Page 68 of Mortal Shift
Cole gave me a leg over the wall while I contemplated how the hell I was supposed to get rid of him—because I could hardly snatch my mom and pull a vanishing act while he was following me around like some sort of overgrown, over-possessive puppy.
I landed softly, and snatched up my bag. At least I was outside Darkveil now. And out in the real world, I stood some kind of chance. I could… I don’t know, call for help. Or call the cops. Tell them my mom was being held against her will. Yeah. That’d work. And then we could disappear. Easy.
Cole landed next to me, a half-feral grin on his face.
“Ready?” he asked as he straightened from his crouch.
I shook my head and made a twirling motion with my finger.
“Turn around.”
He raised a brow at me like he thought I thought he was an idiot—which was, of course, true, but totally beside the point. I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not going to run, am I? You’re my ticket through the front door to see my mom. I just need to change out of this.”
He contemplated a moment. “I quite like you in that.”
I glared at him until he turned his back. I turned mine, too, because I had zero intention of looking at him while I was almost naked—even fleetingly. I didn’t have time to be having fantasies about my asshole mate. There were more important things at stake than my overactive sex drive. I shucked the dress and traded it for my jeans and hoodie, then traded out the heels for some sensible sneakers, uttering a silent prayer of thanks that Ling had remembered to pack something I could actually run in. That woman was a goddess.
“Alright,” I said, shoving the dress in the bag and tossing it down by the wall—hopefully never to be seen again. “Let’s do this.”
Cole looked up and down the deserted dirt track. “Did you happen to arrange some sort of transport?”
“Oh, yeah, I sent out a telepathic message and arranged for a pegasus to swing by and pick us up.”
He looked almost impressed for a moment, then frowned.
“Oh. You’re joking.” He sounded faintly disappointed. “Because you don’t have telepathy.”
“No, I don’t. And I don’t know anyone with a pegasus.”
“I do, but that’s not going to help us now. Guess we’re running.”
I arched a brow. “What, didn’t you think to arrange some sort of transport? Wait, running how far?”
He shrugged. “It’s ten miles to the nearest town. We can sort transport from there.”
I blinked. “Ten miles? I can’t run ten miles.”
He raked his eyes over me and his brow furrowed. “No, I suppose not. Alright, I have an idea. Turn around.”
“Why?”
He unbuttoned his shirt, and my mouth went abruptly dry. My eyes seemed inexorably drawn to the broad planes of his chiseled chest, and my heart rate kicked up a notch. Cole snorted with amusement and my cheeks flamed red. His hand went to his pants button, and I spun my back quickly.
“What are you doing?” I asked, keeping my eyes forward with a herculean effort.
“Shifting. You can ride on my back—but you’d better not breathe a word of this to anyone. Here, shove these in that bag, you can carry them.”
I turned around before I realized what I was doing, and a very,verynaked Cole stood there, holding out his folded clothing in one hand, and shoes in the other—leaving everything below his waist completely exposed, and my eyes did the exact most embarrassing thing I could think of. And then all I could think of was, damn, he ishung.
I coughed and whirled back around, ignoring Cole’s amused chortle. I snatched up the backpack I’d just put down and upended it, dumping the dress and heels unceremoniously on the floor. When I turned back round, Cole was fortunately—devastatingly—on four legs and covered in a thick layer of fur. His shoulder stood level with mine, and every inch of him radiated power and strength, and lethal dominance. I shouldered the backpack and eyed him warily.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked, and he turned his head to roll one amber eye at me.
This was absolutelynotthe way I’d spent the last hours envisioning riding him. I also had no particular desire to fall off a giant running werewolf and brain myself against a tree.
“I mean, I’ve never even ridden a horse… never mind a…” I gestured him up and down, and he gave a derisive snort that needed no translation, and crouched down. I exhaled a white cloud in the night air.
