Page 17 of Heart of a Dire Wolf
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This was probably the riskiest stunt Skyla had ever pulled, but neither her disapproving father nor her protective older sister were around anymore to stop her.
The auction house obviously wanted Nic alive, or they’d have killed him as soon as they activated the talismans. She and Mauk could drain them, but one of them had to be touching Nic to get them all at once. Since Nic couldn’t come to her farm-truck illusion, she’d have to go to him.
She slid out of the passenger-side window into the wind-driven rain, then shifted into her wolf form. She held out a paw to make sure her jackrabbit illusion was holding. She gave a few experimental hops forward, trying to mimic a dimwitted rabbit, looking for whatever rabbits ate. She was usually the one eating the rabbit.
Once she got about halfway toward Nic’s recumbent form, Mauk followed instructions and blinked the “truck” lights twice, then mimicked the sound of a reluctant starter motor.
She made a mad, zig-zag dash that sent her barreling straight into Nic’s ribs. Her momentum rolled him onto his side. She shifted to human and sprawled on top of him, frantically grabbing his thick fur to stay in contact. “Now!”
He roared in pain as the three cattle prods arced through him. Four powerful claws lacerated her thigh. She screamed in agony but held on to him, waiting for Mauk’s confirmation that the talismans were dead.
Suddenly a more powerful magic surged, coming from Mauk, and aimed squarely at Nic. A spinning funnel of red and black runes formed above Nic’s chest and began to visibly pull life force upward.
She scrambled to put herself between the funnel and Nic. “Mauk, stop! He’s not hurting me! It was an accident!” The funnel stopped pulling but continued to hover over them. “Drain the talismans!”
Mauk’s distinctive voice came from the funnel. “Talismans depleted. I must expend excess energy within one minute or it will damage my systems.”
“Give Nic as much life energy as he can stand, then make your shell big enough to hold a tiger.”
The funnel inverted itself. She moved aside as it sent magic into Nic. The overflow crackled along her skin and gave her goosebumps. Nic’s furry body shuddered. She rolled off just in time for him to shift into a very naked man with nasty burns on his hip and chest. She crawled over to him on hands and knees to watch his face.
He took a ragged breath, then coughed twice. “You’re amazing.” His green and gold eyes met hers. “Who are you?”
She felt the blood drain from her face as she sat back on her heels. “Mauk,” she yelled, “what the hell did you do to my mate?”
He grabbed her wrist and smiled. “Kidding.”
She pulled away from him and got to her feet. “Not funny.” She turned away so he wouldn’t see her eyes fill with tears. She didn’t have the heart for combat. It was why her sister stopped taking her to war games. “I’ll be in the car.”
Her sleeveless summer shirt wasn’t much protection from the damp wind. The sky to the northeast flashed with lightning. She winced with each step she took on her wounded but healing right leg, where the blood still oozed under the shredded flaps of denim. She’d managed to destroy a new pair of jeans in under an hour. A new record.
Suddenly Nic was in front of her, on one knee. “Skyla, I’m sorry. I was so fucking scared.” He clenched his fists on his thighs. “I didn’t want you to see my weakness.” He looked up at her, his face wet with rain and tears. “You saved me. The last thing I wanted was to hurt you.”
She let her tears flow as she pulled him to his feet and wrapped her arms around him. “Weakness isn’t being scared. Weakness is giving up.” She closed her eyes and let his warmth and scent soothe her battered soul. “I’ll make you a deal. You don’t give up, and neither will I.”
He palmed the side of her face, then gently urged her to tilt her chin up. He met her lips with his in a kiss so sweet it threatened to melt her into a puddle at his feet.
A glint of headlights in the distance reminded her she was standing on the side of a highway, necking with a deliciously naked man in the rain, while her car was glowing and groaning from within and stretching like a movie special effect.
She slid a hand down to his rounded, muscular butt cheek and gave it an appreciative caress under the guise of brushing off the mud. “Let’s get your gorgeous ass in the car before someone reports us for lewd behavior.”
To her astonishment, Nic began belting out a blues-rock song about doing it in the road, his raucous voice echoing across the landscape as he picked his way over sharp rocks toward the car. She trotted after him, laughing.
Her mate was a loon, but he was her kind of loon.
