I shed the stress and confusion of the past few days. I press down against the longing for my Chosen. I uncoil the choking heartache of losing Talon and strip away the pain left by Lachlan. I feel it all just fall away as I focus on the here and now; on this moon-kissed run with a pack of shifters. I feel lighter and lighter with each stretched stride. Torrez pushes to move faster, and I meet his challenge, reveling in the power and speed. Soon I find myself weaving my way to the front, to run side by side with the Alpha and the rest of his Betas.
Torrez looks over at me, and I don’t miss the hint of a wolfish grin as we make our way through the night in tandem. I resolve myself to the fact that I’m going to have nip whatever he thinks is happening between us in the bud. I’m just not sure exactly how to do that. I thought I was being clear earlier when I told him that he had no chance, that I was taken.
But I’m getting the distinct impression that he’s taking that as a challenge or some kind of game of playing hard to get. I have no idea what is happening in this town. Am I leaking some kind of magic pheromones or something? I know it’s not my winning personality pulling all these guys in, so just what in the hell is it?
I notice the faintest change in the energy all around me, and Alpha Silas cuts across the pack and starts charging in a completely different direction. With ease, the pack falls into step behind him, but there’s an edgy feel to the collective movement now. Tongues no longer loll happily out of the mouths of carefree and relaxed wolves as they enjoy a pack run. Focused eyes and tightening muscles replace the easy gaits of before. I start scanning our surroundings trying to pick up on what’s setting them off.
I don’t sense or spot it at first. But the sound of branches snapping and a gruff huffing as heavy steps move away from us, has me locating a cinnamon colored mass about fifty feet in front of us.Are they hunting a bear? Alpha Silas begins to growl, and the hairs on my body immediately stand up and pay attention to the warning.
He presses harder to close the distance between the pack and the huge fleeing animal, which is no easy task. I had no idea that bears could move that fast. Although, a pack of hunting wolves could probably motivate the laziest of animals to Usain Bolt it out of their way. Torrez starts to press in against me, and I move away from him to keep from tripping and going ass over face into the dirt or getting trampled by the horse-sized gray wolf.
I realize after he does it a couple more times that I’m being herded away from the pack and their prey. I guess the invitation to run with them didn’t include hunting with them too. I try to bat away my momentary disappointment. It would’ve been awesome to see how the pack dealt with such a ferocious challenger. Yeah, the bear is running now, but it’ll start to fight when there’s nothing else it can do.
Torrez gives me one more nudge in the opposite direction, and I turn to glare at him.Alright! I fucking get it, already.The words die in my mouth as a flash of golden blond hair streaks away from me to my right. I immediately shift to follow it. Torrez doesn’t seem to have caught what I just saw, and he breaks away to rejoin the hunt with his alpha.
I know I should call out to him, alert him to what I’m pursuing, but he’s gone in a flash, and everything inside of me is demanding that I don’t lose sight ofmynew prey. Flashes of the big, blond, viking-esque lamia standing in the cellar when I was tied to a chair crash through me. I pump my legs and arms harder as I fight to keep up with Sorik as he careens through the trees away from me. I stay on him. It doesn’t seem like he’s trying to lose me, and that immediately sets off more alarms in my mind and has me on guard.
I pant as I press even harder in an attempt to gain on him, while simultaneously trying to be aware of anything that’s sneaking up on me from behind. I activate the runes on the helix of my ear, so I have the extra advantage of being able to hear everything around me better. This is a trap. It has to be, but rage over what happened the last time I saw him in that cellar stokes me as I close in on the golden-haired lamia.
Sorik takes a sharp left turn and dashes behind a huge dead tree trunk. I follow without hesitation but slam to a stop when Sorik is suddenly crouched amidst a small copse. His arms are outstretched, and he mumbles something as he slowly rises from his hunched position. His arms steadily rise up until he claps his hands together. The sound is booming, in the otherwise stillness of the night, and a magical barrier flashes up from the ground to dome over us.
What the fuck!Did he just use magic?
16
Istare at him in complete shock for a second before I get my shit together and call on some weapons. Twin short swords become solid in each of my hands, and Sorik’s eyes dart to them before he fixes his gaze on mine. His eyes are filled with something I can’t place.
“I’m not here to hurt you.” he reassures me.
He raises his hands in surrender, like that somehow is all I’ll need to trust him.
“How the fuck did you raise a barrier? I thought lamia didn’t have magic like that?”
I should probably be asking him what the hell he’s doing here or something along those lines, but all I can focus on is the fact that this hulking lamia just used magic like a caster.
“We can’t. Normally. That’s why I’m here.”
Sorik drops his hands to the hem of his shirt and starts to pull it up.
"Whoa, Magic Mike. This isn't that kind of party." I avert my eyes just to the side so his strip show isn’t in focus, but I can still track if he’s going to attack. I’m not sure what the hell this lamia is up to. What the fuck kind of trap is this? Get me alone and strip? Fucking magic pheromones, is no one immune?
"Sorry, it's probably just the easiest way to explain what's going on," he tells, me as he whips his shirt over his head. His long golden locks cascade behind him as he pulls his head free of the fabric.
I stare at him completely dumbfounded. "What in the actual fuck is going on?"
Sorik has runes.
He has three runes set between his pecs and runes that run down in a line on both sides of his ribs. I take an automatic step forward, my eyes wide with confusion as I try to take in what I'm seeing. I look down to his hands seeking the runes that should decorate his ring fingers, but the skin there looks damaged—burnt maybe.
"How?"
I can only manage to squeak out that one syllable. I run my gaze over the runes on his body, over and over again. Does this mean what I think it does?
"Grier and I didn't think that a transference was possible. She had never heard of it occurring outside of either the Sentinel or a caster bond. We loved each other, and we thought we were being careful. No one knew. But then this happened."
He gestures to the runes running between his pecs.
"She marked you?" I ask, and he nods.
