Wolf, Shifted by Rebecca Ethington

1

Nova

I smelledtheir wolves before I saw them.

Three strong male betas were tailing me, they were close. Close enough that it wouldn’t take much for them to reach me. At least one of the three was enjoying being around all these humans way too much. I could smell his arousal, that musk that was nearly as strong as the woodsy rotten smell that was distinctly wolf shifter.

Gross. Horny wolf in a sea of unsuspecting humans.

It all mixed in my nose, tensed in my gut and sent my wolf into her hypervigilant mode that was always way too dangerous. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck lifted, fingers prickling as she begged to shift. To lunge after them. To rip them apart.

Down, girl.

She was always a little overprotective, maybe a little bit out of control. Just like me.

My wolf hated being followed as much as I did, and these three had been following me since yesterday afternoon. At least that was the first time I caught a whiff of them, it was about 2pm and I had just scooped an ice cream cone for a set of twins. I should have left the city then, but no, I had to go off and be a stubborn idiot and get my paycheck.

I turned my head to the side as though I was just looking at the display of televisions the repair store had out. A newscaster was detailing a fire at a circus that was clearly caused by a dragon, although in their oblivious mortal minds it was a freak accident.

At any other time I might have been interested in the story, but this time I leaned forward and glanced back briefly, trying to pick out the three wolves who were tailing me. This was downtown Chicago, on a Monday morning. The sidewalk was a sea of heads as everyone hustled to work.

Well, all except the three burly men who had also stopped to look in a window. Way to be all discreet, boys. They were staring a bit too intently at the window of an upscale clothing boutique; not really the M.O. for three barrel chested dudes wearing stained jean jackets, jeans, and hoodies.

They probably would have fit in with the humans if they didn’t look as though bodybuilders had eaten bodybuilders. They didn’t look human, not that anyone around them really noticed that. Most of the humans were ogling them in either fascination or interest. Or, in the case of the women that smelled the musk that one of them was putting off, panty dropping lust.

Two of the males, both brunettes, were trying to side-eye stare at me while still attempting to look interested in the lace dress the mannequin was wearing. The third, a redhead, was staring right at me.

Gotcha. He smiled, clearly thinking that he had won and I was going to cower and beg for mercy or some shit. I just smiled back, my wide wicked grin flaring as my wolf snarled, my mouth filling with saliva as she begged to be released.

Not yet.

Well, not ever. I had rules, and that was one of them. I didn’t shift. I hadn’t even tried since the first time. The time that had sent me on the run from wolf shifters was the whole reason I was being hunted in the first place.

The reason my father hid me.

The reason he trained me to take down bastards just like these ones.

It was also the reason that he was gone.

I might be willing to break that rule if I’m not able to get away from these guys. For now, however, I think it would be best if I stuck to my ‘no murdering people’ rule.

I turned, shoving my hands in my pockets and wrapping one hand around the switchblade I always carried and the other around my cell phone.

I pulled that out, already madly typing a message as I weaved through the sea of people and put as much distance between me and the wolves as I could.

‘Fuck me. I was right,’ I typed out, sure there were more than a few spelling mistakes as I didn’t even bother to look at my phone.

‘Did you smell them again?’My one and only friend, Hiss, real name unknown, typed back. I had met her years ago on a message board for shifters and she had been my only contact with the shifter world since my father died and I had been left on my own.

My father had hidden us for ten years. It had only taken me two to be found. Either I was worse at this than I thought, or they were getting better at hunting me.

I had a bad feeling it was the latter.

‘Even better, I can see them.’I hit send and turned a corner, using the motion to keep my tabs on the three. Two of them were still charging their way towards me, moving against the current of people like a battering ram.

They would never catch up to me at that rate.

I couldn’t see the redhead anymore, nor could I smell that musk of a wolf ready to mate. The horny one must have gone off on his own, trying to cut me off.

Okay, two can play that game. God, they were just making this too easy.

‘Well, if they are not being careful, maybe they are friendly?’I read her message as I crossed the street and rolled my eyes.

