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body. Might take a little longer before it completely takes hold of you, but that’s what it’s going to do.”

“I washed it away!”

Tatum shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. It works too fast. You would’ve had to cut your nose off right the second he bit you to’ve saved yourself.”

Robert groaned again, and he pressed his fists to his eyes. He wanted this nightmare to end already. He wanted to wake up back home with his father and uncles and sister. He wanted his normal life back.

“Being a wolf isn’t so bad. It could help us,” Tatum said.

Robert pulled his fists away from his eyes, slowly looking over at his new companion, wondering if he’d heard that right.

“What?”

Tatum smiled at him, and for the first time, Robert really took note of the man’s teeth. They were sharper than normal, and his eyes suddenly turned a bright gold that seemed to glow in the dark space of the shack.

Robert stumbled backward until he bumped into the stove and knocked over the pot of water. “You…what are you? You’re one of them?”

Tatum shrugged and stepped closer. “It’s easier to hunt them like this. You have no idea how many pelts I’ve been able to collect, how much faster I can run and better I can track now that I’m like this.”

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Though he was still freaked out, the idea of possibly being able to better stalk his prey had Robert paying attention. “How much better?”

Tatum reached his hand out, the fingers extending and turning into claws. “So much better. I’ll speed the process up for you, and we’ll get those shifters before nightfall, and you’ll have your revenge.”

Those words, those almost hypnotic words, were enough to allow Robert to hold still while Tatum put those claws on his face, gripped tightly, and broke the skin until he bled.

* * * *

Storm had never had anyone be so openly affectionate to him before. He was really starting to believe that John might have true feelings for him beyond the fact that Storm had taken his virginity and that John thought he and Storm were mated.

He reminded himself that it was dangerous for him to be thinking such things, and if he and John ever got out of this alive, he wouldn’t be too heartbroken when John’s pack alpha denied their match, or when John himself decided he’d made a mistake.

What would destroy him, however, was the fact that, because Storm owed John a life-debt, when or if John ever decided that he’d made a mistake and Storm wasn’t really the one, Storm wouldn’t be able to simply leave and move on with his life like anyone else would.

He would be forced to stay at John’s side, at least within a certain distance of him, and he would forever be his servant, always seeing or hearing about when he’d find himself new lovers.

It shocked Storm to realize that even thinking about something like that was enough to make his heart ache. Storm had served Tony, but he hadn’t cared about the man. At all.

John was right. The guy could see through him like glass.

“What are you thinking about?” John asked.

The wolf limped along beside him, and Storm had stopped running to allow John to catch up to him. They were now traveling at Hunted and on the Run

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a steady pace, but there were no sounds or scents of hunters behind them, so they were okay to take it slow for a while.

The only thing that would ruin their journey would be if a nature photographer or something were to see a cougar and a wolf walking side by side and stick in a magazine with one of those big captions.

“Unlikely Friends,” it would read.

Actually, Storm might enjoy that.

“About a lot of things,” Storm said. His stomach rumbled, and he groaned inside of his head.

He heard John’s stomach growling as well, and not for the first time.

“Hopefully you weren’t thinking about dinner,” John said, his inward voice sounding miserable.

They were both starving and quick to become irritable with each other. They’d argued more than once on their journey and then gave each other the silent treatment afterward.

John’s innocent questions were his way of attempting to break the ice again.

Maybe he thought he should make peace with him before they both starved to death.

Then, to his horror, John fell over right next to him. The whole weight of his body landed heavily in the weeds and rocks.

“John!” Storm screamed inside his lover’s head. He spun around and went to him. Pressing a paw down on John’s shoulder, he gently turned the wolf over so that Storm could better see his face.

John’s eyes opened slowly, and he groaned. “What happened?”

“You fell over. I think you fainted.”

“I don’t faint,” John said. His attempt to get back on four paws was laughable at best. His stomach growled again.

This was too much. Storm should’ve known better than to think they could travel for so long without hunting for food. Hell, the only thing either of them had for breakfast that morning was the water they’d drank from the river.

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They were both shifters with high metabolism, and John’s body was still trying to use up all the energy he had to heal itself from that bullet wound. If Storm didn’t do something soon, John wouldn’t be getting back up, and Storm would be joining him.

The rocks were wet, and it was still early enough in the year that the water was still freezing cold. He had to move John or else he would become sick again. He could die from pneumonia.

There was no help for it. They were going to have to stop here and rest.

Storm shifted back into his human form and quickly put his hands under John’s body, lifting him away from the cold and wet rocks.

He could practically hear John snickering in his