by Dani Harper
Yet the wolf had apparently given up the chase. If the Changeling had truly been after either one of them, he would even now be breathing down their necks—or attempting to tear out their throats. Except that no sane wolf would tackle a shape-shifter of Travis’s size and experience alone.
Which means there’s a chance he’s fallen back to wait for reinforcements.
Travis opened his eyes and heaved himself to his feet. He hated to do it, but he nosed Neva awake anyway. Come on. We have to get moving.
EIGHT
Neva wanted more sleep—about a week’s worth—but if there was any chance they were still being followed, it was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Meredith’s wolves were certain to be hunting for her. Or for my body. For the first time, she realized that their crazed leader probably didn’t expect her to survive a first Change by herself. A new question surfaced almost immediately: If she died, would Meredith have cared at all? Would she have been the teeniest, tiniest bit sorry? Neva shoved that question away, tried to deep-six that whole line of thinking, and only succeeded in diverting it somewhat.
There was no guarantee Neva would have survived even if she’d stayed. No one in the pack received any coaching or comfort during their initial shift. Pain and shock combined to overcome some of the newbies, more so if they fought it. Resistance was, indeed, futile. There was only death or enslavement to Meredith’s warped magic.
Neva had managed to create a third option: escape. She was still amazed she’d pulled it off, but she hadn’t had any faith in her ability to elude Meredith for long. Her whole plan had been to die before she could be forced into standard pack initiation: the slaughter of a human being. Every member had to prove their absolute obedience and loyalty to Meredith through murder. At least that’s what she said—Neva suspected that Meredith somehow used the deaths to power some of her horrible spells. And every pack member would hasten to comply. Neva knew she would have, too, had she stayed. Not because she wanted to, not because she feared whatever punishment would be meted out if she didn’t (although that was certain to be ugly and painful). No, it was because the magic Meredith commanded usurped the will of every member of her pack. Once they made that first Change, they were hers.
If that’s true, why am I not running back to her?
Why indeed? Travis’s words popped into her head. He was about twenty yards ahead of her as they raced along a small river valley where the foliage was dense. She thought she detected a note of amusement in his “voice”—he probably got a kick out of annoying her.
Have you been listening all along? she demanded.
Have you made any effort to keep your thoughts to yourself?
She ignored that. Look, when can I Change back to human? I’ve had enough of running around on four feet. Tell me how.
When we get to a town.
We’ve bypassed three towns, a truck stop, and a fruit stand already. You’re not my boss. It should be my decision when I Change, and I want to Change now. For all I know, you could be trying to keep me like this so you have somebody to hang out with.
Despite their ground-eating gallop, Travis stopped so suddenly that she had to swerve to avoid crashing into him. She tripped over her own feet and tumbled down a brushy slope, where she lay with the wind half knocked out of her. Stiff-legged, he stalked after her, and from her prone vantage point, she appreciated anew that not only was he a helluva lot bigger than she was as a human, he was also damn huge as a wolf. His tawny-gold ruff stood out, and the ridge of fur along his spine rose as well. His muzzle was wrinkling with suppressed fury, although he was keeping his sharp teeth covered for the moment.
It was his fault that she fell, and he was pissed? It was all she could do not to growl at him. How sweet of you to come and see if I’m all right.
He ignored the remark. Number one, I don’t need anyone to hang with. Number two, if I did, I wouldn’t choose a green wolf because it’s a helluva lot harder to keep a low profile. And number three, this I-don’t-trust-you shit is getting old.
You think I should trust you? You’re a werewolf!
It’s not a character defect.
For a split second, the anger in his gaze gave way to something else. Sadness? Pain? Before Neva could decide which, however, Travis’s usual glare returned full force.
You wanna walk on two legs? Fine. Let’s do it.
Now they were getting somewhere. Neva stood up and followed Travis’s terse instructions: Picture yourself as a human. Close your eyes so you can concentrate—you have to hold the image until you feel your human body. Call it to you. Not like that. Okay, that’s better. Now let go.
There was a strange sensation over every square inch of her, as if she’d suddenly drawn in all the essence, the energy, even the air from all around her. Soaked it in like a dry sponge pulls in water. And her hearing, her sense of smell—all of her senses, in fact—were abruptly dulled as if she really was underwater. She opened her eyes in a panic, but realized she was in her human skin—and her senses were naturally blunted as a result. Neva heaved a sigh of relief and turned to say something to the tawny wolf, who was sitting and staring at her with his head cocked to one side. He didn’t look angry anymore. In fact, his lips were drawn back in a wide lupine grin. Obviously he was pleased that she’d managed to—
Omigod, I’m NAKED! Neva tried to cover herself with her hands and finally dove behind a tree. “Where the hell are my clothes, you bastard!”
Probably back by the truck. That’s okay, you look fine without them. Better, in fact.
She looked around the tree trunk and bared her teeth at him. “What didn’t you tell me? What did you leave out? You’re fully dressed when you shift back into human form. I’ve seen it. So why aren’t my clothes here?”
Probably because you’re new at it. Most Changelings have to learn to bring their clothes along during the transition. It takes practice, that’s all.
