, God!
I took several steps back, a hand flying to my mouth as horror washed over me.
“I take that as a yes.” Eric stepped closer. “Are you all right?”
“I killed someone,” I said, my voice trembling. “The first time I shifted, I killed someone.”
He frowned but didn’t look concerned. “Did they deserve it?”
“What?!”
“Did they deserve to die?” he repeated.
“That’s not the point. The point is that... I’m a murderer.”
He shrugged. “Then do us all a favor and turn yourself in.”
My breath shuddered as I inhaled. I started backing away.
“Um, actually, don’t turn yourself in.” Eric scratched the back of his neck. “That was a joke.”
I ignored him and kept walking, a feeling of terrible anguish building in my chest. I had killed someone. How could I live with
