She was losing something that she’d never thought she’d ever lose. A tear slid down her cheek.
“I don’t remember.” Her voice was choked and another tear fell. “I’m trying.”
Her wolf whimpered and scratched at her stomach and Keena lowered herself onto the couch with the photograph clutched to her chest.
“I don’t want to forget her,” she whispered.
The wolf nudged her gently. She knew what her animal wanted.
To be free to run.
“Not right now,” Keena said.
Her beast pushed again.
“I’m tired.” She had been patrolling all day. She’d thrown herself into work and had been on since last night, but apparently her animal didn’t care. It was becoming more insistent.
A memory flashed of two wolvesracing in the wild together.
Her and Lizzie.
Her wolf wanted her to remember.
Running had always been there. Whenever life had been overwhelming, or they needed to breathe, they would shift and go running. Sometimes for miles or even until the sunrose. They’d simply exist together.
Keena stood.
“Let’s go.”
Her wolf immediately settled. She placed the picture back where it belonged and strode to the back door. She shrugged out of her clothes before she stepped barefoot onto the snow-covered porch.
The cold barely registered.
Moonlight spilled through the trees and turned the untouched snow into silver. Keena closed her eyes and allowed her beast to come forward.
The shift came easily.
Her bones stretched and reshaped themselves while her muscles rolled. Black fur burst across her skin in a familiar wave of warmth sealing in her body heat. Moments later, her wolf stood where the woman once was.
She lifted her nose and inhaled.
Pine.
Fresh snow.
Freedom.
Her wolf took off in a blur without hesitation. Snow exploded beneath her powerful paws as she raced into the forest. Nature welcomed her like an old friend. Branches bowed beneath fresh snow, while the moonlight filtered between the tower trunks of the trees. The only sounds were the steady rhythm of paws striking snow and the whisper of the wind as it moved.
She ran.
Faster.
Harder.
Farther.
Her body remembered paths her human mind no longer thought about. Her wolf knew exactly where to go. She leapt over fallen logs buried beneath the snow and threaded her way effortlessly between trees.
