First Bite (The Dark Wolf Series)

by Dani Harper

  “That’s because it’s not you. It’s your wolf. Like I said, it needs fuel.”

  She stopped abruptly then and allowed the food to drop from her fingers to the floor. “No way. I’m not giving this, this monster one bit more—”

  Her words disappeared in a huge gasp as every muscle in her body suddenly spasmed at once, then cramped tight as if she was being squeezed to death in a giant’s grip. A long minute passed, then two, before it released her and eased away. Slowly she became aware of Travis’s big hand firmly engulfing her shoulder.

  “You’re okay,” he said. “Just breathe. The moon’s getting higher, and you’re going to Change soon, that’s all.”

  That’s all? Nooo, no, no, no, no, no! She wasn’t doing this. She was supposed to end her life so she didn’t end up a pawn of Meredith’s, so she didn’t hurt anybody, so she didn’t savage the people she loved. She had to do something and do it fast. They were speeding down a dark highway, and she wondered frantically if she should jump—

  She hadn’t fully formed the thought before the creature, the thing within her, flat-out panicked. Like a captive animal scrabbling with its front paws in a futile effort to dig its way out of a cage, she could feel the entity struggling inside. Unconsciously, Neva thrashed and slapped at her arms, her legs, her chest, as she felt the creature fighting its way to the surface.

  “Be calm!” Travis’s commanding voice overrode the fearful thoughts scampering and clawing in her brain, and his comforting grip on her shoulder turned to iron as he gave her a teeth-rattling shake. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you. You’re safe with me; I won’t let you be hurt.”

  The terror—hers and that of the thing inside—eased away, and she took a full breath, finding her voice at last. “Nothing bad? I’m going to turn into what you are, and you say nothing bad is going to happen to me?”

  Although he was driving, he turned his head to look at her, his blue eyes intent. “I wasn’t talking to you, Neva. I was talking to your wolf. It’ll make things worse if you frighten it.”

  If she frightened it? She had no idea how to respond to that notion. Nevertheless, the animal within her settled into stillness, and she could almost pretend it wasn’t there. Almost. Except she could now view every detail of the countryside they were passing, each tree and house and fence line. If they slowed down, she knew she’d be able to see every leaf and blade of grass as well. Everything was vivid and distinct despite the time of night, and all silvered by the light of the full moon. Her hearing was keener, too, and she could hear insects, frogs, and night birds even over the sound of the truck’s engine and the noise of the wheels on the road.

  She’d run out of time. It was all Travis’s fault, too. If only he hadn’t interfered. If only he hadn’t come back for her—

  Neva sighed. She wasn’t one for indulging in if onlys—if she did, the long, heavy list of if onlys in her life would weigh her down to her knees and she’d never get up again. No point in cringing in terror, either. The creature inside her had succeeded in weirding her out, but she wasn’t going to let it pull a stunt like that again. And she was going to put up a helluva fight if the beast thought for one moment it was going to be in charge.

  So. She was going to be a werewolf, and there wasn’t a single damn thing she could do about it. Was there a bright side to this, any spark at all in the blackness ahead? Maybe I could bite Travis…

  Travis had no idea what the woman seated next to him was thinking, only that she’d settled down and so had her wolf. It was unusual for Changelings to regard their alter egos as separate entities. He was one of the few who did. Maybe it was harder for him to reconcile the beast as part of himself because of what it had once done. For Neva, it was obviously tough to accept this new side of her because she just plain didn’t want it. And what she was about to go through wouldn’t make her any more fond of the wolf.

  Telltale green fire was overwhelming the golden brown of her eyes as perspiration ran freely down her face. He had to hurry now and wished they’d left sooner. But she’d been so exhausted, so in need of rest in order to recover from the long ride, from her injuries, and to prepare for tonight. He let his foot get heavy, and the speedometer climbed—

  And red and blue lights flashed in the rearview mirror. “Goddammit,” he muttered and glanced at Neva. She was hunched over now, shuddering and gasping, and there was foam at the corner of her mouth. To human eyes, she’d look like an overdosed druggie—and an ambulance would be called, pronto. Christ. There was only one thing to do in a situation like this.

