Page 46 of Rivers and Roads

It was four days later when I glanced into the mirror after a shower to find a flash of blue in my eyes. I had noticed the color shifting since the heat, but it wasn’t the first sign that my body was starting to revert back to the way it was. The night after our in-town date, Zane had pinned me to the bed and ate my ass for so long, I was sobbing into the pillow, but there was still no slick. The lube we picked up from the supermarket filled in nicely, but I found myself missing what my body had been.

Zane didn’t seem to mind, but there was a small piece of me afraid that the moment I was a Beta again, with no traces of the change, he’d start to realize I wasn’t what he wanted at all. But it wasn’t the time or place for that sort of crisis, so when I stared at myself and saw my old eyes looking back at me, I allowed myself a single moment to breathe, and then I met the Alpha in the living room.

We were heading into town for another supply run, and it was all I could do to meet his gaze without flinching. He seemed to notice, even though the newborn bond that had formed between us had all-but disappeared, and he immediately climbed to his feet.

He was across the room in an instant, taking my face between both of his hands, and he kissed me filthy and open-mouthed until my toes were curling in my boots.

“Stop panicking,” he murmured against my lips.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to shrug him off. “I’m not. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know what you’re thinking, Orion. I don’t need to feel your emotions to know you’re worried.” He stroked his thumbs over my cheeks, then took a step back and released me. “I want you just as much now as I did when you were overwhelming me with heat pheromones.”

That was obviously not true. In the times we’d fucked—which were more than I had fucked anyone in a long time considering there was little else to do in the cabin—he hadn’t once grown a knot. And I knew that it wasn’t everything, that it didn’t mean he didn’t want me, but it was hard not to take it personally.

“I’m alright,” I told him. It was partially true, which would have to be good enough.

He didn’t put up a fight as we headed out to the car, but I noticed he was a little more tense on the drive in. We headed across town to a little gourmet supermarket with local produce, and when he put the car in park, he didn’t get out right away.

After a beat, I looked at him with a frown, and I noticed a line of tension that hadn’t been there before. “You okay?”

He started to nod, then shook his head. “Something’s…” He licked his lips, and I realized he was probably feeling his brother. Fear crept up my spine, because him losing what little family he had left was too real, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Is it Danyal?”

His brow furrowed deeper. “I…no. No. He’s still…” He stopped, then dragged his hand down his face. “It’s something else, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

The moment he mentioned it, I realized he was right. There was something in the air—a shift in the mood, but I couldn’t begin to know what it was. I could feel Kor in the bond still and nothing had changed, but I couldn’t deny it felt like we were standing at the edge of a cliff, overwhelmed with the desire to jump.

“Let’s get shopping, then we can call Kor when we get back to the cabin.” We’d only spoken to the Alpha once, the morning after my heat. He sent messages every now and again, but they always remained the same: stay where you are. I was starting to feel the cabin fever setting in, and I didn’t want to think about how much longer we were going to be left out there.

Zane didn’t argue with my suggestion, so we headed for the sliding doors, and he took my hand as we stepped in. The place always smelled faintly of dirt and butcher shop blood, which wasn’t entirely appetizing, but I liked that it was quiet.

I let Zane take the lead as he pulled me toward the bakery, and I got a little lost looking at the vast array of little cakes in the window when I heard his heart begin to pound. Glancing over my shoulder, Zane was leaning on the counter, staring at one of the TVs that was playing a news clip in the dining area.

“Hey,” I started, but his hand flew up to quiet me.

With a frown, I turned my attention to the person on screen, and for an impossible second, I thought it was Misha. The man in the suit with the perfectly styled hair had Misha’s face, but as I tuned my hearing in on him, he had a different voice.

It was pitched nasal and arrogant, like any politician.

“…my pleasure to announce my bid for President. But more than that, I am announcing my bid to unify both the Wolf and Human communities. We have been separated by war for too long, and the only way we will be able to find a path to true peace is to come together under one government. For the good of us all.”

For the good of us all. The last line sent chills through me. It was the same rhetoric that had been used during segregation, and then when the first bombs dropped. And again after every mass killing of our people.

For the good of us all.

When I looked over at Zane again, I realized he was more shaken than just hearing those words, though. He had gone completely pale, and his jaw was trembling like he was freezing. Dropping my little handbasket, I took him by the back of the neck, sinking in my claws as I spun him and pressed his forehead to my own.

“Let’s get out of here. Right now.”

He didn’t fight me when I pulled him to the exit. He was entirely too pliant as we hurried to the car, and he sank boneless onto the passenger seat. I got in, but I didn’t start the engine right away. Turning to him, I wanted to reach out, but he seemed lost in his head. His eyes were wide, but unseeing, and he was biting his lower lip so hard, I could see blood pooling in the corner of his mouth.

“Zane,” I said after a beat.

He blinked rapidly, then sucked in a breath through his nose. “That was him.”

It took me a moment to realize what he was saying, and then I felt ice in my veins. “The man on TV…”

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