He came at me again and I dodged, crouching into a low, threatening stance. I pulled my lips back from my teeth and growled in what I hoped was a menacing sound. Instead of turning and running, he just planted his feet and narrowed his eyes. His jaw was set like he was more determined than ever.
“Come on, then. Screw a truce. You want to take me down, don’t you?”
The sound of his voice was unexpected, maybe because I couldn’t summon the use of mine in my own shock and panic of our fight. It startled me, and he saw his opening. He lunged and his arms found their way around me. His hands clasped my neck and squeezed. Within seconds, my windpipe began to close underneath the pressure. I heard myself yelp before it morphed into something like a whimper.
“Not so scary without your pack, are you?” he demanded in a crooning voice that left no doubt he’d killed before—and that he intended to do it again now. “It would’ve taken a lot more than one of you to take me down. You should’ve stuck with your friends.”
I tried to yelp, call out, anything to make him let up on the pressure around my neck. But I couldn’t breathe, much less talk. I couldn’t even think. He obviously thought I was part of the pack and had decided to even some score he had with them. I didn’t have a way to convince him I wasn’t.
Suddenly it didn’t matter what he was—human, wolf, or otherwise—this was it. He was nothing more than my murderer.
His pressure increased and I knew there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. Well, there was one thing I could do, but if I was wrong, it would only speed up my death. I was starting to feel light-headed and I knew I didn’t have much time no matter what I chose, so did the only thing left.
I shifted.
My attacker’s eyes widened as, slower than usual under the physical strain, my human form returned. When my limbs had separated into two arms and two legs, and flesh replaced fur, I felt his grip loosen as my throat slimmed to the breadth of a girl instead of a wolf. I sucked in a ragged breath, desperate to recover before he could compensate for the difference and choke me again.
“What the…?” He jerked his hands away and I rolled away, gasping and jerking as oxygen struggled to return to my lungs. I couldn’t even get off my hands and knees.
I was hacking and coughing into the dirt, my eyes watering, when a blurred hand appeared in front of me.
I blinked to clear my vision before I allowed my gaze to travel up his arm to his face. He looked different now that I had human eyes. Instead of simply pale, his skin was radiant in its translucence. Beautiful, really. He was tall and slender and brooding, with those same piercing eyes. Only now, they were mesmerizing, drawing me in. Inviting me to uncover the secrets held deep inside them. They widened, his lashes spreading and lifting as he stared back at me, full lips parted in surprise. He looked just as stunned to see me as I was to see him.
I tensed, half-expecting him to use his still-extended hand to attack me again. But he didn’t.
Strange as it was, there was something in that handsome face that made me relax despite the violence a moment ago. Maybe it was the way his parted lips softened the jagged lines of his jaw and cheekbones, or the way his hair curled gently over his ears, but there was something gentle underneath the cold demeanor.
Against all logic, I trusted him.
“Thanks,” I managed, finally taking his hand and allowing him to pull me to my feet. His skin was cool, but it felt good after the heat of the fight. He let out a short laugh and I looked up at him as I straightened, self-conscious about how disheveled I must be. “What?” I asked, warily. Even after the single word, my throat ached. It would probably keep hurting until I healed it by shifting again. But I’d stay human if it meant he backed off and stopped trying to kill me.
“I just finished trying to kill you and you’re thanking me?” he asked, brows raised in a perfect arch.
“Not for the almost killing part,” I said. “But for the helping me up part. Or for not killing me.”
“Well, which is it?” he asked, brows still arched, but now it seemed more of a challenge.
“Take your pick,” I said with a shrug that said I couldn’t care less.
His lips curved in amusement. “You’re not part of the pack,” he said.
“Does that mean you’re not going to try and kill me again?” I asked.
His eyes crinkled in a smile, forming tiny lines at the edges that only served to make him hotter. “Only if you promise the same restraint,” he said.
“Deal.” I eyed him, still wary but relieved.
Farther out, a bird called and I jumped. Subtle, but I could see that he noticed. He kept his distance even as his expression softened. “What are you doing out here, little wolf? Far from home, I take it.”
I hesitated. I couldn’t tell him the truth. He obviously knew the pack. The last thing I needed was him mentioning that he’d seen me here.
“Running,” I said, shrugging like it was no big deal.
“Running,” he repeated. He quirked a brow at me, clearly unimpressed. The gesture, the way it highlighted his warm eyes and thick lashes, made my heart pump faster.
“What are you doing out here?” I countered, making my tone as rude as possible to cover my nerves.
“Same as you,” he said. And after a brief hesitation of his own, added, “Escaping.”
I wanted to ask him from what but then I’d have to tell him my own issues. I wasn’t ready for that quite yet so I asked the next question. “What the hell are you, anyway? I’ve never seen someone fight like you.”
“You’ve never seen someone…” He trailed off, staring at me with even wider eyes than before. “Do you mean…?”
“Do I mean what?” I asked. He didn’t answer, only watched me in something like suspicion. “Well? Are you going to answer me?”
“You either don’t know or … But you must know. You’ve got to be joking. This is a prank. Who sent you? Is your pack watching this? Is that Regan watching right now?” He turned in circles, peering into the forest around us.
“No one’s watching.” I hope, I added silently. I didn’t want to think of how the pack would react to seeing their possible future alpha’s ass getting kicked.
I folded my arms across my chest, attempting to look like I meant business. Mostly because the way he was looking at me was making my heart race pulse at ridiculous speeds—even my wolf pulse wasn’t this high. Ridiculous, I told myself. No boy had ever affected me this way. Not that he was a boy. Clearly he was something else. “I’m being serious,” I added, hoping I sounded convincing. “I know you’re … something other. What are you?”
He turned back to me and when I blinked again, he was standing a foot away from me. I jumped back and he grinned. His canines were lengthened into fine points, almost like mine when I was a wolf, but more slender. Like the fangs of a snake. His breath hit my cheek in puffs of sweet air.
“I’m a vampire,” he breathed.