  He floored it.

  Travis had chosen the truck for some very deliberate reasons. One, the interior reeked like an ashtray, excruciating to Changeling noses. It was giving him a helluva headache, but it would help hide their scent from anyone—or anything—that might be tracking Neva. Two, the truck had tires designed for off-road use and four-wheel drive. And three, there was a customized, big-ass engine under the hood that (hopefully) could outrun most things on the road. Even now the pickup was leaping forward like a cheetah on steroids.

  Predictably, a wailing siren now accompanied the lights. Not so predictably, his pursuer was keeping pace with him. It wasn’t gaining, thankfully—but not being shaken off either. If Travis slowed down enough to turn off onto a side road, the cop car might gain on him. If he turned at high speed, he’d roll the damn truck. If he stayed on the highway, sooner or later, another cop car—or even a chopper—would intercept him. And a long, low moan from Neva let him know that she could shift anytime now.

  As Travis drove at speeds that would have done a moonshiner proud, he could swear that his inner wolf whined. Actually whined, as if in sympathy with the woman in the passenger seat. “Dammit, this is your fault,” he said to his alter ego. “You wanted to save her, then you wanted to follow her, and then you insisted we had to go get her. Now look at the mess we’re in. This is what happens when we get involved.” A quick glance showed that Neva didn’t appear to have heard him, and he told himself he didn’t care if he did. She didn’t want him around anyway, right?

  Except he couldn’t oblige her. He was involved now, dammit, and he’d see her through her Change no matter what. And somehow keep her from falling into human hands.

  Suddenly, like a twig sprouting from a branch, a dirt road angled off sharply from the highway. Still, it took all his skill and a good deal of his Changeling strength on the wheel to keep the truck on at least two of its four wheels as he bore into the turnoff. In the rearview, the cop car fishtailed wildly from one side of the road to the other as it also swung into the turn. Still following them, but Travis was able to open up his lead. Suddenly, a huge black-and-white something appeared in his headlights, forcing him to veer off the road. He almost lost control then, plowing over stands of willow saplings that had overgrown the wet, shallow ditch, but somehow he managed to keep the truck level and get it back on the road.

  Heart pounding, a glance over his shoulder showed Travis that the black-and-white thing he’d nearly hit was a frickin’ cow—and a whole lot of its friends had joined it. The wandering herd was all over the road, standing squarely between him and the cop car, and even now, the flashing lights were diminishing in the rearview mirror.

  Slowing to a mere breakneck pace, he thumped the steering wheel and laughed—until he got a look at Neva. Oh, Christ. Quickly he glanced around for another route, then turned off on an even rougher road, one that was probably little more than a goat path between miles of pastures. It took him as far as where the grazing land grew into forest, and he left the little road to plow the truck into the brush until he was satisfied that they couldn’t be seen. Neva arched and flailed as he pulled her out of the truck. Her eyes were completely green now.

  “Come on, honey, you need the earth’s energy,” he murmured as he carried her through the woods at a brisk jog. The brilliant moon dappled the entire forest with silver, and his natural night vision showed him every game trail through the thick underbrush
. He followed one to a tangle of fallen trees that formed an arching shelter over tall grass that was bent and trampled—a large buck had probably bedded here during the day. He set Neva down on the thick cushion of grass, drew the heavy leather coat away, and then stripped the thin pajamas from her fevered skin. “You’re going to kick my ass for this, right after you thank me.”

  He pulled his knife from his pocket and set to work on the casts.

