So instead, I shoved the drawer shut and stalked for the door.
“Leaving so soon?” Talakai asked.
“Goin’ for a run,” I snarled.
“Watch for werewolves,” he advised.
Werewolves? Seriously? My mind occupied with a certain sheila and a nosy Dragon, I simply slammed the door.
My lips peeled back from my teeth as I strode down the hall. I needed to get a grip on my temper and find a balance.
Because Anna would need those eyes at her back. I might be a damned good fighter, but there was no way I was going to be enough.
Not against an alpha.
And whatever the hell the fuckin’ Dragon wanted to be.
* * *
As I shoved my way out the academy’s front doors, I noticed the moons had risen.
Odd, seeing more than one up there. Would they go full at the same time? How did that affect me if they were out of sync with my home moon?
For Dires, the full moon was about mating.
Mating.
Images of Anna were boosted by memories of her hot body pressed up against mine in the Jeep. My own body, already in a high state of awareness, tightened.
I’d never been more desperate to run. To stretch out on four racing paws and leave my troubled thoughts—and those of a certain gorgeous blonde—behind.
I jogged along the meadow path to the forest and, within its deep shadows, yanked off my clothing. For a moment, I stood naked as the branches and leaves rustled in the brisk breeze off the lake, rejoicing in its feel across my bare skin, while its cool fingers soothed my heated body.
Altering form while in a state of arousal was a particularly uncomfortable process, but when reciting the Aussie national anthem failed to subdue the issue, I embraced it anyway.
I started with my extremities, my fingers and toes growing strong and thick, the tips sprouting lethal claws. My jaws lengthened as the razor-sharp canines pushed from my gums. The joints didn’t vary from my human form, but my beast ran on its toes, not flat-footed. So the ligaments of my wrists and ankles strengthened to raise me off the ground.
It all hurt, but the most painful part of the transformation was when my shoulder blades and pelvis changed orientation to accommodate running on four legs. As I’d been doing this all my life, I barely noticed the pain. And tonight, I pushed the shift as fast as possible.
I needed to run.
The pain, although familiar, helped to cool my ardor. Enough so that I twitched the last changes into place with hardly a grimace. But it hadn’t gone far, and as the fur chased over my skin, I closed my eyes and inhaled. Distraction—this place smelled so different from home, and I welcomed the switch in focus, the natural need to catalog and interpret this foreign realm.
I launched myself into the air, reveling in the push and pull of powerful muscles. The instant my feet hit the ground, I began to run.
My beast body was built for speed, with long legs and a deep rib cage. Much faster than an ordinary wolf, and I could keep it up for many miles. Tonight, with Anna dancing through my brain, I dove off the gravel path and accelerated until the trees came at me so fast I almost couldn’t dodge ’em in time. I didn’t care, relishing in the risk, my every sense wide open as I attacked the challenge.
I’d always been stubborn that way.
The miles rolled by beneath my paws. Getting lost wasn’t something I worried about, not with my Dire nose. But I couldn’t shake Anna, no matter how hard I ran. I might be able to push aside how her beauty called to me and how good her thigh had felt pressed to mine.
But I was a Dire. Everything I did was driven by scent.
And the memory of her scent was driving me bonkers.
I didn’t understand it, really. Most women smelled good—some amazing. But even thinking about Anna’s scent had me hard as rock. Not a comfortable situation while pelting through bush.
Eventually, panting, I slowed down and sought other stimulation with an intensity based on desperation. This forest was rich with life, all of it unfamiliar. I trotted along a game trail, nose to the ground, flooding my senses with other possibilities.
