A Gripping Touch

Chapter Nineteen: "I have my father's rifle fully loaded."

'So I am.'

'How was your test?' She asked. I didn't remember telling her I had a test, so Kenny or Yvonne must have. It sent a feeling of warmth through my veins that she had been thinking of me today.

'It was okay. How are you?'

She suddenly looked down at her feet and shuffled her open-toed sandals together. Her toe nails were painted black. My favourite colour.

'Have I done something to upset you, Colton?' She asked, still refusing to look at me through her dark lashes.

As she spoke my phone suddenly buzzed and I looked down to see a text from my father saying that they had an idea about where Ren could be. I quickly turned to Aly with a sympathetic glance.

'Not at all. Look, we'll speak later. I have to go. I'm sorry.' At that I raced down the corridor, out into the parking lot and jumped on my motorbike to drive home.

By the time I had gotten home I forced myself to put the image of Aly's disappointed and hurt face to the back of my mind and focus on finding Ren again.

I met my father in his office. Frazer was sitting on the couch under the window with my mom, and they were all in the middle of discussing a plan.

'Shoot.' I said.

'We need to speak to Ren's mate. Maybe she's seen him.' Dad said, pushing an address written on a piece of paper towards me.

It suddenly all made sense. Of course he would have been to see her. His inner wolf would be crying out to her, and he was never any good at ignoring his impulses.

We didn't need to speak on it for much longer. I agreed that Frazer should come with me and we headed outside to shift.

I felt my bones loosening and elongating beneath my skin before I had even ripped my clothes off. My muscles burned and stung as it had been so long since I had last shifted.

I stretched out my arms and watched as the hairs started to thicken and grow, until my elbow clicked backwards and started to protrude. I jolted forward as my back clicked, and within seconds I was standing on all fours in my raven black wolf form.

Immediately my senses were heightened. I could smell the fuel from the aeroplanes thousands of feet in the air. I could taste the rain that would start to fall moments from now in the air. I could hear the fish with their bubbling breaths in the sea.

Frazer growled at me to get going and my wolf acknowledged his by running forward and ahead of him. I'd always been faster.

We ran for miles, taking in the feeling of each grain of dirt beneath our paws.

We ran past Aly's house, and it took everything in me not to stop and listen in to check if she was okay, or what she was doing. My wolf was pining for her and her touch.

As I continued running my mind rushed back to our kiss in the kitchen. She had fit her mouth perfectly to mine. Everything about her fit me. Just as a true mate should. I could taste the lemon lip-balm on her lips. I could smell the vanilla of her hair. God, she was driving me crazy.

Before I could lose myself in her any more than I already had, we were outside of the house where Ren's mate lived.

We rounded to the back of the house where fortunately she was sitting reading a book. There hadn't been any cars on the driveway so hopefully she was home alone.

Frazer and I approached cautiously from the woods and into her garden. She spotted us as soon as we reached the swing, but she didn't react as I'd expected. She didn't scream, she didn't run. Instead, she put her book down gently and told us to wait while she got us some clothes.