Chasing Tail: A reader x shifters romance

Part 17

Cody POV

My mate runs from me, inviting a chase. I let her run for a few seconds. I'll give her a head start. I'm savoring the chase, this exhilarating feeling of closing in on my mate.

I dig my claws into the soft earth and lope off into the woods after her at an unhurried pace. The moon is full and bright, lighting my way, but even if it weren't, I could find her in a heartbeat. I can hear her panting breath and the crash of her feet through the underbrush. She's not being very stealthy.

I catch her in a clearing full of tall grass. Hearing my claws scrape against rocks right behind her, Y/N inhales sharply and skids to a stop, whirling to stare at me. Her eyes are wide. I can hear her heart pounding in her chest.

Her sweet scent surrounds me, but it's tainted with fear. I shake my head and snort out the sharp smell. Agitated, I paw at the ground. No, this isn't what I wanted. My mate should never be afraid of me. She should be excited, elated, like I am, in this moment. Her fear is throwing me off.

Among wolf shifters, it's a common ritual for one prospective partner to chase the other, finally earning the right to mate when they run them down and catch them. But Y/N knows nothing about shifter customs. I should have told her sooner, should have warned her.

Now it's too late. The moon is full, my primal instincts are raging, and I don't know if I can stop this track I'm on. My mate initiated the chase. My wolf insists that I complete the hunt and claim my prize.

But he and I are in agreement that we won't take anything she's not willing to give.

Y/N POV

You're breathing hard, trying not to freak out. You feel like you just jumped out of the frying pan and right into the fire. First, Kyle totally shocks you by turning into an asshole and trying to force himself on you. Then you get saved by, of all things, a massive wolf.

You didn't even take a second to think about it. You're only human. Your fight or flight instincts kicked in at the sight of an enormous predator, and you chose flight and dashed off into the woods.

Only now that the wolf has caught up with you, but not tried to eat you, does it occur to you that you might have overlooked something in your panic. The more you look at the wolf, the more the tight feeling of fear in your chest recedes.

He's familiar to you. His shoulders are as tall as you are, with thick, fluffy-looking light-brown fur and paws as big as a person's head. You carefully peer up into stunning blue eyes.

"Cody?" you ask uncertainly.

He huffs, and then, the giant wolf nods.

All the air rushes from your lungs as you release a huge sigh of relief. "Oh my god, you scared me!"

He steps towards you and shoves his massive snout against your chest. He looks agitated as he sniffs you, like he's looking for something in your scent.

You keep your hands glued to your sides. Even if this is your friend and roommate Cody, he's still a big predator. It's hard to turn off that part of your brain that instinctively screams Danger! in the vicinity of a threat like that.

But in the logical part of your brain, you're not scared anymore. This is Cody. You trust him. He just saved you from someone you thought you could trust. He's definitely proven himself to you.

Wolf Cody lifts his head and gives you a lopsided wolf grin. Whatever was bothering him before seems to be gone now.

"What now? Should we find our way back?" you ask him, unsure how he'd even respond in this form.

He steps forward and pushes you back towards the woods. When you step back, he jumps forward, nearly pouncing on you. You stumble backwards a little, and he follows you, huffing in excitement.

When you frown at him, he uses his big head to gesture further into the woods. You jog a few strides that way. In response, he growls, but you can tell it's a happy growl of anticipation. Come to think of it, he made a similar sound when you first started fleeing from him.

"You want me to...run away?"

A thrill of excitement runs through your body when he nods. You're surprised at the intensity of your reaction. There's something about the prospect of running, of being chased, being hunted down like prey, that's terrifying and really, really hot at the same time. What will he do to you when he finally catches you? Suddenly, you're dying to find out.

You take a deep breath and sprint away from the wolf. For a good thirty seconds, you hear nothing but the pounding of your feet and the rush of blood in your ears.

Then a howl breaks through the night air, making all the hair on your body stand on end.

He's closer than you thought.

You risk a glance over your shoulder and catch a flash of golden-brown fur between the trees no more than ten paces behind you. Without warning, you change direction, hoping to throw him off. A few seconds, and you change direction again, dodging between the trees and bushes, darting through gaps between trees that you hope are too narrow for a direwolf's frame.

You're a strong runner. You ran track in high school. But you're no match for a born hunter in the woods. In what can't be more than a minute, he's upon you.

The wolf pounces on you, throwing you to the ground. He rolls with you, protecting your body from the roots, rocks, and thorny underbrush. You can feel his body shifting around you. Thick fur becomes burning-hot skin at your back, and paws turn into hands that cage you in and pull you close.

Before you know it, he's got you on your feet again, pinned against a tree with your front while his bare chest presses against your back. He traps both your wrists easily in one hand above your head.

Cody's voice is rough and primal as he speaks against your ear.

"Caught you, my mate."

Then he sinks his teeth into the base of your neck.