I’d been a star once. I would’ve won a scholarship if I hadn’t gotten hurt in my senior year, and I would’ve gotten the hell out of Belmont and Wisconsin a long time before this.
As memories of those meets whirled in my mind, we began to pick up speed.
Keep doing whatever you’re doing,Wolfie said.
Holy shit, we were running fast.
A surge of elation coursed through my veins. We could do this. I thought of the thunder of my sneakers on the trail and track, the thrill of passing rivals, the wind in my face.
The sweet taste of victory at hand.
We broke out of the second cluster and began to gain on the lead pack. We started passing more and more stragglers, and then suddenly, Sam and I were on the heels of the leaders. She was breathing hard and gave me a surprised look: Where the hell did this come from?
I grinned at her. Second wind.
Then I felt it. The drug. Not just a runner’s high, but the intoxicating knowledge that we could win. That our rivals were all tired, and that somehow, we’d found a new store of strength.
My wolf and I had never been so in tune, so connected.
We surged forward around the edge of the pack, leaving Sam behind. Leaving them all behind. I’d come to run with Jaxson, and that was what I was going to do.
We focused on him, the massive wolf at the head of the pack. He was a comet, and the rest of the us were a silver tail strung out behind him.
That asshole. He’d invited us to run, then left us behind.
I focused my frustration on him and felt it entwine with that of my wolf. He’d let us run with the stragglers, eating his dust like we were just another wolf. But we weren’t. We were his mate, weren’t we? He sure didn’t act like it.
It should have been him guiding me through the crowd. It should have been him running at my side, not Sam.
My wolf dug her claws in with every step. Ran like she hated the earth and all it stood for. I focused my mind on all the memories I had of ever taking the lead. Watching runners fall away until there was only one left.
We slammed into a burly wolf and ricocheted off another until we finally broke free of the cluster. And suddenly, there were just two of us. Jaxson and me.
He looked over, and I let the resentment burn in my eyes. You left me!
A wry grin spread across his face, and his own yellow eyes glowed with…pride? I knew you would catch up. My mate is strong. Agile. Fast.
We almost stumbled as a burst of delight threatened to spoil our hard-earned frustration. His approval was like smoky whiskey that tasted divine and spread warmth through your chest.
I wasn’t going to let the beast sucker me with a smile. But his intoxicating scent wrapped around me, and it was all I could do to think. The musk of exertion and the rich notes of forests and moss—it was desire and freedom and limitlessness, all wrapped into one.
I could run forever.
He was so much larger than me—I had to take two strides for every one of his—but somehow, our pace became one as the lights across the lake flashed by.
This is what he’d wanted. To run side by side. Just the two of us. Free.
Jaxson nodded to the far promontory ahead. Almost there.
The point. The finish line.
Desire sparked in my mind. I realized I could win, no matter how big he was, no matter how fast. I was strong.
I gloried in the knowledge.
Memories of old races and past victories flooded into my mind. The final sprint. The burning in my muscles. The intoxicating call of the finish line. The tape breaking on my chest.
Once, a decade ago, those moments of victory had been everything to me in a bleak and lonely world.
My wolf and I surged with a strength and speed neither of us knew we had. We left Jaxson behind, Sam behind, the entire pack behind and shot forward. A cocktail of elation and triumph poured into our veins as the dark trees flew by and the grass tore beneath our paws.
The shoreline, with its limestone seawall, loomed ahead. Beyond it was only the dark water of Lake Michigan and the distant lights of Chicago. This was it.
We run out to the point.First one to jump in the lake wins.
I would win.
I would show Jaxson I was stronger, faster, and more worthy than any wolf in his pack. Now that we knew where we were going, we couldn’t be stopped.
With a final burst of speed, we bounded over the terraced limestone seawall and leapt out high over the water.
We did it! I thought with joy as the waves sparkled below.
And then…I began to shift.
What are you doing? I screamed at my wolf.
I hate the water. Good luck!
Aw, hell.