Chapter Four #2
She made a snuffling sound and moved restlessly before falling back into a deep sleep.
Her lips were slightly parted, her breathing light.
She was using a sweatshirt she’d pulled from her knapsack as a pillow.
Even lying on a mossy patch, the ground couldn’t be comfortable, but it wasn’t keeping her awake.
He pushed to his feet and walked over to stand beside her, his boots not making any sound on the spongy ground.
Asleep, she seemed smaller, almost fragile.
And she’d kick his ass if he dared suggest such a thing.
“Tough” was her middle name. He supposed she’d had to be, considering her circumstances and chosen profession.
Working with guys like Wilkes couldn’t be easy.
Along with the rigors of the job, it had to wear on a person.
Yet, she’d managed it all and had for years.
He frowned when her stomach gave a low growl.
She’d barely managed to eat a granola bar, and only then at his insistence, before crashing.
He’d have to make sure she ate tomorrow.
He wasn’t used to having to worry about anyone while on a job.
Sure, he kept tabs on his brothers when they were away from home, but they were grown men now, and werewolves to boot.
They were built for speed and stamina, not to mention damn hard to kill.
The same couldn’t be said for Vinnie. The hoot of an owl reminded him the night wouldn’t last forever.
It was harder than it should have been to leave her.
He wanted to lie down beside her, wrap her in his arms, and keep her safe from anything or anyone that might threaten her.
He’d feel better if she had a tent, but she hadn’t bothered to bring one, and he sure as hell didn’t own one.
If the weather got too bad when he was tracking a fugitive or runaway, he took shelter in a cave.
Maybe he should have scouted one out for her.
He could track any fugitive or rescue a kidnap victim with ease.
Caring about a woman was new territory for him, and he was floundering—a new sensation and not one he particularly liked.
He went back and forth between being overprotective and uncertain he wanted her in his life, yet certain he couldn’t let her go now that they’d found each other again.
Muttering under his breath, he walked away without looking back. Yeah, he had it bad. If it wasn’t their son out there, he wouldn’t be able to leave.
He’d caught Adam’s trail earlier, so he circled the campsite and sniffed the air to pinpoint the exact location.
He’d locked onto the distinctive scent back in the boy’s room.
It had stirred protective instincts inside him and was as much part of him now as his brothers’ were.
It was faint, at least several days old, if not more.
There hadn’t been any rain to wash it away or wind to clear it, and if this was an area he came to often, the scent would linger.
When Cyrus hit the spot where it was strongest, he stripped off his clothes and tucked them between two roots at the base of an old beech tree.
The night air brushed over his bare skin in a primal caress.
Biting back a howl, he raised his arms and stretched, embracing his wolf.
The creature leapt forward, eager to run.
Between one breath and the next he went from man to wolf.
His feet and hands morphed into massive paws.
Thick fur pushed out from beneath his skin.
His face changed shape, his forehead flattening, his jaw elongating into a muzzle.
His ears twitched, picking up the sounds of nearby wildlife.
Several white-tailed deer sprinted away, a red fox darted under a bush, and an opossum scrambled up a tree, all of them sensing the apex predator in their midst. They were of no interest to him. He loped off in pursuit of his quarry.
Pride swelled in his chest as he traversed the dense woodland area. While he could smell Adam and see faint signs of his passing, he doubted any human would be able to track him. Considering he had no formal training, his son was damn good. It was likely natural instinct.
Cyrus followed the trail, meandering in circles several times.
Adam had doubled back to avoid someone, likely the searchers.
While he understood the teen’s need to figure things out on his own, unnecessarily worrying his mother was wrong.
Surely Adam had seen her among the searchers, heard her calling.
From what Vinnie had told him, he was a good kid. While she was likely biased, being his mother, she wasn’t the kind to turn a blind eye to her son’s faults. They’d argued over him going out on his own so much. He had to know she would come looking for him.
Why was Adam isolating himself? Cyrus could only come up with one reason—he was more like his father than his mother and his wolf was making itself known.
It was more critical than ever that he find the boy.
The first transition was the hardest, even for a full-blooded werewolf.
For a hybrid, it could be deadly. Without someone to help him through it, Adam could die.
Worse, Adam had no idea what he was and likely terrified of some of the changes he was experiencing.
The excess of aggression, the need to run, to be outside were all signs of the onset of his first shift.
Cyrus checked the position of the moon in the sky.
Dawn wasn’t far away. He was being pulled in two directions, torn between the mother and the son.
“Promise you won’t leave me.” Growling, he spun around and headed back to the campsite, cursing himself for making that vow.
Sure, he could ignore it, but Vinnie would never trust him again.
As it was, things were tentative between them.
He also didn’t want to leave her alone. While she was fully capable and an experienced hiker, anything could happen, and they were far from help.
The only plus was, it seemed Adam was sticking to familiar territory, a very wolflike thing to do. He’d hiked this area all his life, had likely scoped out some decent hiding places on those times he’d come out here alone. It was how he’d managed to evade the searchers. But he wouldn’t evade Cyrus.
He put on a burst of speed, plotting the fastest course back to camp.
He and Vinnie would be back on the trail at first light, maybe sooner.
It was clichéd, but wolves made their first transition during a full moon.
After that they could shift at will. By his reckoning, they had two days to find Adam.
The night after that, the moon would be full.
There was every reason to believe Adam wouldn’t be able to shift.
Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of hybrids remained fully human but with a few perks like extra strength, excellent vision, and exceptional health.
Not to the extent of a wolf but better than the average human.
If Adam turned out to be one of the rare, almost mythical, hybrids that was more wolf than human, it was possible he could shift.
Deep in his gut, Cyrus accepted that if he didn’t find his son in time, there was a good chance Adam wouldn’t survive. That would destroy him, not to mention what it would do to Vinnie.
He picked up his pace, needing to get back to her, to be able to protect at least one of them. But Vinnie wasn’t where he’d left her snuggled in her sleeping bag. No, she was standing by the bundle of his clothes, her eyes wide as he trotted out of the woods.
“Holy shit!” she whispered. Rather than run, something that would encourage any wolf to chase her, she held both hands up, shining her flashlight in the air, and began to move slowly away while speaking in a low, calm tone.
“Nice wolf. Damn, but you’re huge. There aren’t supposed to be any wolves around here.
” She backed into a tree but never broke eye contact.
Her bravery impressed but didn’t surprise him.
He was about to break every rule his kind lived by: Humans were never to know about them.
But Vinnie wasn’t just anyone. She was the one he’d never forgotten, the one who’d haunted his dreams. She was also the mother of his son.
And if he was right, she was the mother of a rare shifting hybrid.
She needed to know about him, about their kind, if only to be able to deal with her son and protect them both.
Because if word of Adam’s existence got out, he could become a target for the more extreme packs that insisted on keeping the species pure.
His daddy had told him they sometimes harassed and had been known to kill hybrid children, along with the human parent.
There was no telling how they’d react if it turned out Adam could shift.
Right now, he had an even bigger problem. She wasn’t likely to take this well, but there was only one way to find out.