Page 28 of Captive Wilderness
Once settled in the chair, she pulled her hair over to one side, exposing the collar completely. The action froze me in my tracks. It was like she was offering herself to me again. The bear inside me reared up, demanding I take her.
That’s not what this is.She was just making it easier for me to access the collar.
The bear wasn’t listening. A growl emerged from my chest.
She stiffened, her head turning to look at me. “Kane?” Worry pinched her brow. “Is everything okay?”
Nothing was okay, and I was so fucked up I shouldn’t come within shouting distance of her.
I swallowed and stepped forward, carefully, making sure I wasn’t going to lose control. I moved behind her chair, keeping my eyes on the collar.Concentrate.This was important. I focused on the instinct to help her. This was something my mate needed and wanted. I grabbed hold of that thought and didn’t let go.
The frequency of the remote and the collar matched. I pressed the disarm button. All the lights went off on the collar.
“Is it working?” she asked over her shoulder.
The skin of her neck was tantalizingly close. I could see the puncture marks I’d given her. A possessive growl emerged from my chest.Stop it.The bear might like the claim, but I’d hurt her.
She stiffened at the sound, her shoulders hunched forward in a protective posture. “Is it working, Kane?” Her voice came out stronger than her bearing showed.
I forced myself to focus on the remote in my hand and pressed the button marked “release.”
The collar clicked, separating at the back. Brooke gasped as the prongs retracted from the base of her skull. In the next instant, her hands grabbed at it, frantic. It dropped with a heavythunkon the table.
She stood, her movements frenzied, her breathing fast. I didn’t know how it would feel to be free after all that time in the collar, but from her actions, it had to be euphoric.
She stumbled toward the door. The borrowed T-shirt went flying in one direction, the sweatpants shimmied down her legs. Golden, bare flesh blazed in the sunlight coming through the windows.
I took a step toward her, my breaths trapped in my throat, then stopped. I grabbed onto the back of the chair to keep myself from reaching for her.
Naked, she turned to me. “I need some…time,” she whispered, a plea in her tone.
She shifted in front of me, smooth skin sprouting fur, her form becoming a diminutive version of her human body. A bobcat appeared before me, silver-gray fur, striped on her face and spotted down her body. Black ear tufts pointed to the ceiling, and long white whiskers twitched. Her tawny yellow eyes stared at me a moment, blinked, then she leaped away in one graceful stride.Beautiful.
As soon as she flew through the door, I tightened my hand hold on the chair. Every part of me shouted to give chase, to not let her escape.
What if she didn’t come back? What if she kept running south until she found civilization? It would take days, but as a bobcat, she could survive.
The back of the chair cracked beneath my grasp.
My mate was leaving me, and it felt like my heart had been torn from my chest, a ragged hole in its place. My legs collapsed. Sinking to the floor, I held my head in my hands.
14
BROOKE
A shift had never felt sogood.
It was like coming home after a long time away. Like settling into a warm bath after a hard day. Like a piece of chocolate lava cake all to myself. Like the satisfied tail end of an orgasm where everything was right in the world.
Each one of my senses became alive, heightening. Every scrape and pain disappeared, including my swollen ankle and the prong marks at the back of my neck. Invigorated, I bounded through the bushes. The particles in the air glinted and sparkled. Every insect and critter became their own sight and sound, each of their movements as loud as a thunderclap. The threatening unknown as a human became a playground for my bobcat. There was nothing for me to fear.
I ran as fast as I could, didn’t think about where I was headed, just ran. The mossy ground bounced beneath each stride. The terrain I’d been cursing on my journey to the cabin now acted as a springboard, giving lift to my every jump. My paws hit sand, then rock, then moss. I leaped over one fallen log, then used the next like a ramp. I jumped off the end and kept running, my tongue lolling out of my mouth in pure joy.
The air was fragrant and sweet. Pine needles, moss, water, leaves, dirt—everything combined to create an aromatic cocktail. I hadn’t taken note of how beautiful it was before, but now it filled my head, beguiling, the forest’s seductive perfume.
The wind whistled through my whiskers. Another scent almost had me veering off my course—a rabbit. My instincts told me to hunt it down and feast. My feet told me to keep running. Other animal scents crossed my path: a squirrel, a wolverine, a ptarmigan. Each had its own distinct flavor, something I couldn’t identify in my human form.
I could keep running for hours and part of me wanted to. After being jailed in that collar, my freedom became a heady sensation. I could run live as a bobcat for days, living off the land and trusting my instincts.
