The sight of him being tossed into a fire by another shapeshifter was enough to make her fear she’d never see him ever again. Lifen had taught her more about healing and helping a shifter with the sickness. Since it was something she’d never be able to practice without doing it for real, she decided there wasn’t any time to waste. Chance needed her and she couldn’t just lay around in Lifen’s multimillion dollar property while his life was in danger. Not going to happen. Did he ever think about the consequences before leaping to save her?
She looked up her geo location on her phone and dialed his number. It rang and then went to voicemail. The sound of his voice on the message made her heart squeeze in her chest. It had been too long since she’d heard him in person.
“Chance . . . it’s me. I just dreamt you were in trouble. I don’t know if I’m too late or not—oh God, I hope I’m not. I’m leaving to find you, wherever you are. I’m outside Banff in Canada. I know you’re in the snow, so I hope you’re not far. Call me when you get this, or you can find me somewhere near the coordinates . . .” Ana mumbled the array of numbers that her phone had dictated. “I love you. Stay alive.”
She hung up and set her phone back down on the side table. Without thinking about her recklessness, she slipped out from under her covers and stood at her dresser. How would she travel, and did she even know what direction she was going? She knew the fastest way to travel, but it would be hard to bring her phone or a wrap, unless . . .
Ana searched through her belongings and found a small bag with a thin strap. She placed her phone securely inside and, after another thought, opened a drawer. Although she hadn’t been wearing the obsidian necklace that Balam had given her for protection, she’d kept it close. The memory of it left her sad. She lifted up Chance’s bear heartline on a leather band and the jade jaguar that he’d left behind at Balam’s.
Ana would see him again, and she would return them to him. She hoped the hemlock-laced talisman wasn’t needed, but not bringing it wouldn’t be wise. Before leaving her room, she took a colorful sarong she’d brought from Mexico and looped it around her neck. As silently as possible, she unlatched her door and looked toward Lifen’s room. On tiptoe, Ana crept down the hallway, trying not to think about her mentor or friends and what they’d think when they found her room empty in the morning. Leaving a note would be the kind thing to do, but she didn’t want to take the time. Every second might count when it came to saving Chance from his attacker.
She slipped from the house and wound her way up the path to the driveway. Stars painted the cloudless sky. On any other night she would have allowed herself to get distracted by the beautiful palette above her. The frigid air was hardly noticeable and she realized her bare feet didn’t register the icy ground at all.
Ana set the small purse and sarong on the ground and faced out toward the lake that glimmered in the moonlight. Rather than allowing her fear and worry to take control, she focused on what she needed. And that was direction.
She didn’t know what she was doing, but she hoped the connection she’d had with Chance when she was sleeping would guide her now. So, she closed her eyes and meditated quietly, calling on the bright light within. Energy flowed throughout her body and the hairs on her arms stood on end. Chance’s face skimmed her thoughts. When she reopened her eyes, she realized she’d repositioned herself, facing west.
During her stay at Lifen’s, she’d mastered the finch despite her eagerness to learn more aviary forms. Her mentor had insisted on a slower approach to shapeshifting lessons, but in that moment it didn’t matter. She had another mapping, thanks to Chance’s memories.
The bird’s form traced itself in her thoughts. Blue lines etched its shape. Power wasn’t lacking as Ana absorbed the energy around her. Her arms transformed into wings and feathers layered over her body like shingles on a roof. When she was done shifting, she stepped on top of her bag and cloth wrap, securing her talons around them.
Exhilarated to take on a larger bird form and eager to take to the skies, Ana stretched her wings out and scooped at the air. She lifted off the ground, which took a little effort with the added baggage, but once she rose above the trees and caught a current, she was off.
So many nights she’d listened to the soothing song of the horned owl in the pines around her house, felt its eyes on her as she gazed at the stars in sadness. Now, it was Ana who would use Chance’s nighttime form to guard him from harm.
Batukhan leaned back onto his rear haunches, preparing to attack Chance again. He impacted Chance’s prostrate body and growled in his ear.
Let him think he’s in control a little longer and then end it.
Chance did little to protect himself or attack back. Just as Batukhan was beginning to realize this, a sound that seemed out of place in the setting distracted them both. They looked over at Batukhan’s pack.
Ring, ring, ring.
It was Chance’s phone. Sure, it could be his mother calling, but then again, it might be Ana. Calling to tell him where she was.
Time to get moving. I don’t need to waste my time with this guy any more. He’s nowhere near as valuable as Ana.
Without hesitation, Chance pushed Batukhan off of him and he shifted into a cobra. His hood extended out from his head while his forked tongue licked the air. Chance coiled and struck at the blue wolf’s abdomen. His teeth sank into flesh and he held on, the worst yet to come.
A flicker of blue lines traced throughout Chance’s furry adversary, and he pulled at its energy, like yanking at the loose thread of a sweater. Batukhan’s power leached out of him, leaving a green glow in its wake. The blue wolf snapped his teeth at Chance’s long, muscular body that hung from his waist, but Chance let go before the wolf could reach him. He swept between Batukhan’s legs.
