Free Human Shifter (Book Three: A Werewolf BBW Shifter Romance) by Aubrey Rose Page B

lay on opposite sides of her, but when Julia got up and began to walk quietly away through the woods, they did not stir in their sleep. Her feet seemed not to make any noise at all, not even the slight crunch of a half-dried leaf.
    The moon beckoned her. Slivers of its pale thin light sliced through the pine needles, twinkling over resin-crusted branches. Whenever she thought she had caught it, though, whenever she looked up to where the slivers of moon had splintered through the brush, she saw nothing. Then again, a twinkle! She darted through the branches and stopped cold, arms wheeling in the air to keep from falling into the chasm in front of her. Her toes were on the lip of a sheer drop, complete emptiness in front of her.
    She gasped as she regained her balance. The moon shone brightly, full and near. She saw why she had not been able to catch it before—it was just now edging up over the black edge of the mountain, its pale circle swollen with perspective, and the rays of its light broke through the branches sideways on either side of her. She stood frozen on the edge of the cliff.
    Dream, was this a dream? Something in the valley called her name, and she strained to see down through the blue moonlit trees. There it was. Julia saw light reflected back at her, twinkling and sparkling like a shooting star. As her eyes adjusted, she saw more of the sparkling lights floating through the woods below, a wide swath of lights carried through the trees.
    Maybe it was a change of the wind that brought the rushing sound to her ears, or maybe it was the peculiar taste of the air, but the lights below came into focus all at once when Julia realized what she was seeing.
    A stream. Or no, many streams. The light was the moon reflected on the surface of the water, the rippling sparkles moving as the river moved. She let her gaze sweep across the valley, following the lights backward to a single point in the middle of the forest. The wind blew from behind her, pushing her forward and she stepped back quickly, reaching out with one hand to grasp the branch of a nearby tree. She let out her breath, unaware that she'd been holding it while she looked at the moon. A strange chill of fright and disappointment swept through her body. The danger she'd been in, standing right at the edge so high up! And stranger yet—as she'd stood there, she thought that the wind would blow her out towards the streams.
    It was beautiful. The moon danced over the branches below, and she followed the wind with her eyes as it brushed its way across the valley floor. Beautiful, so beautiful ... Her eyes opened wide, and she stepped forward again toward the edge. Maybe if she leapt, the wind would catch her and carry her down and make her beautiful. Beautiful like the moon.
    A howl behind her broke the spell.
    Julia spun around. Another cry joined the first, and then both were strangled. Julia's feet moved of their own volition, but it was not fast enough. She was awake now, and certainly not dreaming. Stumbling through the trees, she arrived at the cluster of boulders. Mara and Dee were gone.
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
    Damien
    Damien sat on the porch, listening to the branches of the forest whisper in the distance. A late summer storm was gathering, the electricity in the air crackling across the hairs on his arms.
    He smelled something. He wanted to shift into wolf form so that he could scent out what it was, but Jordan would have to reset the splint on his leg. He pushed himself out of the chair and leaned forward onto the rail, his nose lifted. The wind blew the wrong direction, but a sudden gust brought a smell to his nose that was unmistakable. Wolf, yes. But more than that, blood.
    His heart beat fast as he limped over and down the porch stairs. The smell was strong, now, and he recognized Dee's scent. Before he could even take a single step into the meadow, she had broken through the treeline: he could hear her paws now on the grass.
    "Dee?"
    The wolf