The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,55

middle, the dried blood washing off his skin. “Koi’s in the clear, but do you think one of your packmates might have killed that girl?”

Tak closed his eyes when a shower of sunlight trickled through the branches overhead and caught him in a net of light. “I don’t think it was one of ours,” he said, his legs sinking as he righted himself. “Only white men kill for sport, and all those other victims were a sporting event.”

“Or a lesson. It could go either way.”

Tak swam toward the shore and got out. “Do you want to implicate my people?”

“No, but you can’t point fingers until you’ve eliminated all motive. If it’s one of the outsiders, they’ll eventually be caught and punished. But if it is someone in your tribe, don’t go down with them for the sake of protecting one of your own. There’s a lot of animosity in this town. I see it in everyone’s eyes, even yours.”

After putting on his pants, Tak sat on the bank, his knees drawn up and his arms draped over them. “Who are the ones that sit in the back of the bar? Who has to park behind the building in the mud? Who has to be careful about shifting off the property, or else they could be killed? We are prisoners in our own community. You don’t see that damn goat getting served on toast whenever he shifts in the bar, but what would happen if one of us shifted in there?”

Lakota dipped his head back and drenched his hair. “Maybe it’s time for you to put aside your differences and learn to get along. Start making changes. The whole world isn’t like Running Horse, you know.”

Tak narrowed his eyes. “Violence is the only real thing that makes changes. Just look at history. Half the Shifters around here are rogues looking for a good piece of land away from humans—land that belongs to us. They don’t want to make friends with my kind. They’re waiting for an opportunity to drive us off our territory.”

Treading water, Lakota gave the matter some thought. He could see motive on both sides. The tribes resented the locals and might have lashed out in anger, or perhaps their logic was to eliminate women so the outside Shifters couldn’t breed anymore. The packs and rogues obviously wanted the land and were digging their heels in. It was prime real estate—more miles of property than one could dream of owning. Or perhaps the killer was neither. Maybe it was just a sadistic murderer or someone who wanted to start a war between Breed and humans by planting Shifter bodies within human reach.

Melody’s wolf stood up, pacing restlessly the way Shifters did when their human spirit was ready to take over. After lapping up a few mouthfuls of water, she crouched down and then jumped off the rock, shifting in midair.

Chapter 12

The second I hit the water, I flailed my arms in panic. Where am I? Is someone still chasing me? The thoughts ricocheted in my mind as I choked on water.

The last thing I remembered was shifting when a wolf came after me. My wolf and I shared one purpose, one thought—survive. As consciousness had dissipated and my human spirit fell asleep, I knew my wolf would protect us and run like the wind.

Now I was choking and gasping for air, disoriented and unable to feel the ground beneath my feet. A loud splash sounded ahead, and Lakota was swimming in my direction.

He scooped his arm around my waist and whispered, “Are you okay?”

I held on to his neck. Water had shot up my nose, and I was coughing and gasping in a mad struggle to breathe. Normally I was a good swimmer, but the coughing made it difficult to speak, let alone swim.

“Hang on,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

With one arm, he swam toward the shore. As I held on, I suddenly realized how naked I was against him. Not only that, but how naked he was.

I let go and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he had an iron grip around my waist. Meanwhile, my breasts were precariously close to revealing themselves to his bestie, who was sitting on the shore, watching with avid interest.

When I felt the rocks beneath my feet, I used my heels to dig in and wrench away.

Lakota turned to face me. “What are you doing?”

My gaze darted between them. Nudity wasn’t normally a big deal, but maybe it was a