He slouched, ducking in front of me like he was bowing. He had to stoop to make himself shorter than I. That was what he was doing, showing submission, one wolf to another. He kept turning his gaze away. His instincts were taking over.
I stared. Not a dominant, I’m-a-bigger-wolf-than-you stare. More like a bewildered, disturbed stare. What was I supposed to do with him? I didn’t want him touching me, but he was inching closer, like he was going to start pawing me, rubbing me, the way a subordinate wolf would to the one he’d identified as the alpha. I stepped back.
He cringed, pulling his arms close to his body, his eyes sad and hurt. “You don’t understand,” he said. “This . . . this is great. It’s what I’ve always wanted. You can help me. You’re the only other one—one of us, one like us, I mean—I’ve ever met besides—” He stopped, swallowing. His breathing came fast.
“Besides who, James?” My voice caught.
“Besides the one who made me. She’s been helping me. She said I could have a pack, if I killed this other werewolf and took his. She said she would show me. I—I can do that. I know I can do that. I’ve been practicing. But she won’t tell me where to go. She—she hasn’t been to see me in a while. But you’ll help me, won’t you? You help so many people.”
I felt sick. James needed help, but I couldn’t give it to him. Who could? What hospital could hold him? What could anyone do? That was the human talking, of course. I remembered Cormac’s words: You understand that we have to kill this guy. As a wolf, he’d overstepped his bounds. Like Zan. But what did that mean if there’d been no one to teach him the rules?
James looked up, over my shoulder. Cormac stood in the doorway.
“Norville, is he the one?”
All I could do was nod.
Cormac raised his arm, fired his handgun.
I ducked out of the way. James was already running. I thought he would turn around, try to make for the back of the house. That was what I would have done. But he dived forward, under the range of the gun, past Cormac, shouldering him aside, and out the door.
Cormac struck the door frame, but recovered in a heartbeat, turned outside, and fired twice more. His arm remained steady, his sight aimed at his target, tracking smoothly like he was mounted on a tripod.
“Shit!” He pointed the gun up when James disappeared around the corner of the house.
I ran after him, aware that he might have been waiting on the other side of the house to ambush whoever followed him. I didn’t want to lose sight of him. Cormac was right behind me.
In the strip of yard between the two houses a trail of clothing led away: jeans, briefs, and a white T-shirt, torn to shreds. There was a dark, wild odor—the musk, fur, and sweat of a recently shifted lycanthrope.
I unzipped my jeans and shoved them to the ground.
“What are you doing?” said Cormac, stopping in his tracks.
I paused. I didn’t know if I could do this. I didn’t have a choice.
“I can move faster if I Change. It’s the only way I’ll keep up.” It can be a strength, T.J. had said. We’d see.
He opened his mouth, starting to argue. But he didn’t say anything. His shoulders slumped, and he looked away. I took off my shirt, my bra. The air was cold, sending pimples crawling across my shoulders. Inside, I felt warm. My muscles tensed, already preparing to run, because I knew what this meant; Wolf knew what this meant. I wanted to hunt, and I needed her. I was ready. She crouched inside, filling me with anticipation.
Cormac started to walk away.
“Wait,” I said. “I want you to watch.”
“Why?” he said, his voice rough.
“I want you to see what I look like, so you don’t shoot me by accident.”
“If I ever shoot you, it won’t be by accident.”
I walked up to him, naked, unself-conscious. I was on the edge of my other world, human mores falling away. I didn’t know how else to be, like this, with Wolf looking out of my eyes.
I stood a step away, holding his gaze.
“Here’s your chance. If that’s what you’re planning, get it over with now so I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder.”
I didn’t know how long I planned on waiting for him to raise that gun and shoot me in the head. I stood, arms spread, offering myself to him. My glare didn’t match my vulnerability. But once and for all, I had to know what he wanted to do.
Finally he said, “Be careful.”