With an indulgent shake of his head, Gage shifted into his own immense wolf form. He had midnight-colored fur speckled with gray. Katy thought he was even more impressive like this, his beast radiating Dire strength. Gage dipped his head, nudging her with unmistakable affection.
Unable to resist, Katy nipped his ear playfully. Then she was off, racing through the trees on nimble paws. She heard Gage’s surprised bark before he gave chase, huge paws eating up the ground as he ran her down effortlessly.
Katy yipped her surrender as he cornered her against a large boulder, tail wagging. Gage licked her muzzle before stepping back. His emerald eyes glowed with desire, but he simply inclined his head back the way they’d come. Message clear. It was time to head out.
Falling into step beside his larger form, Katy brushed against him happily. Her entire body thrummed withrightness. However strange this shape still felt, her spirit recognized itselfhere. Wolf, woman, something somewhere in between—she was finally whole.
They departed the remote Montana cabin at midday. The summer sun felt good against Gage’s fur. He was disappointed he couldn’t play more with his mate in her wolf form, watching her experience everything for the first time. But time was of the essence. If they didn’t find the snake queen, all of Katy’sfirstsas a wolf might also be her last.
Without Visata’s input, he would have never considered Zeena as a potential ally. Next to Gage in her smaller wolf form, Katy looked especially small and delicate, with her lighter-colored brown and gray fur. But he could feel her resilient spirit burning as she embraced this new reality. Dire Wolves bowed to no challenge or darkness. And she’d shown those qualities when she sacrificed herself to Azure, hoping to get more information. She was bold, intelligent, and fierce. Even without Visata’s decree, Gage would have been drawn to Katy.
They journeyed southwest, avoiding towns and major roads. Anxiety began to gnaw at Gage the farther they got from the Kingdom of Fang’s territory. Being away from his home meant that he had to increase his vigilance. Some of his kind didn’t respect the treaties formed when they came to the human realm. And while breaches were mostly rare occurrences, times were changing. He would not fully relax until Katy was truly free of the vile Serpent King’s reach, and until they knew who was working with him.
When dusk fell, they stopped to rest and eat beneath a rocky overhang. Gage built a small fire, relishing the novelty of the flames’ warmth and light after so long existing without either.
“This is weird.” Katy sat close to the fire, holding her hands out to catch the warmth.
“How so?”
“I’m a New Yorker, and a poor one at that. I’ve never been camping. It’s just something I’ve seen on television or movies.” She watched the flames dance, and Gage enjoyed the way the light made her skin glow. “I like it,” she finally said after a few minutes of silence. “I like the rich smells, the sounds of the forest, and the sky completely covered in stars. You can’t see the stars in New York. The city is too busy trying to compete with the night sky.”
Gage loved listening to her talk, hearing her point of view. Everything seemed brighter, more vivid, through Katy’s eyes. He noticed details that would have escaped his attention before—the smell of fresh rain in the air, the texture of tree bark under his palm, the play of firelight over Katy’s lovely features. His long-hardened heart soaked up these sensations like parched desert sands.
As he watched Katy now across the fire, he realized how pale she looked again, how drawn. The little color his blood had restored was fading as the strange magic continued leaching her life force. Gage moved to sit behind her, gently pulling her back to recline against his chest.
“You need to take more.” He pulled out a pocketknife and, before she even had time to protest, sliced his wrist open.
Katy turned worried eyes up to him. “Does it weaken you each time?” She pressed her lips tentatively to the wound.
Gage stroked her hair soothingly as she fed. “Do not trouble yourself, Little Wolf. You take only what I gladly give.”
It was true Gage experienced no fatigue or loss. Rather, he was overcome by an exhilarating rush as their spirits mingled and twined ever closer through the shared blood. Her pleasure and relief as strength seeped back into her body echoed within Gage’s own mind, their emotions blending seamlessly.
When she had drunk her fill, Katy twisted to search his face anxiously. He knew she wouldn’t find any distress. Desire? Most definitely. Her frame relaxed against him once more as she faced the fire. Gage wrapped both arms around her securely.
“Rest now,” he murmured, dropping a kiss atop her head. “We still have far to go.”
She snuggled into him and fell asleep in a matter of moments. Gage kept vigil as the moon traversed the night sky, holding his slumbering mate close and tossing what wood he could reach into the small fire as needed. This bizarre curse drained Katy’s vitality during her waking hours, but it seemed unable to touch her while at rest. The only thing he felt from her was contentment. There was no pain or weakness.
Gage thanked Visata’s mercy that the spell only stole from Katy a little at a time. It gave them a window to find answers before it claimed her life entirely. Watching the rise and fall of her chest, he swore that outcome would never come to pass.
Gage heard a soft beep and glanced down at his phone, which he’d laid on the ground next to them. He picked it up and saw that he had a text from Otto.
Otto: I fix this.
Gage frowned at the three words.
Gage: Fix what?
Otto: I bite, Katy. My fault she is in this. I fix it.
Gage considered the little lennser’s words and what he could possibly mean. His mind ran in circles until it finally hit him like a ton of bricks.
Gage: Don’t do it, Otto.
Otto: Mistress will not die. I fixes it. You not tell her. I bite you.
Gage: I won’t die.
