Page 197 of Kingdoms of Night

Just as I could sense my wolf’s eager acceptance.Worthy mate,she practically purred.My mate.

He’s not ours,I snapped again.

Which was a useless phrase, as my animal didn’t truly understand my words or comments. She could sense my feelings, and usually we were in sync, but I’d more or less disassociated with her over the years because of the suppressants.

Suppressants that are quickly running out,I thought, sighing inside.

The cramps had begun a few miles back, which had eventually caused me to whimper a little. Because ithurt. It always did. And this heat would be worse than usual after years of blocking it from happening.

Fuck.I really needed to take charge and hide. Do something other than sit here like an obedient little Omega.

But I could sense my wolf’s stubbornness.

She was part of me, after all. And I’d been born stubborn.

Hence the reason I’d chosen to leave my pack, attend a human university, and pursue all my degrees. My parents hadn’t approved. They’d wanted me to settle down in Alberta Sector with the triad my father had chosen for me.

I’d run instead.

Something my father had tried to stop, but it had been easy to disappear among the humans during that time period. I’d been able to create a whole new identity, thanks to advanced technology, and apply to colleges.

Wolves stopped aging after a certain year, which allowed me to appear forever young.

Not that I’d been very old when I’d run.

Only nineteen and the perfect age to attend a university.

I’d acquired a lot of debt, but it’d been worth it to live my dreams.

My undergraduate in biology had led me to a medical degree. I’d gone through all the hoops of my residency, then furthered my studies by focusing on infectious diseases before finally acquiring a doctorate in epidemiology.

It’d been over a decade of school and practicing medicine.

But it had led me to my job at the CDC.

A job that had quickly turned into a nightmare when the brain-eating amoeba had mutated into its current state.

All it had taken was a group of teens visiting the wrong pond. They’d gone skinny-dipping and inhaled some water through their noses, and the disease had mutated from there.

Many politicians had called it a fluke.

Researchers had called it a perfect storm of events. Because the condition had mutated due to the unique subset already existent within its host.

I sighed inside. Now the disease had mutated beyond repair.

And the compound had been one of the only places with tissues for us to examine.

Did Kieran pack them? Or were they left to be destroyed?

Where are we even going, anyway?I wondered. Jonas hadn’t actually told me. I’d just followed him blindly through the woods.

Well, no. Mywolfhad followed him blindly.

So what now?

Did I just sit here and wait to go into heat?

My stomach clenched at the notion.

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