Frostbitten (Otherworld 10)

We hadn't gone far when a blast of icy air whipped past, laden with that thick musky scent.

"What the hell is that?" Reese asked, rubbing his nose.

Before I could answer, a massive form lumbered from the woods, stopping twenty feet away and turning to look at us.

"What the hell--?" Reese said.

The beast reared up, casting a shadow that reached to our boots.

"Holy shit!"

The beast dropped and charged. Reese grabbed my sleeve and tried to yank me to safety. When I wouldn't budge, he gave me a shove off the trail and raced past me into the forest. I calmly walked back to the path.

The beast roared... and ran around me. Then he turned, pawing the path, breath streaming from his nostrils.

"Eli," I said. "Cut it out."

"That's--" Reese said from his spot in the woods. "That's Eli? The Shifter guy?"

"Shifter kid. He's a teenager."

"I don't care how young he is. He's fucking huge. And fucking pissed off."

"No, he's just putting on a show, trying to warn us off. Do you want us to leave, Eli?"

He snorted, still pawing the ground like a bull, head down, eyes blazing.

"Okay, we'll do that," I said. "We'll go pick up Noah, and let your Alpha and your father handle this."

Eli growled. He lunged. When I stood my ground, he stopped short, snow flying from his massive paws.

"Go Change back so we can talk about this."

"SHIT, THAT WAS fast," Reese said as Eli lumbered out of the thicket where he'd Changed.

"That's one advantage they get," I murmured.

"Nice, but I don't think I'd trade," Reese said as he took a better look at Eli.

Reese quickly hid his reaction to the young Shifter, but Eli couldn't disguise his own response to the young werewolf, shoulders and jaw lifting as he drew nearer, eyeing Reese with the barely disguised envy of an awkward sophomore in the presence of the high school quarterback. I felt sorry for Eli, then. He wasn't an ugly kid, but at that age, no one--supernatural or human--needs to be reminded of his shortcomings.

He turned his back on Reese and talked to me. "She doesn't want to go back."

"Good. Then she can tell me that."

He hesitated, big jaw working. Then he pushed back his hair and scanned the forest, and I thought he was working on an excuse, but instead he said, "Fine. She won't like it, though."

He led me along the path.

"She does want to stay," he said as we walked. "She asked me to move her."

"All right."

"You don't believe me."

I glanced over at him. "Do you really expect me to take your word for it?"

He didn't answer, and we walked the rest of the way in silence.