Soul Mates 04: Secrets(24)

Doc had been wrong about one thing; my wolf wasn't weak. It hadn't faded into the background like he thought it would. No, it was right up there, in tune with the vampire part of me. Both working in sync, together, as if they recognized the benefits of being a half-breed.



After a few miles, we stopped at a wooded area. Nikolas pushed his bike off into a clump of bushes and I stepped away to explore. The place was familiar. We'd been here together shortly after Lucien brought me over.



Things had been fine those first few weeks. Until the moon went full and my wolf decided he wanted out.



It was Nikolas who taught me to shift. Who taught me how to embrace the pain of my body turning itself inside out. Who taught me the utter and complete joys of being a wolf. Showed me both the beauty and horror of it all.



For so long, I'd thought becoming a werewolf would be a sentence greater than death.



Oh, how wrong I'd been.



I let my shirt drop to the ground. Before my fingers managed to work open the button of my pants, Nikolas moved up behind me. The hair of his chest brushed against my naked back and I couldn't help but smile. For all he wore, Nikolas was a champ at getting undressed the fastest.



"Slow," he growled. "Always fucking dragging."



"Maybe I just like it when someone else undresses me."



He smacked me on the ass and stepped away. "Not this time."



The far-away look in his eyes worried me. He was too quiet, too serious. I pushed off my pants, pausing to unlace and kick off my boots so I could actually get everything off. When I was naked, Nikolas placed a kiss to my shoulder and walked past me.



"Lead or follow?"



Chase or be chased.



What the hell. I needed the practice. "Follow."



Nikolas smirked. "As you wish& Master."



He took off at a dead run, shifting, two legs becoming four, skin becoming fur, man becoming wolf. I couldn't shift that easily yet. Unless I was doing partial shifts, I needed the calm concentration. If I didn't have that, it hurt like fuck.



With Nikolas out running through the woods . waiting for me to catch him . that was proving difficult. Finally, I turned my face up to the night sky, relaxing my body, easing my wolf to the surface. There was a moment of hesitation; as if my wolf couldn't believe I was letting him out to play again so soon.



Nikolas' scent carried on a caress of wind, however, and any hesitation vanished. I went from man to wolf-form in a matter of seconds, my shrill scream of pain and protest becoming a howl. I took off, following Nikolas' trail into the woods.



Small animals had scurried off to avoid Nikolas. I could still hear their hearts beating frantically. Could taste their fear on the air. As tempting as it might have been to stop for a quick snack, the thrill of catching up to Nikolas was much stronger. His scent was everywhere, and I couldn't quite decide which trail to follow.



I nosed the ground at one of his tracks, searching for more. There was one thing that just really sucked about being in wolf form: my vision was crap.



Well, it didn't have to be. Being half vampire, I had advantages my fellow wolves didn't.



I closed my eyes and let that one part of me shift back. When I opened my eyes again, my night vision was as clear as day. Color exploded all around me. Not just color, but heat and cold. Better than any military's infrared scopes or cameras.



The heat of the animals and the cool of the earth and trees surrounding me made for an easy trek. I plowed through bushes, soared over fallen logs, as at ease on four legs as I'd ever been on two. After a while, I stopped short. Nikolas' trail had gone cold, his tracks making a circle but not leading anywhere.



I scanned the woods for him for as far as I could see. Even at a distance, I should have been able to find him. The traces of heat I did see weren't big enough. Hell, a nearly three-hundred pound werewolf was hard to miss.



Bastard.



He'd done this to me before: taken off, sure I was hot on his trail, only to pull his power in and circle back around to surprise me. I'd once thought Xander was the only one able to pull his power in so much, to hide it from even his own kind.



I'd been wrong about a lot of things.



For a few moments, I waited; listening, smelling, tasting the mingled scents of the woods on the breeze. Something was out of place; didn't belong here among the dirt, the animals, and the decay of fallen leaves.



Metal. The vague scent of leather.



I would have grinned in human form. As I was, I snarled and turned my gaze to the trees above me. Nikolas lay in the crook of a branch. He'd been watching me the entire time.



He growled and jumped out of the tree. I rolled across the ground, trying to avoid the impact. One of his paws grazed my shoulder, claws tearing into me. Instead of rolling away, I lunged at him, pinning him to the ground. He snapped at me, showing a mouth full of razor-sharp canines.