  SIX

  Neva found herself in the midst of a nightmare—although she’d never felt such terrible pain in a dream before. She was trapped in her own body as it fought to become something else, something other. The bones in her face moved of their own volition, stretching, reshaping. Her back arched, and she screamed as her tailbone straightened and extended, as bone and muscle lengthened and shortened in her arms and legs. Her fingers released their agonized grip on the grass as they blunted and bound themselves into paws. Thousands of hot needles seemed to pierce her skin at once, and it crackled with static electricity as thick fur erupted everywhere. She felt all of these things and yet couldn’t awaken, couldn’t escape the nightmare. Couldn’t escape the pain. She struggled against it, fought it, and the agony immediately spiraled upward beyond anything she thought possible, until she felt as if she were being torn in two from the inside out. Stark terror set in as her body stubbornly refused to pass out.

  Don’t fight it, you’re making it worse.

  In the midst of the hell she was in, Travis’s voice was suddenly inside her head.

  Stop fighting, Neva. Relax and go with it. It’ll be over soon. Just hang on and go with it. You’re safe, I promise you that.

  Some of her panic subsided as she realized she wasn’t alone, and she clung to his words like a lifeline. Still, it seemed like hours before the pain began to ebb. When it did, she wasn’t certain where she was. It was as if the nightmare had eased into a dream, in which she stood in a forest clearing transformed by the moon’s cold rays into a pool of silver light. Suddenly a large, dark wolf emerged from the foliage and pranced into the clearing with tail high. It was a beautiful creature—its legs and face were glossy black, but the rest of its thick, ebony pelt had dark-chocolate highlights in its luxurious depths. Still, Neva caught her breath as it turned and looked directly at her. For an instant she wanted to run away, but something in the wolf’s body language calmed her. It bounded over to her, playful and friendly as a Labrador despite its much larger size.

  Finished now.

  Those words, triumphant and plain, were inside her head just as Travis’s voice had been. Yet they were definitely not her own—were they? Neva frowned at the strange feel of them, their odd intonation, as if the words hadn’t come from a human throat.

  You and me. One.

  Insight flashed—the wolf was speaking in her mind! She looked down into its joyfully grinning face, and she couldn’t help smiling back. Then she noticed its unusual eyes.

  “Omigod, those are—you are—it’s me!” The word one echoed in her brain over and over as she flailed awake.

  Neva found herself a wolf. And in the arms of the man who had helped her become one.

  Travis’s mouth quirked as Neva rolled upright and tried to stand, as wobbly legged as a fawn in her new body. She picked up a front foot and held it close to her eyes to examine it, splayed the clawed toes and wriggled them awkwardly. Then startled as her tail moved, and she turned to check it out as well. It eluded her at first, swinging away from her when she wanted to bring it closer, but eventually she got the hang of the muscles involved and succeeded in pinning her tail to the ground with a paw, long enough to nose at its long fur. She snuffled along the thick pelt that covered her ribs as well, fascinated by the strange tang of her new scent. Opened and closed her jaws a few times—and bit her tongue in the process, jumping backward in pain and surprise.

  He laughed out loud then, and she chuffed out a breath in annoyance and bared her teeth at him. He didn’t care. He needed to laugh at something out of sheer relief that she’d made it through the Change. She’d done well, too, in spite of having little or no preparation. In spite of her all-consuming fear.

  “Guess we better take that body out for a test drive,” he said. “Let’s walk down to the lake.”

  As he rose to his feet, he was foolish enough to turn his back to her—and she seized his left butt cheek with very sharp teeth in very strong jaws.

  The yell barely left his lips before instinct kicked in. In a heartbeat he shifted form, sending Neva flying into a thicket some twenty feet away in a shower of blue sparks.

  A few scattered sparks fell around Travis as well and winked out as they came in contact with the ground. The static leftovers of a Change left a distinctive whiff of ozone in the air, as if lightning was about to strike. Travis trotted in the direction Neva had been thrown, his alter ego royally pissed at him. Hell, he couldn’t blame the wolf for being upset—he was berating himself, too. Sure, a lot of years had passed, but how could he forget the hazards of being physically close to someone during the process? It was the first thing every shape-shifter child was taught. The build-up of energy could be downright dangerous, yet he hadn’t hesitated to Change or spared a thought to warn her. Whatever pack she’d come from clearly hadn’t bothered to tell her much of anything, either. He’d have something to say to them if he ever met up with them, especially her responsibility-shirking sire. For now, maybe he needed to find Neva a mentor or something…

  He found her lying on her side, gasping for breath in a tangle of elderberry, its bluish leaves gleaming under the bright night sky.

