mourned the howl that left my curled lip.
I trembled in the sand, a wolf, waiting for the next onslaught.
So weak. I listened to the whine escaping my animal face.
Hello, Andie Thana.
Intruder. I couldn’t even spare the energy to yelp. I inhaled instead, tasting the scents on the air.
Good water. Stone. Sand dirt. Little food. No danger.
Wait, what was I doing? This was crazy. Yet my nose hadn’t lied. I wasn’t in danger.
I was alone.
Mostly alone, yes. Except for me.
I froze as my ears picked out the familiar tones of the voice bouncing inside my head. Was that my voice?
My brain was talking to me.
I am your wolf, Andie Charise Thana.
Frozen, I couldn’t move. Tuning inward, I could feel a… a foreign presence inside. I couldn’t say exactly where—in the same way I couldn’t describe myself as coming from one part of my body.
This thing was just in me. I mean, Sascha and Greyson were so different, but I’d always viewed them as Jekyll and Hyde. Different sides of the same coin. But this was another entity within me. A living, breathing, and thinking entity.
This was bad. I should find out more.
You consider Luthers your enemy? she asked.
Should I talk back? Could she hear all my thoughts? Uhm, hey. And yeah. Luthers don’t like me. It’s returned.
Would that offend her? Him?
Good. I don’t like rules.
I closed my eyes. You’re a sigma.
The world was laughing at me.
Your labels are pointless. I don’t acknowledge them.
So that was a big, fat yes. Are you inside my, uh, body forever? And are you female?
Who knew how this stuff worked?
I am made for childbearing like you, yes. And I will be with you until death.
Crap, crap, crap! You kind of just stay in the background and talk?
In this form, I am most active. In two-legged form, I will assert myself if you anger me. I can talk to you in both forms if I choose, but human interactions are beneath me.
The wolf had a huge ego.
I inhaled, checking for enemies again. Or were we doing that together without me realising? My ears twitched at the sound of hooves in the distance. Medium prey judging by the tread. Enough meat to sustain me for a week.
The childbearing thing, I replied after this influx of messed-up information. I’m not down with that.
You don’t have to be. I am made to have children. If I don’t do that, then I have no purpose and I must die.
“Jesus.” At least I tried to say the word. A chortling question mark sound came out instead. You said that you don’t like rules, but you’re sticking to a pretty big tradition there.
Talking to her was helping somehow. Or maybe it was a time thing. I felt stronger. The shaking had stopped.
I should figure out how I got here.
Where was Ella F? The last thing I remembered was slamming on the brakes when my arms first broke.
Her harsh words filled my mind again. It is a good argument if not a pointless one. I am what I am.
Okay, cool. How do I get back to two-legged Andie?
You want to leave this form already?
Her displeasure and disappointment were plain. Her emotions had that same foreign tinge to them—I could just tell they weren’t mine.
If you don’t respect my presence, she said, I will take over entirely.
That couldn’t happen. How do I respect your presence?
Seriously, I had no idea Luthers had a running conversation in their heads all the time.
I like to run. I like to chase prey. I don’t like others of my kind, especially the one you call Greyson.
Ha! We can fucking agree on that.
I will kill him when he arrives, but we should find a better battlefield.
My eyes widened. Odd, really, how many things wolves could do. He’s coming here?
I drew him with our howl. Men are led by their breeding parts. I told him that we were eager.
She didn’t. That was a dick move.
You won’t say that when his blood coats our fangs and fur.
Gross.
I’m taking control now, she said.
Half a yelp left me before she slid into the driver’s seat. Just like that, I had no control over this form. I was a passenger, able to feel the movement of my four legs and the expansion of my ribs, and able to process scents and sounds and tastes, while being an absolute observer at the same time.
I didn’t like it.
You’ll get used to it. As I will in our two-legged form.
Claustrophobic was the word.
We whined as my panic mounted.
That will