Yes, you can turn with your clothes on, but it takes those extra few seconds for your wolf to wiggle free of them after. And it’s not like Miles hasn’t seen my naked ass a thousand times.
He tosses his clothes into the corner of my room and begins his shift.
Static breaks out over my body.
Electricity spikes at every nerve ending, shooting energy through my entire being. My legs bend and break without painor sound, and within the blink of an eye, Jux is standing in my bedroom. My wolf. Me. My other self.
I growl, low, deep, and dangerously hyped. He didn’t get to run last night and isn’t too happy about it.
Ready?Miles asks telepathically.
Try and keep up,I say.
I bolt from the room, Jux screaming with excitement. Claws click on the marble floor as we sprint down stairs and burst through the front door into the crisp morning air.
The entire compound is quiet, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
It feels like the world belongs to us, and I think to myself, it does. This is my world. My pack. My territory.
Miles shoots past me, and I realize I’ve been lost in thought instead of focused on kicking his ass. I’ll never hear the end of it if he beats me to the tree line.
Go!I snap at Jux, who leaps into action.
Muscles ripple over my body. Every inch of my is alive with the chase. My blood flows faster, my lungs take deeper, more focused breaths. The scents around me are a thousand times stronger in wolf form. The world is a magnificent place through these pitch black eyes.
I can focus on the smallest blade of grass or the tallest tree. I can hear a squirrel on the highest branch, and a mole digging deep beneath the earth. Sunrise smells like yellow and orange flames.
And Miles is almost at the tree line!
Pushing harder, I run at his flank, snapping at his heels. He yelps when I catch him on the thigh with my canines. Itthrows him off, making him stumble for one step, and I bolt past him, enticing a dangerous snarl from his lips as he tries to return the favor and misses me.
Come on, buddy, you can do better than that!I taunt him.
Jux howls with joy as we burst into the forest. The earth is muddier, fresher. It smells of wilderness and adventure. A massive change from the dry desert sands and baking, relentless heat.
I run until my feet splash into the ice-cold river. Jux skids to a stop and dips his muzzle into the stream.
Ice cold water soaks my tongue and down my throat into my belly.Alive.
Out of nowhere, a body slams into my side, and I’m thrown into the water. Rolled twice and absolutely soaked down to my undercoat.
HAHA, take that, show off. You didn’t even see me com….
I have him by the throat with his head under the water before he can finish his thought. What I think is going to be a winning move backfires.
Mudder lets out a gleeful yelp, not even trying to escape. Instead, rolling deeper into the river floor.
I let him go and step back. Jux shakes from head to tail, sending a shower of water over the trees and rocks around us.
I sit, panting, watching my moron friend coat his shaggy, chocolate brown fur in thick clay-mud.
That’s going to be hell to rinse out,I laugh.
Mudder lifts his face, coated in mud, his tongue lolling out the side.
How can anyone take you seriously, looking like that?I burst out laughing.
From somewhere to the west, a sharp, sweet, deathly enticing scent catches my attention, and Jux snaps his head to the side. Mudder’s ears are pinpoint straight, his eyes piercing the tree line.