Chapter 23 - Dan
I run through the house, hearing the back door slam as I charge through it. I tear off my clothes and shift mid-run, letting my wolf take full control of my mind and body. My heightened emotions have riled up my primal side, and it takes over with a low, vicious snarl.
The second I feel my paws in the dirt, the anger lifts, replaced by a great sense of freedom. My senses overload with information from the forest around me, and my conscious human mind completely disappears.
Beyond the simple nature of the wolf, I can feel my heart aching and my soul ripped to shreds. I can’t bear the pain, so I just keep running, pushing my body as hard as I can. The path begins to rise sharply, and I pour on more speed, panting and trembling by the time I reach the top.
At first, I throw myself down on the ground and pant, unaware of anything except my racing heart and heaving breaths. As a cool breeze trickles over me, gently stroking my fur, I feel a sweeping sense of peace and sit up to look at the stars.
From my high vantage point, there is no light around me, only a glittering net above me. Stars glisten like diamonds scattered on velvet, the cold shimmers reminding me of Grace’s eyes shining in the dark.
But she isn’t hard, sharp, or cold. She’s a furnace, and that white light is the hottest a flame can possibly burn.
The wind ruffles my ears, and it feels like the elements are reaching out to comfort me. When I look away from the sky, I can see the countryside unfold around me, the lights from the other three packs, and beyond it, a soft glow from the incursion site.
The snake.
Even though it has been quiet for so long, I realize that deep down, I never really believed it was gone. The glow in the distance doesn’t mean an immediate threat, but my instincts tell me something is about to change.
Danger on the horizon. The worst danger I’ve ever faced.
As I look out across the valleys and hills, the words of my friends come back to me. For the last few weeks, they haven’t said anything else, but I’ve felt their gentle encouragement—and done everything possible to ignore it.
I focus my eyes on the soft, red glow again and put my nose to the wind. I can detect the heat, like seared sand blowing off the skin of the desert. Even though nothing is burning and there is no smoke, it feels like something is about to ignite.
The memories rise in my heart. Even though I’m afraid, I close my eyes and let them come.
They don’t flash through my mind like they usually do, but play through, minute by minute.
I know this has lived inside me since the night it happened, and I have used every last scrap of mental strength to suppress it.
Might be why I’m so thick.
When I open my eyes and focus on the red glow again, my heart is ringing with pain as if it’s been sliced open, but the dull, festering ache is gone. Fear is still running in my blood, but now I’m afraid of something else.
I don’t want to lose Grace!
The revelation is shocking to me. After three weeks of putting so much distance between us, I now understand exactly why I did it, and what my friends have been trying to tell me all along.
I cared about her from the start, and after that night in the woods, I knew I loved her…
A sharp twist in my chest makes me throw back my head and howl. The sound pours from my chest, all my sorrow and longing echoing through me up into the sky.
I love her. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone, and I was more scared of that than magic, the snake, or even dying.
As I open my eyes and the howl in my throat dies away, I hear answering howls from the hills around me. All our scouts, warriors, and the alphas, too—all calling out with confidence and power as if to lend me their strength.
I turn back towards Riverside, full of determination. The run down the mountain takes less time than the run to the peak, and I reach town quickly. Even though guilt and pain return to me as I come into our yard, I don’t slow down, pacing straight into the house.
When I get to the living room, Grace is curled up on the couch in my blanket. She sits up, her eyes unfocused and bright.
“Sorry, Dan,” she murmurs. “I fell asleep here. I’ll move.”
“No,” I answer, shifting back. “Stay. I need to talk to you.”
She nods, still looking dazed after coming up out of a deep sleep. She hands me the blanket, and I wrap it around my waist as I sit down beside her.
“The first thing I want to say is, I’m sorry,” I say, taking her hand gently. “I’m sorry that I shut down after that night in the woods, and that I’ve been distant the last few weeks. I have a reason, but it doesn’t excuse my behavior.”
“Okay,” she replies, her voice very soft. “Go on.”
