I can’t seem to get my eyes to remove themselves from her bikini-clad body. Earlier, it took all my strength to not punch Ransom right in the face when I caught him also staring at her. Grey Throne has grown into a beautiful woman with an amazing body. And I can’t wait till I’m able to sink my teeth into her perfectly smooth neck and leave my mark. I feel my wolf grumble in agreement as we watch her disappear into the tent.
After grabbing two beers from the cooler, I go sit down on the sandy shore, leaning against the log behind me. I’m surprised my siblings haven’t made it back yet, but assume they’re giving her and me some time alone. Just to make sure they’re okay, I reach out through the pack link.
“Are you guys planning on joining us again anytime soon?”
“We were giving you some time to reacquaint yourself with Pru,” Ransom immediately responds. I don’t need to be looking at him to know there’s a double meaning to his words.
“How did it go?” Ranger speaks up next.
“It… It was amazing. I haven’t felt this calm in years,” I answer honestly. After all, there’s no point in downplaying how I’m feeling since the second they get back, they’re going to be able to see it written all over my face.
“And it doesn’t hurt that she looks amazing in the bikini I gave her,” Remington adds. “Too bad she had to cover herself up with one of these nasty-ass life vests.”
“Yeah, it’s a real shame,” Ransom agrees, and I growl at him in warning.
“Do you want him to hit you? Because I’ll hold you still while he sucker punches you if necessary,” Remi warns.
“Enough.” My voice is stern when I snap at them. “That’s my mate you’re talking about.”
“Ryker?” I hear a voice say from my left, and I look up to find her standing there with a worried look on her face. “I said your name a couple times, but you didn’t hear me. Are you okay?”
“Yes. Sorry, I guess my thoughts were elsewhere.” I pat the open space in the sand next to me. “Want to sit?”
“I’d love to.” She sits just close enough that our elbows touch when we move. After having her pressed up against my back all afternoon, the loss of physical contact annoys my wolf and pushes me to slide closer.
“Here you go.” I hand her a cold can of beer. “Cheers!”
“Cheers!” She taps her can against mine before popping the tab and taking a sip. I don’t miss the smile on her face when she looks at the drink in her hand.
“What?”
“This is my first legal drink.” She bites her bottom lip, something I’ve noticed she often does. “Don’t tell Remi, but yesterday was actually my twenty-first birthday. I hate my birthday, so I didn’t want to celebrate, and I knew Remi would have wanted to.” She takes another sip from the can. “Although, when I thought about my twenty-first birthday in the past, I always imagined I would go to a bar and order a fruity drink. Instead, I was attacked by a wolf. But you know what they say about best-laid plans,” she chuckles.
I wish I could tell her I had imaged her birthday similarly. Instead, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and give her a tight squeeze. “Well, happy belated birthday.” I smile when she turns her head to look at me. “Should I start singing now?”
“Don’t you dare!” she warns, reaching over and pinching my side in warning.
“Hey!” I shout and jump out of her reach. “Don’t start something you won’t be able to finish.”
“Oh yeah?” she challenges, her brows rising in question before swiftly reaching over and pinching me again.
“That’s it!” I jump to my feet in one fluid motion. “You asked for it!” I immediately burst into song, singing “Happy Birthday” at the top of my lungs.
Her face is a mix of emotions before she also jumps to her feet and attempts to stop me. She attempts to reach up and cover my mouth with her hands, but as I’m too fast and too tall for her to reach, I easily evade her efforts, not missing a beat of the song.
“Ryker, stop! What if Remi hears you!” she shrieks. “She’ll be pissed I didn’t tell her.”
I ignore her and start singing the song all over again, this time adding a clapping element to it. Maybe I’m making up for all those years I sang “Happy Birthday” to a tombstone, or maybe I just love hearing her laugh when she continues to fail at shutting me up.
When she attempts to pinch my sides again, I swiftly grab hold of her upper arms and throw her over my shoulder. I spin us both around while singing to her while she squeals and slaps at my lower back, begging me to stop. “Ryker! Stop it!”
