Page 110 of Blade's Battle
The second they shut the door behind them, Blade grabbed her hand and led her down a path she hadn’t ventured before. Apparently, he’d been similarly inspired by Tess and Damien. Anna gladly followed her shifter. Right now she could use a good distraction, and there was no one better to distract her than Blade.
Chapter Seventeen
BLADE
“I’m not swimming nude,” Anna said, her hands gripping the sides of her dress, holding it firmly in place.
“There’s no one around,” Blade said, already stripping. “Besides, what are you going to do at the ceremony? Wear a dress under the robe?” He knew she was shy, but nudity was simply a part of pack life. The ceremony was in four days. Pre-bonding nerves perhaps?
“That’s different. It’s part of the ceremony.”
“Are you too tired to swim? We can go back to the cabin.”
“The water’s cold.”
Ah, that explained it. He ran his hands up and down her arms, hercoldarms. Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea. “Talk to me.”
“About what?”
“Whatever’s troubling you.”
She shrugged. “Nothing’s bothering me.”
“Not even the ceremony? What the blood-bond will do to me?”
“I. . .Wewill handle it together, whatever happens.”
The smile she threw him was forced. She was hiding something, and it frustrated him. “Do you trust me, Anna?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then let me in.”
She leaned into him. “Hold me, Blade.”
Something was definitely going on with her. She melted into his embrace as he kissed the top of her head. “Come on, we’ll go swimming another time. How about we make out in front of the fireplace?”
“You realize that’s not a standard fallback for most people when they can’t agree on an activity.”
He fastened his pants. “I can’t help if the rest of the world is full of idiots.”
She laughed, and he took her hand. A series of howls broke the silence of the lake. Already shaking, Anna clutched his hand.
“It’s fine,” he said, tilting his ears to listen. “Those are good howls. Everyone’s celebrating something back at the compound, that’s all.”
“Let’s go see!” The light in Anna’s face was enough to make him follow her anywhere.
By the time they reached the compound, clothing was strewn all over the ground and half the pack had shifted. Dozens of wolves were jumping around, romping. At the center of the activity, Tess and Damien’s wolves were nipping and teasing one another. He’d seen Tess’s wolf before, the only red and brown wolf in the pack, but never had he seen her jump and run with such energy and sheer joy.
“What’s going on?” Blade asked Pryce.
“Tess shifted! Wicked fast, too. The gene therapy worked!”
“You did it, Anna!” Blade said. He turned to see her joy-filled face. Anna was lying on the ground, unconscious.
* * *
“She’s just tired, right?” Blade asked as Pryce examined Anna. Blade had carried her to the lodge, at Pryce’s insistence so he could continue to monitor her in between caring for the still-healing kids. It had been an hour, and she hadn’t woken up yet. “She was working nonstop before we got back and all the injuries. . .”
