When her squeal morphed into a whoop of joy, I had my confirmation.

This woman was perfect for me.

Eight

Sabina

This place was nice.

Really nice.

I mean, I’d lived in dumps my whole life, and Eli’s pad was beyond dope. It was like something from an architectural magazine, it belonged on a show or in a book for interior designers.

But this place?

Didn’t have walls or a roof.

If anything, it had a sky that was always the same color, between dark and light, it was rarely cold, and it was just perfect because I was at one with nature.

All my life, I’d lived in cities, and I’d had to move from place to place, not just because I was on the run, but because that was the traveler life.

To think that I could stay in the same place and end my nomadic lifestyle was so overwhelming that at times, I’d just reach for Austin and have him hold me tight.

That was a constant too. Just as the light never changed and the temperature stayed perfect at all times, he was there.

At my side.

Of course, it fit that when I rolled over after having a nap, he wasn’t there.

When my hand reached out, patting beside me where he’d been earlier, our legs tangled together, our upper bodies curved into each other, and I found him absent, my eyes popped open in surprise.

Not distress, because I knew he’d be near, but just shock.

He was turning into my second skin, and I liked that.

In fact, the verb ‘like’ didn’t describe how wonderful it was to have him so close to me.

Maybe, over a lifetime, it’d get tiring, but it surprised me how much I loved it now.

After so many years of being alone, of dealing with the pitfalls and surges of life by myself, to have him here? To know he was going through this with me, loving it and getting to know me at the same time?

Heaven.

Truly.

I figured that we’d been here at least five days by this point. Or, however time was measured in this place.

I hoped that when I returned to the regular place where Eli and Ethan were waiting on me, that barely a minute had passed, because I didn’t want them to be worrying about me. I didn’t want their concern. All while I loved the time this was giving me with Austin, my most vulnerable of mates.

He wasn’t like Eli, so sure in his position, and he was utterly unlike Ethan, so confident in his strength, so controlled at all times.

He wasn’t lesser, like he feared. He was just different. And I wanted the chance to explore those differences and come to love him for who he was.

What he was.

So, after five days of being naked, of being with him, of us learning each other, I’d admit I was turning into a glutton, wanting more and more.

This place made me feel like we were Adam and Eve or something, amid the trees, a pool here to drink from and bathe in, with anything we required just a wish away.

I’d admit to shifting only to go to the bathroom, because it felt less gross to do that in my wolfskin, but it was nice to dive-bomb into the water afterward, getting to know my other half as well through play.

This entire situation was a ‘getting to know you’ period. For both me and my she-wolf, and me and Austin.

The Mother, I decided, really knew her shit.

I hummed at the thought, then rolled into a standing position that let me take in the majesty of my current location. The place was perfect. Sheer verdant paradise.

The grass beneath my feet was like velvet. There were no bugs in it either. No fleas to make my skin crawl, or fire ants to sting me. The blades were gentle, soft against my flesh to the point where it almost tickled, and I even felt bad for standing on it and maybe crumpling the fronds. But the scent that came when I did more than made up for the guilt.

It was fresh and clean, rich with a vibrancy that was like the best perfume in the world. The second morning, I’d rolled in it before I’d dived into the pool, and I’d scented of it all day.

Yum.

The trees here weren’t losing their leaves like they had back home. They were heavy with them, but they came in a thousand different shades. Not just greens, but a shade of blue that was close to green on the color palette. They had rich red veins that made them look like blood, and some were amber, some had metallic tints, and freckles of color here and there.

I had to admit, just staring at this place made me want to bring out my pen and pad, but Kali Sara, I hadn’t drawn in a long time because of the fibromyalgia.

Just getting out of bed in the morning had taken most of my energy, and then doing what I had to survive? There’d been nothing left over for fun stuff like drawing. Cooking and baking were tasks I’d had to force myself to undertake, simply because I couldn’t afford to waste food, but drawing? Nope. That had definitely fallen on the unimportant list of things to do on a daily basis.

It was on the tip of my tongue to wish for a pad and pen from the totem who seemed quite willing to grant me any and every wish I wanted, because the sight of the pool up ahead was a breathtaking one. It belonged in a National Geographic magazine, that was for sure. With the gold streaked, rusty-colored rocks behind it, the gentle roar—paradox, I knew—from the falls, then the way the water cascaded and rippled as still met flowing…

Truly, the sight was magnificent.

But I didn’t make my wish. Instead, I decided to use the bathroom, then think about finding Austin, and then maybe I’d wish for the drawing materials. In that order. It felt wrong to sully this place, but shit, a girl had needs!

Assuming that was where Austin had gone too, I shifted, and rather than try to find him, I sniffed him out—in this form, his scent was like a neon light. I knew exactly where he was now, and it was just beyond the pond. The water marred his essence some, but I could hear he was doing something.

To a tree, I thought.

Concerned he was defacing one, even though it made no sense for him to do that, I hurried about my business and began to sprint toward him.

I heard the snarl before I saw them, and it had me wondering how on Earth I’d failed to discern that I wasn’t alone.

I froze in the middle of a clearing, totally open and exposed, totally unable to defend myself in this form because I’d never had to fight, was literally a puppy in comparison to a grown wolf, and that noise?

From a wolf.

From the scent? Pungent and strong, rich with earth tones.

A natural one. Not a shifter who, beneath it all, had the faint smell of soap. These creatures had never seen a bar of soap in their lives.

When I froze, the snarl turned into a growl, long and low. It sent fear into my heart, and made my fur stand on edge.

I wanted to shift back to call on Austin for help, but I was frozen. Frozen to the point where I couldn’t even howl.

I didn’t even have the ability to whimper or mewl. And mentally? I could feel the block between us. I had no idea where it had come from or why, but whatever the wolf did to me, it was like he’d thrown water on me, then turned me to ice.

I’d never felt anything like it before.

In my own way, I was scrappy.

The only reason I’d run and hadn’t fought my father when I was a girl was because I was like a wounded bear in the aftermath of a hunter’s attack.

Here, now, I felt sure I was stronger. Hadn’t I told Austin that I’d take on my father in this form if he came after me now?