Page 88 of A Prime's Passion (The Pretern Wars 1)

There’s still danger, that eerie otherness inside her warned. She started to push up so she could peer around the tree and froze, that instinct demanding she pull back.

On your belly, go farther back... there. Stop there. Be still. Now... listen.

Not even questioning that voice deep coming from, she did as instructed and listened.

The barest shift of air currents sliding to her, rustles that were a fraction too loud to be coming from the leaves.

Call for help.

She froze at the idea, balking on every level. Whoever watched, whoever crept closer would hear—

Don’t use your voice, that instinct urged. Use the earth.

The earth.

Understanding started to dawn on her. Earlier, she’d wanted the earth to crack open and swallow her whole, but that had been to save her from humiliation. The burnt iron scent of Shale’s still bleeding wound wafted up to her and she knew her Fae-given earth magic had finally broken free.

Now it whispered to her so she could save her own skin... and hopefully that of the wolf who’d reacted just in time to put his body between her and the bullet that had torn through the night, targeting her.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said soundlessly into the night.

But she followed those instincts. Clamping one hand around one of the roots of forest giant sheltering them both, she reached—for the earth, which she could feel now, all around her, the way the ocean cradled her when she went for a swim, the way Meridia’s people surrounded her when she traveled around the cape, even she couldn’t see them.

She felt the cry connect—it slammed into the earth and spread, reaching out, out, and out...

She sucked in a breath when there was a response, something that traveled back through the earth only heartbeats after she’d first reached out.

We’re coming, little sister.

That voice—

It was softly feminine, and strangely familiar.

Somehow, she knew it was Leana.

Again, those newly awakened instincts woke her. Touching her hair to Shale’s cheek, she made him a silent promise, demanded one from him in return.

Stay alive, she thought, then started to climb the tree, finding footholds that would be too small for many. She let her claws out and made do, powering up through sheer determination and strength.

In the lower branches, concealed by the foliage, she waited.

Something was coming.

She held her breath. It wasn’t Leana.

A figure prowled into sight, dark and stealthy, moving in the shadows of the trees, using them to hide himself. She wouldn’t have seen him, even with her excellent night sight, because the shadows had deepened to near black, a black her gut told her wasn’t natural. But her wolf’s sharp sense of smell alerted her and for once, the two parts of her nature came together, working in unity.

Enemy, they whispered.

Zee came down, shifting halfway through and using her wolf’s teeth to catch the man’s throat between her jaws, growling.

He lay face down in the earth, frozen.

Her eyes caught the glint of something silvery and a mix of satisfaction and frustration went through her—a knife. She could use a knife. Phoenix and Saint had worked with her until she knew how, and once she’d settled in Provincetown, Donner had started working with her, too, improving those skills, finally bringing in Meridia once it was obvious she needed somebody whose body type was more similar to hers.

But she couldn’t use a knife in wolf form.

Shifting back so quickly might tire her. She didn’t know for sure. Normally, it would but the adrenaline pumping through her might stave that off. She couldn’t demand answers in this form either.

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