Dani Harper - First Bite

All he could do now was hope that if Neva got some rest and regained some of her strength, she might be willing to listen to reason. And I might learn to frickin’ fly.

He sighed heavily, and in the very next breath detected a faint, nearly imperceptible trace of new scents in the breeze. Travis was on his feet in a heartbeat, peering over the top of the tall, dry grass and angling his ears toward the trees and brush of the distant creek. Changelings were on the game trail that he and Neva had left. Through a break in the foliage, he counted five wolves, moving fast. Shit. They would follow until the scent of their quarry ended abruptly…and then it was only a matter of time before they figured out that he and Neva had doubled back. He’d left the path exactly at the point that Neva had, by a fallen-down fence that practically pointed the way to the barn. We might as well have put up a goddamn neon sign.

Cursing himself, cursing Neva, and cursing whoever the hell was following them, he charged into the barn.

Trying to shift to her wolfen form was like trying to coax a flame from a temperamental lighter. It was even harder while trying to scale a rocky hillside naked. Neva tried to keep close to the scrubby bushes, even though her unprotected skin bore fresh scratches and scrapes in several places. Above her, the big golden wolf led the way, choosing the path that would be easiest for her.

They’d run out the back of the barn, wedged a heavy wooden pallet against the door behind them, and headed straight up the hill, keeping the tall barn between them and their pursuers’ line of sight. Neva hoped that their enemies wouldn’t pick up their trail too quickly but—

Travis’s voice in her head was urgent. For Christ’s sake, Neva! You have to Change now! Call your wolf!

“I can’t,” she panted. “I can’t find it.”

Neva climbed up on a small shelf of rock and knelt behind an ancient, stunted pine that was more bush than tree. Its needles jabbed at her mercilessly, but she was past caring about present pain. She peered through the green branches and saw exactly what she didn’t want to see. Five wolves loping over the field, heading for the barn. Natural wolves would yip hunting calls to encourage each other and to frighten their prey into running blindly. The five Changelings, however, were silent as death itself.

Except it wasn’t death she was afraid of. No, instead of killing her, they’d drag her back to their leader, and she knew what that meant. Meredith would delight in making Neva do unspeakable things just to demonstrate her insane power—

Neva jumped as a great furry body suddenly squeezed in beside her. The great tawny wolf peered through the branches and snarled silently at their hunters. Neva, we’ve only got minutes at most before they find us. Get with the program!

“I’m sorry I pulled you into this,” she whispered, more calmly than she felt. “It’s me they want, and they won’t kill me.” Unfortunately. “There’s nothing else you can do here, Travis. You can still get away if I’m not slowing you down.”

Fuck that. And fuck you, too, for even suggesting it. The wolf turned its head, and its blue eyes, Travis’s eyes, flamed with fury. If you can’t make yourself shift, then we have to try something different. I’m not your sire, but maybe my wolf can talk to yours.

She sensed, rather than saw, Travis fading deep into the animal, and she was left alone facing his great golden wolf. To her shock the formerly gentle and protective creature bared its long fangs at her.

“What the hell is your problem?” She planted her back against the stunted tree, heedless of the abrasions to her unprotected skin. Bark and pine needles just didn’t compare to monster wolf teeth. “You were licking my feet a little while ago!”

Danger now. Be wolf.

“I can’t, I don’t know how.”

Danger. Be wolf now. The now was punctuated by a sudden, sharp nip to her arm.

“Quit that!” The skin wasn’t broken, although she could feel the scrape of teeth, but it still hurt like hell.

The wolf ignored her, and she held up her hands to fend off the big animal. Again and again, the tawny muzzle dove past her puny defenses to deliver another hard nip. “Dammit, I said quit!” she shouted, and punched the wolf full in the nose. Its answer was a bite to her fist that drew blood—

That’s when she felt the stirring inside, the all-too-familiar lupine presence, the other . The big tawny wolf sat back, apparently satisfied that it had succeeded in rousing its counterpart in her. Her wolf. Fear rose in her throat, threatening to choke her, but Neva wasn’t going to succumb to it this time. Without even looking, she could sense her enemies getting closer. Her choices had narrowed to exactly one, and she was going to take it. She’d become a goddamn giraffe if it meant escaping Meredith. “Okay,” she murmured, closing her eyes and reaching deep. Here wolfy, wolfy. I know you’re in here somewhere. Come and play.

There was a lightning-quick flash of recognition as she suddenly made contact with the animal that lived within her. An eruption of light and energy shot through every nerve fiber, every cell, followed by a curious inside-out sensation, as if soul and body had just switched places—

And just like that, she was wolf. Wolf was her. Scattered blue sparks fell to the ground, making tiny hissing noises as the remains of the enormous static charge winked out amid the dry grass. Neva staggered a little and nearly tripped over her own paws, then realized she wasn’t going to get anywhere as a human trying to manage the finer points of four-legged locomotion. She addressed her lupine self: All right, here’s the deal—as long as you don’t do anything weird, you can be in charge for a while. So how about getting us out of here?

Without hesitation, the slim, dark wolf sprang forward on sure feet and raced swiftly up the rocky slope as if it was level ground. Neva’s initial surprise was followed by relief, and then she allowed herself to feel honest-to-god exhilaration . There was simply no comparison between the effortless strength and agility she now had at her disposal, and the miserable struggle it had been to cover the same terrain as a human. Well, to be fair, she’d been a naked human. She might have done better with hiking shoes and—oh, what the hell, this was downright glorious .

The tawny wolf closed the gap between them, and they crested the hill together. They’d barely started down the opposite side, however, when a long, lingering howl sounded from the valley they’d just left.

The hunters had found their trail.

Neva’s wolfen form was as fast and as agile as it had been at the lake, and she seemed to keep pace with Travis without effort. He just wished she had given up the I-don’t-wanna-be-a-wolf crap a helluva lot sooner. They were in serious trouble. A Changeling could elude almost any other creature on the planet—but escaping from other Changelings posed a huge challenge. Although Travis surpassed most shape-shifters in strength and speed, and had the experience to employ cunning and strategy, Neva didn’t. She was keeping up with him now, but he knew it couldn’t last. They needed an edge, a human one, and fast.

Wheels.

Travis went over his mental map, trying to figure out where the hell they were. Not only was this a different valley, he could tell by the sky that they had veered off from his original direction. Their pursuers hadn’t topped the hill yet, but it was only a matter of time before the wolves picked up Neva’s trail from the barn. He was certain now that she was the quarry, not him. He’d like to believe it was a rescue party coming for her, but Neva’s story made that unlikely. At first he’d thought she’d been misinformed about “werewolves,” or perhaps misconstrued something she saw. It ran against everything he’d ever been taught to think that a pack would allow harm to come to humans, never mind cause that harm. He was much more inclined to believe Neva now. There was no denying that his own wolf was openly hostile toward the strangers. Even his human side was forced to admit that something about them felt just plain wrong .