Free First Bite (The Dark Wolf Series) by Dani Harper Page B

moments later seven new wolves stood on shaky legs. Two lay motionless, however, and Meredith cursed viciously as she crossed the ring of stones and strode over to her new wolves. She toed one of the unmoving heaps of fur and spat on it, furious that she’d have to find someone else to do her nails. The other body she ignored entirely in favor of looking over the new crop. Five gray wolves, one black, one rusty cream. All cowered before her but one, one of the grays, Riley something or other. He’d been nearly as much trouble as Geneva from the very beginning. A bigwolf, his ears flattened against his broad skull and he snarled as he glared hatefully at his maker.
    He actually had the temerity to challenge her? Meredith couldn’t be more delighted. Her exquisitely shaped lips parted in a model-perfect smile—
    Just before they curled back to reveal the fangs of a monstrous silver wolf.

    His eyes were closed, yet Travis was far from asleep. Neva hadn’t noticed his ears, erect and angled to catch the faintest of sounds, his nostrils flared wide and facing the slight breeze in order to detect any scent of their pursuer. It appeared the stranger had given up hours ago, but Travis was vigilant just the same. Neva, on the other hand, had zonked out mere seconds after sprawling beneath a sumac bush. She deserved the rest, too—although she’d kept up with him, he knew it had been hard on her. He’d set a fast pace and headed directly downwind, keeping their scent away from the unknown Changeling they’d detected in the distance. There was nothing Travis could do about the truck, however. The stranger would have had ample time to study it with his nose and learn plenty about them. Any shape-shifter worth his salt would discern that a female was making her first Change, and Travis’s inner wolf snarled at the thought of anyone knowing anything about Neva. It pissed off his human side, too (and for reasons he didn’t want to examine too closely). Could her pack have found her already?
    Or was Travis himself the target?
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you
. Eventually he dismissed the idea that it could have been someone from his old pack. Not only had it been decades since he’d seen any of them, Travis didn’trecognize the scent at all. And he seriously doubted that anyone who didn’t know him personally would be following him. No, either the Changeling was after Neva, or it was a random stranger just checking them out.
    Travis was personally rooting for the random-stranger theory, because the wolf would have memorized
both
their scents and tracked them like a bloodhound. Sure, Travis and Neva had played and run through the lake shallows for a considerable distance before returning to dry land. The stranger would have had to circle the lake, casting back and forth to find the place they’d left the water. But he would find it. And follow. Their trail would be as plain as a four-lane highway to Changeling senses.
    Yet the wolf had apparently given up the chase. If the Changeling had truly been after either one of them, he would even now be breathing down their necks—or attempting to tear out their throats. Except that no sane wolf would tackle a shape-shifter of Travis’s size and experience alone.
    Which means there’s a chance he’s fallen back to wait for reinforcements.
    Travis opened his eyes and heaved himself to his feet. He hated to do it, but he nosed Neva awake anyway.
Come on. We have to get moving.



EIGHT
    Neva wanted more sleep—about a week’s worth—but if there was any chance they were still being followed, it was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Meredith’s wolves were certain to be hunting for her.
Or for my body.
For the first time, she realized that their crazed leader probably didn’t expect her to survive a first Change by herself. A new question surfaced almost immediately: If she died, would Meredith have cared at all? Would she have been the teeniest,