Page 47 of Rejected Wolf's Secret Baby (Rejected Moons 4)

I have good vision, hearing, and scent no matter what form I’m in. Butholy shit. I forgot how much it’s possible to take in with the ears and nose of a wolf. It’s been so long since I perceived the world this way.

I stand still for a moment and just breathe, filling my lungs with the clean air of my woods.

And then I start to run.

I move slowly at first, stretching out, rediscovering muscles that I haven’t used like this in years. It’s not difficult, though. The muscle memory is there, and it comes back to me as if my last run was yesterday. Before long, my strides are lengthening and I’m covering big swaths of ground with every step.

I dig my paws into the dirt and push myself to run harder, faster.

My lungs don’t start to burn the way they do when I run as a human. My muscles don’t ache. My joints aren’t sore from the pounding. This body was designed to move like this.

And it feels wonderful to be wolf again.

28

ALICIA

I’vebeenrunninginthe general direction of the river, zig-zagging back and forth a bit to prolong the journey, for about twenty minutes when I hear the sound of footsteps falling in with mine.

I recognize this immediately. It isn’t a predator or a prey animal, because neither one would run in step with me like this. And I don’t have to turn my head or sniff the air to know that my companion is no wild wolf.

This is another shifter choosing to run with me.

Immediately, my heart rate accelerates. Running again for the first time in years is one thing, but runningwithsomeone is something else. I haven’t gotten a look at my companion, so I have no idea who this is. It could be anyone. It could be company I wouldn’t mind, or it could be someone I really don’t want to see.

It could be Lonnie.

Brandon warned me. So did Kayla. They both let me know that Lonnie might be coming after me. I just assumed he would come looking for me at Dad’s house when he did. But if he’s been watching me after I saw him at the boneyard, if he’s caught me alone out in the woods, he might have the upper hand on me. I could be in serious trouble.

I need to know, I realize. I can’t keep running with whoever it is and take a chance.

I curve around to the right, changing my line of sight. The wolf running beside me adjusts direction too, but not before I get a look at his thick black coat, shot through with bits of gray that I don’t remember seeing there before.

And I see the triangle marking where his fur is lighter between his eyes, and the place on his arm where his fur never came back in right after he was scarred in a bad barfight. That’s when I know.

It’s Brandon.

I don’t know what he’s doing out here. I don’t know how he knew where I would be. I can only imagine that Kayla must have told him, and that she’s arranged this somehow. Now that I think about it, of course that’s what she did. My meddling sister, who always thinks she knows better than I do about what I need and what I should be doing. My caring, loving sister who would do anything in the world if she thought it would make me happy.

She’s arranged this day for me and Brandon.

I should be angry. I should turn around and run straight home. She pitched me a day out to myself. That was what I was planning on. It wasn’t supposed to be adate.

But now here we are.

And I realize I don’t want to leave.

We’re approaching the river now, and I slow down and let him take the lead. I’m not sure where things are going. Are we going to stay in our wolf bodies?

He answers the question by shifting in front of me, and even though I’ve seen him naked plenty of times now, there’s something different about this. It’s more primal even than sex, watching him emerge from his wolf form.

Suddenly, I want to be human too. I’m feeling wildly attracted to him, and I want to put my hands all over his body.

I exhale slowly and let my human side rise to the surface. It feels a little like pulling the bed sheets over my head, at least at first—all my senses become a little bit duller than they were a moment ago, and I feel like I need to shake my head to clear it.

On the other hand, my thoughts are extremely clear.

“Kayla sent you,” I say.

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