Great. So how do I get my clothes back? Where the hell do they go while I’m a wolf?
You can’t now, and nobody knows. Travis turned and trotted back up the slope.
Whaddya mean, nobody knows?
Exactly what I said. Changelings have been trying to solve that one for eons. Current thought says they go to a different dimension or something. Whatever. The big tawny wolf did a passable imitation of a shrug. We’ve hung around here long enough. It’s time to get going.
Neva realized with a start that she had no idea where here was. She made her way awkwardly up the bank, slowed down by the uneven stones. Wait, I can’t travel like this. I don’t even have shoes!
You wanted to be human now, remember? And you seem to suspect me of goddess knows what every time you don’t get your way. So deal with it. If you don’t like being human, Change back.
She cursed him out soundly as she stumbled along. The easy, ground-eating pace of her wolf had now given way to painful, awkward plodding. The game trail they were following had seemed like a smooth, green tunnel before, a perfect little highway through the brush. Now she stood a lot taller on two feet than on four, so what had once been an overgrown ceiling of shady foliage was now a hellish wall of scratchy branches and itchy leaves. And bugs, dammit. She couldn’t even see through the bushes to know where she was stepping. The ground felt rough under her feet now, the soil hard-packed and crisscrossed with tree roots. I don’t know how to shift back, you jerk!
Then figure it out.
And just like that he was out of sight.
Meredith licked the blood from her lips, then resumed her human form in a shower of blue sparks. She spared a glance at the folds of her Grecian-inspired gown and was satisfied that it remained pristine. The feather-white fabric glowed flawlessly in the moonlight.
It would have been more fun to kill the upstart wolf, but she was already short on initiates. As it was, Riley would be a long time healing and was useless in the meantime—except for the example she’d just made of him. “Take him back and throw him in the pit,” she ordered an
d turned her back to look at the other new wolves. She didn’t need to watch to know that she’d be obeyed instantly.
The gray mixture beneath her feet crackled with energy. Tiny veins of red lightning shot through the ash, charged further by the spilling of living blood within the circle. She felt tingly all over, but not half as good as she would a few moments from now. Meredith drew the pendant from between her breasts and held it aloft. Immediately the black opal flashed in the moonlight and began to pulse with crimson fire like the beating heart of a dragon. The energy in the circle built, and the six new wolves stood motionless, their gaze fixated on the opal in her hand and their eyes reflecting its light. Meredith laughed as she felt their living energy join with the magic, her magic, in the circle.
The collective power grew, swirling around her, faster now. It surrounded her, ascended her legs like a living thing, caressing, scintillating, arousing as it rose higher. And higher still. Her breath came in short, sharp pants, and her nipples thrust at the fabric that imprisoned them until they were sensitized beyond bearing. Finally she yanked the dress away from her with her free hand, tore and clawed at the fabric until she stood naked in the moon’s light. Her long blonde hair fell loose around her hips, wild tresses glowing nearly white. One hand still held the opal high above her head; the other cupped her mons as she began to thrust her hips in time to the gem’s fiery pulse. She chanted out the words, the dark, power-rich words, as the wild energy built to a crescendo and erupted through every molecule of her body in a tumultuous rush of sexual and magical release, turning her last word into a scream of raw triumph and pleasure.
It felt like she’d been walking for hours, and Neva was no less furious with Travis. The big werewolf had interfered in her original plans with his self-appointed mission to save her, forcing her through a Change she hadn’t wanted, and now leaving her in the middle of nowhere, naked.
Angry as she was, however, her sense of fairness nagged at her. He’d saved her life, coached her safely through a process that might have killed her, and had taught her how to return to her human self. The problem was, she’d demanded the latter knowledge right now.
Swell timing. She really should have thought that one through.
And he hadn’t exactly left her on her own, either. Although Travis was out of sight, her newly heightened senses told her he was little more than a couple hundred yards ahead on the narrow game trail. Obviously he’d slowed his pace to match hers—and hers was worse than pathetic.
Fighting for every step, she was making poor headway through the brush in her human form, and her bare skin was scratched and insect-bitten everywhere. Her feet had finally gone somewhat numb, but they began throbbing the moment she stood still. She had to admit that her lupine form had been a swift and efficient method of traveling, yet she certainly wasn’t about to resume it again—even if she could figure out how. Come to think of it, she wasn’t sure why she was still following Travis. Or why he was bothering to stay with her—after all, she didn’t need his help anymore. And he’d made it plain that he didn’t need anyone, especially not someone like her.
She considered her options.
The stony hillsides on either side of the wide valley seemed inhospitable to all but a mountain goat. The banks of the trickling creek they were following were the only places where trees and thick brush grew lushly. The rest of the land was a sea of tall, dry grass and sage, occasionally crisscrossed by ancient wire fencing. And wherever there’s fencing, there’re people. Somewhere. Neva stopped and looked back over the path she’d already traveled. Off to the west at the base of the hill was what seemed to be an abandoned barn. She hadn’t paid attention before she passed it, but she could remedy that now. Maybe she could find something in the old building she could use.
Neva began to trudge back along the path she’d already traveled, then left the cover of the trees and struck out across the field.