You gotta love Hiss’s enthusiasm, no matter how misplaced it was. Not that that was strictly her fault, she had no idea why I was in hiding. It wasn’t exactly information that you shared with online faceless people. I had my secrets, and I am sure she had hers. Like, maybe she was a he and a middle aged pizza delivery driver with back hair. I didn’t care. She kept me up to date on the happenings in ‘Wolf World’, and I stayed one step ahead of the wolves that were hunting me.

Well, I used to.

“Shit,” I hissed as the redhead darted around the corner in front of me, just as the other two emerged behind.

You would think that after hundreds of years of evolutionary advancement these wolves could come up with a better way to hunt. That trick was the first one my father had taught me.

“Cute little wolves, think they are all bad and shit,” I mumbled as I let myself get swept away by the crowd before I raced down an alley, pulled my black curls into a high bun, tossed my jacket and replaced it with one that was half hanging out of a dumpster and emerged on the other side another person.

Well, as much as I could manage anyway. With my hair up and garbage jacket in place it should be enough to disguise my scent. I walked to the end of the street and turned another corner, moving closer to my apartment where my Go Bag and motorcycle would be waiting.

There weren’t as many people here, which meant I could move faster, but it also meant that the wolves would be easier to spot. As would I. Thankfully, there wasn’t any sign of them, and that rotten forest smell had vanished.

I sighed, letting my shoulders relax and my grip on my knife loosen. My wolf wasn’t going to calm down quite so easily. She was still snarling, still sending the hairs on my arms and neck up.

It’s okay. We are okay.She wasn’t having it. If we can’t get away, I’ll let you do your thing.

She finally calmed down at that and I turned the last corner to my apartment, and my shiny bike that was just waiting for me. A quick dart into the alley where I hid my Go Bag and I was out of there. Off to another city.

‘Keep running.’It was the last thing my father said to me. It was what he had trained me to do.

Hide. Fight. Never let the High Alpha find you.

‘I lost them. Want to pick my next city?’I typed as I turned the corner, already shoving my phone in my pocket as I raced right to the old, ripped sofa and the bag… that wasn’t there.

“Looking for something?” The voice was too high and perky for someone just casually chilling in an alley. It was like the sweet smell of fruit when it’s going bad.

Everything went into high alert as I stood to face what could have easily been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. High boots, matching leather jacket, crop top. She looked like she belonged in a fashion magazine with her perfectly red lips and strawberry blond hair. Hair made even redder by the blood red glare of her wolf that was looking at me through her eyes.

Shit. I thought the three males were bad, this wolf was clearly a hunter. Trained to kill. Trained to kill me judging by the look she was giving me.

“Yes, my bag of clothes. You know, for when I meet bitches like you and want to get out of town faster.” My hackles were up, my wolf’s growl seeping through my lips as she pushed her way right to the surface, staring at this woman with my golden glare.

It was the furthest I would ever let her out. The furthest my father would allow me to show. Anything else was dangerous. Not that this bitch knew that, or seemed to care.

“Now, now,” the woman crooned as though I was a toddler and stepped closer, leather boots shining in the flickering light of the alley, “we don’t need to get all worked up. We just want to talk to you, Nova.”

Shit. Shit. So much for any chance of her not knowing who I was. Okay, play dumb. Get to the bike and get out of here.

“Is that supposed to be a name?” I asked with a sneer, my voice more wolf than human as I stepped back, hand going into my pocket to grip my knife. I suddenly felt very stupid about all those years my father had trained me to fight with it. How in the world was I going to take on a wolf shifter with a switchblade?

Scratch that, four wolf shifters. I smelled the men a second before they blocked the exits from the alley and their bulk sent more shadows over me and the woman.

“We’ve been looking for you, Nova.” She smiled, the wide grin displaying already pointed canines as her eyes glinted. “We’ve been watching you. We know who you are.”

She was so close to a shift, so perfectly controlled. It was almost enviable.

Almost.

My wolf growled again, and I let her have a little more space, let the hairs on my arms prickle and lengthen into golden brown fur as her growl echoed over the brick walls. It was dangerous, and I knew it, but I was kinda backed into a corner. Well, I guess I was backed into a slimy brick wall in an alley, but same difference.

