Kind of like I’m doing now with her food.
“Anyway”—she grabs another piece of fruit—“I guess you could say that’s why I wanted you to celebrate your birthday. It’s the only happy memory I really have. Even if I don’t remember it, and it was only ever that birthday that I shared with my parents, it’s still a loss. But it’s a memory I think I enjoyed.”
She pauses with food close to her mouth, then backpedals, stammering. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean that to sound insensitive. I just meant that if it’s this hard on me to have lost something I don’t even remember, I can only imagine how hard it must be for you.”
“I’m a dick.”
Jay snorts, spitting out her food. “Oh goddess, I’m so embarrassed.”
But I find it adorable.
She wipes her mouth with her napkin and strangely enough, I think I miss when she wiped it on her body. I never wanted someone perfect—only perfect for me. Not to mention, I wouldn’t mind if her skin tasted like apples.
My wolf is smug.
Shut up, I tell him.I meant as opposed to her usual dirt taste.
Mm-hmm, sure. If she tasted so bad, why do you keep going back for more?
Before I can counter my wolf, Tyler appears, huffing and buckling his pants. Out of breath, he says, “Rogues! They’re coming!”
I whip my head to Jay. “What did you do?”
At my accusation, her eyes bug.
She points to her chest as she swallows what she can and speeds up her chewing as she responds with a mouthful, “Me? You think I did something?”
My cheekbones twitch, and I cock a brow. I wouldn’t put it past her.
She scoffs, crossing her arms. “How would I have done that?”
I shrug my shoulder. “Pack mindlink.”
She snorts. “Herds don’t have a mindlink.”
Her tone suggests this to be common knowledge, but I had no idea.Wait, why don’t I know?I have tons of opinions about rogues, but what else don’t I know about them? And as a leader, shouldn’t I “know thy enemy”?
A familiar scent I can’t identify fused with the growing stench of rogues tells me there’s no time to think about that now. I turn toward the smell, staring off into the trees, letting the power of my senses take over. The tracker in me focuses instantly on the threat. I detect paws hitting the ground at full speed.
Jay’s heart thumping out of her chest also catches my attention, but it’s not her heart I pick up on. As I listen to the pattern, there’s more than just one rogue.
“Shift!”
Able to pick up on their location, they’re close, but there’s still time to prepare. Tyler shakes off his clothes and throws them on top of a bush.
Jay panics, pleading for me not to harm them. I ignore her cries as I take off my clothes and toss them at her.
Tyler’s grey and white fur sprouts from his skin, thickening until he’s on all four paws, snarling and ready for a fight.
I call my wolf forward and reddish-brown fur ripples from my body. My bones crack and move into place. The transformation is nearly instantaneous and paired with adrenaline, I hardly feel it. I land on four paws.
“Caleb, listen to me. I can talk to them!”
That’s the last thing I want—likely, it’s her they’re coming for. But they won’t take her from me. They’ll have to kill me first.
“Caleb!”
When she thinks I can’t hear her, she touches my fur, and it launches me out of focus. I whip my head and growl to get back. Her golden orbs flash, and it’s her wolf that urges Jay to listen.As she does, my wolf stays trained on her until she’s far enough out of harm’s way. Once my wolf is satisfied with her distance, I concentrate on the threat.
