Chapter 12
Valarie
I was running again.
It felt good, the burst of energy, the focus on keeping my breathing even as I jumped a log and took a tight corner.
Sophia was somewhere behind me. I’d always been a better runner than she was, bested her in almost everything, actually—but we never spoke of it. And I usually let her win.
But today, I couldn’t hold myself back the way I normally did. All the tension from the last few days needed to come out and it would only happen if I let my wolf stretch. And oh, was it stretching.
My thighs burned as I jumped another mess of logs and the earth beneath my bare feet was damp and thick. We were in a pine grove at the southern edge of town. This is where the event would take place tomorrow, and Sophia and I were the only ones out here in the quiet forest.
It was obvious that the Alpha Pack was a bit more civilized than my Autumn Pack.
Most people would have been impressed by this fact, but not me.
I loved the woods. I loved the feeling of the wolf shivering under my skin as my legs stretched and arms pumped tight at my side, hands grabbing trunks, bark scraping over my palms as I corrected my trajectory.
My ears twitched and I could hear Sophia panting behind me.
Please let the other princesses be out of shape, I prayed, thinking that this course would most likely not be Sophia’s strong suit. But she at least had the advantage of learning it beforehand.
There was a sudden fork in the trail and my eyes darted from one path to the other. The one on the right was clearly well-traveled. I knew immediately that Sophia would go that way. But the one on the left tempted me, and the wolf inside shivered again, wanting to come out and play.
I went left.
It took only a moment of concentration to be sure that she’d gone right. I heard her stumble and bit back a grin. I loved Sophia, but it was good to know I had something on the beautiful princess.
For a moment, my eyes closed, and I smelled the scent of the pines around me. Heard the muffled sound of my feet hitting the earth.
And then there was another scent in the air.
My eyes shot open, and I glanced around quickly, pace slowing to a controlled lope.
The trees were spaced evenly apart, and I could see through the trunks, another person running almost parallel to me. They drew me like a light and I stumbled, gasping.
“Damnit!”
The bright figure flashing through the trees was ahead of me now. I slowed to a walk and glanced down, where my ankle was bleeding from a good scrape. I couldn’t hear Sophia anymore. But I could smell the pines, and over the sharp scent of their needles, water.
***
Gabriel
The pair had caught me off guard.
They must have come in off the main trail and made their way deeper into the woods, on the same path the princesses would be taking tomorrow for the course. Someone—that servant—must have figured out what was coming next and was taking advantage of a day of rest.
Clever, I thought, watching the two women run the trail.
Sophia was keeping up but was obviously working hard to do so. I glanced away from her petite form and watched Valarie instead.
Valarie.
She moved like a wolf. More wolf than woman, limbs long, branches catching at her wild hair as she overcame every log and turn in the path. I knew what trail I could take to catch up, to cut her off, just like I knew the wolf in her would turn her down the less-used path.
My own wolf growled in anticipation. A kindred soul.
Not many of my pack members still made it out to the woods. Most would be appalled to know I slipped away into the trees often, to run off my energy and anxiety. And here, I had found a wolf similar to my own. I could taste her hunger and excitement on the air.
She was heading toward the lake.
Sophia was, too, but the path she took would take her the long way around.
With a grin, I started off in the same direction as Valarie, excited to be running alongside another packmate, even if she didn’t know it.
***
Valarie
The turn ahead was wide and slow, revealing the surroundings inch by inch.
But I could smell waterweeds now, and knew I was close. Just a few more strides, and then—
The lake stretched before me in one long, calm ribbon of blue-green. I stood panting a few feet from the edge, staring down into the clear water. Tree roots erupted right from the earth and into the water. They created a beautiful, tangled, underwater world.
Taking a few steps closer to the water, I watched large fish swim in and out of the root network. I was so distracted that it took me longer than it should have to hear the other runner behind me.
Whirling around, my face went from threatening to shocked as I found myself facing the Alpha.
“My King—” I choked out, in an awkward half-crouch. Should I bow? Curtsy? Formality felt strange out here in the woods, so I stayed where I was instead, trying not to think about the mess my hair must be and how much sweat had gathered on my chest.
