Page 35 of The Tracker's Rage
“He did.”
“And did you... did you tell him how you feel about him, too?”
“Yes, and right after that, he told me he was a dead man. What did he mean? He wouldn’t explain.”
He considered for a moment. “You said he got engaged to Allison Blackridge, right?”
I nodded. “Yes, and he said his grandfather made some sort of pact.”
Eric considered. “Must have been a Blood Covenant then.”
“A what?”
“A Blood Covenant. It’s an unbreakable pact made between two or more werewolves. In this case, probably Craig Blackridge and his daughter, and Walter Knight and your Jake. Blood magic is at the heart of this type of pact, which means the participants can’t back out, even if they want to. Unless they’re willing to die, of course. There’s usually a deadline, and if the pact isn’t fulfilled in time, those who break it bite the dust.”
My heart hammered as reality dawned on me.
“Commonly their death isn’t pretty either,” Eric added, fueling the horror that had started to fill my chest.
But if you love me, then I’m a dead man,Jake’s words echoed inside my head.
“He must be planning not to go through with it,” I said, thinking out loud.
“You’ll have to askhimthat.”
Oh, God!What had I done? Had confessing my love for him condemned him to death?
Eric let out an aggravated breath. “Can we get on with our training?”
I shook myself, doing my best to push down the turmoil of emotions and thoughts that threatened to undo me. This was our last session. After today, Eric’s agreement with Damien would be fulfilled, and Eric would be rid of me. I frowned, realizing that I would miss him.
Shit,what was wrong with me? Eric hated my guts and behaved like a complete asshat all the time. I must be a glutton for punishment.
“Sure, let’s get started,” I said.
Same as yesterday, we shifted, jumped out through a window, and into the forest behind his house, and began our training.
He taught me how to detect sounds and pinpoint their exact sources. Following his directions, I used my sense of hearing to find a tiny mole in its den. The scraping of claws against the deep, wet earth of its hiding place was barely audible. Yet, I was able to determine the animal’s location with unerring accuracy.
He taught me to distinguish the difference between the many animals that lived in the undergrowth and the quiet steps of a predator. He taught me to leap high, shift in midair, and land in my human form.
Knowing that this was my last session with him, I applied myself more than ever, paying attention and following instructions to a T. I learned everything on the first try and—when it seemed he’d run through everything he’d meant to teach me that day—I asked for more. I even thought I detected a sense of pride in him when I bested him in a leaping exercise in which I cleared a distance of no less than thirty yards.
When we finished and went back into the house, I donned my clothes quickly while he waited for me, his back turned. Despite his unsympathetic and rough treatment, he’d done right by me, and I felt much better prepared to face my life as a werewolf. I knew I still had much more to learn about my wolf and her abilities, as well as the secretive ways of my kind, but I would always be grateful to Eric.
I picked up my duffel bag and slung it over my shoulder. “I won’t let the door hit me on my way out,” I joked.
“You do that.”
I started to climb the stairs to the main floor and had to pause when a strange breeze blew by me. I glanced in every direction, smelling the air, but I only detected Eric’s scent. Shrugging it off, I climbed the rest of the steps and had to do a double take when I found Eric reclining on the wall near the exit, picking dirt from his fingernails.
Confused, I glanced the way I’d come, then back at him. “How did you...?”
He smiled without glancing up at me. “It’s another perk of being an alpha.”
“Teleportation, you mean?”
He scoffed. “Teleportation is science-fiction, Sunder. Not even Midnight Mages can do that. I just move... fast. It’s an alpha thing calledfleeting. Not every alpha can do it, but I think you have the potential.”