Chance slithered through the snow and thought of a new animal form. One that could help settle the fight now that he’d poisoned his opponent. His narrow body warped and grew into a hunched, yet sturdy, silverback gorilla. Hairy, black knuckles pressed into the ice and he barreled at Batukhan, who had limped around to face his attacker.
Wrapping his long arms around Batukhan, he squeezed as tight as he could. The wolf’s teeth sank into his neck, but the pain only excited him more. Ragged breathing rattled in his ear and he knew the wolf was close to passing out, but the creature shrank away until Chance was only grasping at air.
He looked all around and couldn’t see anything except a large area of disturbed snowfall where they’d fought. Chance returned to human form and squinted all around. He could feel powerful energy nearby, although that could have been Mac, who was still lying unconscious beside the fire. Wherever Batukhan was, he was hiding and likely wouldn’t come out until he’d recovered.
It didn’t matter to Chance anyway. Not right now. He had more important things to do.
He riffled through Batukhan’s bag until he found his cell phone and listened to his message. Ana’s concerned voice met his ear and his lips spread wide.
I wouldn’t normally switch hosts so quickly, but I’ve been looking for a woman like Ana for a long time. I hope she’s easier to tame.
Chance left his pile of clothes on the ground, slipped his pack around his neck and shifted into the blue wolf. He stalked into the night and stared up at the stars. Somewhere out there Ana was under the same sky, and he needed her. Like a dagger needs flesh to cut.
Chapter 23
Ana hoped she wasn’t just following her instincts in the wrong direction. She’d been flying for some time, keeping Chance in her thoughts. Her talons were tired of gripping her purse and sarong, but she didn’t want to slow down. She passed over roads and a few buildings, but for the most part, it was just snowy wilderness.
Her left wing dipped down and she moved south in a large arc. When the urge to continue in a circle pulled at her, she let herself drift down to a lower altitude. Forced to sweep her head back and forth to see the landscape with her nighttime eyes, she settled on a shape moving across the sno
w.
Could it be Chance? She was ready to find out.
Ana glided down at least fifty feet from the animal and found a place to land that wasn’t covered in snow—a bare tree trunk with wiry branches. Its skeletal shape cast a frightening shadow on the glittery white carpet from the full moon. Her talons had to let go of her belongings so she could grab hold of a branch. They fell into the pristine snow below. She lunged forward precariously and had to flap her wings to right herself.
While she kept her eyes on the indistinct animal cutting a path through the snow, she hopped down to the ground and shifted back to human form. She plucked her sarong from its impact point and wrapped herself quickly. Her heart rattled away in her chest, unsure what to do now. If it was Chance, should she have misgivings for her own safety? Would he really hurt her? She thought of Lifen’s story and decided to risk it.
“Chance? Is that you?” Ana called out and stumbled forward through the deep snowdrift.
The animal turned its head to the side and raced over the crest of the hill. It quickly disappeared and Ana grabbed hold of the dead tree trunk she had landed on moments earlier. Her breaths came out as gasps and she tried to hold back the urge to cry. She must have been delusional when she went flying into the night thinking she could actually find Chance with her weird telepathic ability. Now she was lost in the Canadian mountains and she wasn’t even confident she’d be able to make her way back home.
Snow thumped on the ground from a grove of pines to her right. She turned and her breath caught in her throat.
A man stepped out from the shadow of the trees. His black, shaggy hair fell into his hazel eyes and the corners of his mouth curled up. A backpack hung down from his neck, covering him below his belly button.
“Chance,” Ana whispered.
Tears spilled out from the corners of her eyes and her hands shook while she wiped them away. He was alive.
“You were in a fight with another shapeshifter,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I thought you were going to die.”
Ana stepped toward him, eager to feel his arms wrap her in a tight embrace. It had been too long since his lips had met hers, although the closer she got, the more wary she became. He made no move to reciprocate her feelings. She paused, waiting for some kind of response. His smile wasn’t quite right. It was more of a sneer. Her focus traveled up to his cold eyes and her thoughts turned to the moments before he left her in Mexico. When his icy stare appraised her hungrily.
“You don’t need to worry about that.” His voice was the same, although something was different. “I can’t die.”
“What do you mean you can’t die?” The question hung in the air and she realized something was very wrong. Besides the fact that this was going very differently than she had imagined, she started to question if the guys had been right about approaching Chance with caution. It was too late now to change her mind. It was all or nothing.
“You’ll see.”
His lips parted into a wide toothy grin and fur rippled down his arms and chest. A snout protruded from his face and he lowered onto all fours. In seconds, the largest wolf she’d ever seen was licking its lips only ten feet away.
Ana’s heartbeat thundered in her ears and she tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. Whoever this man was, he wasn’t the person she’d fallen in love with. The sickness had run its course, and the only way to help him now was to get him to allow her to remove the foreign energy from him. To let her heal him. Would his love for her be strong enough so she could convince him? She wasn’t sure, but her love for him was strong enough to hold her here and try.
Black eyes stared at Ana with a hunger that frightened her. Getting him to cooperate would be near impossible. But that would not stop her. He would give his life for her, and she was willing to do the same for him. He was her mate, her soul mate.