NINE
What the hell? Travis had been stewing in his own thoughts when his wolf stopped dead in its tracks and refused to move an inch. Immediately his senses discerned that Neva was much farther behind him than she had been. He chuffed out an impatient breath—how much slower did he have to go just so she could indulge her bullheaded determination to walk on two legs instead of four? He’d been so damn certain that she’d soon be begging him to tell her how to return to her lupine form. Ha. He should have known better. He couldn’t be that lucky. Instead, he’d spent the last few hours trying not to think about the naked woman on the trail behind him.
The gorgeous naked woman. He’d gotten a look at her when he was taking off her casts and clothes, but he hadn’t had time for admiration with her Change imminent and her eyes glowing green. His concern for her had somehow overridden the impulse. But now—dear goddess, when she’d returned to her human form, it was like he’d been slapped in the head with a two-by-four. He didn’t see stars, but he did see that her nipples were the exact color of caramel and appeared just as luscious. Her skin was unusually fair, a delightful contrast to the rich brown hair that tumbled in waves to her shoulders—and the freckles on her shoulders matched the ones that dusted her nose and cheekbones. It was all he could do not to resume his human form as well. His paws twitched as he yearned to glide his hands over her curves, memorize her enticing shape by touch. Worse, his human self definitely had a hard-on. That didn’t translate well to the wolfen body he was currently in, and it wasn’t long before the acute discomfort had forced him to leave the scene.
He’d been keeping his distance from Neva ever since. Physically, at least. Mentally, it was a near-impossible feat, which made his current mood irritated with a chance of insanity. Although his wolf clearly wanted to go back for Neva, Travis was in no hurry to be knocked off-kilter again by her powerful appeal. He plunked his butt on the trail and waited for her to catch the hell up.
And waited.
Finally his senses—and maybe his sense, period—kicked in: the woman had not stopped to rest or slowed her snail’s pace. She was heading in another direction entirely. Oh, for Christ’s sake.
With difficulty, Travis retained control of his wolfen self and kept it from dashing after her. If she wanted to go somewhere else, then maybe she should go. After all, it was probably past time they went their separate ways. He’d gone above and beyond by saving her life, springing her from the hospital, and helping her through her first shift. What else was he supposed to do for her? It was obvious that she wasn’t very interested in being a Changeling like him anyway.
Bad sire, said his wolf. Frightened.
I didn’t ask you. He wasn’t about to start conversing with his alter ego, but his animal persona had a point. What little Travis knew of Neva’s history wouldn’t make him excited to be a Changeling, either. He’d hoped she’d have a little fun when her wolf first emerged, enjoy the freedom and the sheer joy of existence that came with it. Instead, she’d actually tried to drown herself.
Bad sire.
Travis’s lupine brows furrowed. Despite her actions, he knew full well that Neva never had a true death wish—it was all an effort to keep her sire from using her. She was convinced that this Meredith woman would force her to kill. And admittedly, a sire had the power to compel a new Changeling, at least at first. But what Changeling would demand murder? True, her sire didn’t seem to take her responsibilities very seriously, but kill a human on purpose?
No, it was plain that Neva hadn’t been taught the first thing about Changeling law. She was mistaken, had to be. She didn’t even know that her sire’s influence would eventually wear off. So who would tell her the truth about her new life if Travis didn’t?
Shit. With a very human sigh, he leaned his forehead against a tree, and considered banging it there a few times. Although he’d like nothing better than to ride off into the sunset—and maybe find another Triumph Thunderbird to do it with—it looked like he was going to be babysitting a while longer. The decision prompted a burst of excitement from his wolf, and his
tail wagged involuntarily.
At least one of us is frickin’ happy about it.
Baker couldn’t believe his luck. She hadn’t looked. The cold bitch hadn’t even looked.
Meredith had been so annoyed at the demise of her manicurist—Tina, he reminded himself. The poor woman’s name had been Tina—that she hadn’t bothered to examine the second body. His. Baker lay as still as death, and Meredith had been further distracted by Riley. Damn him for standing up to her, for not playing along to preserve his own life. Sometimes you had to pick your battles, fight another day and all that shit. But not Riley. After Meredith chewed his ass, literally, the guy had been more dead than alive, and the devil only knew where he’d been dragged off to.
Baker had maintained his corpse act even when the bitch queen had performed her perverse ritual. It had been damn hard. Just as he’d expected, she drew power from her initiates as surely as a fucking spider sucked the life from its prey. He’d felt the fingers of bloodred light crackle and hiss through the ash in the circle, felt the light crawl over him, invade him. It had pulled his energy from him as if it were a plant torn from the soil, its long, living roots extracted from every corner and crevice of his being. It was terrifying and painful, and it took everything he had to calm the animal he’d become, to explain to it that real death awaited if it so much as twitched. Afterward Baker didn’t have to feign death. He was a hollowed-out husk, passing in and out of consciousness.
During his last snatch of awareness, Meredith had become a great silver wolf again and led her mindless pack into the night. He had no idea where the zombified creatures were going, only that it was certain to end in innocent blood being spilled.