“Valarie.”
My name rolled off his tongue slowly, smoothly, and I glanced up at him.
He was the other runner I’d seen. He wore a simple, white tank top and black shorts, barefoot like myself. I stared at his feet as he walked toward me. When I looked up at him, he wore an amused grin.
“You’re a clever wolf, aren’t you?” he asked, and I felt a blush start high in my cheeks.
So, he knew then. That I had figured out the next event and was doing my homework.
I lifted my chin defiantly and straightened up.
“My pack came here to win,” I said. “We’ll do what we have to. Even if it means missing a brunch of soft cheeses and fruit.”
Gabriel snorted at my obvious disdain. His eyes ran over my body, and he began to circle me slowly, non-threateningly, but still, I was on edge.
He came around to stand before me again.
“Will you come out and play?” he asked, eyes flickering up to mine.
Surprised, I realized that he meant it—that it was the wolf in him asking. I could sense his excitement, and my own came flooding back. When was the last time I had romped with another pack member in the woods? Wrestled and run?
My body leaned forward involuntarily, wolf reaching for wolf. Gabriel wore a silly grin that looked more boyish than man, which he very obviously was.
His muscles were taut as he tensed, then feinted to the right.
I couldn’t resist.
Shooting after him, we chased one another at the edge of the lake, grazing a calf, a shoulder blade. I could feel my ears starting to elongate and fought back the transformation as I panted.
I feinted in the wrong direction and corrected too late, Gabriel catching my upper arm and turning me so quickly that we both stumbled back. In a mess of arms and legs, both of us shouting out in surprise, we fell back into the water.
It was cooler than I expected, but no less invasive as I inhaled accidently, shooting upwards and gasping in air.
Gabriel was standing hip-deep in the water, shaking his hair out. It looked good plastered against his face, unruly. He looked like a wolf should.
Grinning at him, I lunged forward and splashed, wetting him even more. He held his arms out to the side and growled.
“Is that what you want, little wolf?” he asked, and then lunged toward me as I shrieked, trying to move backward, and falling instead.
He caught me around the waist and hauled me up as he dipped. To keep from going under again, I clawed up his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his hips, pushing upward so that his face was mashed into my chest.
We were both laughing by now, and soaking, as he fought to get me into a better position. I calmed down and sank lower so that we were pressed chest to chest.
Sophia had been right, I realized as we grinned at one another. His eyes were like winter. The sunlight made the blue-grey of them somehow even lighter, even deeper.
Gabriel sighed and carefully maneuvered me off him so that I was standing in the water again, holding onto his forearm to balance. I looked down and away, realizing that this was my King. The Alpha of all packs, and I had just doused him with lake water and climbed him like a tree.
I shivered, skin feeling extra sensitive, and Gabriel drew his arm back, fingers dragging across my skin before letting go completely.
He looked confused. As confused as I felt.
“You should find her,” he said, frowning at me. “She took the wrong trail. She’ll end up at a rock face with no way up it.”
Pushing my hair out of my face, I nodded. But there was no feeling of submission now, or command on his part. He was just a man standing in front of me, confused and soaked. The wolves in both of us playing at the surface.
“I’ll see you—” I said, intending to finish the sentence, but then realizing that was all that really needed saying. I would see him. I’d be seeing him at every single event for the next two weeks. This captivating man who I couldn’t figure out but knew I should stay away from.
Gabriel strode out of the water and my eyes were drawn to his thick legs, the way the wet shorts outlined the muscles there. His back rippled as he wrung the front of his shirt out. I suppressed the shiver that ran down my spine.
He glanced back once before starting back into the woods the way we had come. He disappeared quickly into the trees, and I was left alone in the water as it lapped at my hips.
That was it, I decided. Something in me was pulling me toward him. I couldn’t fight it anymore. I would go to Gabriel and let him have me. If I didn’t, my wolf would remain restless, bereft, and I wouldn’t be able to focus on making Sophia his mate.
As I waded out of the lake and back onto the trail where I could hear Sophia calling me now, I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my gut. He would be hers, eventually. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t spend one night—one last collision with him—before I let him go.