Chapter 6: The Run

"Ledger," Hester said, when Tobias told her what Dirk had shouted across the creek.

She was at the stove with her back to us, and her cane hooked over the oven door.

"What about the ledger, Gran?"

"Ask me after the seventh night."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you'll get today." She turned around, and her sharp grey eyes went from me to Tobias. "You haven't shifted since the crash."

"No."

"Do it tonight. The bond hurts less when the wolf is running. Take her to the ridge."

"Gran, I can't."

"You can," Hester said. "She's been waiting four days at the back of your head to be let out."

That night Tobias walked me up to the open slope above the cabin, where the grass was cold and the moon was nearly full.

"You first," he said. "I'll turn my back."

"You can look. I don't mind."

"Dara." His voice went rough. "Rule four."

He turned his back.

I undressed quickly and called my wolf.

She came up out of me so fast it hurt.

I fell forward onto four paws in the grass.

The ache under my collarbone turned into something I could run from.

I stood in the moonlight and shook.

Behind me a large black wolf stepped out of Tobias's jeans and stood waiting.

He was bigger than I remembered. He dipped his head once.

Then he ran, and I ran after him.

We went up the slope and over the ridge and down through the pines on the other side.

The cold air poured through my lungs. For the first time in five days I was not thinking about a nursery or a crib or a flat line on a monitor.

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