“Still not the magic words!” I say breathlessly between verses.
“I’m not going to say it!”
“Then, enjoy the ride!” I spin us again, the sound of her giggling and my singing echoing through the forest.
“Fine! Fine, I’ll say it!” I slow my spinning but don’t stop completely.
“Alright, let’s hear it. You have to say the whole thing, or it doesn’t count!” I warn her.
“Okay fine, Ryker Weylyn is the most amazing and handsome person I know!” she shouts in one breath. “Now put me down!”
I easily lift her off my shoulder and put her down in front of me. She sways some on her feet, and I feel a pang of guilt. “Oh, fuck. I totally forgot about your concussion, are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She reaches up and holds onto the front me for support, her pale hands a stark contrast to my tattooed chest. “I’m just a little dizzy—” She abruptly pushes off my chest and takes off running toward the woods behind us. “Just kidding!”
Watching her dart away, I laugh. Someone really should have warned her not to run away from a predator like me because I love the chase.
11
Pruitt
I take off running through the woods, but unlike the night before I’m not afraid for my life. This time it’s Ryker who’s chasing after me, and I wouldn’t mind getting caught. But that doesn’t mean I plan on making it easy for him. The sun is still shining brightly over us, so I’m able to dodge low hanging branches easily instead of running directly into them like I did last night. I make the mistake of looking behind me to see how close he is and almost run directly into a pine tree. I spin around it and sprint to the left, hoping to buy some time before he catches me.
“Shouldn’t you be tired of being chased through the woods by now?” I hear him holler from behind me.
“Well, this time, it’s fun!” I call over my shoulder. The sound of his chuckle bounces off the trees, and I grin. Making him laugh makes my insides twist and turn in happiness. I don’t get the impression he’s spent a lot of his time smiling or laughing in the past years, and I’m happy I’m able to do that for him. “Better keep up!”
I push my legs to their limit and leap over a fallen log. A burst of energy enters my body, and I’m suddenly flying though the trees, moving faster than I ever have in my life. If I had this energy last night, I might have been able to get away from the red wolf that chased me.
The trees are a blur as I sprint past them, and I barely notice my feet touching the ground.
Holy shit!
“Hey!” I hear Ryker’s voice shout at me, but it’s faint, almost a whisper. I don’t stop. I dig deep and move faster. I have no idea what is causing it or how it’s happening, but I’m enjoying it too much to slow down. I continue to jump over and evade trees with little effort. I make it into a clearing with yellow flowers blossoming all over and skid to a stop, my sneaker-clad feet digging deep into the earth. I’m moving so fast, I have to put my hands down to regain my balance.
Breathless, I stand up and look around the clearing. It’s similar to the one in my dream, but mine never had flowers and green grass like this one. The one in my dream is always so dark and ominous looking.
I hear bushes shift to my right and spin around. “Ryker?” I ask, but no one answers. “Ryker, is that you?” I ask again, this time a little louder.
My heart that was beating wildly only a secon
d ago stops, and my stomach sinks to the ground. He stands in front of me, looking as he did last night, his soulless black eyes staring at me as he stands, observing the area around us. White foam still leaks from the sides of his mouth, and his patchy fur looks even worse in the daylight.
The red wolf.
“Shit!” I shout. When I had asked Ryker earlier today about the wolf, he had promised it had been taken care of. But someone is lying because that mangy animal stands only yards away from me.
His lip lifts in a guttural snarl, and he stalks forward. I can’t help the scream that escapes my throat as I watch in horror, unable to move this time. My body is frozen in place, even though I’m screaming at it to move. I was just running faster than I have in my entire life, and now I can’t get my legs to cooperate.
“Run! Get out of here!” Ryker’s voice doesn’t sound right when it bellows across the clearing, and I turn and gasp when I see him. His eyes are glowing gold, and his teeth have elongated into… Fangs?
What the fuck?