  I really hate you.

  It was loud and clear in his brain. Your first words. How sweet.

  Get out of my head. You’re not invited.

  This is how Changelings communicate as wolves. Get used to it. He picked his way through the bushes to get closer to her—although he was prepared to dodge if she decided to bite him again. Are you okay?

  My head hurts. No thanks to you.

  Yeah, well, my ass hurts. No thanks to you. Actually, it didn’t hurt a bit—shifting forms healed all but the most serious wounds. But he made a mental note not to turn his back on her again. Come on, let’s head down to the lake now. You could probably use a drink.

  Only if you have something a lot stronger than water down there. Tell me how to Change back.

  He stopped when he realized she wasn’t following him. What’s the problem?

  I said I want to Change back. I want to be human. Tell me how.

  Other than sapping most of her energy, there was no real reason she couldn’t do it. Except Travis suspected she’d never Change again. Not voluntarily, and that was a problem. The wolf could be controlled but not denied, and if she suppressed it long enough, eventually it would burst through on its own—and not necessarily at a convenient time. With a mental picture of Neva suddenly shifting to wolf form in the middle of a shopping mall, he made up a bullshit story out of some partial truths. “You need to move around a bit first, flex and stretch those muscles after what they’ve just been through. If you don’t, it could have a negative effect on your human body.” She studied his face with skepticism, and he was suddenly glad for all the poker games he’d played over the decades. “Your body’s got to have some time to recover, too, before you go shifting back to human. Not only did you just make your first Change, your injuries have healed up. That takes energy.”

  How long do I have to stay like this?

  A few hours—three or four at the very least. Later, you won’t need so much time.

  The moonlight dappled the forest floor as Travis loped easily through the brush. He could hear Neva behind him, struggling as she tried to run on four feet. Everyone had trouble with that at first—mostly because everyone approached it like a bipedal human. Relax and let your wolf take over.

  I’m not letting the damn wolf take over anything.

  The determination in her words was underpinned by fear. Travis slowed and waited for her to
catch up. He stepped off the trail, allowing her to go ahead.

  She showed her teeth at him as she passed. Don’t you even think about sniffing my butt!

  Well, there goes all my fun for the evening. He allowed her a respectable lead, then fell in behind and studied her gait. It was smooth as running water for a few yards, using the effortless ground-eating trot of natural wolves. It was obvious, however, when Neva wrestled control away from her alter ego. One foot would get out of sync and the trot dissolved into more of a lurch. Like trying to drive standard after a lifetime of automatic vehicles, Travis decided. As long as she had time to think about it, she was never going to relax and enjoy being a Changeling. He launched himself forward and blasted past her, nipping her ear along the way. Tag, you’re it.

  I’m not playing, you jerk.

  You’re just saying that because you can’t catch me. He stopped on the trail ahead, taunting her, wagging his tail and leaning over his front paws like a dog that wants to play. Neva might not want to join the game, but he was betting that her lupine side would love to.

  I could if I wanted to—hey!

  The dark wolf suddenly leaped ahead and charged straight for him. Travis barely had time to spin around and take off. To his surprise, Neva stopped fighting her animal persona and kept up with him. He dodged and feinted but couldn’t shake her off. The pair of them raced through the forest and out to the grassy shoreline of the lake, where they splashed through the reeds and shallows. Away from the trees, the full moon was blindingly white in a clear sky, reflecting brightly in the calm waters, and every drop of water the wolves disturbed was a bead of purest silver. Time slowed down, and Travis gave himself over to running for the pure joy of it, jaws grinning, tongue lolling. Neva appeared to do so as well, giving up the chase in favor of loping easily beside him.