Page 46 of Isabel and the Werewolf Beast

“Will that tide you over until we find a deer?”

“Why are you being so nice to me? I thought vampires killed werewolves?”

“We do. As for being nice…” He shrugged. “Lucian turned Isabel and me around the same time. We’re kind of like a vampiric brother and sister.”

I stood, sensing the strength returning to my limbs from the food fueling my system.

“Did you go to the academy together?”

Maximus slid his knife back into his sleeve. “Isabel told you a lot.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“She must have liked you to tell you so much.” He walked further into the forest. “Don’t be fooled into thinking that means I won’t kill you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “Vampires wanting to kill werewolves. Tell me something new. Why do you want to kill us?”

He fell silent as we walked through the trees. I didn’t think he would answer me and then he said, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange you want to kill us with no reason?”

“I’m sure there’s a reason, but I don’t care. Getting Isabel’s head back is all that matters.”

“Agreed,” I said. “See, werewolves aren’t so bad that you have to kill us.”

“Give it time. I’m sure you’ll do something that will tip the scales.” Isabel’s vampire brother pointed. “Now hunt.”

“This whole dog thing is getting annoying.” I stepped further away from him and sniffed around the trees.

I turned off all other thoughts and feelings and focused on the scent I remembered. The rage I experienced when I saw Silas holding Isabel’s head. And there it was. Faint but a trail. I squatted wishing I could shift into my wolf shape. A wolf’s nose would be better for this than my human version. I rubbed the moonstone between my fingers, concentrating on calming my emotions as I dug deeper and deeper inside myself for the center that would free me. It seeped up to me from the depths of my being. My limbs contorted so quickly that I didn’t have time to suffer any discomfort at the change.

My wolf nose surged toward the scent.

“I thought you couldn’t shift?” Maximus asked.

I turned my snout toward him and growled.

Maximus pointed at me. “If you lied about this, then what else did you lie about?”

My body contorted to my half-shifted shape. Anger coursed through every inch of me. Despite the wolf being more animal, this shape was the one that felt more volatile regarding my animalistic urges. They currently told me to end the threat of the vampire beside me.

Instead, I said, “I didn’t lie. It was the moonstone that Isabel gave me.”

His gaze flicked down to the necklace. He dug inside his shirt and drew out a matching necklace.

“Lucian gave us these.”

“Isabel told me.”

“If she gave you that necklace…” He shook his head. “Never mind that now. Find her head.”

“I have his scent. He headed south.”

“Let’s go before his trail grows cold.”

Chapter twenty-four

Isabel

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