There’s enough of a command behind those two words that Neil almost instantly shudders through his shift, shakes himself out of his clothes, and sprints toward the trees, his wolf having no defense against the strength of my Alpha command. As he disappears over the hill, I send out a silent apology for taking his choices like that, but I need him to be safe.
Another dart hits my arm, and I whirl around, taking a few jerky steps toward the truck and the two shifters who have used it to take cover, my wolf almost rabid with rage.
If I can…
I need to…
But the drugs are too strong. My knees give out, and I crumple to the ground, blackness taking over my vision.
Twenty-Four
Neil
Brancheswhipatmyface as I dart between the trees, each step taking me farther and farther from my mate while every part of me screams for me to go back. Every part except one.My wolf.
Because it’s the wolf who is in control, blindly following my alpha’s command torunas the word echoes through my mind like a drumbeat.
I’m well aware of the power of an Alpha command, but this is the first time I’ve actually been subjected to one, and the sensation is much more unpleasant than I expected. My mind is fighting it and the mental struggle causes a sharp ache to flare up behind my eyes. But no matter what my head wants, my body is not my own right now.
Well,technicallyit is. I’m just not the one in control of it at the moment.
Or at least the human part of me isn’t, just my wolf urging meforward faster forward.
And that’s another experience I’ve never had before.
Shifting has never been a priority for me. After my first disastrous shift, I lived in the human world, no one knowing or really caring what I am. So, it’s been at least a year since the last time I took wolf form—well, except for back at the casino, but I’m not counting that—and even then, it wasn’t like this.
Now I’m a puppet dancing on the strings of animal instinct and the primitive drive to obey my alpha.
And there’s nothing I can do about it, no way to fight it.
Thorns scratch at my snout as I make a sudden shift in direction, instinctively making my way to who the hell knows where. Sure, I saw a map of the area, but I didn’t exactly commit it to memory, and even if I had, there was no detail about Rockcastle territory so I have no way of knowing where I’m heading.
Or, rather, where my wolf is taking me. Because, at this point, I’m just along for the ride, my heart pounding in my chest and creating a steady tempo for the beat of Blake’s command in my mind—run run run—until the word drowns out almost everything else.
I swear,if I survive this, I might just throttle him. He had no right to order me away, forcing me to leave him to face the danger alone.
Twigs and rocks poke at my paw pads, tiny pricks of pain that do nothing to slow the wolf, but leave the human part of me wincing. My wolf will not be swayed, though, pushing past the pain, and more gradually, the limits of my body.
Being a shifter means I’m naturally pretty healthy, but regular exercise isn’t something that’s ever been on my to-do list. Add in the forced shift, the unfamiliar terrain, and the fact that I missed lunch, and that means I’m quickly tiring—muscles twitching uncomfortably and tongue lolling from my mouth with my heavy, panting breaths.
My chest aches with the struggle for oxygen, and the farther I get from Blake, the more it feels like flames are licking at the back of my neck. The sensation isn’t constant, but it is uncomfortable, and it takes me longer than it should have to figure out what it means.
The fated mate bond has been a subtle presence urging Blake and me closer since that first time we locked eyes. The bond can’t force us to be together. We can choose to walk away, but that doesn’t mean fate, or maybe biology, won’t find a way to make that difficult.
And apparently painful.
The fiery pain in the back of my neck—the exact location a claiming bite would be placed—is the beginning hint of what shifters call the mating frenzy. The pain I’m experiencing is biology’s way of trying to keep Blake and me close to each other long enough for us to complete the bond. Things would’ve been fine had Blake and I stayed in proximity to each other, but now that we’ve been separated, the bond is making its displeasure known, something that will only get worse because biology doesn’t know shit and can’t take nuances into account.
Like the fact that mine and Blake’s current separation isn’t voluntary and punishing me—us—for it helps absolutely no one. But there’s nothing I can do about it now since I can’t exactly argue with biology.
So, I release the mental reins and just let my wolf run.
At some point, the driving force behind Blake’s command fades, becoming quieter, softer, and easier to ignore. My steps slow, first to a jog, then to a walk. Until eventually, I just stop, chest heaving with labored breaths and my tongue lolling from my mouth in a strained pant.
I hang my head, dragging in the deepest breaths I can manage and wait for the adrenaline to fade and my heartbeat to return to normal. My wolf finally recedes, allowing my human mind to takefull control again. Though, to be perfectly honest, being lost to my instincts might be preferable in my current situation.
At least when the wolf was in charge, I had no time to worry about being lost. In the fucking woods. The woods that just happen to be part of an unfamiliar pack’s territory, a pack that has a history of being reclusive, violent, and generally not all too friendly.
