Page 74 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

He wanted to shift into human form and hold her, but he resisted, choosing instead to nuzzle his snout against her head. He listened to the steady beating of her heart, committing the moment to memory as he tried to guess what she might look like in human form. He knew her hair was dark because he’d caught sight of it when she was partially shifted. And he knew her eyes were cobalt blue. But beyond that, he had to use his imagination.

As he filled in the missing pieces, he was shocked to see he’d conjured a mental image of the young woman from Detroit. He even saw her with the same broken glasses she’d been wearing then.

A pang of guilt moved through him when he realized he was thinking of another woman while he was lying next to the woman he’d just taken as his wife in the eyes of the supernatural community. Worse yet, the girl from Detroit had popped into his head more than once tonight. For whatever reason, he’d not been able to shake the thought of her, not even at a time when his only focus should have been on the woman beside him. Not one from four years ago.

Jonathan nuzzled his mate more, wanting the closeness the act provided.

She stirred slightly, opening her eyes to look at him.

He gave his version of a wolfish smile as he thought about what had happened between them. Never did he think he had a mate or that he’d randomly meet her in a cave and then claim her while in wolf form, but it had happened.

In fact, the deed itself had happened more than once—each time while they were both fully shifted. He had to admit it was much better than he thought it would be. He also knew that taking time out to claim her and then sealing the deal a few more times after that was reckless. Especially since he’d found her when he’d been on the hunt for Dracula and the others, but the minute he’d found himself sinking his teeth into his mate and claiming her, reason and sanity had gone straight out the window.

She lifted her head enough to put her muzzle against his in an intimate manner.

He closed his eyes for a second, savoring the feeling. He knew this moment of bliss and relaxation had to come to an end. It was time he got her somewhere safer—like the Van Helsing estate, just in case what he’d been sensing earlier was true. If Dracula, Lucian, and the Weird Sisters were in Grimm Cove, he didn’t want his mate near them.

She narrowed her gaze on him, growling softly, trying to go back to sleep.

Manly pride swelled in Jonathan at the knowledge he’d tired out his mate. He nudged her with his snout again, only to be met with another growl.

Stop interrupting my nap.

He stiffened at the sound of the female voice in his head. It was strangely familiar. Before Jonathan could think more about it, his ear prickled, and his senses sharpened, attuned to the slightest of noises coming from outside the cave. The cave's atmosphere changed rapidly, going from peaceful and serene to ominous.

He caught the scent of something rotten. It smelled like death. He sniffed more.

Zombies?

No. That didn’t feel right.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural, and it was a serious threat.

His mate’s eyes snapped open fully, and she sniffed the air. Fear radiated from her but was quickly replaced by something close to anger.

Jonathan moved to his feet rapidly, still in full wolf form. He eyed the entrance of the cave and then his mate.Stay here!

She scrambled to her feet and fell onto her side, her eyes wide, clearly shocked to be connecting with him mentally.

He’d have found the moment comical if it weren’t for the danger that he knew was close at hand. He went for the cave entrance and caught additional scents then. They were a combination of rotting meat, vampires, something he couldn’t identify, Dracula, Lucian, and the Weird Sisters.

A smorgasbord of bad shit.

He snarled, his attention whipping back to his mate.Do not leave this cave!

With that, Jonathan sprinted from the cave, darting under the waterfall and then along the walking path on a ridge overlooking the river. The second he was on flat ground, standing, surrounded by trees, he saw the threats. It was a mix of monsters that looked to have been stitched together but who smelled like corpses, vampires, and men in robes with symbols announcing them as servants of The Order.

Jonathan snarled, baring his teeth, right before he darted into the fray. His mouth closed around the arm of a monster, only to have the arm come clean off with nearly no effort on his part. He landed on the ground and dropped the arm.

A second later, white light engulfed him. When it cleared, the arm, along with the rest of the monster, was gone. He looked out into the woods, noting instantly that everything was gone too. There were no more monsters, vampires, or Order members.

He waited a moment longer to be sure the threat was gone before he raced back in the direction of the waterfall and the cave. As he cleared the cave’s entrance, he shifted back into human form. Several steps into the cave, he stopped, his chest tightening at the fact that his mate wasn’t there. Neither was the pile of clothing that had been pooled on the floor of the cave near where she’d been shackled. All that remained were his jeans and his boots.

There was no sign of his mate anywhere. In fact, there was no sign she’d ever been there to begin with. Panic left his heart beating furiously, making way for dread.

He staggered backward, shaking his head, before sinking to his knees. The rocky cave floor dug into his knees, but he didn’t care. He ran his hands over his face, not wanting to believe what he was fast suspecting to be true.

His mind was officially shattering, causing him to hallucinate threats and even a fictitious mate. Pain seized his heart at the idea that he’d known happiness for a couple of hours only to have it be nothing more than a figment of his imagination—a manic manifestation of his deepest desires.

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