Heart of a Wolf

“Which is why you brought me out here this morning.”

“Yes.” She sat back on her haunches and nuzzled under my chin. “See? It’s not so bad. You can try and deny it all you want, but part of you is enjoying this.”

“I have to admit I’m still getting used to my freedom. I’ve spent most of my life in a protective box my parents tried to

push me into. I wasn’t going to break, but anything that could upset my heart was something they weren’t willing to let me try. Sports, running at the gym, even dating was off the table with them.”

“But you did date.” She gave me a pointed look.

“Not really. Not enough to have half the experiences I’ve had with you.” Thankful for my layer of fur, I looked away from her, the heat dancing on my skin impossible to ignore.

Fallen leaned into me, nosing my chin as she spoke. “If you keep this up, you’re going to scare away the prey. You scent’s a tad overwhelming right now.”

“Sorry,” I apologized, taking a breath to calm my nerves.

“And for the record, I’ll never try to keep you inside a box.

I might protect you. I might even tell you to leave my side if I feel we’re in danger, but I’ll never tell you no if you want to come out and run like this.”

“Thank you,” I said, gently nipping her ear as she got to her feet.

“What for?”

“For trusting me.”

“Are you kidding? There’s no other wolf I’d rather have at my side. New or not, you’ve already proved yourself to me, which is all that matters. Anything after the fact is just icing on the cake.”

Smiling at her, I scented the air again, picking up the same scent she’d pointed out to me before. “Is it… is it moving?”

Maybe it was because of the wind, but I could’ve sworn the scent wasn’t nearly as strong as it was now.

“It is,” Fallen said with pride, “and it’s headed right for us.”

“So how do we take it down?” I asked, my breath catching in the back of my throat as my human consciousness got the better of me.

“We flush it out. Get it in the open so we don’t get snagged on anything. Now, the ideal situation would be to press it against a wall, but seeing as that isn’t possible unless we lead it down the mountain, getting it in the open will have to do.”

“And what if we chase it into another territory?” She didn’t honestly plan to go in after it, did she?

“That’s why there are two of us,” she explained. “You run at it, and I’ll be waiting on the other side.”

“Making it turn around,” I said with a nod.

“Yes. If we’re lucky, it’ll fall into our territory where we can control it even more. I hope you’re up for this. It’s going to be quite the run.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Fallen made a sound of approval, then slipped into the brush with her belly low to the ground. Once she was out of my line of sight, I followed her scent, mentally tracking her as she got into position. The buck hadn’t picked up our scents yet, and if it had, it had no idea where to go. I honestly hated to think what it might be like if we went after one that as full grown.

I’d seen bucks with eight points or more in documentaries and other television shows. The thought of getting one of those things rammed into my side was enough to send me into another shift.

With my pelt still firmly in place and Fallen in position, I pushed the last vestiges of panic from my mind before rushing at the buck. Branches and leaves hit my face, causing me to close my eyes for only a moment as I blindly chased the elk.

In my mind’s eyes, I envisioned a trail of blue veering in and out of the vegetation. That trail was soon joined by another, a yellow one belonging to Fallen.

The buck startled, rearing up at Fallen before turning my way again.

“Let him go,” Fallen said once she caught up to me. “If we keep going like this, we’ll tire before he does. We have to be smart about this.”