Cry Wolf (Wolves of Angels Rest #7)(40)
With each word, he’d taken a slow step toward her, and at the end, he was standing close enough to touch her trembling form.
Her gaze was locked on his, not a wolfen stare.
“Willow,” he whispered. “Come back to me.”
With a cry that was half mournful howl, half gasp, she shifted.
For an instant, the shape of her wavered between wolf and woman, letting him see both at once like a desert mirage.
He crossed the last step between them and grabbed her before she collapsed onto her side.
She was shaking, not so much from the cold, although he knew that would come, but the shock of the change. The transformational energy shimmered off her skin in waves of heat. He braced one arm behind her bare shoulders and pulled her into his lap, although he left an opening, not wrapping his other arm around her even though every nerve in his body screamed, begging him to complete the circle, seal the bond.
He didn’t want her to feel trapped, not when he’d already been part of the chain of events that gave her no choice in what had happened to her.
“It’s okay,” he soothed. “Everything’s all right. You’re safe now. Shh.” Despite his calming words, his free hand whisked up her flank and over her shoulder, searching.
He’d seen Kurtz’s bullet pierce her. She winced when he came to the spot that would be the wolf’s ruff, thick with fur and looser skin. In this shape, it was the crook of her neck. She whimpered as he probed the in-and-out hole that had torn flesh and muscle but nothing worse.
Nothing worse. He wanted to bury his face in her neck or throw back his head and howl in fury. Instead he kept his hand clamped over the wound until the seeping of blood caused by exacerbating motion of the change had stopped again, the energy of the animal spirit already healing her body.
But that wasn’t where the worst damage was.
“Diesel?” she said hoarsely.
Not Wendy and Danny, two innocent kids who’d accidentally started down this path all those years ago. Now they’d have to make their choices in full consciousness.
He could only hope and pray she’d choose him.
***
For the longest moment, she couldn’t understand what they were doing outside, naked. She wanted a damn hot tub at least…
Then it all flooded back to her, a nightmare kaleidoscope of half-formed images and overwhelming sensation. She shuddered, clinging to the breadth of Diesel’s shoulders, as if he was the only things that could hold back the…
Wait a second. He’d been a f*cking wolf!
She yanked back, sliding off his lap. Her butt landed hard on the sandy rock, sending a jolt through her spine. But it seemed to sort of knock her brain back into play.
He stopped her from tumbling all the way over, but then withdrew his hand, his expression tight.
“You with me?” His tone was careful, as if she might bite his head off.
As she’d almost bitten off…
No, that wasn’t an image or a flavor she wanted to remember.
“What…what happened?”
“You were taken by—”
“I remember all that,” she snapped. “What happened to me?”
Using short words, he explained. The unwitting blood swap as kids. A latent wolf dreaming inside her. The draw between them as adults. The triggering drug by these Kingdom Guard bastards. And now…
“I’m a werewolf.” Her voice was even flatter than the plain that stretched out below them. She remembered running up here, trying to escape.
But there was no escape.
She stared blindly out into the darkness. The angle of the gully meant they couldn’t see much, but a red glow brooded at the end.
Where the warehouse was. Where they’d done this to her. Or finished it, anyway.
As soon as the grim thought rose, she rejected it. This wasn’t finished. She’d always been the one to decide how the song went. Even when the band had been struggling and they’d had an offer from a record label if they just made a few changes…
Well, she’d really made a change this time. She shivered.
Diesel’s sharp gaze didn’t miss it. “I couldn’t track you and carry clothes at the same time. But I can shift and run back and return in just a few minutes.”
“No,” she snapped again. Not frustration this time, but fear. She didn’t want to be left here alone. She took a steadying breath. And smelled the distant fire, the dust, the warmth of his bare skin.
The wolf in her—she felt it—uncurled, reaching for him, yearning. Her chest ached like it did when she was writing a song where the melody wasn’t quite resolving, where the major lift was still a half step off, and she just needed one more note…
With a gasp, she shifted into the wolf.
She hadn’t meant to, exactly, but it felt so right. In this shape, she felt strong, ready to run. And she didn’t have to talk or even think, really. Just feel.
Diesel cast his gaze over her, and in the reflection of his eyes, she caught a glimpse of herself.
Terrifying. Transfixing.
Werewolf.
“To the ridge line,” he said. “From there we can find the others.”
Others like him. Like her now.
She watched closely as he changed. Bones lengthening, muscles twisting, fur darker than hers rippling across his body, until he stood in front of her as a wolf, a magnificent beast.