I’d been worried for a second that with the alphas here I’d struggle to shift so quickly, but my wolf was raring to go. She pranced from the middle of their huddle, and they turned to give her all their focus.
My wolf’s size wasn’t comparable to alphas, but I was still large for a female. Slade reached out and traced his hand over my snout, wrapping his massive palm around the back of my head.
I blinked up at him, wishing I had the ability to talk so I could ask him what the fuck he was doing. The alpha with a touch aversion was threading his fingers into my fur.
“Snow,” he murmured, tilting his head in that predatory way of his. “As white as snow.”
Finley broke the moment by snorting derisively and walking away, and Slade released me as if he’d never touched me in the first place.
CHAPTER 19
EMME
Finley was a giant in more ways than one: a giant pain in my ass, a giant lumbersnack, and a giant, terrifying bear.
He stood what felt like miles above my wolf form, his fur a deep rich brown, with scatterings of that same golden color that threaded his human hair. He bore no resemblance to any sort of cute fluffy bear. He was exactly how I imagined a crazed murderous monster with a taste for blood would look.
Was it necessary for him to stand seven feet tall and resemble a nightmare creature? One or the other would have been more than enough, but as always with these alphas, they had to be overachievers.
Cora wiggled her small frame, silky strands of fur flying around her gracefully while she got the zoomies out. Warrick remained at her side, his canines on show as he kept an eye on our surroundings.
I’d always thought that Warrick had the most terrifying and vicious wolf form until Hunter’s beast strode in. I’d seen Hunter’s black wolf from a distance, but nothing could have prepared me for him stalking toward me in the dimly lit forest. I had to back up many steps to take in his massive length and breadth, and… he was as alarmingly terrifying as Finley.
No. More terrifying.
Holy fuck.He was huge all over, powerful muscles visible under his short, black coat, and as he locked me in those dark as sin eyes, I wanted to run. I wanted to flee in a way I’d never felt.
This aptly named alpha had always given off hunter and prey vibes, and they’d never been as strong as today, when we both stood as wolves. This was nature at its basest form, and there was no doubt who we bowed to.
Then Slade strolled over, and once again, even in his humanoid form, he held dominion over the beasts. How were these alphasmypack? It was almost impossible to believe, and yet I felt the connection to them deep in my soul. Especially in my wolf form, as I slid my nose along Slade’s boot, huffing in his delicious scent. My beast had always been cautious around the dragon, but less so now that we’d spent time with him.
When Slade crouched down, he met my wolf’s eyes. “Ready to run, Snow?”
A littleyipescaped me, and my tail moved like a fucking windmill, round and round. The wolves around me howled, and Finley opened his massive mouth, displaying long and lethal canines as he roared into the world.
Animals had long ago departed our vicinity, so he didn’t scare anything off except a couple of other shifters, who did a double take and sprinted in the opposite direction of our group.
Warrick and Cora took off first, playfully nipping at each other. Or at least one of them was—Warrick tended to be quite serious for the first part of the run. He’d loosen up when his wolf’s initial needs were sated.
Hunter nudged me to move, and I bounded into the forest, enjoying the stretching of my legs and muscles. Hunter remained at my side and slightly ahead, keeping an eye on everything. Finley fell in behind us, his form surprisingly quietand agile despite the bulk he hauled around. Slade looked like he was taking a casual stroll but somehow stayed on my other side.
The alphas were adept at leading while remaining around me in a protective circle.
At first it annoyed me, my beast fighting the restrictiveness of their formation, until I realized that this was what running with a protective pack felt like. My wolf and I had no experience with packs, but eventually we found our rhythm. Abandoning all human thoughts and worries, I sprinted as fast as I could along the well-worn paths, the scent of nature and other shifters everywhere.
The mocha, vanilla, cherry, and toasted marshmallow were comforting as they blended with my chocolate and honey. The only hovering shadow was our missing cinnamon and caramel.
The thought of Kellan had my wolf throwing her head back and howling mournfully into the crisp air. He would have loved this run withallour pack. Our first real run, and he wasn’t here for it.
With that thought my joy faded, and I found myself slowing.
“Kellan would want you to enjoy yourself,” Slade said into the quiet morning air. “Mourning him before he is dead doesn’t help anyone. Keep living life for him, Snow. Give him what he needs while he fights to stay alive.”
A snarl ripped from me as I spun around, only to find myself pinned by a pair of deep, green eyes. “I know, Emmeline,” he shot back with his own snarl. “I understand that feeling of helplessness and despair tearing through you. It won’t save our pack mate, so you need to rise above it.”
Dammit. I hated when he wouldn’t just let me sink into my feelings, whether they were irrational and frustrating or not. If I had the ability to flip him off, I would have taken the risk. I was almost certain he wouldn’t kill me over a simple middle finger.Almostcertain.
Hunter’s growl and bark of command got us all back on track, and we ended up in a section of forest by the stream, similar to where I’d first met Kellan. That was a nice memory, and I wrapped it around myself as I tried not to dwell on our missing alpha. Whetherhe’dwant me to be happy running without him or not… I just wasn’t. It felt as if an essential part of me was missing, like a limb or a quarter of my heart.
