“Those parts will do, and I don’t need you to repeat it. I needyouto be sure it’s what you want.”
“I am sure, Devan. Don’t treat me like a child.”
As if Devan ever could. “You’re a warrior, Zio. I’ve never seen you as anything else.”
“Nothingelse?”
“Don’t be pedantic.” It was Devan’s turn to close the distance between them in a flash. He shoved Zio against a tree and wedged a knee between his thighs. “But if this is what you dragged me out here for, there was really no need. We could’ve had this conversation in the tent.”
“No, we couldn’t,” Zio said. “We’ve been together and apart, at war and naked in bed, but we’ve never truly been alone since the bond triggered. You were right to push me away and make me say it again, but you were too late. I’ve already lived twenty-one years without you. All I needed to be sure was to behere, Devan, with you.”
Devan wondered who had swapped Zio’s surly self for a young shifter so eloquent he was almost poetic.This is a dream; it has to be.
But it wasn’t. The primal,desperateurge to bite Zio, to claim him, reignited stronger than ever. He pushed up against Zio, his desires clear.
Zio moaned and pushed back, hips canting to meet Devan, hard and demanding.
Devan bared his teeth, and only the alpha commands seared on his soul stopped him from following through. He groaned and rubbed his cheek against Zio’s. “If we’re going to hold on, we need to holdoff.”
“We could do it in secret,” Zio whispered, gaze now hazy with instincts he couldn’t control. “No one would know.”
Devan chuckled. “They would. Your squad is young, but any shifter, wolf or otherwise, that’s been around bonds, would know we’d completed it in a heartbeat. They’d smell it on us, sense the shift in our behaviour, our reactions to certain things. Besides, it’s too dangerous while you’re fighting. I’ve already killed for you... If we were properly bonded? I’d burn the world down.”
“Gods.” Zio shuddered. “I believe you because I’ve seen it, and my wolf liked it... it felt right, you know? But it scared me too. You were so different that day.”
Devan eased away from Zio’s body, every instinct he possessed screaming at him to do the opposite. “Iwasdifferent that day, and I haven’t been the same since. Even without... us, being in my animal skin was something I needed to do, and not being able to do it now is driving me slowly mad. Have you ever been in a situation where you can’t shift for weeks at a time? Months? Years?”
Comprehension dawned in Zio’s dark gaze. “That’s what’s bothering you?”
“I think so. I didn’t realise it until I said it, and gods, there’s other things going on too, but... yeah. I miss running free.”
“Then do it.”
“I can’t. It’s part of the agreement my alphas have with the southern packs—that I don’t fight, shift, or do anything to bring my clan into the war.”
“Surely that means you can’t shifttofight. Not that you can’t shift at all.”
Devan sifted through his jumbled memories of the conversation he’d had with Luca in a place that had seemed like the end of the world.“…barring self-defence, you do not fight again, nor do you complete your bond with their soldier.”He hadn’t outright forbidden Devan to shift—But Varian did, remember?“I can’t do it.”
“You can.” A low growl punctuated Zio’s words. “We’re nowhere near the fighting—we’re nowhere nearanything. We can shift and run for miles without anyone knowing. And I’ll tell Varian the truth when we get back—that you had to shift for your own well-being. He’s not a monster, either. If it doesn’t put the pack at risk, he’ll understand.”
“But—”
“No, Devan. You take care of everyone else; let me take care of this for you. Shift. Run. Be your truth, even if it’s just for a moment.”
Devan couldn’t remember a time when Zio asking anything of him wasn’t so compelling he felt weak at the knees. Combined with the impatient beast demanding release, he stood no chance. He closed his eyes and summoned the power that would set him free. Bones lengthened and snapped. Senses came to life.
He shifted.
* * *
Zio’s wolf was fast, but Devan’s tiger was faster. The white cat zipped through the trees, bounding from fallen trunks and rocks as Zio raced to keep up. Wind and rain. Paws on the frosty ground. The aroma of damp earth merged with unmistakable scents of two excited shifters. Zio drank it all in, howling with delight in the rare moments he got close enough to Devan to nip his flank.
It was almost like running with his brothers, save the heady aura that kept pace with them, never to be outrun.
A few miles in, Devan slowed and jerked his head forwards, message clear:show me the way.
Zio shoulder-barged him on his way past.Gladly.