Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Moments later, my paws hit the wet dirt and the rain began soaking my fur. I wagged my tail.
This felt good. This felt right.
Then I smelled it again, stronger this time. As if someone had dropped a box full of pungent roses right in front of me. My body tensed. I looked around, sniffing at the air, trying to pinpoint exactly where the scent was coming from.
North. I took off running, unsure exactly why I needed to chase this down. Wet leaves squished under my paws. A deer spotted me a moment too late and leaped away from me, nearly crashing into a tree as it tried to escape. I ignored it and continued running.
Continued chasing.
What the hell is that smell?
I was getting closer. I could smell it past the fresh scent of soaking rain and wet woods. Still couldn’t tell what it was, though. Curiosity pushed me to run harder. I didn’t want to lose the scent. There was a pull that felt almost magnetic—like even if I wanted to turn around, I wouldn’t be able to.
I crashed through the woods and into a large clearing. There, I came to a sudden halt.
Directly in front of me was another wolf. It had its back to me, head dipped down as it drank from a gentle stream. It had sleek gray fur that lightened to white toward its paws and its tail was colored with black as if it had been dipped into an inkpot, almost like my ears. The wolf sensed my presence and lifted its head, turning to face me. Its ears pinned back and lips curled into a defensive snarl.
I was moments away from mirroring the aggressive posture when the wind shifted. It carried with it another fresh blast of that beautifully sweet and endlessly mysterious scent. It was coming from the wolf. My guard instantly dropped and any ounce of defensiveness or aggression vanished. Instead, I slowly lowered myself into a submissive posture, closing my eyes to avoid making the other wolf angrier. My muscles seemed to be moving of their own accord. My heart raced, my body suddenly flooded with a massive rush of endorphins. There was a click of understanding that happened within me. Something profound. Something I’d only heard about in stories and second-hand experiences from other shifters.
Could this be…? Was this…?
When I opened my eyes, I looked up to see the wolf no longer there.
Instead, a human stood in its place. His clothes were drenched, his black hair fell in wet strands across his forehead, his tan skin glistened with the rain, and his hazel-green eyes were locked on mine.
A surreal sense of understanding gripped me in that moment. As if someone had yanked at the nape of my neck and told me to look up at my future written in the sky. I started to shift back into my human form. The man stayed statue-still as he watched me, head cocked, eyes curious.
Neither of us spoke for a long, drawn-out moment.
I took a step forward and broke the silence.
“Hi,” I said, greeting my fated mate.
Chapter Two
Do You Smell That?
MILES
There was something soothing about running through the rain.
Maybe it was because my dad always said it reminded him of Mom. How she’d open all the windows in the house just so she could smell the rain, not caring if some of the windowsills got wet. My dad would walk around drying them off with towels—he said he’d much rather see my mom smiling than caring about a little water damage.
And from the pictures he’d show me, I could understand why. My mom’s smile had been electric. It would stretch from ear to ear, dimpling her cheeks and lighting up any room she was in.
On the rare occasions I smiled, I could catch a faint resemblance.
I ran through the woods in my wolf form. It had only been a day since I moved to town. There were so many new scents and sights to explore. I’d already spoken to Emmy, the alpha of the Burlington pack—one of my best friends since childhood—and he should have let the rest of them know about me. I didn’t want to be a lone wolf stumbling onto another pack’s territory. Typically, that wasn’t a situation that made for amicable greetings.
I’d be meeting everyone in a couple days anyway. Most of them played on the Burlington Bobcats, which meant they’d be working closely with their new athletic trainer.
Me.
Not that shifters really needed much time with the trainer considering our healing abilities kept most injuries at bay. But in order to keep up appearances, I still expected them to show up in my office for the occasional stretches and check-ins. A couple fake injuries also helped sell the whole “there are no supernatural hockey players on the team” thing.
The rain started to ease up. I slowed my pace, sniffing around for any interesting scents I could follow. The gamey smell of deer drifted in from the west, mixed with something else I couldn’t quite pinpoint.