I take a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment and squeezing her hand for strength.
“My family died when I was thirteen,” I say, going straight to the hard part. “My mother, father, and sister were killed by a sorcerer who was on the run from Wolf’s Shadow.”
“Oh my God,” Grace gasps, covering her mouth with one hand. “What happened?”
I sigh, gathering my courage again.
“We lived in a remote area outside our pack. There weren’t any other farms around—a completely different part of the country from where we are now.
WS were tracking a sorcerer who was a threat to the human world and the human-shifter alliance.
The magician was desperate by this point; she’d been running for weeks and was almost out of energy. They were going to get her.”
I close my eyes and stroke Grace’s hand gently with my fingers, remembering the still, cool night and the bright moonlight outside my bedroom window.
“I heard a noise downstairs,” I whisper, my voice rough as my mind goes back in time.
“I went down to see what was happening. A tall, skinny woman was holding my mother around the throat, and my father was trying to talk her down. He told her she could have anything if she just let us live. I think she snuck in looking for food or supplies, and my mom caught her at it.”
Grace squeezes my hand, and I look into her eyes. They look warm, soft, and gentle, with tears shimmering under her lashes. I look away again into my lap, unable to go on while I’m looking at her.
“The sorcerer forced Mom to her knees and told Dad to get out of the way. She said she’d take some food and go. I stood on the stairs, terrified, not knowing what to do.”
“Oh, Dan,” Grace whispers. Grief shudders through me, and I have to cover my face.
“My sister toddled into the room. She was four. She had no idea what was going on. It startled the sorcerer, and she let go of Mom to throw energy at Bethany. It froze her in place—I don’t think it hurt her—but both Mom and Dad jumped to protect her.”
My breathing comes in low rasps as the scene plays out again in my mind.
“Dark energy came up through the floor. The sorcerer shrieked, hurling it at my family. It came at them like tree roots, winding across the floor, slowly wrapping around their limbs as they screamed. I ran towards them—”
I have to stop and blink hard, waiting for my heart to slow before I can go on.
“My mother looked up and saw me. She shook her head, and I saw her lips move—‘no, Dan, run!’—but I couldn’t leave them. Then the witch saw me.”
I look up, keeping my eyes on the wall across from me as my body tightens up with rage.
“She ran. I ran after her. I could hear my family screaming as the magic slowly strangled them. I thought if I killed the witch, I’d save them.
The magic would stop. We made it out into the yard, and she turned to throw the same dark energy at me.
I could feel it choking the life out of me, and I thought, that’s okay.
I’ll go down with my family, and there’s no shame in that. I tried.”
The face of the sorcerer, so full of malice, rises in my mind, but she doesn’t look as scary as she used to. I look back at Grace, feeling stronger now.
“Suddenly, wolves were everywhere. They just appeared. Leaping at her, throwing her to the ground, and ripping her to pieces. Four units of Wolf’s Shadow descended upon my house. They’d been tracking her, not far behind, desperate to catch her before she killed again.”
I look up at the roof, taking a deep breath and swallowing my grief.
“Medics picked me up and comforted me. I’d never felt so safe. I tried to get back inside, but they stopped me. One of the soldiers staggered out, saying he’d never seen anything as bad as that. They took me back to base. I had no other family, so… I just stayed.”
“Oh, Dan,” Grace says, brushing my hair off my cheek. “I’m so, so sorry. I understand now. You know that it’s only very rarely that magic is used to hurt others, right?”
I shake my head. “No, I don’t know that. My unit worked specifically on magic workers for years. The first time I saw good witches was here.”
“Dan,” she whispers, shaking her head. “I’m so, so sorry. I don’t have any words for this. I just need you to know I’ve never harmed anyone with my magic. Neither has any other witch I’ve ever known.”
Her line strikes me as odd because I didn’t think she knew other witches, but I’m too distraught and just let it go.
“That’s why I can’t trust magic,” I say. “And why I’ve been afraid. But tonight, I realized there’s something that scares me even more.”