“And who am I?” I taunted, chancing a glance at the three males. They sure did make a perfect wall between me and my bike.

“Oh, what did they call you, Nova? There was that cute little nickname after you killed all those wolves?”

“I didn’t kill—” I started, snarling through my teeth, fist clenched around my blade, but she just went on.

“The Rabid Wolf of High Bend?” She spoke so innocently, calmly. Not at all like she had just flung out the title I had been running from for the last twelve years.

Okay, so there was no easy way out of this. Time for plan b.

“We just want to talk, Nova.” The woman stepped forward, undeterred. I was sure she wanted me to step back, to shy away from her powerful wolf and back myself closer to the males. I didn’t budge. “Did you really think you could hide from us?”

“Uhh, yeah, I did. And seeing as it’s been twelve years of me ‘hiding from you’, I would say I was successful.” I shrugged and grinned at her, making sure to display my canines, although I had a feeling with the way she chuckled at me that they weren’t nearly as elongated as I had assumed.

This is what happens when you don’t shift in over a decade.

“Do you have a punch pass or something that I can sign, catch me five times and I get a free burrito?” I continued, letting my wolf growl again as I continued to try to get to my bike.

They all moved closer as though I was a magnet, pulling them in. My wolf snarled so loud that the bottles piled on the old asphalt of the alley rattled. You would think that a wolf that loud would send these four scurrying. Nope, they all moved closer.

Double shit.

Okay, if I stabbed the girl and kicked the redhead in the balls I should distract them enough to get to my bike and avoid having to shift. My wolf didn’t like that plan, probably because she knew as well as I did that it wasn’t going to work.

“That’s not going to happen, Nova. This isn’t a check in. We were sent to retrieve you. Mr. Dillon doesn’t like the idea of renegade wolves running around his territory unmonitored.”

I froze, even the snarl of my wolf stuttered as the knife cut into my palm with how tight I was holding it. Mr. Dillon. Mr. Greyson Dillon.

The High Alpha.

The guy had fought himself to power before I was born, forcing all of the Alphas of all the packs to submit to him. Now, he’s some kind of super alpha that lords over them all. Insanely powerful, and the one person my father told me to stay far away from.

The one person who would kill me on sight because of what they said I had done.

There were not enough shits in the world for how big of a mess I was in right now.

I blinked, my heart screaming as the memory banged into the side of my head. The room covered in blood, blood smeared over dirt, pooling around my feet.

I shook my head and banished the thought, going back to staring at this woman who was now grinning. I just grinned back. I might be having a panic attack inside, but I wasn’t going to let her know.

“First you want to talk, now it’s a retrieval. Make up your mind hunter, I’d at least like the facts before I kill you.” I lifted my chin, a sign of challenge and dominance to this woman who instantly acted as though she had been slapped. Her eyes flashed, her wolf growled and she stepped right up to me, the three men laughing in the background.

My wolf didn’t like that, she was right back to trying to bust her way out again. If my canines weren’t long before, they were now.

“Oh, he’s going to love you…” She grinned, stepping so close that her smell of fruit and grass was almost nauseating.

“Yeah, I don’t love anyone,” I snarled, stepping closer as I pulled my knife out, pressing the tip into the exposed flesh that her prissy little crop top left accessible for me. “You can tell your Alpha that I’m not interested. I’m just fine. He’s monitored me, and now I’m going to—”

The woman lunged against me, her wolf raced through her as she wrapped her hand around my arm and her eyes flashed, her nails elongated.

“That’s cute, Nova, but you don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s a Moon Year, and Mr. Dillon has required your presence.”

“Required?” I laughed in her face, letting my eyes flash again. There was only one way out of this, and my wolf was ready. Guess I was breaking my no murdering rule today. “I’m not required—”

“Oh, stop the bullshit, you’re coming with us,” a voice snarled in my ear before I could finish, the smell of aroused wolf banging around in my head as an arm pulled me against a hard chest and a needle was plunged into my arm.