Free Unchained (Dark Shifter Romance) by Sophia Wren Page A

fence. Jack soon followed her in one swift bound, swinging himself over the barrier as if it were little more than a step.
    “Well, I’d say you’ve done an okay job with that so far.” She shrugged. “Apart from chaining me up, giving me what has to be a totally awful haircut, hypnotising me with weird werewolf shit, and the threat of malnutrition...”
    Jack shook his head, chuckling softly. His expression was strangely unguarded, and Lacey couldn't help but stare. Out in the warm sunlight, with small birds flitting about and chirping, it was easy to imagine that this was just any ordinary stolen moment from an average day, that they were out in Jack's backyard, chatting like regular people.
    But then Jack climbed the next porch and, placing his hands on the door knob, heaved. There was a muffled crack of the door knob ripping out of the frame, and he opened it to the house beyond. The illusion was broken, and Lacey was back to being lost and alone, swept up in the thrall of this strange man while monsters lurked in the town around them. It had been a silly daydream to have, but its loss still hurt her in some way she couldn't quite define. She followed Jack up into the house, trailing him to the kitchen, and tried not to look at the pictures of a happy family that adorned the walls.
    The two of them wordlessly picked over the kitchen, discarding stale bread and fruit that had begun to go mouldy. They stuffed what unspoiled supplies that they could find into Jack's rucksack, until they had enough to last them the coming few days. Lacey pursed her lips as she looked at the food. It wouldn't exactly make the table of a five-star Michelin restaurant, but it would do for now.
    Though that begged the question of what was going to happen after it ran out…
    "Come on, let's get out of here.” Jack seemed to sense her mood, as if her gloominess tainted the cute little kitchen of the house. Lacey let herself be led back out into the daylight, trying to shake the feeling of melancholy and doubt that was spreading through her.
    The two of them headed back towards the cabin in the woods, until, without warning, Jack froze.
    Lacey whipped her head around, staring at the forest that surrounded them. She wanted to ask him what he had heard, but she didn't want to break the fragile silence. In the overwhelming quiet, she strained her ears to take full awareness of the scene: the quiet whisper of the wind in the leaves, the small pleasant noises of the woodland birds, and the sound of heartbeats, almost terrifyingly loud in the silent scene...
    Wait, heartbeats? Lacey's hand flew up to her chest, pressing down over her sternum. She could feel the fluttering of her pulse, her heart beating hard under the skin of her palm. But that wasn't all. Somehow she could feel something else there along with it, something that wasn't part of her, but felt almost as if it was…
    For one dizzying moment she had the sense of duplication, of being into two, but then Jack turned, staring in one direction, and the moment was broken, yet again.
    "Stay here," he growled abruptly, and then, without waiting for her response, he sprang off into the trees.
    Lacey stared at the space where Jack had been, her mind racing. He had made her promise to obey his commands when she'd come along with him… But she’d never been the obedient type, and this time was no exception. Squaring her shoulders, she began to follow him.
    It should have been difficult-- impossible, even. Jack was now out of sight in a forest that she didn't know. She'd never been a Girl Scout, let alone learnt how to track people like they did in the movies, locating every broken twig and slightly bent blade of grass. But something was telling her which way to go, some invisible compass leading the way between her and him.
    What was happening? Jack had warned her that she was going to transform, but feeling the change creep over her in bits and pieces was strange. She had pictured her brain