“I suppose I could, but unlike some people, I didn’t come here to screw girls. Plus she’s a little young for my taste.”
I inhaled sharply. “You shouldn’t attack people when they aren’t here to defend themselves, Liam.”
“That wasn’t an attack. It was a remark.”
“It was a very judgmental remark for someone who had sex with a girl while his buddies were playing poker in his living room.”
A beat of silence descended over us.
After almost a full minute, Liam asked, “Why didn’t you tell Ingrid she had it wrong about Sienna?”
I’d been sitting halfway across the dining hall, yet he’d heard the conversation? I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or annoyed. “Because it’s none of her business. None of anyone’s business. Besides, thanks to you, I’m not his girlfriend, am I?”
“If I’m supposed to feel bad about that-”
“It was just a remark,” I said.
“Uh-huh.”
“Anyway, we’re not sharing a bed.”
His eyebrows lowered, darkening his chocolate eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll take the couch. But I’ll have to go through the bedroom to use the bathroom. Just in case you were planning on sleeping in the buff.” His gaze locked on mine.
I hoisted my backpack higher on my shoulder and then headed toward the bedroom. “If you need the toilet, it’s now or never.”
A crooked grin settled over his lips. “Anyone ever tell you that you have a bossy streak?”
“I’ve heard it said, but usually behind my back.”
Liam chuckled. “Might be because we’d like to keep our balls attached to the rest of our bodies.”
As I entered the bedroom, my anger dissipated a little. I set down my bag on a wicker chair propped in the corner of the small room, underneath a window that gave right onto the living room of the cottage next to ours. I closed the blinds, then pulled out my phone, but like Jane had said, there was no reception, so I put it away and took out the rest of my clothes, setting everything neatly atop the dresser.
The toilet flushed and then water ran, and then it shut off and Liam strode out of the bathroom, running his wet hand through his dark locks. “Have a nice nap.” He offered me a smile before shutting the bedroom door.
I contemplated locking it, but there was no lock. Hoping he wouldn’t barge inside, I stripped down to my underwear and tank top and slid underneath the comforter.
I woke up to loud banging. “Ness!”
I blinked, disoriented for a moment. When the room swam into focus, I all but lurched out of bed. “I’m awake!” I said before Liam could enter.
I tugged on my jeans, then alternately dragged my hand through my hair and rubbed sleep out of my eyes.
I opened the door. Liam stood there barefoot in an unbuttoned plaid shirt and a pair of unbelted, low-slung jeans. “Moon’s up.”
The mention of Earth’s satellite had my skin strumming.
When we reached the door, I bent to put on my sneakers.
He drew the front door open. “You won’t be needing shoes.”
Right . . .
“Stay close to me during the run, okay?”
I nodded. Outside, a steady stream of Rivers were exiting their respective cabins and making their way toward a field filled with long, swaying grass that tickled my calves.
“My Rivers. May the Wolf Moon light up your paths tonight and for the rest of your lives. Be wild. Be free. Be merry,” Zack hollered, yanking off his T-shirt before tugging down his jeans.
I averted my gaze as the sound of zippers and rustling fabric filled the air.
“Consider this training,” Liam said, chucking his shirt on the ground.
“Training?”
“For the duel. You’ll have to strip in front of everyone.”
I bit the inside of my cheek.
He pulled down his jeans in one quick swoop. When I realized he wasn’t sporting anything underneath them, I looked down at my toes poking through the long grass.
“I’d offer my assistance, but you’d probably bite my head off.”
Ugh. I really didn’t want to get naked in front of Liam, or anyone else for that matter.
Sighing, I pulled off my tank top and then rolled my jeans down. Liam’s gaze struck my bare collarbone and the swell of my breasts. I turned so I had my back to him, and then I crouched, unclipped my bra and shimmied out of my underwear. Finally, I removed the leather strand speared through with my mother’s wedding band, which I always wore around my neck, and stuffed it inside the pocket of my jeans.
Screened off by the long grass, I let the change sweep through me.
We ran long and hard, trampling miles and miles of moonlit grass, clay-rich soil, and fresh mountain streams. My tight muscles stretched and coiled as I raced parallel to Liam and Zack through the Rivers’ domain.
It dawned on me that, for all my talk of leaving Boulder, I was unwilling to give up my ability to travel the earth as a wolf.
Twigs cracked, and leaves drifted over me like fuzzy down. I halted and raised my head. Hanging mere feet above me was a black beast with gleaming eyes. At first I thought it was another wolf, but wolves didn’t climb trees. I eyed the creature, and it eyed me back. A black bear.
Liam’s muzzle bumped into my haunch. He won’t come down. Too many wolves, he said through the mind-link.
Some Rivers had stopped beside me and were pawing the ground, alternatively snarling and yapping at the creature hanging for dear life on a branch that seemed too flimsy for its massive weight.
One of the Rivers got on his hind paws and batted the branch with his front leg. The bear bobbed and then let out a blood-curling sound of his own. Emboldened, other wolves lurched up and punched the branch, howling at the bear that skittered backward toward the trunk.
A sharp crack sounded over the pack’s garish attack, and then the smell of warm blood wafted through the air, tantalizing, intoxicating. Stiff, horizontal tails poked out of frenzied bodies. My own tail came up in anticipation.
Ness, move! Liam yelled.
Even though I wanted to leap onto the bowed branch and help bring our prey down, Liam’s order had me backing up. I whimpered, not understanding why he was making me step back from the kill. I tried to poke back toward the tree, but Liam growled, and my body sank lower to the ground.
I’m hungry, I yelped.