Chapter 2
Something was in the air. Or at least, that was what my dad would’ve said about the restlessness that had set me to pacing the length of the living room for the better part of the afternoon. Dom looked at me through the glass door that led out to the deck.
He’d been busy out there, ripping out the old and partially rotted boards and putting in new ones. His golden-red hair curled around his ears, and he’d gotten rid of his shirt a while back.
That sight alone, Dom on his knees and already half-naked, should’ve been enough to keep me focused on the here and now, or at least keep me focused on how to get him to take a break and get on his knees for me, but I just kept pacing the same stretch of floor instead.
The look he gave me said much the same. He put down his hammer and pulled the glass sliding door open.
“The fuck’s gotten into you?” he asked, blunt as ever.
I stopped in front of one of the armchairs he’d made—dark oak polished to a shine and comfortable enough to make you lose a whole day while reading in it. “I don’t know. Maybe the weather’s turning or something.”
He sniffed the air. “Nah. I’d know. I doubt your pampered East Coast ass can sense a change in the weather.
How about you just shift and go for a run?
You’re driving me fucking insane with your creepy caged-beast shtick.
” He considered. “Unless you need to blow off some steam. I wanted to get done with this while it’s still light out, but—”
I waved him off. “No, you’re right. I’m sorry.” I pulled off my own shirt and dropped it on the chair. Dom looked at me, trailing his gaze over my chest and the waistband of my jeans without trying to hide it. “I’ll go run. You and Ell can join me later.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dom said, already back to his carpentry. “Just don’t bite any hikers while you’re out there.”
I was on him in a flash, my arm around his upper body, my teeth elongating teasingly against the back of his neck. He growled, but not in a menacing way.
“Don’t tell me who I can and can’t bite, Dom,” I whispered against his skin. He smelled like sunshine and warm sweat. So good.
“Hmm, if you say so.”
Instead of continuing with this particular game, I let go of him and pulled my canines back.
“Just find me later.” I stripped off the rest of my clothing before letting my body fall into the shift.
I went from human to wolf, and as my limbs reconfigured, so did my senses. I smelled Dom’s musk even stronger like this, but where I normally would’ve tried to jump his bones, the sounds and smells of the trees and wilderness beyond our house drew me in even more.
It was almost like the first shift, the restless energy bubbling inside every muscle and tendon. There really was something in the air today, and I wished I knew what.
“Later.” Dom’s tone of voice left no doubt at all about what he wanted to do later.
He looked at my wolf just about as hungrily as he had at my bare chest. It was the kind of look you’d have expected more from a beta than an alpha, but between the three of us things had always worked differently, his alpha accepting mine, accepting that we were all sharing, all three of us alphas and still making it work despite common sense saying it shouldn’t.
I brushed past Dom, letting him feel my fur against his bare calves.
I jumped the hole where he’d pulled the old boards up just because I could and heard him snort behind me.
He picked up his tools again, and I ran, our back garden with its familiar veg and plant scents soon vanishing to give way to the woodland scent of moss and bark, of fungi running their tendril roots just below the ground.
I ran without really thinking about where I was going. The forest flashed by around me, and pushing myself like that felt good, better than wearing the carpet in our living room bare under my pacing feet.
The woods around Pleasant Peak came with rocks jutting skyward and cracks in the ground that could be treacherous to the unwary.
Most hiking trails kept to easier terrain, but I’d come to know the area well.
These days, jumping over rocks and running along the river that cut through our territory was exquisite fun, especially if it was the three of us chasing one another.
By the time I reached the river and stopped for a drink, night had almost fallen. I didn’t mind at all; not the drop in temperature or the darkness. I saw just fine, even at night, and when you had fur and an alpha’s powerhouse metabolism, the cold wasn’t a huge issue.
On a whim, I crossed the river where it was shallow enough to do so. We didn’t often run beyond this natural boundary, mostly because there was an actual wolf pack on the other side.
No wolf would ever pick a fight with a werewolf.
There was something deep in their psyche that told them to keep a wary distance from us.
I didn’t think it was fear, per se, but respect for something similar to yourself, yet totally other.
Whatever the case, we didn’t want to scare them into leaving a territory that was pretty safe for their kind, so we’d settled into being good neighbors and left them in peace.
The restlessness still bubbled beneath my skin though, and something pulled me into the wolves’ territory. I kept going where I shouldn’t, and for some reason, I couldn’t stop. I had to keep putting one paw in front of another.
My senses took everything in with uncanny clarity—insects waking from their daytime sleep, leaves closing, birds rustling the foliage as they moved to their nests.
The changes in the sound- and scentscape from dusk to night came on quickly as I ran, jumping boulders and making my way through brambles that combed through my fur, looking to prick my skin but never succeeding.
And then, there it was: blood on the air.
The scent filled my nose with sharp urgency, and it tugged on my mind with all the odd force of déjà vu. Familiar, yet strange. It had a force to it I’d never before experienced.
Blood. Blood meant someone was hurt. I sniffed so I could follow the scent to its source, pushing myself to the maximum speed the thick undergrowth allowed.
I knew I was close to where our territory ended. There was an oak tree here that had been split by lightning years ago, but it had survived. Oddly shaped though it was, its leaves were still green and reaching for the sun, just like all the other trees around it.
I ran past the oak and could smell things other than the blood as I got closer to its source. Human male, and gods, he smelled like heaven. I pushed on, and past a standing of saplings, I saw him.
My heart skipped a beat even as his scent made my brain overload for the hot second it took me to process it. Chocolate and strawberries dipped in salted caramel. I crossed the distance that remained and stopped right next to his unmoving form lying on the ground.
I looked around. There was a two-foot drop it seemed he had missed—not too bad, but bad when you were human and didn’t see it coming in the dark. There was a lot of blood, and going by the slick rock right next to his head, I could guess why.
I shifted back to my human form, his scent in my nose and panic bright in my belly.
“Hey,” I said as I bent to check him over for broken bones and cuts.
I got a pulse, and he was breathing, although he was very cold. Relief made my entire body tingle. Idiot didn’t look like a hiker, didn’t even have proper shoes for it. And he had a shoulder bag rather than a backpack. You didn’t go hiking with a damn shoulder bag.
“Hey, wake up.” I gave him a careful shake.
When I got a hoarse groan back and just the barest flash of blue eyes beneath fluttering lids, I let myself relax long enough to realize what was going on here.
Yes, there was a hiker with an injury who needed medical care, but that wasn’t it.
This man, his black hair matted with blood and dew, his scent strange yet somehow familiar, he wasn’t just a random guy crossing my path. He was my mate.
My mate.
And he’d damn near smashed his skull open. I wanted to howl and growl and break things. I wanted to lick him and hug him and rub my scent all over him. I wanted to give him my mating bite, and—
No. None of that. I needed to take care of him. Everything else would have to wait.
In the distance, I heard Ellis and Dom howling for me. That was good. My mate needed Ellis right now, not me. I didn’t want to leave him here on the ground, but I was too afraid to move him and do some irreparable damage, and Ellis was the one with the medical degree.
“It’ll be fine. You’re going to be okay,” I said before shifting back so I could call them here. This wasn’t what any of us had ever expected. Possibly least of all my very human mate, still bleeding on the forest floor.