“Sometimes out of sight is out of mind for it.” Nox hoped that would hold true for Luca. “I hate to even think this, but there’s a chance I could Phase out.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s always a risk when you go into Phase two. When I become….” One of the monsters. “And without an Alpha, there won’t be anyone to bring me back.”
“What do I do if that happens?”
Nox scratched his chin. His fingertips rasped against the stiff hairs. He needed to shave. “You head to Montana.”
“Without you?”
“If it’s not me, it won’t matter.”
“What if it goes away after a while and I’m already gone?”
“Luca, if I Phase out, I will not come back. There won’t be anything human to come back. You’ve helped, but you’re not an Alpha. You can’t control this thing. You’ve gotten lucky, we both have. It responds to you but….” Nox hated the broken expression on Luca’s face.
“I’m not Koda.”
“No. You’re not.” He dug his toes into the dirt. “I’m sorry.” Nox waved a hand. “I’m going to go. Please, just do as I ask.” He shut the door and jogged away from the van. If he could keep from changing, he had a far better chance of maintaining control.
The Anubis crackled under Nox’s skin creating a physical pull back toward Luca. It did not want to leave him unprotected.
But they were in the middle of nowhere. They’d taken back roads, winding trails, and were as far away from people as they could get. The Anubis were fast, but they had limits, especially when they lacked the ability to go Phase three. Nox had at least a few hours. It was risky, but so was staying in that van with Luca.
His balls tightened.
Nox focused on the stretch of land ahead of him.
Fall spiced the wind, rich soil, fresh water, the bitter grass added more flavor. Cold played over his skin, prodding alive every nerve.
The Anubis shifted its attention, and Nox blinked in a slow purposeful motion. As he opened his eyes, the darkness lightened to shades of gray, the stars burned in blistering points, and the once endless horizon glowed. Seconds ticked by, and everything around him wavered with an internal light source. Unlike normal animals, the Anubis did not see in any known light spectrum.
All around Nox, life pulsed in a steady electric hum, from insects, to plants, to sleeping reptiles and foraging mammals. Their particles cluttered the air, drawing chaotic paths. Trails left behind by the movement of those same living things.
Distant hills drew closer. Deer tracks indented the ground, moving west. The illuminated scent particles followed the hoof prints to a clump of woods where they wove around the trees in smaller lines, rejoining again close to the center.
Nox took up a run. Warmth left over in the soil from the day’s worth of sun pushed at the bottoms of his feet, drawing a hot and cold texture over grains of dirt, rock, and foliage. No sound followed Nox as he picked up his pace. His heartbeat remained steady as he cleared the miles to where the deer had bedded down for the night.
He slipped between the trees, slowing to a walk, placing his weight on bare ground. His muscles and bones liquid, riding on the edge of reality, until the barrier of the universe pressed against him.
Nox focused on the deer, and so did the Anubis.
There were eleven of them. The does wouldn’t be much of a challenge, but the buck could put up a fight. His rack was large enough to kill a man. For the Anubis, it wouldn’t even be an inconvenience.
Nox crouched.
Tumbling leaves changed direction, and an acrid scent flowed on the breeze. Death minutes in the future snatched Anubis’s attention. It shivered with the approach of a predator worthy of being killed.
The mountain lion inched closer to the herd, using the underbrush as cover. It reached the edge of the clearing where the deer lay, its body rippling under its sleek coat.
The deer flicked their ears, a couple kicked in their sleep.
Nox waited.
The mountain lion lunged, and so did Nox, clearing the deer who woke in a panic scattering in all directions. Nox slammed into the shoulder of the big cat, and they both rolled scattering leaf litter and crushing saplings.
Nox was on his feet first.