Page 81 of Mortal Blood
“You’re going to be fine,” he murmured, and I nodded again, more confidently this time. Whatever lay ahead of us, whatever tough decisions we would or wouldn’t have to make, tonight was our night. We would show the other shifters here that we were as good as many one of them, and Cole would show them how ready he was to lead his pack. When the time came, there would be no doubt left in any of them.
“Hold your places in the pack,” Ryker said as he stalked amongst us. “Any wolf breaking rank will get a fuckload of other breaks, too.”
Subtle, as always. I hid a smile as Ryker scowled at the group, the anticipation palpable in the air.
“Anyone hunting anything not sanctioned tonight’s outrunners, Selene and Leon—” He nodded to the two third years in turn, so we all knew who they were, “will find themselves prey for the rest of the pack. A moon hunt is a sanctioned trial, meaning any blood spilled at my command is spilled legally.”
I shivered at the word ‘blood’, recalling Cole’s divine flavor, and quickly steeled myself before anyone could notice and think I was trembling in fear, because I had a bad enough reputation here as it was.
“You know the rest of the rules, and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be here. Anyone who needs to leave, do it now.”
Ryker waited a beat, and no-one moved. He nodded his approval.
“Good. Wolf forms.” He looked over at me, regarding me coolly. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
There was no alpha command—Ryker used it only when he had no other choice. Using it now would draw attention to me, and I really,reallywanted to avoid that. There were fifteen wolves here, only a handful from my year, and I didn’t need to rest of them knowing about my weakness.
On the other hand, it was going to become pretty fucking apparent when I didn’t, in fact, shift.
“You’ve got this,” Cole murmured in my ear. I nodded, eventhough I quite clearly did not have this, and yanked my clothing off, ignoring the other shifters around me doing the same. Nudity paled in comparison to the thrill of the hunt, and we were all so used to seeing each other in our regular lessons anyway that no-one batted an eyelid. I was pretty sure I was the only one who’d ever cared in the first place, having been raised with human sensibilities, and I was long over it now.
Yeah, I totally wasn’t buying that, either. I turned my back on the others.
“With me,” Cole murmured, crouching in preparation to shift, and I crouched beside him. He briefly touched his forehead to mine, then drew back. His outline began to shimmer almost immediately, and I prepared myself for the long, frustrating, and ultimately futile process of attempting to shift unaided.
I squeezed my eyes shut.Come on, just shift. It’s natural. I’ve done it dozens of times now. Come on, body. Thinkwolf.
My shoulders bunch and a gasp slipped from my throat. White hot pain tore through my spine, and my legs buckled under me, only to almost immediately reform into something stronger, better. One shoulder then the other popped, and I bit back a growl of pain as my face elongated. I fell forward onto all four legs, and stood there for a second, dazed.
I’d just shifted.
On my own.
I twisted round to look at Ryker, who was watching me closely. He dipped in his chin in approval and I spun round to look at Cole, my mouth hanging open in sheer joy. I’d done it. By myself.
Fierce approval shone in Cole’s eyes and he lowered his head,butting it softly against mine. I leaned into him, enjoying the contact, the closeness of his body heat to mine, and the steady sounds of his beating heart.
His blood!
That had to be it. Drinking his blood must have allowed me to tap into his shifter skills, or brought mine to the fore, or…something. I didn’t care. Because if I was right, then Ryker compelling me was a thing of the past. Jubilation surged through me.
Ryker tossed his clothing, and his human form just as readily, embracing his wolf with a warrior’s grace and throwing his head back in a loud howl that echoed through the grounds. I raised my head and joined him, the voices of all the gathered wolves coming together to weave an ethereal song of joy and unity.
The big alpha threw himself forward, Selene and Leon on his flanks, and the rest of us fell in behind him, each wolf holding their place in the pack as we loped through the grounds.
The forest was dark and quiet as we ran through it, following Ryker’s lead. There was no rush, no urgency in our strides, but the air hummed with our collective excitement, and a feral energy seemed to surge between us, contained with the pack like a single entity.
I savored the feeling of running in my wolf form, the ground gliding effortlessly beneath my paws. Each stride came smooth and easy, my muscles bunching and stretching with lupine grace. My senses were alive, taking in every scent and every sound of the nighttime woodland. I could hear the steady breathing of the wolves around me, smell the richness of the earth and trees. And my fur tingled with the electric energy ofthe moon hunt.
We ran for what felt like hours, the exertion warming my blood, limbering my body. The moon rose high above the treetops, turning the world silver-blue. Still we ran on, the pack’s stamina endless.
Cole stayed close by my side, a shadow keeping pace with me between the trees. I didn’t need a sealed mate bond to sense his excitement, his desire to run and never stop. I saw it shining through his eyes, and felt it beating in my heart.
At last the trees began to thin, moonlight spilling into the spaces between trunks. Ryker led us from the close press of the woods into an open meadow. Here he slowed, lifting his great head as he tasted the air, listening for what lay ahead. The rest of us stilled, waiting for his signal, and he chuffed out a loud breath, turning to the two outrunners. They slipped forward, one going left and the other right as they began to search in earnest for tonight’s prey. Ryker took up a steady lope again, taking center space between the two distant outrunners, and the rest of us fell in behind.
A high, eerie howl split the silence—one of the outrunners, signaling they’d found prey. My heart raced, blood pounding in my ears as we altered our course, the whole pack moving in on the prey as one. Ryker howled, a rich, deep timbre that I felt through every fiber of my being. As the breeze shifted, I lifted my head, catching the myriad of scents it carried: rabbit, mouse, owl, fox. And beneath it all, the heady scent of our prey: moose. My mouth watered at the promise, and it was all I could do not to surge forward to the head of the hunt as we began to run in earnest.
A glance at Cole was all it took to keep myself under tight control. There was more at stake tonight than just the joy of thehunt. There could be no mistakes.
