Quest (Shifter Island Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to ash.
    He was wasting time, the wolf told him.
    He needed to hunt .
    To track Allison down, the way he had once tracked down his brother.
    Just as there had been no place on the island for Aaron to successfully hide from him, there was nowhere in this enormous land that he could fail to find his mate. How many other people there were didn’t matter, he told himself firmly. She was here somewhere—and he remembered her scent.
    He would find her.
    Yes, the wolf told him. Hunt. She isn’t far.
    Are you sure?
    Do you doubt me?
    No. But…
    She’s nearby. I sense her. It’s why I’ve brought you here now. She’s close. You can find her.
    Still, he needed to steady himself. So much had happened over the past few weeks that he felt ill at ease, unsure, vulnerable. Micah had caught him completely unaware while he was roaming the woods thinking only of his displeasure with his brother, and then had nearly killed him. Then he’d had to watch his brother—his younger brother, by the gods—seal his bond with Abby. And he’d had to mend fences with Katrin, who said she had loved him since they were youngsters running through the woods.
    He needed to set all that aside now, and listen to the call of the wolf.
    Rather than stay in one place, he began to walk. He thought he might pick up a trail that way, if indeed Allison was somewhere nearby.
    Years ago, she’d come frequently to the shops on this street, to the gardens on the east side of the park, to this bar, to that movie theater. He knew the routes she’d taken, which ways she preferred to walk because they were shorter, or safer.
    He’d walked with her many times, and had always been disturbed by how frightened she became when something startled her after dark. No wolf was afraid of the dark, and he had longed to tell her he would always protect her—that nothing lurked in the dark that he could not defeat.
    Except his own thoughts, he supposed.
    Step by step, he followed the path she had most commonly taken, the one leading back to her home near the campus. From “downtown,” the place where all the shops were, it took only about twenty minutes to walk. He could have covered it in half that time, but he was tired and dismayed. He still was certain she no longer lived in that apartment, because it was meant only for students, but he thought seeing the house again might encourage him. Maybe, even after all this time, there was still a bit of her scent there, something he could follow.
    There .
    Yes, that was the one: the white and blue house with the trees that flowered in the springtime. He was both exhilarated and heartbroken as he approached it, thinking of a younger Luca expecting to see her gazing out of that big window, welcoming him with a smile.
    If only she could be there now, waiting for him, smiling—but there was no one in the window.
    When he reached the house, he climbed the two low steps leading to the walkway and stood looking at the front door, remembering the patter of her footsteps coming down the inside stairs so she could fling open the door and throw herself into his arms.
    He remembered the feel of her, the sudden warmth of her body against his, and how she had always demanded a kiss.
    Inside him, the wolf cried out, almost in agony.
    He wouldn’t be able to stay here if someone else lived here now. He wouldn’t be able to stand out here staring at the door, trying to will Allison to fling it open and run into his embrace. He would have to move on, and fairly soon.
    But first, he would investigate a little.
    Search for her.
    He would have to…
    His breath left him suddenly, as if it had been sucked out by a whirlwind, and the wolf became so frantic he thought it would explode out of his chest, a separate being once and for all. Or was that his heart that was suddenly so huge he thought he might die?
    There .
    She was right there, perhaps a hundred steps away, looking at him.
    Like a miracle come to life, she was right there.
    He wanted to