Page 145 of The Good Boys Club

“Mam, stop the truck.”

He was out of his car. On foot.

Mam slammed on the brake. I shot forward. My ass left the seat pad, the belt sliced into my chest. Clem braced herself for the impact against the back of my chair. Dee hit Mam’s seat and crumpled into the footwell.

“Shit! Sorry!” Mam yelled. “The belt’s broken where Dee’s sitting.”

But I wasn’t listening. I was already unbuckling my belt and throwing myself out the passenger side onto the muddy tarmac. I sucked in the biggest lungful of air. Let it out. Sucked in another, and . . . I could just about make out his scent. Our scent. Our bond. But where?

It was faint, but growing stronger, more distinct.

“BANGERS!”I called out. No response.

Mam leaned over my vacated seat, into the open door. “He’s shifted.”

“How do you know?”

“His scent, it’s moving too quickly,” Dee-Dee said, having pulled herself into a more dignified seated position.

“There!” Clem yelled, pointing to the tree line.

A blur of grey, a tail, or just a smudge of his fur flying between the trunks one, two hundred metres away.

He was running back to Howling Pines. But why? Had he changed his mind? Forgotten something? Why not drive?

“BANGERS!”I called again, but he was too distant, and heading in the wrong direction for my voice to carry. “I’m going after him. Mam, keep driving, his car can’t be far. Find it. His clothes are probably inside it. Can you bring them? He’ll be naked.”

“Should we break in? To get his clothes out?” she said.

“No, don’t do that. He’ll have stashed his keys somewhere nearby. Look for the biggest tree or—no, an oak, and find a rock or something at the base. If they’re not there, just keep looking.” I had no doubt I’d have been able to locate them within seconds, but I was wasting time explaining. “I need to go. I’ll meet you back on the road, or if not, at the house. Okay, I’m going. Love you,byeeeee.”

I was already running into the trees. Cian raced towards the estate in a straight line. As the crow flies or whatever.

My lungs burned. My muscles screamed with the intensity of propelling my body forward. I didn’t let up, didn’t let myself slow down, no matter how much it hurt. My human legs were longer than Cian’s, faster, but there was no way I could outrun his wolf. But I knew these woods better than he did. In roughly a mile, his path would be sliced in two by a treacherous river, too deep for him to cross. He’d need to U-turn back to the road and take the bridge. I headed there.

His scent was growing stronger, more pronounced. I wanted to scream his name, call out to him, but my breaths were slicing through my airways. There was no space left to yell.

As I neared the stream, a gunmetal streak whizzed by in the distance.

I braced myself against aFOOTBRIDGE AHEADsign post. “Bangers!” I wheezed out. “Ci!”

I mustered all the energy I had left, tore my T-shirt off, wiped the sweat from my face, and I put everything I could into calling out his name again.

“CIAN!”

The grey blur darted behind a copse. After a few seconds, it still hadn’t emerged. I half jogged, half dragged my broken body in that direction. It was him. I could smell him. I was sweating so much, no doubt he could smell me too.

“BANGERS!”

Something rustled not too far from me. I slowed my pace, uncertainty beginning to creep around the edges. Why had he run in the first place? Maybe I was too late. Maybe he didn’t want to see me.

“Ci?” I said, inching forward. Twigs snapped under my trainers.

Fifty feet ahead, a naked man emerged from behind the foliage.

“Mash?” He stayed near the trees. “I can’t believe you’re—why are you here? Fuck, are you okay? I need to tell you something.” He was also out of breath, his hair ruffled, cheeks ruddied, palms blackened with dirt.

Cian took a few steps towards me, his brow stitched together in the centre. He didn’t bother to cover his junk.

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