With me on top of him, Owen’s gaze focused on my lips.
“Did you say something?” he asked, bringing my fingertips to his lips, and brushing a gentle kiss over them.
“I said … uh …”
But all I could think about was the very powerful mental image of kissing him, really kissing him, right that second, on the dirty ground of the dark forest. I wondered if his lips would be as cool as the rest of his skin, and if he tasted anything like he smelled. It was intoxicating and so powerfully tempting that I almost leaned forward and acted on the impulse right that second.
Instead, I blinked hard and stood up, offering him a hand.
“Rematch?” I asked with a weak smile.
It took Owen about a nanosecond to recover. Vampire reflexes were enviable when it came to awkward moments.
He was on his feet faster than I could blink, ignoring my outstretched hand. I had the distinct impression he was choosing not to touch me. He cleared his throat and blinked, and the tension cleared. He made it look easy to move on from our almost-kiss. It grated a little.
“There’s no point in a rematch if you’re not going to listen to me,” he said.
I blew out a breath, hating to admit he’d been right about my ability to fight him. The wolf in me was cocky. Then again, it’s not like I’d ever met another creature who outmatched me in strength and speed—until now.
“Fine. We’ll try it your way,” I said. “What do I do?”
“Close your eyes.”
I glared at him. “Why?”
His smirk dripped with sarcasm. “Don’t you trust me, kitten?”
Kitten? Oh, he was asking for trouble.
I tried to ignore the warmth that the pet name invoked, and firmed my jaw stubbornly. “I trust you about as far as I can throw you,” I muttered. But I closed my eyes. Jokes or not, I knew that he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Good. Now I want you to forget about your sense of sight. Allow its absence to open your other senses.”
I inhaled deeply. “I can smell you.”
“Good. Use that.”
“How?”
“Catalog how I smell standing here … as opposed to here.” His voice shifted and I knew he’d moved to stand on my other side.
“You moved,” I said.
“How do you know?” he asked, his voice coming this time from a third location.
Eyes closed, I turned my head toward the sound. “The direction of your scent.”
“And?”
I tipped my head left, tracking the changes I sensed. “And the air shifted as you passed.”
“And?” he prompted, this time from right in front of me again.
I shrugged. “Your voice is farther away.”
“You could also feel the movement,” he said with more emphasis on the word feel than I liked.
“Uh, you lost me. Can I open my eyes now?”
“No.” He was moving again. His voice came from one direction, then another, like speed pacing. “Humans only use about five percent of their sensory abilities. Vampires use more like ninety-five. You are somewhere in the murky middle.”
“What does that mean?”
“In your human form, you operate pretty similar to one of them. Your wolf is a little better, but not much, because you aren’t using your full animal senses. You need to completely open yourself up when you shift. If you do, you can learn to carry it over into your human form as well.”
“How do I open myself up?” I ask, brows wrinkling. My eyelids itched to open. I didn’t like operating blind.
“Attack me,” he said from my immediately left.
I cracked an eyelid. “What?”
“Keep your eyes closed,” he corrected, “and attack me.”
“You’re insane. I couldn’t beat you with my eyes open,” I argued, but I shut my eyes again.
“Exactly.” I could tell by his voice he was standing right in front of me again. Close enough to touch. If I wanted, I could reach out and…
I swung my fist out and caught only air. Owen clucked his tongue from somewhere on my right. “You’re not using your other senses. Use my scent, the air, the way it shifts when I move.”
I huffed out a breath. Part of me wanted to tell him this was stupid, and to stomp off. I felt like an idiot standing there with my eyes closed, swinging at nothing but air. But the cockiness was back. If Owen said I could do it, then I could.
“I need to shift,” I said.
“Do it.” He sounded unconcerned. Like he didn’t believe I’d be able to best him, no matter what form I was in.
I pulled the wolf to the front of my mind and let it wash over me. The animal pushed against my human muscles and slid into place. It was harder keeping my eyes closed this way. My wolf did not like the vulnerability it presented.
I squeezed my lids shut and concentrated on Owen’s scent. In wolf form, the sweetness in it wasn’t quite so distracting. In fact, my wolf wanted to take a bite out of it, a fact that helped sharpen my senses to pinpoint his location.
I took my time, gathering my focus. Slowly, I began to sense things beyond the obvious. The warmth of the sun hardly penetrated at all in this part of the woods. The weak rays that managed to get through were heaviest along my rump, letting me know which direction the sun shone from. Birds called, but they sounded far off. The quiet here was almost eerie.
Then, to my right, leaves rustled in a breeze so slight it didn’t even lift my fur. A sweet scent brushed my nose. I inhaled, still frozen. The air around me shifted a split second before I felt the impact—and swiveled so the momentum was lost.
Owen laughed quietly. I tracked the sound, ears twitching.
I sidestepped Owen’s second attempt completely. My confidence rose. I could do this extra-sensory thing after all. The air shifted and rippled as he came at me again. His arm arced through the air, creating a small wind. I heard it and ducked, coming up from underneath, teeth first.
I didn’t expect him to see it coming. I was cocky.
His hand closed around my throat and the pressure would’ve been enough to lift me off the ground if he’d wanted to. Instead, he squeezed once and let go, shoving me away.
I opened my eyes, sucking air down my reopened windpipe. I backed away, eyeing him warily.
“You need to guard your throat,” he said. “You’re leaving yourself wide open when you come at me like that.”
My wolf eyes narrowed. I huffed out a breath, letting him know I was irritated.
“Close your eyes again,” he said.
I shook my head.
He crossed his arms, all cocky confidence. “Do you want to learn to fight better, or not?” At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to tear a chunk out of him. Specifically, the crooked smile he wore.
I ran at him, eyes wide open, muscles bunching as I leaped. I let out a growl and threw myself through the air, claws extended, jaw wide open.
Owen lunged back, the movement exaggerated, like in slow motion—and caught me. We went down in a heap, rolling. My teeth snapped closed on empty air twice before he managed to pin me. He slammed my shoulders into the dirt. I heard myself yelp.
He reached out, frowning. His hand stopped short of my throat, his fingers curling in a mock strangle. “See that? I would’ve had you.”
I shifted before I thought about it. As soon as I did, I regretted it. Not only was I pinned, with him on top of me, I was human again. Very human and very comfortable underneath the solid weight of him lying over me. Heat rose to my cheeks. His gaze sharpened. His pressure eased to something more comfortable. The intensity from earlier returned—as if it were only waiting underneath the surface for each of us, ready to pick up right where we left off.
“Looks like I came out on top,” he said, his voice sexy and teasing all at once.
I stared up at him, lost in the depths of his eyes. They reminded me of wishing wells; deep pools that held such a wealth of longing and desire, it weighed you down. I pushed him away and wriggled out from under him before I could do something stupid.