Page 40 of Hunted

The trees and other foliage didn’t make a sound either. They were usually as noisy as the animals, but with no wind to whip through them, they waited in silence.

When Nic finally sat down, and the Moonstone pack wolves could eat, Abigail scooped spoons of food onto her plate. Luke helped her, handing her bowls of food that were passed down the table, which she then handed to Nic.

As the night passed, and the wolves began to relax while the heat lessened slightly, Abigail found herself leaning on Nic while holding Luke’s hand.

She was surprised. Neither man, neither alpha, seemed to mind that she touched both of them at the same time. In fact, Luke and Nic kept up a spirited conversation above her head for most of the evening.

Dinner finished just before midnight. After helping clean up, Abigail and Luke walked out to where the pack waited to shift into their animal forms.

“Are you ready?” She turned to Luke and took his hands in hers.

He looked around him, looked at the wolves in their human forms as they shifted. “I’m ready. I think a good run is just what I need,” he said before he leaned down and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead.

When he pulled away, Abigail saw that several of the wolves of the Moonstone pack were looking at them with dark expressions on their faces.

They had become used to Abigail’s presence, and they had also become used to seeing her with Dominic. But now Luke was on the scene, too.

Do they think I’m betraying their alpha? Even though Nic can see everything we’re doing?

Abigail couldn’t help but worry over it as she and Luke strolled over to join the other wolves.

“Abigail! Luke!” Nic was calling them from where he stood at the front of the pack. “You two are running with me tonight.”

That was when the shift began. Abigail called for the wolf inside her, and the beast was only too happy to come out. The muscles in her face hardened and lengthened. Razor-sharp claws on heavy paws replaced hands and feet. And shocking, pitch-black fur spurted from her skin. Her spine curved and her canines extended over her lower lip, as her mouth and nose became a muzzle.

Dominic and Luke stood on either side of her, and they shifted into their wolf forms, too.

Abigail looked up to the moon as Nic let out a loud, growling howl. The silvery-white moon seemed to bounce off her silver-gray wolf’s eyes, and this sent light careening into the sky.

The rest of the wolves howled in unison, and Abigail found herself pawing the ground nervously while howling along with Nic, too.

Luke gave a gruff bark, as Nic arched his back and then broke into a sprint.

Both men, both wolves, both alphas, were beautiful in their wolf forms, Abigail thought as they followed Nic. But she couldn’t continue thinking about either of them as the wolf took over. She took a backseat in her own mind, and let the most feral parts of her take control.

Suddenly, Abigail could see, and hear, and smelleverything. She was sure that, if she stuck her tongue out, she’d be able to taste everything, too. Including the moonlight.

Her eyesight sharpened, and her pupils dilated, letting in more light and more color so that, despite the darkness, she could see the very edges of each needle on each pine tree in the entire forest. She could smell herself, too. Her presence in the forest was a blaze of soft moss, cloves, and roses. It seemed out of place against the sharp tang of the pine trees and the soft velvet of the sugar maples.

I belong here,she told herself fiercely.

And she believed the words.

As much as she knew and believed that she belonged with the Crimson Claw pack, she had also found a place in the Moonstone pack.

With Dominic.

With Nic.

With him and beside him.

Her heart raced, and Abigail wasn’t sure if it was the run or the concepts that were taking shape in her mind.

The thud of her heartbeat flooded her ears then until she could hear nothing else. Strong, steady, and fast, it urged her forward until Abigail looked down and realized that what she was hearing was the pounding of more than two dozen claws on the thick layer of pine needles on the forest floor.

I can’t distinguish between the two. I can’t tell if I’m hearing my heart beating, or if I am hearing the sounds of my pack running.

The realization frightened and elated her at the same time.

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