Page 17 of The Tracker's Revenge

Holy shit!

“What do you do to me?” His voice was almost unintelligible in its deep rumble. He slowly let me go and stepped aside, leaving me hollowed out and unbalanced.

“I think you do it to yourself, mister.” I huffed as I tried to compose myself. I rubbed my chest as if that could soothe the strange emptiness he’d left behind. Something deep inside me physically ached.

I glanced at Jake over my shoulder. He was breathing quickly and looking thoroughly bewildered. He raised a hand to his chest and pressed it below his heart.

“Well, did you learn your lesson?” I joked.

He glanced up, blinking, having a little trouble focusing on me. “My lesson?” he echoed numbly.

“Yes, to keep your distance.”

He nodded, but it seemed to be a reflex more than a conscious affirmation.

I scratched my head. “That was a bit weird, wasn’t it?”

His eyes finally cleared. “Not really.”

I waited for him to explain—I was new at this and maybe there was some sort of werewolf mumbo jumbo that explained weird shit like this, but we were interrupted by Eric when he poked his head into the study and scowled at us.

“What are you two doing? It’s time to go.”

“Yeah, right.” Jake met him at the door, hand still on his chest, and squeezed past, leaving the room.

“What’s the matter?” Eric asked when I didn’t move. “You look like you’re constipated.”

I relaxed my face and stuck my tongue out at him. “I would leave it to you to recognize the symptoms since you must see them in the mirror every day.”

“Ha ha. C’mon, move your ass. We don’t have all day.”

We left the study, walking down the hall side-by-side. “Um, Jake once told me about cravedark.”

He had explained that it happened when a male and a female werewolf instinctively knew they would make strong offspring. Supposedly, the attraction only lasted until the female conceived, thenpuff, it went away.

Eric’s answer was a pointed glance.

I stammered. “D-do you know much about it?”

“I once met a couple afflicted by it.”

Afflicted? He said it as if it was a disease. Maybe it was. Maybe Jake and I hadcaughtcravedark, and that was why our proximity, or lack of it, hurt. Maybe I would just up and have a heart attack, and I would be put out of my misery—though not before I popped out his baby.

“So... it hurts?” I asked, ready for the answer.

“Hurt? What do you mean? Physically? Maybe when they’re humping like rabbits in a frenzy.”

“Oh.”

We got to the end of the hall and took a left toward the steps that led to the bottom level. I stopped and scanned his face to judge whether or not he was pulling my leg.

“What?” he said, “You think what’s between you and Knight is cravedark?” He puffed a laugh. “No way. No way in hell.” He started going down the stairs, leaving me behind.

I hurried down and joined him. “How are you so sure?”

“You two arein love,” he made it sound like this was also an affliction. “And in desperate need of a good fuck, which you would’ve already enjoyed if cravedark had anything to do with it.”

Good, at least it isn’t cravedark. Just good ‘ol fashioned, rip-your-heart-out love. Fun, fun!