“What is it?” she asks, brushing back my hair from my forehead.
“Losing you,” I choke out. “I was so scared of the magic, but that night with you, it—it was amazing.”
I shake my head, reaching out to take her face in my hands.
“I thought I had to stay away, to protect myself. But now I realize I almost lost what I care about the most.”
Her face softens, and I lean forward, kissing her gently. She kisses me back, and I can feel heat building as I run my hands across her shoulders and down her arms.
“Yes,” she whispers. “Make love to me.”
Her soft words pour heat into my veins, and tension streaks through my muscles as my hands tighten on her wrists, pinning her arms behind her. Grace sighs, relaxing in my grip and pushing her chest forward as I trap her underneath me.
Keeping her hands pinned, I immerse myself in her scent, almost touching her skin as I breathe across her neck and down towards her breasts. I can feel the heat rising from her skin and sense lust rising in her as she writhes under me.
As I reach her chest, the thick, sweet smell overpowers me, like standing under a hedge of honeysuckle in full bloom. My head spins, and a wave of dizziness forces me to loosen my grip on her. I run out of room on the couch at the same time, sliding to the floor onto my knees.
Grace tries to get her arms back under her and flexes, her body laid out before me like a feast. With a low growl, I reach up and grab her breasts with both hands, kneading them and enjoying the feel of the fabric grazing her soft skin. Grace moans, relaxing under me.
I gently run my hands across the neckline of her dress, teasing her and myself, before I grab the edges and tear it in half. Grace lets out a sharp, short cry that spirals into a long moan as I pounce on her, wrapping my arms around her and crushing her against me as my mouth devours her breasts.
She goes almost completely limp in my arms, whimpering softly as I change the pressure, slowing down to make long, slow spirals across her skin, teasing around her nipples and leaving soft kisses.
I flick the tip of my tongue against the stiff peaks, enjoying the goosebumps that flash across her skin as I tease her.
She writhes under me, short, high moans bursting from her lips, and I run my hand up her side, tracing her ribs before squeezing her breast, hard, and clamping on to the other breast with my mouth and roughly sucking on the nipple, teasing with my teeth.
Grace bucks under me, gasping and grabbing the back of my head to urge me on.
I want to tease her more, but the intensity of the moment and her responses are sending waves of lust through me that erode all self-control.
I lean back and look at her again, her beautiful body sheened in sweat, the ruined gown open down the front, showing off her big, firm breasts but almost modestly covering her from the waist down.
She tilts her head, looking up at me, the silver lights in her eyes shining against dark gray, like clouds seething with summer lightning. Her hair is fanned out around her head like a golden halo, and her beautiful, dark red lips curve in a mischievous smile.
While I watch, she runs her hand lightly down her chest, across her belly, then under the edge of the gown where it only just hides her pussy from view. She bites her lip a little, teasing me as she fingers herself.
For a moment, the lust raging through me leaves me completely paralyzed. My cock is so huge and hard, it’s almost the only part of my body I can feel. My eyes are fixed on where her hand moves under the dress, my mouth watering as I think about what she’s doing.
My control breaks with a sudden snap. A roar breaks out of me as I reach out and shred the dress in one move.
Grace gasps and tenses up, her legs coming together in an instinctive reaction that only inflames me more.
When I see her hand buried in her wet pussy, a low growl rumbles through me, and Grace wriggles as if she’s trying to get away from me.
Panting like my chest is full of red-hot lava, I grab Grace’s hips and turn her over, throwing her onto her front.
Her knees brace on the edge of the couch as she grabs the back of it for balance, and I take one long look at her hot, wet pussy before I thrust into her, slamming my cock in all the way to the hilt.
Pleasure crashes through me, a wave of sensation that is so powerful, I almost pass out.
I collapse against Grace, feeling her body moving against mine as her breath heaves in and out.
I lean forward, one hand on her hip while the other brushes her hair from her shoulder. I kiss her neck, very gently, then whisper softly against her ear.
“You’re mine now.”