Page 57 of Moon Claimed

That will drive us both insane,she snapped.Relax into our movement.

No,I snapped back.Give control to me.

She laughed in her dark, guttural voice.This is my form. You have control in the other. That is how we exist, Andie Thana.

I got how this was meant to work, but it just wouldn’t. With me.That’s a no, not an I can’t. It’s an I am not capable of doing that.

Our breath became shallow and erratic.

We stumbled through the bush even as our ears picked up the whisper-soft sigh of a large predator racing toward us.

I felt weak and drained—so different from a minute prior. What was happening?

This form is mine,she snarled.

This is my body. Our body, if you’re here, too, now. We share everything. This form and the other. I won’t be locked out ever.

Whining again, we flopped onto the ground in a shuddering heap. The sudden divide between us was draining our energy away. It was the only thing that had changed.

Black crept across my vision and the impossible strength I’d felt building on the shore was a forgotten thing.

We share both forms,she mused.It is unnatural and will take practice. But I am fond of making my own rules. I will do this thing, so you don’t kill us both. If a wolf and human cannot co-exist, then nature has no need for us.

I sighed as the black retreated and power flooded back into my body, filling my lungs with air and sharpening my mind.I feel stronger than before.

Yes,she answered, her amusement plain.It seems meeting halfway was right.

I moved a paw.How is sharing going to work?

You tell me.

Rolling to stand, I tried to walk forward, face-planting when my four legs tangled together.Shit.Okay, how about you handle our movement. I’ll handle the senses for now. We can play around with things later.

She didn’t reply before taking off at a loping run that was nowhere near as fast as the huge bounds of the beast closing in. I twitched our ears and pinpointed him behind us.How far away is he?

I don’t know how to tell you.

Crap, okay.A metre is the length of that branch. How many metres away is he?

Around a thousand of those.

A kilometre. Okay, thanks.We could only count on a couple of minutes.

We wound up a small rise and found a cave at the top. She smirked inwardly as I scanned the dark for company, inhaling. Rats? Small prey. Nothing more. And they’d already scattered because they wanted to live.

Hey,I asked.What should I call you? Do you have a name?

I live, I eat, I breed, and I die. I have no need nor desire for a name.

I had a feeling a lot of our conversations would be this way.What’s the plan with Greyson?

Kill him and eat his heart.

That actually made me emotional.Thanks for hating him too.

His wolf murdered a member of your pack.

She didn’t consider the tribe her pack. Then again, she didn’t like others of her kind either. Sigmas were usually lone wolves, so that must be it.