Elsa Laroche is part human, part wolf. She and her pack rule half the territory in her town. The other half is ruled by their rival pack, the Starks. But when Elsa and one of the Stark alphas begin to fall for each other, they must decide what to...
"Truth sits upon the lips of dying men." ~Matthew Arnold
Elsa
We set off at a trot to cover more ground but to avoid the possibility of missing his scent. Neither of us spoke a word. Despite it being only the beginning of October, the snow had started up again, and not lightly either. I thought the snowstorm a few weeks ago had been a fluke, but it seemed winter decided to come early this year.
Upon reaching the neutral territory, the only thing to be seen was the moon and stars reflecting on the glass surface of the lake. The wind blew through the leaves, chipmunks scampered over the ground, and owls hooted from the trees.
Nothing. Anna said morosely, putting her nose in the air in an unsuccessful attempt to catch his scent. But I wouldn't be discouraged. With my nose to the ground, I walked around slowly. The only scent of his I found was near the rock we'd been at just over three weeks ago. The smell was so faint I paid no further attention to it.
Is there a funny smell around here to you? Anna queried.
I sniffed the ground where she was to see what she meant. My nose met an odd sensation. I shifted into a human and promptly sneezed.
"Bless you," Anna said. "See what I mean?"
"Yeah, I do. It's weird. I smelled it briefly, but it was like the moment it got in my nose, the scent of it disappeared. In fact, I can't even smell your perfume now." I sniffed the air and added, "I can't smell a thing."
Anna wrinkled her nose. "I can't smell anything either."
"We're going to have to rely on noise and sight. No more smell for now.... We need to stick together, though. I find this too suspicious."
We both shifted back into wolves for the nearly impossible scenario that a person came wandering through here. It'd look less suspicious to see two wolves than two human girls.
We'd barely taken two steps when something sounded to my right. I pricked my ears up, as did my sister. It happened again, this time slightly louder, but I recognized it.
Spencer.
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I tore off in the direction of his howling, Anna struggling to keep up with me. I have no memory of the time I left the lake to the time I slid next to my boyfriend; it was all one, dark blur.
But the sight of him upon arriving was unforgettable.
"Oh my god," Anna breathed. She stared, ashen-faced, at the pool of blood forming underneath Spencer. He gripped his stomach in an attempt to stop more from coming out. He'd healed somewhat, but not enough.
Not near enough.
"Damn it, I don't have service," Anna grumbled. "And we can't howl, or we'll attract our pack."
