Read Human Shifter (Book Three: A Werewolf BBW Shifter Romance) for Free Online

heard that Mara was gone. He forced himself to keep calm while he was talking with Kyle. If they had a plan, it would be more likely that they would find her. In his mind, he saw Mara racing through the forest. She was fast—she had outrun Kyle. How would they catch up with her? Quickly he set Kyle off on one trail. He would take the other one. He would—
    "Damien, wait!" Julia's voice tore his attention back. She hurried to him, took his hand.
    "I need to go now," he said. "She's faster than we are."
    "You should wait for Dee," Julia said. Her fear came like a current through his body.
    "There's no time," he said.
    "Then take me with you. I don't want you going alone."
    "Julia," Damien said, pressing her hand with urgency. "I'll be fine. We need to find her."
    "Why can't I—"
    "You're a human!" Damien said, too forcefully. The shock of anger radiating from Julia struck him back. "Julia, I'm sorry. I just want to move as quickly as possible."
    "And I can't keep up."
    "Julia—"
    "I'm not part of your pack," Julia said. Her frustration pulsed outward, mixed with sorrow.
    ... alone ...
    "It's not that," Damien said, her words tearing at his heart. "Please. I need to be able to protect you."
    "And I need you to protect yourself," Julia said stiffly. "Be careful. Why don't you go with Kyle?"
    "We'll cover more ground this way," Damien said. "I have to go now."
    "But—"
    "Julia, I have to go."
    Julia turned away from him then and walked back to the house. He felt the sting of her anger even as she retreated.
    ... alone ... abandoned ...
    There was nothing he could do for her now. He wanted to run to her, to tell her that she was the most precious and important person in his life, that he would do anything at all to keep her safe, and this was something that needed to be done. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, that he would never leave her alone. But she was so angry that any words he gave her would be lost.
    Instead he turned and shifted, his limbs twisting into wolf form, his body stretching into that of an animal. The scent of one of Mara's trails hit his nose. He would find her. He would protect Julia.
    He ran into the forest, blind to everything except the scent of the trail ahead of him.
    The territory they had already tracked was well-worn, and Mara's scent was indeed on multiple trails. Damien picked out the strongest, freshest one to follow. He loped through the forest, following the scent at an angle toward the edge of their territory. If she'd gone back to Trax's pack, this direction would make sense.
    Kyle and Damien had done plenty of scouting runs to establish the edge of their territory, since Damien needed to learn the contours of the land under his watch. He was able to move quickly through the places he'd already been. This rock, that gully. He urged his body on faster, until he was moving too quickly to remember the layout of the land. He yipped in quick succession as he ran, though, and the echo of his voice off of the trees alerted him to obstacles ahead. Twice he had to dodge fallen branches that had not been there before, but his yips showed him the clear path, the path where there were no echoes.
    Then he reached the edge of the territory, and Mara's trail continued past their scouting region. It was slow going in these places that he did not know, but the trail smelled so fresh that his legs often pressed him on too quickly and he fell forward, his feet scrabbling on unknown surfaces. Out here he worried about competing packs, even though there was no scent besides Mara's. The run in with Trax's wolves had showed him that purebred shifters could hide in human form without being detected by anyone who wasn't purebred themselves. He wished that Dee were with him, so that she could tell whether there were others around that he couldn't scent.
    He wondered about the sensation of Calling. He was Called to Julia, but it seemed as though part of that—the simple act of sensing her presence—that was