Chapter 8

THERESA

“Of course, Luna Yulia. I will do this favor,” Nikolai finally responded, and I could tell it was hard to grit out each word. He pressed his lips together in resignation, and then forced the corners of his mouth into a half smile.

“Wonderful,” she replied. Without another word, confident that she’d made the correct chess move, she turned on her heal and left the two of us to socialize, I suppose.

His eyes bore into me, his face expressionless. He did have a pretty good poker face, but I could still sense everything he was feeling, and it was definitely something along the lines of irritation. But he didn’t speak. Making an effort to avoid awkwardness, I began rambling like I always do in these situations. “Are you excited? It should be a lot of fun tonight! It’s slightly warmer than it has been.”

“Hm,” he gave a small nod. Well, okay then.

“How has it been joining our pack? Are you getting everything you need?”

“Fine.”

“Let me know if you have any problems with my brother Tyce. He comes off rough sometimes but he’s a good guy.”

No response.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Why was this like pulling teeth with him? Why was I trying so hard?

I tilted my head, studying him, making it clear I was waiting for a response. He stared back. Once again, I was reminded of what a nice face he had. He clearly hadn’t shaved in a few days, which left him with overgrown stubble covering his angular and well-sculpted face, giving him a sexy, scruffy look. He was like a supermodel, so gorgeous it was simply unfair.

For a moment, something flickered in his silver eyes—pain, hesitation? But it was gone before I could place it. His face hardened once more. "We don’t have to make conversation," he muttered. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Ouch! I was just trying to be nice. And, to think, I could have been running with my friends, having a great time. But his sadness still made its presence known, and I squared my shoulders. His bad attitude probably had nothing to do with me so I shouldn’t take it personally.

“Jade Moon Pack!” My father, Alpha Lance’s voice rang out, hushing the large crowd. He continued on to give his monthly speech to the pack. Well, not so much his anymore. Ever since he found his mate, Tyce changed. While I always knew he had it in him, it wasn’t easy being raised to become alpha by two alphas that very much were not going to give up their power without a fight. He’d really stepped up lately. Which I’d noticed even though I wasn’t home from school much.

As my dad’s speech ended, the crowd disbursed. I followed in Alpha Nikolai’s footsteps. I guess I probably could have split at this point, and promised not to tell my mother if he didn’t run with me. He’d be relieved as it clearly wasn’t in his plans to babysit a full-grown woman tonight.

But, I can’t lie, I kind of liked the idea of spending some time with him. Maybe he’d open up  more and—ok—he was hot! Who wouldn’t be ecstatic if their mom dumped the werewolf equivalent of Austin Butler in her lap?

As we barely made it past the edge of the gathering, Nikolai began shrugging off his coat.

“Oh, uh, sorry, I’m just going to go a little further in. But meet you back here?” Not that I wouldn’t mind getting a glance at what he looked like underneath the heavy coat. I just didn’t exactly feel comfortable stripping here, in front of him, and basically anyone in the pack that might walk by.

He grunted with a small nod. That was probably the best I was going to get. I crunched through the snow to find a good rock to hide behind. Once I found a good spot with a decent branch to hang my clothes on, I looked around just to make sure I was safe. Only then did I unravel my scarf along with everything else. Once I’d gotten the last sock off, I immediately shifted, my bones stretched my skin to rearrange themselves, nails turned to claws that tore through the tips of my fingers and toes, and fur sprouted, being immediately blown back by the chilling Alaska wind.

I sunk my paws into the snow and headed back to where I’d come from. I’d been told my wolf looked like the smaller version of Tyce’s. I think they only said that because we had similar, black-tipped brown fur. I’d seen pictures of our wolves together, and I didn’t see much of a resemblance outside that. We had totally different face ships, and that lucky son of a gun had gotten the long, lush fur. I’d taken more after my mother in that respect. Her whole family had much shorter, albeit thick to survive the cold eastern European winters, fur.

Silver lightbulbs tipped me off to his location. Not that I needed them to identify the person I was looking for. I could smell him from yards away. Goodness, that scent!

Maybe if I teased him a bit, it would get him to lighten up.

As soon as I reached him, he launched forward, barely even acknowledging my presence. I followed right after him. He picked up speed and I wondered if he was trying to outrun me. Tough luck with that! With my dad’s training plan of torture, I had no problem keeping up with anyone. When his run turned into a sprint, I followed, racing him deep into the frozen tundra. I easily dodged the rocky outcroppings he did, and hopped across frozen rivers, following right in his pawprints. As we approached a rugged, snow-covered ridge I was very familiar with by now, I hatched a plan to shake him up a bit. He continued running down the opening that was a path during the summer, and I sprinted up a small ledge, doubling my speed. I got there with perfect timing, leaping up and landing right in front of him, sinking into the snow.

He tried to stop, but still ended up slamming right into me. I had just enough time to get low to the ground, so he tripped over the top of me, sending him flying into a pile of snow. He growled and flailed his limbs frantically as he got himself up.