"I'm not at liberty to discuss."
I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes. "I know there are foxes, bears, and dragons. What else is there?"
Her eyes widened. "How do you know about dragons? Where have you seen them?"
"I think you're right, and it will save our feet and be faster if we shift." Before she could respond, I jumped forward and shifted.
I heard her do the same, and I continued toward Zayn's scent. It was over the top of his sister's, so he was still following her. The question was, how far away had they gotten?
Zayn had apparently gotten farbecause we had been running for what felt like hours. The sky had turned cloudy, and thunder boomed overhead, the impending summer storm getting ready to dump on us.
The entire run, I could tell Wren was holding back. She'd kept up with me and wasn't even panting, while I was about ready to keel over. I was in excellent shape, but running for a sustained amount of time was tiring.
Letting out a yip to get Wren's attention, I slowed down to a trot as the first raindrop landed on my head. We were getting farther and farther in the mountains and were currently headed down a slope.
A loud crack of thunder sounded overhead and made me nearly jump out of my skin. Wren made a sharp right, and I followed her. The rain really started coming down, and I could hardly see in front of me.
I had absolutely no clue where she was leading me. Luckily, her red coloring made it easy to see her. After about a minute of running blindly behind Wren, she turned left, and we were bathed in darkness.
No. Not again.
My chest immediately tightened, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I tried to steer clear of caves at all costs because you never knew what was lurking inside. First, I'd led my brother into a dragons' lair, and now Wren. I had to get us out before she met the same fate as my brother.
I scrambled backward, backing right into a rock wall and banging my head on something hard overhead. I yelped as the burn of something cut my head and then my back.
Wren was next to me, her eyes widened in surprise. Or maybe it was fear. Oh, God. Had she seen a dragon? It didn't even feel like we were that far into the cave.
I couldn't breathe.
My eyes darted around wildly, looking for light to escape to. There was some coming from somewhere, but I couldn’t tell if it was to my right or left.
My head hit something again, and this time it took me to the ground, pain erupting in my skull.
"What's wrong?" Wren had shifted and was squatting next to me, the warmth of her hands going to my back. "Calm down. The ceiling isn't very high, and you keep banging your head."
Crouching down, I moved toward one of the light sources and found the exit, but it was hailing so hard I'd probably have been knocked out. I stayed hovering as close as possible to the exit, my body shivering as the chill from the golf ball-sized hail chilled me. Or maybe it was from the gashes on my head and back.
Wren had followed me and sat down, putting an arm around me, her fingers starting to work through my hair. I was so tense I could barely feel it. Her hand moved to my head and warmth spread across my scalp.
What the hell?
My heart started to calm down and my muscles relaxed a bit. I moved to lay my head in her lap, and she continued to do whatever she was doing. I'd hit my head harder than I thought because I could have sworn her hand was glowing.
"Want to know a secret?" Her fingers moved down to my back where I'd cut myself on a rock too. "When I was about ten, I got so mad at my dad that I ran and ran until I couldn't run anymore. Iended up halfway across Colorado and stumbled right into an area that allowed hunting. Unlike wolves, I could shift since I was about five and knew better than to leave the coalition's property while in fox form."
Her words soothed me, and my eyes grew heavy. I was certain my wounds were already healed, which was odd because they would have taken at least an hour for a cut that would normally require stitches for a human.
Had she healed me? Was that what had happened in the back of the SUV after the fight that should have killed me?
Wolves had accelerated healing, but there was only so much our bodies could repair if it was in a vital location where blood loss was high.
"I remember hearing a gunshot and being so scared I was going to be shot that I hid under a pile of leaves. I didn't move, even when night came, and I knew I'd be missed at home. My dad was so mad when he found me." Her hand was back on my head, this time rubbing by my ear. "When I started training with the coalition and had to be around guns and learn to use one, I felt myself go back to that day when I thought I was being hunted."
I shifted, my head still on her thigh. I was acutelyaware that if I turned over, my face would be all up in her business. "It's being in a cave…"
She didn't stop running her fingers through my hair, and I relaxed further. When was the last time I'd enjoyed a woman's touch like this? A long-ass time.
"I assumed it was that or the dark." Her fingers moved to my back, and I stiffened as they brushed across my scars. "These are from a very large animal."