With a running start, Ryker lunges at the wolf, and all I can do is stand there and watch the transformation take place. One second I’m looking at the tattooed man I’ve been with all day, and the next I’m looking at the black wolf that occupies my dreams. I can’t even gasp in surprise because, like my legs, everything else has stopped working, all I do is stand there slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
I want to blame what I’m seeing on the concussion from last night, but I can feel the ground shake as the two wolves charge each other, and the rush of air blow over me when the black wolf flies past me.
The black wolf—Ryker—slams into the red wolf, and it’s a mess of claws and teeth before they finally come to a standstill a few yards away.
They slowly circle each other, each of them waiting for the other to make a move. It’s the red wolf that finally grows impatient and attempts to take a bite out of the black wolf’s leg.
But the black wolf is quicker and swats his attacker away with a large paw, wasting no time on a counterattack. He springs, and his teeth sink into the shoulder of the red wolf.
The smaller wolf cries out in pain and uses his sharp claws to scratch and swipe at Ryker’s face, who has no option but to let go or be blinded by his opponent.
The red wolf is smaller, but he’s quick. He moves so fast I barely see it happen, but suddenly he has hold of the black wolf’s leg, and the sound of bones snapping makes me cover my mouth in horror. The black wolf throws his head back in a howl of pain, and it causes something in my heart to break.
No!
I did not spend the past ten months dreaming and obsessing over this black wolf to watch it die protecting me. I reach down and find a decent-sized rock, and without much hesitation, I hurl it at the red wolf’s head.
The satisfying clunk it makes when it connects with his skull is short-lived with its soulless eyes looking at me. He lets go of Ryker’s front leg and charges me.
I’m only able to back up a couple feet when my foot snags on a tree root, and I land on my butt. The red wolf’s teeth are only inches away when they try to bite down on my leg, but something pulls it away just in time.
Looking over the red wolf’s shoulder, I find Ryker’s teeth locked onto its back leg, and the snapping noise of the red wolf’s leg is a welcomed sound.
Moving so fast I barely caught the movement at all, the black wolf releases the hind leg and shoots forward, his powerful jaw locking onto the red wolf’s neck. The smaller wolf doesn’t even see it coming and doesn’t have time to react when his jugular is crushed. It makes a whimpering noise, and after a minute or so of struggling, it finally stills.
The black wolf shakes his head in an action similar to what a dog would do with its favorite chew toy in its mouth. He shakes the lifeless animal, a low growl emitting from his throat, and all I do is watch, not knowing what I’m supposed to do.
The sound of movement behind me makes me turn around, and I gasp when three more wolves enter the clearing, all various shades of silver, gray, and black. The two larger ones head for where the black wolf refuses to drop his prey while the smaller silver wolf slinks over to where I still sit on the ground.
“Oh, no,” I whisper nervously. After the past twenty-four hours, I have the right to be a little gun-shy around these animals. “Nice wolfy?” To my surprise, the animal makes a noise I swear sounds like a laugh. “Are you laughing at me?”
The animal shakes its large head before turning to watch the other three. The two larger wolves are softly barking and whining at the black wolf, trying to get his attention away from the carcass. I cringe when I see the blood dripping from his mouth.
“That’s disgusting,” I say aloud, even though I know no one will answer me.
But my words catch the attention of the black wolf—of Ryker?—whose big head whirls around to look at me. It’s as if he forgot I was sitting here, too preoccupied with his kill. Those golden eyes I’ve spent so much time thinking about, look at me, and then back at the animal in its mouth. I can tell he’s conflicted between giving up his prey and coming to me.
Slowly, I rise to my feet and the silver wolf that’s been at my side shifts with me, refusing to move from my left side, its large body so close to mine its fur brushes against my bare legs.
On instinct, I speak to the black wolf. “Are you planning on chewing on that the rest of the day, or are you going to drop it?” I ask, my voice soft, being careful to not spook him. “Because I have so many fucking questions, and I don’t think I’m going to be getting any answers if you don’t let that nasty thing go.”
