Zio pulled his combat trousers on and scented Devan’s throat. “I can smell that you’ve shifted. Do you think anyone else will notice?”
“Probably not. I don’t think anyone else is as attuned to how I smell as you are.”
Zio smirked, but his expression sobered a split second later. “Varian will know.”
“Maybe.” Devan stamped into his shoes and plucked twigs from his hair. “But he didn’t outright order me not to shift again, so I haven’t defied him. Besides, I didn’t shift to fight his war, and we stayed in safe territory, so it should be fine.”
“Should be,” Zio deadpanned. “Awesome. And it’s not Varian’s war. It belongs to every wolf that doesn’t want to be ruled by despotic southern wankers, thank you very much.”
“Everyshifter. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not a wolf.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Glad we’ve cleared that up.” Dressed, Devan snagged Zio’s bag and slung it over his back. He jerked his head in the direction of the camp, then blinked hard as a wave of dizziness hit him. It was fleeting, gone in a flash, but in the time it took to pass, Zio had moved.
“What just happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.” Zio gripped Devan’s face. “Whathappened?”
“Nothing. I’m tired, that’s all. Let’s roll.”
Zio frowned.
Devan nudged him. “Seriously. I’m fine. Healing just does weird things to me sometimes. You must’ve seen it in Emma.”
It was a low blow, but it worked. Zio’s face settled into his trademark scowl, and they set off for home.
They hiked down the hill and into the forest. Devan revelled in Zio’s scent all over him and couldn’t help stopping every few minutes to bury his face in Zio’s neck. Their time together was running out, but he clung to it anyway. Who knew when they’d find more precious moments like these?
The scent of woodsmoke reached them, and it was Zio’s turn to trail to a stop. He spun around and backed Devan against a tree. He didn’t speak. Didn’t have to. Just breathed Devan in.
Devan ran gentle fingers up the nape of Zio’s neck and wove them into his wild hair. Zio smelt the same as he always did—of the earth he could bend to his will, of hope and promise, of blood and war. Zio was life and death, like Devan, but so very different it was hard to see how they fit together.
But they did fit together, flesh upon flesh, bone to bone. Even their breaths came as one.
Devan nosed the spot on Zio’s neck he’d dreamed of biting a thousand times over. His teeth ached and venom pooled in his mouth. He wondered if the instincts flooding him would ever fade, if long after he’d bitten Zio and made him his own, the soul-deep craving for him would remain.
Craving that he’d be able to satiate.
It was almost inconceivable, but Devan’s phone, buried somewhere in Zio’s bag, buzzed loud enough to break the thraldom between them.
He fished it out. A rural Slovakian number flashed on the screen. “Fuck. It’ll be Dash. I’ve got to take it.”
Zio raised his head and stepped away, taking with him his intoxicating scent. “Go ahead. I’m gonna run back, though. We’ve been gone too long as it is.”
Devan nodded, already speculating what his alpha could want. His hands itched to grab Zio and haul him back, unwilling to be apart, even for a few moments, but Zio was gone before he could.
He took the call. “Dash?”
“It’s me.”
“Why aren’t you in Bratislava?”
“Because I’m not chained to the city. Luca wanted to visit the clan pockets in the mountains, but we’re on our way home now. He’s putting petrol in the car.”
Devan didn’t much care for Luca’s whereabouts, but it was a rare thing for his clan alphas to travel by road. “Why didn’t you move on foot?”