“Give me one good meal and a shower and I’ll be perfect,” he growls. “Now get out of here and go alert them. I highly doubt they know what they’re walking into, and it’s not good for either side. When blood lust creeps up the nostrils of a Primal, all rationale goes out the window. This war will not end well for anyone involved.”
My eyes whip up to the door before falling back to the man.
“Are you sure there isn’t somewhere I can take you?” I ask.
“I have my own village to get back to. Don’t worry. I can take care of myself. But you need to get out of here.”
I hesitate, readying myself to offer again.
“Go!” he roars.
I scurry out the front door, leaving the man in the abandoned house. I run through the snow, my nose poised in the air. I can smell her. Clarissa. She’s faint. The smell is faint. But it’s there. The snow is pouring down around my naked form, but I’m not cold. If anything, it’s soothing. Comforting to feel after being so cooped up. I can feel myself growing stronger. I can feel the Primal lust washing through my veins. Night begins to fall, and I curl up against a tree, sleeping with one eye open and an ear trained on the horizon.
I find the edge of the woods and her scent is stronger than ever. I keep calling out to her in my mind, but I can’t get in touch with her. She’s closed off. She’s constructed a wall. I can feel my mind physically running into it. I scream for Sebastian and cry out for Theo. I wish someone would answer me so I could figure out where they are.
Their scents are so close, and it’s so frustrating to not know where to look.
Night falls again and I curl up in a snow embankment. My body is alert, my ears trained on the sounds around me. But the whisper of voices talking pulls me from my sleep.
Is someone around me?
I peek out from the embankment, but I see nothing. I can hear the whispers and the feet walking around in the snow, and the sound begins to mount. Dozens—no, hundreds—of feet are trampling the snow. The sun is beginning to rise on my third day. A smoky haze settles around my body. I sniff the air deeply and relax with the smell of wood.
Fire.
Someone’s burning fire somewhere.
I leap to my feet and take off into the haze. I run as fast as I can, watching as the smoke grows thicker. I fall to all fours and begin running as the smoke completely encompasses me. It’s hard to breathe. I’m beginning to choke. I can hear the footsteps and the voices growing louder as I approach the center of the smoke, and then miraculously it breaks.
And I’m standing in front of a hoard of people pouring from little cottage homes.
I rise up onto my feet, completely aware of t
he fact that I’m naked. Women are ogling me and covering the eyes of their children. Men are drawing weapons, preparing to fight me to the death. My eyes are darting around as I sniff the air. I’m trying to track Clarissa’s scent, but it’s buried underneath everything else. Lettuce and beets and corn and radishes.
My stomach growls as a voice pierces through the sounds my ears won’t let go of.
“Kyle?”
I whip my head around, trying to follow the voice that calls my name. The voice is sweet. Breathless.
“Kyle!”
It’s Clarissa. That’s Clarissa’s voice I hear.
Holy shit. I have found her. The love of my life. My dedicated wife.
I finally found her.
Chapter 18
Clarissa
The commotion of the people outside draws all of us to the window. Women are embracing their children as Josie and Joel dash outside. Men are pulling their weapons as I follow their line of sight, and Sebastian’s hands come down heavily onto my shoulders.
“Stay here,” he says. “We’ll go have a look.”
“Stop,” I say.