Page 23 of Wild Hunt
My whole life, I had been running from what I was. From what the world wanted from me. My original destiny was as black as the void, and now that I had betrayed it, my future just seemed... Empty.
Then she had to come along and give everything flavor again. Meaning. It felt like betrayal to find that outside of Hades, and the purpose he had given to me, but I felt it all the same.
If he ever found out the truth…
Sooner or later, I knew I had to go back. Being around her wasn't going to get any easier.
There were certain changes that took place when a wolf imprinted on a mate. Even when that wolf had the spirit of Ragnarok. The urge to hunt and claim her, marking her as mine, was stronger than any hunger I had ever felt. It was a siren’s song sweeter than any blood I had ever craved. Resisting was torture, but the alternative was worse.
Not that she would have me even if she didn't already belong to someone else. Something told me the latter wouldn’t stop her, but what had happened at the preliminaries certainly would.
I managed to make it through my first day back in class, but my head was anywhere but the lessons. As faint as her scent was across the hall, it still brought out my primal nature.
When I finally made it to the end of the day, I headed straight for the woods. Before I'd even reached the tree line, I started slipping out of my clothes. My uniform jacket, my plaid tie, the thin white shirt that felt like fire against my burning skin, muscles aching to unleash the beast within. Once I'd left all my clothes on the trail, I hit the ground with all four paws and took off running.
The relief was insufficient, but instantaneous. The more I ran, the more the beast took over. We weren’t quite separate entities, rather shades of the same gradient. Being human for so long was taxing that identity, and it took so much less energy to just be out here.
Not for long, though.
I caught her sent before I caught sight of her kneeling on the forest floor, surrounded by flowers and greenery like some kind of fairy. I stopped running just to watch her for a moment, trying to tell myself it was better just to leave.
Then again, the wolf always had other ideas.
She looked up and spotted me, taking the running option off the table. Her eyes narrowed immediately, and I could see why Hades enjoyed playing with her so much. She was all the more beautiful and she was livid.
I shifted back, finding it difficult to do so in the throes of the instincts that came with a wolf encountering his mate in the wild. Better push those down real far.
“What’s the matter? Did you get tired of your other form?” she asked dryly. There was no mistaking the accusation, and I had no intention of denying it. Kore was plenty of things. She was stubborn, feisty, principled to the point of recklessness, but she sure as hell wasn’t stupid.
“Not very practical for most things,” I answered, walking over to her.
Most women would at least have blushed at the side of a fully naked man before them, but she made no attempt to look away. I couldn’t help but smirk as she looked me up and down, making it clear she was assessing the goods. “Like what you see?” I asked.
“I was just curious,” she said, getting to her feet.
I cocked my head. “About what?”
“Whether your dick was as big as your ego.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll leave that for you to decide.”
She turned to walk away and I called, “Wait.”
She stopped but didn’t turn around right away. When she finally did, she wasn’t quite as angry as I’d expected her to be. It was something else entirely that threw me off.
Was she actually… hurt?
“What do you want?” she asked guardedly. We’d never exactly been on friendly terms, her and I, but the wall between us had undoubtedly grown higher.
“I’m not proud of what I did,” I began, choosing my words carefully.
Her eyes narrowed. “Is that supposed to be an apology?”
I scoffed. “I don’t apologize. To anyone. And you could end this at any time,” I reminded her.
She rolled her eyes. “Right. All I have to do is grovel and lick your ringleader’s boots like the rest of you do.”
I laughed, even though I knew she was trying to get under my skin. Unfortunately for her, it would take a lot more than that. “You really don’t understand how we work.”
