Chapter 8

Asya

For a terrifying moment, my whole body goes numb, and I hear a squeak even before I realize that it comes out of my mouth. The wolf’s bright blue eyes immediately snap at me, and before I have time to think, I instinctively throw my hands up and step back. I don’t know what I expected to happen—maybe that the wolf would be scared of me waving my hands at him—but I definitely do not expect what does happen a moment later.

As soon as my hands are in the air, a weird sensation runs through my arms, electricity tingling on the tips of my fingers. I see sparkles of it in the air before they explode in a flash of light and a shock wave throws the wolf against a tree. I am pushed back too, but at least I manage to remain standing and struggling to catch my breath.

What the hell was that?

My heart is pounding, my body is shaking, and I understand nothing. Damn. I stare at my hands for a horrifying second, expecting them to look burned or alight with whatever it was. But they look like they usually do, only pink with warmth and trembling. I lick my dry lips and swallow. Okay, that’s good. Now…

I hear a groan. Not an animal whine or a growl, but a human groan followed by a hoarse and pained curse. That… doesn’t sound like a wolf?

Because it’s not. It’s not a damn wolf. As soon as I look up again, the world around me spins and I have to gasp for breath—in the place of the fallen wolf, there is a man now. A young, naked, possibly dazed man with dark hair, wide shoulders, and a deep voice that rings a bell in my already stunned mind.

“Owen?” I whisper. He turns to me and catches my gaze—and the sight of his bright blue eyes turns out to be the last straw.

He tries to tell me something but the rush of blood is too loud in my ears, my pounding heart shaking all of my senses. I step back when he moves to sit up. My instinct of self-preservation finally kicks in, and as soon as my body catches up with my brain I whip around and run the hell out of there.

I don’t remember how I reach my house, I don’t know how much time it takes me. All I know is that at some point I remember Teddy and pause, shaking in dread as I turn around. The glimmer of his collar catches up with me a few seconds later, and I gather him into my arms and keep running until the lights of our windows are close enough to fill me with relief.

I allow myself to stop only at the gates of my house, panting and shivering from exhaustion. But while Teddy Bear rushes to his bowl of water as soon as I put him down, I swallow through my dry, aching throat and turn around.

The dark trees look menacing, the shadow of the mountain is looming over my head, and I feel like this forest will never look the same to me.

Owen

There is a bright flash of magic, a wave that pushes me back—suddenly, my side bursts with pain from the impact. It hits me so violently that I slump to the ground, burning from within. There is a pained, inhuman whine ringing in my ears, but I don’t know if it comes from my mouth or from the heart of my spirit.

Damn, what was that?

For a few moments, it’s just silence—in my head and all around me, all sounds are muffled with the shock of the blow—before I let out an unconscious groan and blink my eyes open, trying to sit up. It’s only then that I realize I have turned back into a human, and it’s the wolf spirit that is whimpering and growling from the burn of the hostile magic spell on my skin. Or what else could it be?

I feel dazed, but it’s less because of what happened, and more because of how it happened. My left shoulder and the side of my head are aching from the impact, but I’m used to dealing with physical injuries—wild forests don’t have emergency kits, and shapeshifters often have to wait it out until the regeneration kicks in.

What bothers me more than possible bruises is that a stranger turned out to be powerful enough to force my wolf spirit to retract, and that is not an easy feat. It means that I have to deal with someone stronger than me, and the thought sends a wave of heated adrenaline into my veins, forcing me to sit up. I can’t be weak, I have to fight back, I have to— “Owen?”

Well, shit.

I follow the familiar voice, instinctively raising my guard, my senses alarmed enough to catch even a whisper —and of course, it has to be Asya. Our eyes meet, and I see that hers are wide in shock and terror, her face pale, the last sparks of magic glimmering on the tips of her blonde hair before disappearing into the darkness. Goddamnit. It’s not gonna end well.

“Hey,” I call her, trying to smile and sound casual even with my voice still hoarse from the wolf’s growls. “Look, maybe we can—”

But Asya steps back.

“Just don’t run away, okay?”

She runs away a second later. Shit. That is not how I have planned to start our life with humans.

I groan to myself and rub my forehead, leaning on the tree trunk by my side. To be honest, it was my fault. After spending almost two days under the wolf’s guidance, I allowed its instincts to take over my consciousness. It felt natural at the time because well, that’s how I survive in the wild, hunting and catching smells of humans from afar.

But this time, something went wrong. When the wolf caught the smell of a human and a dog nearby, it didn’t even think about turning in the other direction. It was… curious? I don’t know, it was a weird sensation that I needed to go closer. All of a sudden, the dog started barking aggressively, so of course the wolf needed to show it who was the boss without consideration of possible consequences.

The wolf went straight onto the path, and I didn’t have enough mind to stop him. It was such a stupid mistake, you know?

I sigh and run a hand through my hair.

Yeah, that’s why wolf shifters always need a pack to survive.

I sit there for a while, just staring into the distance with blank eyes and going over in my head everything that’s just happened when the night chill finally gets to me. It’s never a problem when I’m in the wolf skin, but even with my own enhanced heat, it’s still rather cool to sit on the ground. I shiver and look around, trying to remember the path to the clothes I’ve left in the forest. I could shift back into a wolf— but really, I don’t want to risk it again and the spirit inside of me is still too shaken from the blast to show up.

By the way, what the hell was that? Since when do witches attack shifters out of nowhere? I frown and automatically look in the direction where Asya left, remembering her wide eyes and pale face. It didn’t look like she understood what had happened though. Can a witch use magic unintentionally?

A witch doesn't know she’s a witch at all?

I huff and get up, swaying only a little and already feeling stronger than ten minutes ago. I’ve never had close dealings with witches, so I don’t know that much about them. But well, it looks like this time there is no way around it. I gotta talk to Asya, and the sooner I do it the better.

Luckily or not, the whole scene happened near the place where I’ve hidden my clothes, so I warm myself up with a jog there and quickly get dressed. Maybe I should go to Asya right away? It wouldn’t be hard to track her scent, and I’d be able to convince her not to tell anyone before it’s too late. But after a moment of hesitation, I turn the other way and walk to the motel instead. I’m sure she needs time to process what happened—just as I do.

It’s a little uncomfortable to see the lights of the town after nights spent under the stars, the rumble of engines slashing my ears that have grown used to the quiet of the forest. I don’t linger to take it all in though, but go straight to the doors of Old Aiden’s motel that we had chosen before I left. They offer rooms only for two here, so to save a little, we have taken two rooms—one for me and Carter, the other for Gray. We don’t mind sleeping in the woods, of course, but it would look weird for the locals.