Another low whine escapes his throat as he watches me. I know he wants to come to me, so I decide to force the issue. I turn my back on him and slowly walk away, hoping he’ll want to come to me more than he wants to protect his kill.
I take deep breaths as I walk toward the edge of the clearing, and the sound of bones snapping behind me causes me to stop and turn around. I’m pretty sure my jaw hits the ground because when I look behind me, all four of the Weylyn siblings are standing butt-ass-naked where the wolves had previously been.
“Oh, fuck!” I gasp, looking at all four of them. I quickly realize I’m staring at their very naked bodies and whirl back around, covering my eyes as I do. “What the hell is happening? How is any of this possible, and why are you naked?”
“Pru,” Remi says, speaking first, “We wanted to tell you sooner, but Addison said we had to wait for her to get back. And we’re naked because our clothes can’t make the change with us.”
“The change?”
“When we shift in or out of our wolf form,” Ryker explains. I hear footsteps coming up behind me, and I don’t have to turn to know that it’s him. I just know.
“Your wolf form? I... Wait, what—what are you saying?” I stammer, at a complete loss for words. “You’re…werewolves?” I choke out while still refusing to look back at them.
“We prefer the term wolf shifters, but yes, basically, we’re werewolves.” A hand grips my shoulder, and the electric current that shoots from it confirms its Ryker. I can’t help but shy away from his touch. It hurts me to do so, but this is all way too much.
“Will you please look at me?”
“How is this possible?” I ask him, and I reluctantly turn around to face him. I keep my eyes on his chest, afraid to look anywhere else. They all seem to be very comfortable in their nude state, but I’m so not okay with it.
“We need to go back home,” he says softly. “We’ll explain everything there.”
“We’re supposed to wait for her aunt,” Ranger reminds him, walking behind Ryker.
“I’m not waiting anymore. She saw us shift, and she just watched me kill another wolf. She’s needs answers now,” Ryker argues, and quite frankly, I couldn’t agree more. There’s no way I’m waiting until tomorrow for Addison to come back to get my answers.
The sound of bones popping and cracking makes us all turn around. The dead wolf that had been lyin
g there had now shifted into a redheaded man. His throat is a bloody mess, and his leg is bent at a strange angle.
“Holy shit,” I breathe.
“Pretty cool, right?” Ransom asks, a stupid grin on his face.
“Dude, shut up!” Remi reaches around Ranger and slaps Ransom on the back of his head.
I look at the ground the whole walk back to the campsite, stumbling once only to have Ryker reach out to steady me, but I pull my arm out of his reach.
I feel horrible I’ve refused his touch twice now, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to be acting right now. So many things have happened in the past hour, and I need some time to come to grips with it.
I sigh in relief when we get back to camp. When I was running, I hadn’t realized how far I had gone, but the walk back was shockingly long. I guess when you’re able to move at superhuman speed, it doesn’t seem far.
“I’m going to run back to give them a heads up,” Ranger tells the group before shifting into a large gray and black wolf.
“Is this my new normal?” I wonder aloud.
“Would that be so bad?” Remi asks, her blue eyes soft as she looks up from digging in a bag for a change of clothes. “We’re still the same people we were before. You just know more about us now.”
A pang of guilt hits me when I think about the secrets I’ve kept from her. None of them as big as I grow a tail and howl at the moon, but still, I could have told her about my dreams or my sleepwalking. Or about the golden glow I see around her brother even now as I watch him change into a pair of athletic shorts.
“It’s a lot to take in Remi,” I finally answer.
“I understand, but just keep an open mind. Everything is going to make sense to you soon.” She reaches over and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’m so glad we can finally tell you. You have no idea how hard it is to keep a secret.”
“Trust me, I know how hard it is to keep a secret.” I push my blonde hair off my sweaty forehead, wishing I had a hairband.
Wolf Bound (The White Wolf Prophecy Book 1) Page 9