Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)
Chapter 217 - [K] Following The Scent Of A Wild Thing, pt1

Chapter 217: Chapter 217 - [K] Following The Scent Of A Wild Thing, pt1

***[POV: Pacing Parkgoer]***

I arrived at the park with eight minutes to spare, having broken several traffic laws that I usually refuse to ignore other than for emergencies... and possibly a record for stair climbing speed when getting back to my penthouse.

The elevator had failed me when I first left to go to the pool. Like something was actively trying to keep us apart. Who or whatever it is better hope we never meet.

Showering and racing here was also in inexcusable haste, even despite the time I spent trying to tell if the smell of chlorine was only still in my nose or if too much was left on my person. But if it was stuck in my nasal paths...

It didn’t stop me from acknowledging the scent of her that lingered in the air. Distinctly wild and distinctly Citra. Pheromones that made my wolf roil restlessly and my skin crawl with its urge to transform and mark the mate who was currently nowhere to be seen.

The park officially closed at sunset, but the gates wouldn’t be locked for another hour to facilitate latecomers coming off the trails. Calling her name softly into the darkening woods, I did not want to alert any distant human hikers who might be out there.

Only the evening breeze through the pine needles answered me. Along with the occasional autumnal drop of their oldest kind to the forest floor. I stepped off the main path trying to pinpoint where her scent trail went deeper into the forest.

But like always, it meandered and looped back. It took time to find what was more recent and not just stronger from multiple crossings. She was leading me away from any of the marked trails and into the wild heart of the woods.

If it was practically anyone else, I would call it a trap. Yet it is still a *challenge*, even if I’m not afraid that she is looking to dethrone me or kill me for some greater scheme. Not even slightly.

My wolf pressed against my consciousness while every nerve was on edge. The memory of her hands on me in the pool kept giving it windows to tempt me. The promise in her voice when she’d said she’d make me feel ’relaxed’...

There was no mistaking what she intended and I wanted it badly. Because it is her, of course, and because it has been some time since I have sought out company meant to relieve any sexual tension.

I canceled my membership and appointments with the escort service which I used to use - on the very morning after I came back from checking out the trail she’d taken to the city. Not because I was thinking of sex immediately, but because they dared to send me a reminder.

Of course, I do not regret that. Better early than late, when it could cause a misunderstanding. I would have done it eventually, when I remembered those people existed. Not that I’ve thought of them since then.

I don’t even know why I’m thinking of them now as I look for her. I guess it has been... more difficult than I thought it would be with so little intimacy between us these weeks.

Now that she’s opening up to it, my mind is just vivid with expectations. Which is why disappointment strikes when the trail ends at a massive old oak. A trunk wide enough that it takes many seconds to circle and confirm.

"Where is she..."

On some instinct I looked up, scanning the lower canopy... and found two unmistakably blue Duskpaw eyes staring down at me. The ambusher is laying carefully across a pair of thick branches that grew somewhat parallel to each other about fifteen feet up.

A large wolf with black fur, stretched patiently between them... completely at ease in a position that should have been impossible for any normal canine that large to achieve. Though I’ve never seen her like this, I know it’s Citra immediately.

"How did you even..."

I started to ask, but quickly got a lazy blink that expressed how silly the question was. Rising to her feet with startling grace during a single, body transforming motion... the *werewolf* padded along one of the massive branches just as easily as walking on solid ground.

Then leaped right down to a lower branch, then another, descending in a quick few moments down the trunk. A task that shouldn’t seem so out of the norm to me, but none of my wolves really... climbed.

When she finally dropped to the forest floor, she landed as full wolf again - and close enough to me that I could see all of the intelligence in those supernaturally blue eyes. This wasn’t just a released wolf’s instinct - this was my mate, fully present and in control even in this form.

"You’re amazing, you know that?"

She padded past me without acknowledgment, heading toward a small downed tree in a nearby clearing. Following, we approach what looked like her backpack sitting at the hollow base of it.

Citra’s wolf form nosed at the bag, then looked back at me expectantly. When I didn’t immediately understand - literally only two seconds of lack of movement - she trotted over to where I stood and gently but insistently tugged at the hem of my sweatshirt with her teeth while growling softly.

The message was clear this time: clothes off, now.

My hands shook slightly as I pulled the dark sweatshirt over my head, then worked off my black jeans and boots. She’s said to dress in a way that was quick to remove, so I didn’t wear anything underneath... but I could hardly be caught going outside in anything too unusual.

Too many of my pack likes to hang out around the outside of the tower at this hour. Letting them think I was just assigned to a random patrol was better. Standing out in the night air was nothing new against my skin - my wolf’s heat kept me warm.

However, with Citra watching every movement with those piercing eyes and a tail swishing in what looked like agitated approval... things were absolutely different. Paws pressing into the ground, she nipped at my naked thigh.

Not hard enough to break skin, but more than firm enough to get my attention before she released and bounded away deeper into the woods. Pausing only to turn and press her lower body to the ground for a short moment.

Chase me.

I didn’t need the command spoken aloud. My wolf surged forward, demanding the shift... to match her and chase her down. This time, I let it happen.