Page 26 of Broken Fate
I noted his presence and dipped my head to the side, snatching up the last of the food I had piled on my sweater, wolfing—ha!—it down in one gulp.
As Clive came to stand near me, I pawed at the ground. Time was a-wasting, and I couldn’t afford to wait around while he wiffle-waffled back and forth on what to do. Eitherwewere going, orIwas. Whatever his choice, he had to make it, soon.
“This is insanity,” he said.
I growled at him.Family.
“Yeah, I know.”
I pawed at the ground again.You coming or not?
A sweatshirt hit the ground as Clive peeled it off in one smooth motion, revealing rippling abs that settled back into place slowly as he lowered his arms. As he dropped his pants, I found myself turning away before my eyes could drop past the pointed V of his lower abdomen.
Pull yourself together. You’ve never cared what Clive was packing before, and now isn’t the time to start. Besides, you already know, and—
Clive’s paws hit the ground as he finished shifting, giving his body a shake, tawny fur settling into place. We stood shoulder to shoulder, but his wolf had close to a hand in height at the shoulder. He was bigger. Stronger. Male.
I shook my head, shoving those thoughts into a distant corner. It wasn’t as easy as I would have hoped. Despite all the times we’d gone running in the past, just the two of us,nowshe noticed him as male and not as Clive? Beyond irritating.
He eyed me with his slitted pupils.Youokay?
I growled and tossed my head.Which way?
A snort.Follow me.
With a twitch of powerful muscles, he was off. I was only a split-second behind, dirt flying up in clumps behind us as we accelerated into a flat-out run. Once we hit the forest, the manor out of sight, we slowed to a long, loping trot, something we could maintain for hours and hours on end.
Given our huge size—my wolf shoulders stood nearly as tall as my human ones—we covered ground insanely fast. To any normal eyes, we would have been little more than blurs in the night as the sun set, drenching the land in darkness. That didn’t hinder us. Our wolf sight kept everything in focus and more than brightly lit.
Despite the danger I knew we were running toward—and the potentially terrifying conclusion of our journey—I couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity as I ran alongside Clive. Just the two of us, like it had been for so many years. It was justright.
We ran through the night and into the morning, never slowing, pushing ourselves even harder than we had on our escape. By the time we slowed at the banks of the Arcad River, my flanks were heaving, and my tongue was lolling out from the corner of my mouth as I panted heavily. Beside me, his tawny fur matted and ruffled, Clive was doing the same.
Exchanging a glance, we hurried across the river, taking solace in the refreshing cleanliness of the cool water as it rejuvenated us. We communicated little, though both of us were more focused on continuing our pace. There were still miles and miles to go.
Wait, Clive growled as we dipped into a valley several hours later, only a mile or two from my parents' house.
I pawed at the ground impatiently as he trotted to a nearby stream and lapped some water.
Clive glanced at me and bared his teeth, tossing his head toward the water.Drink.
Knowing he was right, I trotted over and lapped some water beside him. Satisfied that I was actually drinking, he dipped his head back toward the stream and continued.
I started to relax, some of the tension I hadn’t realized I was carrying in my shoulders fading as we drank and refreshed ourselves.
And then, it all went to hell.
My head jerked up a split second before Clive’s as the wind stirred, bringing fresh scents. I whipped my head around to stare at him as we both recognized what the air was carrying toward us.
Smoke.
And where there was smoke, there was fire.
Clive tried to jump on me, to pin me down and make me wait, but I dodged his attempt and rushed up the incline and out of the valley.
I stumbled to a halt, staring in horror at the ghastly sight awaiting me.
Smoke was pouring from my house, the glass shattered. And in the depths of that blackness, flames ate away everything dear to me.
