> Why here? Why now? <
Huddled close in my fox form, Vrika lifted its head in my mindscape - fully alert and pleased. Out in reality, we scanned the area until we spotted the clue. A white SUV parked near an abandoned factory’s office building.
Then I caught movent... a figure with very confident athletic grace patrolling along the periter fence in dark clothing. Hood up, but a few loose strands of white hair visible enough from this angle.
I imdiately considered simply changing direction. But my hoping to avoid the encounter altogether seed to have summoned a cursed wind.
My turn to the side paused only a second later... as I knew she’d already caught my scent. She was probably out looking for it, anyway, with my luck.
"Princess? Is that you?"
The voice I’d been imagining through all those texts the night before carried so clearly across the large amount of park between us. Certain, but uncertain in a way that made straighten my shoulders and lift my chin.
Refusing to appear as if I’d been caught doing sothing wrong. Even though technically... I had just committed so form of ’fraud’, surely. And had just done sothing impossible with so form of magic that shouldn’t exist.
"Ms. Voss. Fancy eting you in this delightful part of the neighborhood at... well it must be past three in the morning."
"This isn’t exactly a tourist destination even in dayti, Citra. What are you doing all the way out here?"
Her answer back to was amused and a little happy. It lacked any of the suspicions she needed to have. The ones she would likely use against a rogue wolf stalking about in the night.
Because that rogue is ... and she either trusts too much, or the pull of fated mates is making her ignore caring about it. A stupid, stupid wolf either way.
Just like the night she walked back to that first motel, without her usual white business suit fitted on her. She had quite a different impression on her, then and now.
She stopped approaching fairly far away and pulled her hood back. But also too close, because from this distance I actually caught that little mont she had.
When she realized her hair was ssy from it and her eyes ticked away from mine while brushing at it. Just a little too quickly. Too nervously. Adorably girlishly.
> Irritating. Why do I want to touch it so badly? She can smooth it down herself. Keep quiet, you. <
"I was exploring. Learning so of the city’s boundaries in the dark."
"At 3 AM?"
Her eyes studied ... gleaming with that subtle orange-brown in the darkness that showed her own wolf was active. From sneakers to jacket, to the sa backpack she t in, her gaze softened after tracing my hair and face. I really wish it would stop doing that.
"I rely couldn’t sleep. What’s your excuse?"
I shot back in a clipped tone before a drop of rain hit my cheek, followed quickly by another. As we stood there, that sa little curse in the air that surely moved the wind also made clouds overhead grow thick enough to fall out of nowhere...
And the desire to go hide in a nice warm dry place increased - along with the number of hairs on the back of my neck standing right up. As clear of a feeling as any to a beast.
> This isn’t just going to be passing heavy rain, it’s a thunderstorm coming in. <
"I’m sorry you couldn’t get any rest. For , it was pack patrol. We take responsibility for more than just the downtown area. I maintain a rotating schedule of tis and locations and tonight, I was assigned here."
Coincidences just happen like that. Right. Even though I wanted to leave quickly and hide, I stood and sneered instead.
"You personally patrol? Isn’t that what underlings are for?"
Trying to make her think I think lightly of her and her pack. Just so she stomps off mad and I can run for cover alone... doesn’t seem to phase her. She just smiles and explains herself calmly, in that stupid way she has.
"A good Alpha knows every inch of their territory. Besides, it keeps connected to what’s happening in Vossden beyond boardroom politics. It also... helped run into you the first ti. And this ti."
The drizzling rain intensified quickly as I just stared at her - and she stared back. Until fat drops that couldn’t be ignored pounded against us, against the park, and the pavent. Kyrie turned and glanced at her SUV in the far parking lot.
"We should-"
I flinched involuntarily at the sudden light as she began to suggest sothing. The lightning flash illuminated everything in white for a fraction, followed a second or two later by a deafening crash of thunder.
Reverberating through my chest in a way that made my skin crawl before another flash and another boom - more imdiate and close. So much that the hairs all over tingled. A hand pointed out toward a small maintenance shed close by when my vision returned.
"There! Run!"
For once, I didn’t argue with her or comnt. Black fur was bristling from all over , uncontrolled despite my rational half... despite Vrika! I just ran while following her directions.
Sheets of rain so thick I could barely see through them poured from the heavens by the ti we crashed through the door. As... she did. Running just a little faster than to be the one that damaged city property.
The lock on the door hadn’t endured her werewolf strength. And now we stood in the dark - in a room slling of damp lawn equipnt and old fertilizer. But it was drier than out there by far.
"Well. That was quite sudden. I should have listened to the forecast. I’m sorry for holding you up."
Both of our dark clothes were thoroughly soaked by the cloudburst. The rain did not care that I had a jacket when it was worn too loosely. Kyrie pushed wet hair back from her face as I wrung cold water from my own.
> Keep warm, please, Vrika. And sane. Please. <
My jacket and backpack are both quickly discarded in a heap... so acutely aware of how my clothes clung to my skin. While I’m grateful for any distraction from the weather, I’m also not in the mood to enjoy the feeling of being seen like this.
That way she tilted her head at for a few seconds before shaking out her own sleeves was so obvious that for anyone else, I’d be teasing them. It wasn’t the look of soone only interested in why you had fur covering you.
It was closer to being ogled by the Alpha... at a mont when we’re stuck together. In shivering revenge, out of the corner of my eye, I closely watched her remove the light black hooded jacket she wore.
After shaking it a few tis, she then spread the drier side over the top of an old wood crate.
"You might as well try to get comfortable. This doesn’t look like it’s letting up anyti soon."
Lightning flashed again, brightening the small space as I flinched. I tried to wonder if this was so sort of karma... to end up trapped with her the very first ti I see her again. The night I finalize a preparation to leave a couple days without saying anything.
> In the middle of thunder and lightning, one of the few things I am uncontrollably afraid of.
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