Chapter 0451


    “R–run?” I must have reached the point of my wild–temptation where I was beginning to hallucinate,


    because there was no way that Julian had actually just suggested to me that we go for a run, here,


    now, by the light of the moonlight.


    “I’m serious,” he said.


    “But…st time…” I didn’t need to remind him thatst time I had let free my wolf, I had disappeared for


    three days. A search party had been sent out to find me. It was Julian himself who had finally caught up


    with me and convinced me to return to my human form.


    Now, the same man was suggesting I do it again? 1


    The temptation was pure and raw. It pulsed in the back of my mind loudly, like someone beating on a


    bass drum back behind my thoughts. The rhythm was alluring. My wolf had already fallen prey to the


    call. I was so close, I felt like I was holding on with my fingernails. “It’s dangerous,” I said. “I could


    >>


    Julian held


    my upper arms in a tight grip. “You won’t. I won’t let you.” His gaze was steady, clear and confident in a


    way it hadn’t been since Bridget’s arrival. “I will be with you every step, and I will bring you back to


    yourself before it’s toote.”


    I didn’t want to argue, but, “The call is so strong. What if I don’t listen to you?”


    (C


    “You will,” Julian said, and his excess of confidence blossomed some within me as well. Listen to me,


    piper. I will be able to call your back. This thing you’ve been doing… Trying to fully ignore the call. It’s


    not good for you. Or your wolf. Totally ignoring your wolf is not going to help you bond with it.”


    I tried to see through my own delirium to assess whether what he was saying made sense or not. It


    was difficult, but, yes. Yes, that could be true. My wolf and I were bonding slowly, but I almost felt a


    sense of resentment from it. Too long, I’ve been keeping it locked away inside of me as if in a cage. 2


    One of the things I’d promised I wouldn’t do when I reimed it, knowing what it had suffered at the


    hands of my sister Jane.


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    “We have wolves,” Julian said. “We have to use them. It’s natural.”


    I nodded at once. “Okay.”


    Maybe I was surrendering too quickly. Maybe I should have fought more. But I trusted


    1/2


    +15 BONUS


    Julian, trusted his judgement, and I was so on–edge, I would have easily agreed to anything


    at all.


    “Okay,” Julian replied. He released me, and together we looked out at the woods beyond the garden.


    “Ready?”


    I shifted in wolf–form as my reply. A heartbeatter, he did the same, and together we rushed into the


    night, two wolves lost to the call of the wild and the pounding of their own paws against the forest bed.


    For a time, I left myself to the mercy of my wolf, letting it guide me. Our natural instinct took over,


    though when we began to veer too far, Julian was quickly there, nipping and barking to bring us back


    onto the path he’d decided.


    He was an Alpha, so my wolf immediately fell in line.


    Julian was true to his word, guiding me along, never letting me disappear too far.


    He led us down pathways I didn’t know about, and eventually stopped at the side of a small, secluded


    lake I had never seen before. Well, me personally. My wolf might have seen it during those three days I


    lost myself. But I hadn’t been mentally present to remember.


    Julian shifts back into his human form. Then he begins taking off his clothes.


    “What are you doing?” I asked, realizing suddenly that I had shifted too. When had I done that? I didn’t


    even know. Perhaps Julian, the Alpha, had told my wolf to bring me back to the forefront. Or perhaps


    my wolf realized by itself that now was the time.