First Bite (The Dark Wolf Series) Read Free Page B

had been out of the showroom for over nine years, so it had enough wear to make it look ordinary—an important feature, since
fitting in
was the unwritten code of all Changelings who wanted to survive. But the Thunderbird also had just enough retro styling to give it some class. Travis didn’t want to be
too
ordinary.
    Best of all, it was a great cruising machine. He’d checked out of the motel at six a.m. and been on the road for the entire day. Straddling an 885-cc engine at high speed was the closest thing his two-legged form could get to the thrill and the freedom of running as a wolf.
    But today his
Canis lupus
had grumbled nonstop. His
Homo sapiens
wasn’t overly happy either. He tried to ignore both and just ride and ride and ride…until his stomach got louder than both the engine and the voices in his head, and Travis was forced to stop at a Denny’s in Idaho Falls. Shape-shifting burned a virtual
ton
of calories, and he’d been foolish to go without breakfast, crazy to go without lunch. He was ravenous. There were better restaurants, certainly, but Denny’s was his go-to place when he needed a lot of calories
fast
. Maybe he’d be lucky and they’d have that bacon-on-everything special. Thank the goddess, Changelings didn’t have cholesterol issues.
    A wild-haired man in ragged clothes stood quietly in the parking lot, a tin can at his feet labeled
Thank U
. He was holding an enormous cardboard sign:
You can’t go back and fix the past.
    Travis threw a dollar into the can as he passed. The slogan had proved disturbingly true in his life, although he could have done without the damn reminder tonight.
    He’d finished his double cheeseburger and was halfway through his country-fried steak when both sides of his personality ganged up on him. It started with his wolf, of course. That was normal—his alter ego was always nagging him about one thing or another, and he was used to it. The lupine persona had a moral compass that exceeded that of many humans, probably because life was simple to a wolf. Black and white, no gray at all. Still, Travis didn’t understand why on earth it wanted him to
go back
to the woman he’d barely managed to rescue.
    By then his human brain had started laying out clues like breadcrumbs, all the bizarre things he’d been doing his damnedest to ignore. Like how the woman had failed to react to his Change. Sure, she’d been injured and in shock, but even the most stoic person would at least raise an eyebrow when someone shape-shifted right in front of them. And then there was how she’d somehow managed to leap far enough out from the ledge to land in the trees. Without a hang glider or one hell of an updraft from the valley, it should have been impossible. And of course it should also have been impossible that she survived it. Even with the tree branches slowing her descent, they could only break her fall to a degree. She shouldn’t have been alive, never mind
conscious
, when he found her. Humans could be tough spirited, but their bodies were all too fragile.
    The real clincher, however, was that momentary flash in the depths of the woman’s dark brown eyes, like the elusive glimmer of green in a tropical sunset at the precise moment the sundisappeared into the ocean. Travis had tried to talk himself out of it—just imagination, a trick of the light, all those lame-ass explanations—but the truth was, he knew what he’d seen.
    And he knew what it meant.
    She was a Changeling, just like him. Her scent had said
human
, however, and there was only one possible reason for that: she hadn’t made her first shift yet. His inner wolf radiated approval—no doubt relieved at having finally gotten through to the thickheaded human it shared its existence with. And the thickheaded human’s mind seemed satisfied, too. Both fell silent as Travis finished his meal. He even got to eat his bacon-maple sundae in peace. He paid his bill and walked out into the parking lot, and knew without