Luna Hunted
Chapter 2

One year of running had been long. Scary. Tiring. The constant looking over my shoulder for the evil form of Garth gave me nightmares. But after five years, I’d settled into a pattern. Stay nowhere long. Never use my real name. Always change my appearance. And avoid other wolf shifters, for who knew who Garth had convinced to help him.

I was safer living as a human. Safer pretending I didn’t long to shift into my wolf form and run through the forest.

I wasn’t fooling anyone. I wasn’t safe. I’d never be safe so long as Garth was alive and hunting for me.

With each rise of the Luna cycle, it was harder and harder to ignore the lure to shift under the silvery light of the full moon. I left the sleazy bar connected to the motel I was staying at and ventured into the dark forest. The call of the wild surged inside me. It’d been so long since I’d shifted into my wolf form. So long since I’d experienced the power of a shift and the sensual slide of fur bursting from my skin. The sensation of the ground under my newly formed paws. The intense scent of the forest through the nose of a wolf. The tiny sounds of prey scampering through the leaves and bushes.

I missed being a wolf so much. Yet it was the price to pay for my freedom.

I wouldn’t survive if Garth found me. Sure, he’d keep me alive. He had plans for me. I wasn’t naïve to think killing me was one of them. No, Garth was a monster. Plain and simple. My death wouldn’t satisfy the evil inside him.

A wolf howled in the distance. My skin prickled not in fear, but in excitement. The sound called to the hidden wolf inside me.

It wasn’t Garth. I was familiar with his sneer of a howl.

No, it was another wolf.

The howl called again. Closer.

I couldn’t move, didn’t want to move.

I’d been so long without the company of another wolf. That was the reason. Not the unexpected awareness rolling through my body. My skin itched. Fur rippled beneath the surface. I fought the change and struggled against the draw of the wild.

I turned from the mysterious forest and ran back to my room, opening the door and slamming it shut. I slid the chain across. My hand shook for the first time, not in terror, but I couldn’t go to the wolf whose howl called to me. I wouldn’t risk getting involved with anyone. I wouldn’t take a chance of Garth using someone against me. Put in jeopardy a person I loved by Garth killing them like he had my dad.

My heart was a hard block now. Every person I’d ever loved was dead.

Titus

I’d ventured close to White River city on my Luna run tonight. It wasn’t unusual for us wolf shifters to want to head into the city for company, but on nights of the full moon, we preferred the wilds of the forests. The abundance of hunting game from deer to elk, mountain sheep and goats, even bears for those of us foolish enough to take one of those on.

I wasn’t a fool. Sure, a pack of us had taunted one when we were juvenile wolves, but we hadn’t attacked the bear to kill it. It had been more like a teenage lark. Everything had a place in the ecosystem in the wilderness of the White River National Forest. Even us wolf shifters.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I’d left the pack with strict instructions to not follow me. As alpha of the White River pack, they’d heed my demands. I inched closer to the town. The scent of car fumes seared my wolf’s nostrils. I didn’t like being in town in my wolf form, but there was an inner magnetism drawing me to this place tonight.

I spared the gleaming white moon a glance as I padded across the murky parking lot of the dilapidated motel. Old, rusted cars lined the lot, adding to the unkempt look. The peeling red paint on the doors of each room was another sign the place was for people who were desperate, broke, or both.

My nose twitched at a sweet scent drifting from inside one room. I padded closer. The scent of fresh daisies. Like a flowering meadow. I drew the scent in deeper. Female. Wolf. Mine.

I chuffed out a happy welcome sound.

The curtains twitched. One pale-blue eye peered out of the tiny gap between the curtain and the frame. It was like she was looking into my soul. She was the other half of my soul. My fated mate. The one who held my heart in her hands from this moment forward. The curtain snapped back into place. Frantic noises sounded from inside the room. I stood outside the door, waiting for her to open it and let me in.

She didn’t.

I grew impatient and clawed at the door.

Still, she didn’t open it.

I narrowed my eyes to slits.

Damn her for denying me entry.

I glanced to my left and right. Not one person was about. There were no cameras in a place this decrepit, so I shifted into a man. The change under the full moon always felt unnatural, like it intended us to be a wolf. Designed to embrace the wolf and everything it meant to us.

Why the hell wasn’t she in her wolf form on a full moon?

I knocked on the door. Hopefully, a human knock would get her to open it. No such luck. Stubborn woman. It was time to put her in her place. I wrapped my hand around the knob and shoved hard. So hard, the door gave way and flung inward.

The woman stood on the other side of the bed, the lamp in her hand as though she was ready to clobber me with it.

My l!ps twitched, but I didn’t smile. Not yet. Not until I had my mate in my care.

“Why didn’t you let me in?” I folded my arms over my chest and met her icy blue stare.

Her scarlet l!ps twitched back into a snarl.

So damn adorable.

“Love, you wound my heart with this cold greeting of your mate.” I couldn’t stop the smile this time.

“Mate?” She spat the word like it was the filthiest thing she’d ever said.

My smile dropped. This wasn’t how I imagined my mate would greet me. I’d always thought she’d be over the Luna like me.

I glanced around the rundown room and the small backpack lying by the door. Were all her belongings in a paltry bag? “What are you doing here?”

She glared back at me as her answer.

“What pack are you from?”

Her scowl grew even harder, if that was possible.

“Look, you’re wasting time here. You’re my mate. The sooner we get to know each other, the better for both of us.”

“Speak for yourself. You’re not my mate. I don’t want a mate.”

“Too bad, love. I’m yours. You’re mine. That fact is indisputable.”

She lifted the lamp above her head and stepped closer to me. I caught her wrists in my hands before she bashed me over the head. After extracting the lamp from her tight grasp, I flung it onto the mattress like I wanted to toss her onto the bed and claim her as mine. I wouldn’t be welcome right now, but one day she’d want me to take her to my bed.

One day, she’d be mine, heart, body, and soul.

She bared her teeth.

One day wasn’t now.

“Let me go.” She seethed.

Damn, she was adorable when angry. Her pale-blue eyes were like ice chips. Her scarlet l!ps firmed into a tight line, begging to be k!ssed into suppleness. With so much fire in her, I bet she’d be just as feisty in bed. My c0ck twitched. Her gaze widened. She kneed me in the balls so fast I didn’t see it coming. I grunted at the sudden sharp pain and dropped my grip on her wrists.

She ran for the door and made it outside into the forest, leaving her bag behind.

I straightened leisurely and picked up her bag, flung the straps over my shoulder, and walked to the door. She wouldn’t get far in my forest. I’d familiarized myself with every nook and cranny. Every crevice she might hide in wolf or human form. But more than knowledge would discover her location. I embedded her fresh daisy scent in my soul. Wherever my mate traveled, I’d locate her.