“Chance, I love you and I know you love me,” Ana said while she eased backward, taking small steps. “I can help you if you let me. I can try to remove the voices, but you have to let me in.”
The wolf mirrored her movement, following her away from the pines. He lowered his head and the hackles on his back rose all the way down to his tail.
Chills ran down Ana’s spine and she narrowed her eyes. “I know you’re in there. Somewhere.”
She stared down the malicious beast, searching for some glimmer of the man she loved, and hoped she was right.
Chance put his weight on his hindquarters and prepared to launch. His ears flattened to his head and his lips lifted to expose his teeth. He leapt straight at Ana and collided into her body, knocking her into the snow. Perched on her chest and abdomen, he dropped his jaw to her shoulder and clamped down.
Ana’s scream pierced the silence of the night. She gasped for air and began to whimper. Pain gripped her flesh. Spasms of electricity shot down her arm and into her neck. Her shock gave way to the need to do something. It wasn’t in her to fight back, but she had to act. Protect herself. So she did the only thing she could think of.
The pain made it hard to focus, but she tried compartmentalizing it away from her mind. Once she beckoned to the butter-yellow energy that coursed through her body, it seemed to push against the violation of her flesh. A simple mapping came to her and she relaxed into the change. Soon, her body was falling below the snowline and Chance no longer held her between his teeth. She fluttered out from beneath him and took to the skies.
The finch’s eyesight was quite different from the owl’s and she couldn’t see clearly where she was going, so she pointed her body upward and lifted higher. A loud screech came from behind and she knew it had to be Chance. She pumped her wings as fast as she could and tucked in one side, letting herself swoop at a sharp angle to the left. Now she was falling back down to the earth. She could feel gravity pulling her down.
She’d never had this much demanded of her and she’d never had the type of training that Chance received from Balam, but she had to survive. Without knowing how far from the ground she was, she called on the horned owl’s mapping and initiated the shift. She could feel the drag of her widening wings as she held them out to slow her decent and then the adjustment in her eyes. Nearly twenty feet from the ground, she held out her wings to their full breadth and kissed the snow with her talons before lifting back into the sky. Her tiny bird heart fluttered noisily in her chest and she moved her head from side to side, searching for Chance.
She flew along the curvature of the ridgeline, a piece of land that was coated white with very few trees interrupting its rise. Ana tilted her head so she could see her shadow rippling across the ground, but then another dark smudge joined hers.
That was when the pain began again. Sharp talons dug in around her torso. She flapped her wings wildly in desperation. Her struggles caused him to loosen his grip and they sank closer to the ground. She twisted her body in an attempt to face him and pecked at his chest. Moments later, they went careening into a snowdrift.
Ana knew she couldn’t overpower him, or outfight him. Plus, she didn’t want to. This would only fuel his imbalance. It might be risky, but she needed to follow her instincts, so she shifted back to her human form, sat up and waited.
Chapter 24
Confusion clouded Chance’s mind as he stared out at her from the impact crater they’d made in the snow. Ana’s face glowed white in the moonlight and her cheeks flushed red. He tried to remember why he was attacking her, but couldn’t.
You want her to kill you. She must kill you.
Different animal shapes flipped through his mind like a picture book, and he tried to settle on one that would frighten her into action. A tiger or lion would scare anyone.
But she would never hurt me. It’s not in her nature.
His insides twisted and hatred curdled his thoughts. Anyone will fight back given the right circumstances.
While the internal battle waged on, he suddenly realized he was no longer a feathered eagle. He’d shifted back into his human
form and was sitting waist deep in fluffy snow.
“Chance.”
Ana’s thin hand touched the side of his face. He couldn’t fight the urge to close his eyes at her caress. Don’t let that siren weaken you. Fight back. Force her hand. He could barely hold back the tide of aggression and hunger that clawed at the confines of his soul.
“Look at me.” Her voice was so full of emotion that the words caught in her throat.
He did as she asked of him and found himself staring into her emerald eyes, transfixed with her natural beauty. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. Did she only just appear? No, he knew he’d been chasing her, but it was like he’d been watching everything happen over the last many hours from a detached vantage point, ever since Mac had helped him push aside the other personalities in his head.
“Ana.” He gasped her name and placed his hand on her neck, drawing her close enough so their foreheads touched. “I’ve missed you.”
Her warm breath billowed out and brushed against his skin. Tears welled in her eyes and poured down her quivering cheeks. After weeks of mental exhaustion and torture, he needed to feel safe and loved. Being separated from the one person that made him want to exist was reason alone for going mad, but now, his home, his soul mate, was sharing the same air as him and he wanted to savor the moment.
Chance wrapped his free arm around her bare back and his lips found hers. He tasted her salty tears and kissed her with the hunger of a man frightened of never seeing his love again. When she sputtered for air, he settled for kissing her cheeks, jaw and neck. Her rattling breaths made his heart thunder in his chest and he wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let her go.
“Chance . . . slow down.” Ana sighed and the sound made his stomach twist in knots. He didn’t want to slow down; he wanted to devour her—he wanted to absorb everything she was. It was his negative reaction to being told to slow down that alerted him that she was right.
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