Page 22 of Cursed Wolf

Two hours later, I was in wolf form and crossing the invisible boundary between Shyftworld and the human world. I hadn’t known this particular entrance existed until I followed my fate thread to Emmaline. This time, I was careful not to run across the country road leading into the human town where she lived.

My rear leg was still a bit stiff from the accident, and it would take another week or two for the muscles to fully regain strength. After a few miles of running though, I felt nearly good as new as I made my way toward the restaurant where Emmaline worked.

I’d stay far out of sight of any humans, of course. I just wanted to see her, or even pick up a fresh scent trail of hers. Just to make sure she was okay. If she hadn’t called me because she was sick or something, I’d feel like an asshole for whining.

A breeze picked up and I paused in my run, lifting my nose to scent the air. Emmaline’s fresh, lovely scent floated over me and I suppressed a growl of need. I still couldn’t quite pick up the notes that made her unique, but Fallon wasn’t wrong. I wanted to get close enough for a taste.

So she was working tonight, which meant she likely wasn’t sick. Meaning she chose not to call me or had tried and couldn’t get through.

A whine escaped my throat. My wolf was feeling insecure. He wanted her attention, her approval, and her hands in his fur. We’d just met this woman and as far as my animal was concerned, she had already rejected us. He couldn’t understand it, not after she’d been so relieved that we’d chased off her creepy boss. We succeeded in protecting her. Did that not make us a worthy mate?

There was no reasoning with animal instincts. The best I could do was rein in my wolf, keep him under control while I pursued Emmaline the human way.

A door opened and my ears perked up, every muscle going still as a statue. Human voices, three of them, floated out into the still night air. Two female, one male. My wolf let out an excited huff at the sound of Emmaline’s voice, our favorite sound in the world.

I crept through the trees and underbrush, staying out of sight of the humans as I followed the sound of their voices. Car doors opened and closed, then engines turned over. One set of footsteps continued to walk. Emmaline’s. She and the others must have just finished work for the night.

Staying among the trees lining the street, I followed her home. She walked briskly and I kept a few paces behind, my nose and eyes steadily focused on her. To my relief, it was a short walk to her apartment. I hung back while she dug her keys out, careful not to step on a twig like the last time I saw her home.

Even though I didn’t make a sound, Emmaline abruptly stopped trying to unlock her door and turned around.

Shit! I’m not here. You don’t see me. If I kept saying that to myself, it would make it work, right?

It didn’t work. She hit the flashlight on her phone and the bright beam immediately reflected my eyes.

“Fuck!” she exclaimed but didn’t seem frightened. Instead, she extended her arm out toward me, moving the light out of my eyes. She squinted as if trying to see me more clearly. “Wolf? Is that you?”

I was so taken aback that she had sensed me there at all that I temporarily lost control of my wolf. He let out a soft bark of acknowledgment and started walking toward her.

No, don’t! I stopped us short, keeping out of the apartment building’s exterior lights, but then Emmaline closed the distance between us.

She came forward fearlessly, then stopped in a crouch a few feet away. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “You’re not supposed to get this close to humans.”

The only human I want to get close to is you.

My wolf wagged his tail and tapped his front paws on the ground. He wanted to get closer, to inhale her scent like a drug and to feel her fingers dig deeply into our fur. And moon be damned, I wanted that too. It was all I could do to keep my control because he kept fighting me, tugging at me like I had him on a literal leash.

“I’m glad to see you, even though you shouldn’t be here,” Emmaline admitted. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’ve lost your pack.”

My pack isn’t complete until you’re in it.

Emmaline’s hand twitched at her side, almost like she was gathering the courage to hold it out to me.

No, not yet.

With a hard yank on my withering control, I forced my wolf to turn away and start running into the woods. I ran until her scent was just a memory instead of a tangible sensation in my nose.

Because if I let her touch me, I’d never be able to leave.

Chapter 8

Emmaline

The next week, I functioned on autopilot and just went through the motions. Lynn, one of the owners of Buck’s Peak, had no problem giving me extra hours, although it still wasn’t quite a full-time schedule. Joey offered to train me as a bartender so I could help him at times, and I jumped at the chance.

When I wasn’t working, I continued applying to vet residencies. At night, I sometimes looked out the window for my wolf, but he never came back after that first time.

I couldn’t shake the sense that I was waiting for something, which was silly. Opportunities didn’t fall into my lap. But some instinct, intuition, or whatever it was, told me not to leave Fulsburg yet, not until the right moment came.

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