Chapter 499. Day of Change

Ryan and I walked in our wolf forms back to the village by sunset, each of us dragging makeshift sleds fashioned from items we found at the abandoned camp to carry the meat and pelt from the goat. 

While I wondered if we could mind-link somehow after I’d heard him call my name when I’d fallen, neither of us spoke. We arrived at the village shortly before the sun set when the sky was painted gold, and the moon had just started to rise again. We weren’t even the last hunters to arrive. The entire village was alight with music and dancing to celebrate a very successful hunt. 

But I didn’t partake in the celebration. I left the pelt with Ryan and immediately shifted back to my human form and walked out of the village again, to the creek, where I splashed frigid water over my dirty, aching skin until I was clean. I then returned home and sank into the hottest bath I could handle, brushing out my braids, picking out the beads, and sinking below the surface.