Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) - Nalini Singh Page 0,121

he grabbed her wrist and brought her fingers up to his mouth to nip lightly at them. Retracting her hand, she forced herself to look away when he began to undo the top button on his jeans. Light sparked in her peripheral vision not long afterward.

Heart jolting, she turned . . . to see a large gray wolf shaking its fur into place.

A discarded pile of clothes lay on the grass and the eyes that met hers were pure amber. The wolf stretched out its body, its paws out front and its head lower than its back. Come play, it said.

Wonder shimmered through her, bright lights in the darkness.

Unfolding her arms while her lower lip trembled, she swung her legs out of the truck. The wolf gripped at the edge of her pants, tugged.

“Stop that,” she said. “I like these jeans.”

He tugged again.

Unable to bite back her laugh, she jumped down and closed the door behind her. The wolf let go at last. When she went to her knees and raised her hand with hesitant wonder, he butted his head against her chest. “Alexei,” she whispered, astonished at the transformation even though she’d always known he was changeling; seeing him this way, this magnificent wild beast . . .

Fisting her hands in his fur, she rubbed the side of her face against him.

He opened his powerful and deadly jaws, pretended to grip her throat. She pushed playfully at the heavy bulk of his body and he danced away, light as air. Only to come back when she held out her hand. She stroked him, found that his coat was thick and soft. He stood in place, not just patient with her petting but angling his head or nudging at her to indicate she’d hit a good spot or that he wanted more.

Memory tugged at one of his ears, got a low growl in response, and a look that she was sure was of affront. “I guess no one dares tug a dominant wolf’s ear.” Her smile creased her cheeks. “What kind of game do you want to play?”

Amber eyes gleamed.

Lowering itself into a seated position, the wolf ostentatiously closed its eyes and put its head on its paws.

“A sleeping game?” Memory scrunched up her face. “That’s the strangest game I’ve ever heard of.”

The wolf opened its eyes and huffed, then got up and ran a little way into the forest before coming back. After which it folded itself back down into a seated position and placed its head on its paws.

Memory glanced at the moon-kissed forest into which the wolf had run and back at him. She’d never played games, never had a playmate, but she’d watched so many documentaries. What did wolves like to do? Her eyes widened. “Oh. A chasing game!” Pulse kicking, she rose to her feet. “I’m not very fast.”

The wolf began to snore. I’m giving you a big head start.

She sensed that intent as clearly as if he’d spoken. The wolf’s emotions were far more primal than Alexei’s, but it was still him . . . and she could understand him in this form, too. That was a gift she’d never expected.

His eyes opened, a question in them.

“No peeking.” She pretended to scowl.

He parted his jaws in a wolfish reply before closing his eyes again.

Trying to move as quietly as possible, she walked into the forest. She took care, unsure of her footing—but the moon lit up the world. It showed her an area with towering pines, carpeted by thick pine needles.

No cracked rocks, nothing to trip her up if she was careful.

Alexei had stopped where she could play with him without hurting herself.

Pulse a drum, she began to run. When she spotted the silver ribbon of a small stream, she took off her shoes and socks and waded upstream for five minutes before getting out. It was worth the frozen toes to give Alexei a small challenge at least. After using her socks to dry her feet, she balled them up and stuck them in a back pocket. Her sneakers fit well even over bare feet.

Ready, she began to run again.

A wolf’s howl split the night sky five minutes later, raising every hair on her body, and she knew Alexei was on the hunt. Her breath hitched. Then froze in her lungs as howl after howl answered his. The wolf song echoed around the mountains, bouncing off the slopes and falling into the valleys. Memory’s eyes burned at the unearthly beauty of the wild