“I’m going to try to push your arm back into your shoulder socket.”
“Do you know how to do that?”
“No, but I’ve seen it done before. How hard could it be?”
She looked at him worriedly. “Maybe you don’t have to. Maybe it will correct itself when I shift.”
“Maybe.” Jason frowned. “But if it doesn’t, I won’t be able to correct it in wolf form.”
“And if I can’t move as a wolf, I’m dead.”
“We’re dead.”
“Your wolf won’t necessarily stay. It’ll survive, any way it can.”
Selene glanced at the mercilessly setting sun.
“It’s going to work,” Jason said resolutely. Gently he worked her coat off her injured arm. She was still bleeding due to a nasty gash on the back of her shoulder. Hopefully that would heal when she shifted. And if Jason could knock the joint back into place, there was a shred of hope they’d make it out of there alive. He felt down her arm to the joint. Selene tried not to scream, but the pain was nauseating.
“Just do it, Jason!” She could already feel the shift starting, a bubbling grind under her skin.
“I’m sorry about this.” He positioned her arm again and gave a fast, hard thrust. This time Selene screamed, a scream that turned into a howl. The shift was coming. Her shoulder felt oddly warm, although her arm still wasn’t working properly.
“Is it any better?” Jason pitched forward, the shift turning his green eyes to amber. He unzipped his jacket in the throes of transformation.
She used her good hand to strip out of the winter clothes, following his lead. “I still can’t move it, but it doesn’t hurt as much.” Bent in half, her jaw elongated as the snow stung her naked flesh.
“I love you, Selene.” Jason’s claws sprouting from his knuckles. His distorted hands landed in the snow.
“I didn’t fully believe you when you said it before,” she said, the need to confess gripping her heart. “I thought I was just another passing fancy, temporary entertainment for your vice.”
“That’s not true.”
“When you left with Nickelova tonight, I thought you were joining up with her. I thought you couldn’t resist her.”
He shook his head. “I had to—” He groaned as tawny fur broke out across his inner arms.
“I said yes before on Rivergate grounds because I wanted you so badly I was willing to lose everything, even if I might have you for only a short time,” she rambled. She had to tell him, had to get it out. “I never thought I could want someone again. I thought I was ruined for love after what happened to me… the things I did. But I believe you now. I love you too, Jason. Forever.” White fur climbed her arms, over her shoulders, between her breasts.
If Jason said anything else, she didn’t hear it. Her last thoughts were that she wasn’t cold anymore. And then the wolf took over and she wasn’t Selene anymore.
ChapterTwenty-Eight
The white wolf’s consciousness was part instinct, part chemistry, and part body language. With a soul of total freedom, she sped down the mountain, ignoring the slight ache in her shoulder that gave her a pronounced limp. The dark wolf, her mate, was by her side, smelling of thick fur and hunger. Yes, hunger. It was time to hunt.
She whimpered and the dark wolf with the tawny belly licked her face before scanning the mountain for movement; a rabbit or bird would be a fine meal. Her leathery nose opened and sniffed the air. There was something on the wind. Exotic. Close. The dark wolf must have smelled it too because his head snapped around.
The source of the smell came from a bird, a huge bird that flapped its gigantic black wings in the blowing snow. The wolves stalked forward, hunting the black thing that folded and snapped in the wind. All at once the black wings expanded, then settled like a heavy fog around the form of a woman. The white wolf stopped. This was not food. This was danger and power. With jet-black hair and a dress that seemed to hold itself up by magic alone, the woman pinned the wolves with her icy blue stare.
“My good and faithful daughter,” she said, approaching. “Do not be afraid.” The white wolf bowed to the woman, a deep instinct driving her to revere what she didn’t fully understand. The woman’s hand came to rest on the wolf’s head. “You must follow me now. This place is no longer safe for you.”
The dark-haired woman turned and strode down the mountain, the wolves heeling at her side. Miles passed. The white wolf’s stomach growled, but she did not stray from the one who led her away. The darker wolf whimpered. His whine made her nervous, but the pull the mysterious woman had over both of them trumped her bond with him. They followed with an instinctual trust.
And then a ripple cut through the night, constricting like a closing mouth of darkness.
“Come, daughter. Bring your love. I will hold it open for you.” The woman pulled back the corner of the night sky and motioned for the wolves to pass through. The dark wolf leaped through first, disappearing somewhere into the beyond. The white wolf stepped forward and licked the woman’s hand.
“You are welcome, dear one. Now you must go. You’ve done me a service. Go reap your reward.”
