“There you go,” Wes encouraged her. “Let’s race. First one to the water wins.”
“What water?”
“Listen. Hear it?” He stood still and searched her eyes. “It’s close”.
Wolf perked up her ears, but the sound of her racing heart was deafening right now. She took a steadying breath and concentrated. Listened. Focused until she could hear the trickle of water toward the east.
“I don’t like racing. Racing is beneath—" Wolf took off as fast as she could, blowing past the pines where Wes had Changed. She could hear his laugh echo in her mind, and Summer whooped. Faster!
Wolf found another gear and pushed herself until her legs stretched out. This was as close to flying as she would ever get. Branches reached for her face, but she was good at this, good at dodging, good at trusting her body to make split-second decisions.
She could feel him right behind her, hear his breath, but it wasn’t scary being chased by him. It was fun.
Because you trust him, Summer said smugly.
Piss off. Trust is a human emotion.
No, it’s not. Wild wolves trust their packs. That’s what Sherrie said.
Sherrie was their therapist. Sherrie was also a human, so really, what did she know about being a werewolf? Not much.
The sound of the running water was getting louder with every step, every zigzag around the trees, every panting breath. And as she burst into a clearing and down a sloping embankment toward the water, she knew she’d won. Or she thought she had until she looked down the bank and saw Wes sitting there like he’d been there for hours. He wasn’t even breathing hard. Just sitting there with the moon illuminating the creek beside him, his ears perked, eyes glowing like blue flames, head canted as he studied her.
Geez, he’s fast, Summer murmured.
Wolf couldn’t even argue. “How did you do that?” she asked him through the bond, her lungs on fire from panting.
He didn’t answer but instead stood and trotted toward her, only pausing when he was right beside her. He searched her eyes, then turned and lapped at the creek water.
He was so sure of himself. So confident. And sure, she’d taught herself how to appear that way, but this wolf was oozing authentic steadiness. He was king of any woods he stepped foot into, and he knew it.
And she was…well…confused.
Her paws sank into the mud as she leaned down to take a drink. His were twice the size of hers, easily. When he perked up beside her, she shied, crouching, but through the bond, he said, “Drink all you want, Wolf. I’m watching out.”
So she did. She hadn’t eaten much today, and her stomach felt hollow. She drank until the water eased the emptiness. And when she was finished, that big, seriously intimidating, red wolf bounded into the shallow water, splashing her. His tongue was lolled out to the side, and he wore a wolfish grin that she found interesting, even if she wouldn’t ever let him know that.
As she began to play, she was struck with how charismatic he was. This wasn’t the domineering wolf she remembered biting her those years ago. He was easy now. Fun. Out here in the woods with him, it was so easy to forget all the troubles of the human world she’d been trying to shove herself into.
Out here she could just…be. Like he’d said.
Every Change had come with stress, but here in the cool night air, soaking wet as they took off down the bank of the creek, she could feel her own wolfish smile stretching her face.
He’d said he would teach her to be a werewolf. And that was a gift.
He’d said he wouldn’t leave her. Another gift.
But this? Allowing her to relax, feel safe, and have fun for the first time in her existence?
He didn’t realize it, but it was the greatest gift of all.
Moments like these could cause a shift in a cold heart.
Chapter Seven
Summer’s entire body ached from the Change and from running around the woods all night.
With a sleepy sigh, she opened one eye, but the space next to her in the bed of the truck was empty. It was dawn. She could tell by the gray hues that were just streaking the sky on the horizon over the river. Wes had slept beside her last night, a fact she and Wolf were fully aware of, even when she’d been soundly sleeping. He took up so much more space than a man his size should take up. He filled the entire forest.
Wes sat on the edge of the tailgate near her feet. Frowning, Summer pushed the blanket aside and sat up on one crooked elbow. “Wes?”
He didn’t answer, only turned just enough so she could see his profile. The morning shadows chiseled his cheekbones even more. He didn’t have his hat on, and his hair was wet, dripping onto his shoulders, spotting the light gray T-shirt he wore. It was ripped in the back at the waistline.
She fidgeted with the neck of the too big T-shirt she’d borrowed from him to sleep in. The sleeve was completely ripped off. “I’m sorry I shredded some of your clothes.”
“They’re just things, Summer. They don’t mean much.” His tone held ghosts in it.
“Are you okay?”
“Just watching the sunrise.”
She sat up on her locked arm and stretched her leg out, poked him with her toe. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
Wes shook his head, and there it was. There was Old Wes.
“You know when we were together before, I tried so hard to get through to you. To earn your trust so you would lean on me.”
“An impossible task,” he said softly to the sunrise.
“Yes,” she whispered, “an impossible task. I thought if I was good enough to you for long enough, you would eventually see how important I was.”
“I always saw that. I just didn’t show you enough. I know how much you did. I watched you spinning your wheels, trying to fix me.”
“Not fix you, you stupid boy. You could’ve stayed just as you were or changed altogether, and I would’ve loved you either way.”
Wes sighed, and some of the tension left his shoulders. She could tell because from here, in this dim dawn light, every muscle in his back pressed against the material of that thin T-shirt. “We should get going.”
“You’re ready to see Sam?”
He nodded.
“I remember this feeling so well.” He didn’t answer so she stood and folded the sleeping blanket he apparently kept in the back of his truck. “You were always this fortress, and I was this battering ram, desperate to get in. To understand you. To be there for you. And you never let me in.” She swallowed hard. “Last night was fun. It was easy. I liked it.”
“Hunting with me?”
“Spending time with you.” She was a stupid, stupid girl. He didn’t feel what she’d felt. He didn’t have the same bond that she did. Be quiet, Wolf advised her, and she took the animal’s advice.
She silently dug through the grocery bags in the back seat of the truck and pulled out a T-shirt and short-shorts, bra, hairbrush, toothbrush, and toothpaste, and got ready for the remainder of the drive to Albuquerque. To Sam. In the quiet of the morning, not even the birds sang here. Probably because Wes felt like a mother-squawking predator right now. There was a cloud of frustration that surrounded him and made the air feel too heavy.
Wes jumped from the tailgate and leaned against the side of the truck, watching her brush her teeth over the grass. He still didn’t say anything though, so she matched his silence.