He backed up so he could see her face and searched her eyes. Lyric didn’t say anything. She just looked into his eyes and forced a smile.
I love you.
He knew she did. The wolf could understand that well enough.
Lyric was a creature of habit. She liked to Change in the same place each time. Vic had learned that and paid attention. She walked beside him stiffly, her hand gently gripping the fur on the nape of his neck as she quietly made her way to her Changing place. The grass was all matted down here, and it smelled like her wolf. These were getting harder on her body. Even now, as she Changed, it looked painful and happened too slowly.
He didn’t know how to fix it. She should just remain a wolf, with him.
He guarded her body as she finished her Change, his senses on the woods, always scanning for danger. She whined and it tugged at something protective inside of him. He didn’t like when she hurt, and he wanted to kill whatever was causing it. He couldn’t though. He couldn’t do anything.
She was Changing too often…for him.
It didn’t sit right with him. The bond between them was always stronger when she joined him in the forest, and could be herself, in her most important skin. Hours passed, and as always, he could barely take his attention from her. He loved watching her explore and run. He was faster than her, but healways stayed at the pace she set. He loved the wonder in her eyes as she sniffed at trees and watched birds in the sky. If she found dandelions, she liked to jump on them, but not today. Today she seemed tired. Their gold bond had dimmed to a bronze color.
He rubbed against her side and asked her to stop by standing in front of her. Even her ears weren’t perked up today. He whined.What’s wrong?
She searched his eyes for a few seconds and then pressed her forehead against his shoulder and just stood there, melted against him, just breathing.
Something was wrong. Lyric was sad.
What can I do?
But she didn’t seem to know answers. Instead, she sat down, right there on the muddy trail. She sat and kept her head pressed to him. Vic looked around, scenting the air for danger. He wanted a reason. He wanted something to defend her from.
She seemed tired, and laid down, and he sat there watching her for a few minutes, confusion swirling in his chest. She was lying in the mud. Her fur would get matted. She never laid in the mud like t his. Maybe she was hurt. She’d been hurt after the big fight. She’d been clawed up and hadn’t been able to Change for the first few days he’d been living out here. He’d seen her skin though. Her human skin had scars but they looked healed. Maybe she was hurt on her insides still.
He curled around her body and rested his head on top of her back, ever watchful for danger.
What can I do?
But still, she had no answers. The bond stayed bronze between them, and her breathing steadied as she fell asleep.
Right there. On the muddy trail.
Something was wrong.
Vic needed help for her. Maybe it was time to visit the Pack. He wouldn’t try to fight them this time. He wouldn’t go berserk on them again. The big pain was past, and he could think straight again.
If he couldn’t help her, maybe the Pack could cure his mate.
Chapter Eleven
“You have to take a break,” Destiny said softly.
Lyric had been staring at the fire in the hearth of her and Dodger’s home, but at the sound of her friend’s voice, she forced her gaze from the flames and looked at her. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You’re exhausted.”
Lyric sighed and stood, then tied her apron strings around the back. She’d picked up a waitressing job in the month since the battle with Cian and Traydon. She was living in the small loft of Vic’s unfurnished home, and every day was the same. She picked up as many shifts as she could, rarely took the day off, and came home afterward to Change with Vic.
Oh, she knew the Pack was worried. She could feel it coming off them in waves. She could hear it in the whispers.
“I think you have to consider the possibility—”
“No,” Lyric said.
“Lyric, I get it. If Dodger was stuck in his wolf form, I would be out there with him every day too. But if this is a long-term thing, you can’t keep Changing every day. Your body is wrecked.”
