Page 45 of The Strongest Wolf

The one word neither of us has said, because the moment it looks likely that Galen will say it, I feel myself tensing so hard I must resemble a raisin.

“Sure.” I turn my back and reach for my shorts so I can strip because suddenly, being a wolf is preferable to being a human.

“Sierra?”

“I thought you said we were going on this pack run?” I step out of my shorts and dump them beside the tree before reaching for my tank top.

Not that I’m fully sold on shifting, but if I’m a wolf, I don’t have to think about feelings and emotions and what will happen at the end of this journey Galen was talking about.

Or about how we’d be choosing each other—permanentlychoosing each other.

Mom gave up everything for love—for Dad. She told me that she never regretted that decision.

For Mom, maybe leaving her pack for Dad and me was worth it. But what if Galen gives up his pack for me, and later realizes that he wanted to save me because he couldn’t save Melody?

What if he discovers the thing he believed was love was nothing more than guilt?

After a moment, Eden sighs. She knows me well enough that when I’ve made up my mind not to talk about something, it’s not happening.

She shifts before I do, her quiet chuff letting me know she’s waiting for me.

I should be concerned that I haven’t been able to repeat the partial shifts I used to get revenge on the men responsible for killing my family. But I’m not. Partly because I’ve had no need to defend myself in Hardin, but mostly because I’m afraid the thing that makes me more than a submissive might not work anymore, and then I’ll be like any other submissive anywhere.

Nearly twenty minutes later, I’ve shifted. As always, those first few minutes are the most intense as I absorb the sharper, clearer world. I’m drowning in scents. Pine from the trees, rich, earthy soil, a wild aroma drifting from a mole hiding somewhere on my left.

And Eden, of course. This is the first time I’m scenting her while I’m a wolf. She still feels like a friend, but my wolf smells her and thinksfamily.

Eden nudges my shoulder with her nose, and although I jump a little, I’m okay.

This will be okay.

So I’m a little jumpy, but that’s to be expected. All I need are a few extra minutes to settle my mind, and then—

A snarling brown wolf crashes through a bush, silver eyes locked on me with predatory focus.

Terror explodes in my mind.

Suddenly, I’m not in Hardin, but back in Dexter, Wyoming.

It isn’t Eden beside me, but the Stone pack circling me, waiting to make me their newest target. I can’t fight back because my wolf is no fighter. Only my human side is. There’s only one thing I can do. One way to survive.

Escape. Now. Run.

Wheeling around, I sprint away, mouth open, dragging in deep, hungry breaths. Desperate panic makes me run harder and faster than I ever have before. Nothing else matters but the need to get away. To hide.

Someone yells something. Maybe my name?

I crash into a tree hard enough to stun me when I jerk my head around to make sure no one is following me, but I barely even feel it.

A sore head isn’t important. Only escape is.

I hurtle through the forest, moving so fast my paws barely touch the ground before I’m taking off again.

Faster, Sierra. Must go faster.

The cabin comes into view. Nearly there. Just a few more…

More sounds warn me someone is following. Maybe it’s the same wolf, maybe it’s someone else.

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