“Well, hang on,” he says. “We can’t go straight there.”
“We can’t? Why not?”
“I need something to eat,” he says. “I’ve been locked in that cage for four days.”
“They didn’t give you food?”
“They gave me scraps. I finished what I had yesterday. You can’t expect me to be any use as a guide if I’m not fed.”
I sigh. I should have known he was going to give me the runaround.
“Look, it’s no big deal,” he says. “I just need to hunt first. Then we can go.”
“Can we at least hunt in thedirectionof the coven? I don’t want to waste any time.”
“We’re going to have to leave the city if we want to find anything good,” he says. “Unless you want a pigeon.”
I definitely don’t. “Fine,” I say. “We’ll go out to the woods.”
We shift, side by side. The straps of my backpack tighten around me as I take on my wolf form, and I give my body a quick shake to make sure it’s not coming loose. Then we head out of the house we’ve been sheltering in, moving toward the border.
Nate and I fall into step with each other surprisingly quickly. I didn’t think hunting with a stranger would feel this natural, but it’s as easy as hunting with Victor was. We don’t have an alpha’s command binding us together, so I wouldn’t have expected things to feel so easy between us, but they do.
In fact, it’s a little bit easier with Nate than it was with Victor because it feels less like a competition. With Victor, I could tell every moment that he was trying to control where we went and what we did. I didn’t really question it because that’s the kind of guy Victor is. He needs to be in control.
But the hunt with Nate is more cooperative. When I catch a scent on the edge of town and turn to follow it, he follows. There’s no question, no debate or challenge, and I’m honestly not sure whether he’s caught the same scent I have, or if he’s just trusting me to make the call.
Why should he trust me so much? We hardly know each other.
But on the other hand—I’ve put a lot of trust inhim, haven’t I? Letting him out of his cage when I hardly know anything about him, relying on him to take me to the Moon Caster coven. I don’t know why I’m so sure that he’s telling me the truth, that he really is going to help me. I just know that I feel confident with him.
I shouldn’t be able to feel this comfortable with anyone. Not so soon after being rejected by my alpha mate. That should have completely rocked my foundations.
The only thing I can think of to even begin to explain it is that we’re in such serious circumstances. We’re both desperate and alone, and maybe that’s what is tying us together. Maybe that’s why, even though we shouldn’t feel anything but doubt about each other, we’ve managed to find a way to work together.
And whatever is behind our good chemistry, I’m glad for it because the animal I’ve caught the scent of is definitely a deer. And even though I’ve got the strength to take it out by myself, a deer is much faster than I am, and having the ability to work together will help us bring it down.
We’re going to be eating well tonight.
I catch Nate’s eye and cock my head to the side, and he inclines his own head a little, so I know he understands and agrees.
The hunt is on.
Chapter 11
NATE
Damn,allright,soEmlyn can actually hunt.
I don’t mind admitting that I thought I was going to have to carry her once we got out into the wild. I figured she would be dead weight, the way most of the women back in my pack are, and she’d need me to do all the work. I didn’t expect her to be able to keep up.
Which, if you ask me, is just further evidence of what a shit alpha Butch is. Maybe any woman could be a good hunter if she had training.
Or, you know, maybe Emlyn’s just special.
She definitely picked up the scent of the deer we’re tracking now before I did. I was indulging her a little by following her because there was certainly noharmin coming this way, but I see now that she knew exactly what she was doing.
We range a little way out away from each other, bracketing the deer between us so that if it runs in either direction, we’ll be able to catch it. Emlyn’s standing downwind, so I know immediately that the plan here is for me to expose myself and startle the animal into running in her direction. Then she’ll catch it and take it down.