Chasing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Four by Krystal Shannan, Camryn Rhys

her core. She liked his touch, enjoyed it even, but at the same time, it made her want to run and hide. How could she want something and be terrified of it at the same time?
    He pulled his hand away and frowned.
    Her heart sank. She couldn’t bring herself to let his emotions inside, but he had no trouble feeling hers.
    “One step at a time, yes?” Tomás turned the skewer the rabbits were on and rolled his neck back and forth, cracking vertebrae loudly. “I really do miss beds.”
    “Mats are not that much better than the ground. Just cleaner.”
    A chuckle rolled from her mate’s chest, and the sound eased some of the tension building within her. Perhaps being near him while he slept had pulled them closer than she’d intended.
    Still, she planned to sleep next to him again. Once he was asleep, she could lie with him without him ever knowing. The pull that yanked at her soul was only pacified by his nearness.
    Citlani had felt the same calm when in the presence of her mother, but not to this degree. Being near Tomás was different. The feeling was much stronger. So much more intense.
    “The food is ready. Please eat, we should start before the sun gets much higher.” She pulled the rabbit off the fire and laid it on a flat rock next to Tomás. Then pulled the second rabbit down and carried it to Zolin. “Thank you for the food.”
    He took the skewer and nodded.
    She retreated back to the fireside and sat across from Tomás as he tore pieces of the roasted rabbit from the spit.
    “Sit with me,” he patted the ground next to him. “You need to eat, too.”
    She shook her head and he narrowed his eyes. “Explain, Lani.”
    “I eat when you finish.”
    “Well, I’m not from here and I want you to eat with me.” He ripped off a large piece and handed it to her. “Eat. Then we go to Choaca.”
    It wasn’t custom, but he had a point. He was an outsider. Perhaps their women ate with them. She smiled and took a bite of the rabbit, wondering what else might be different with a mate like Tomás.
    “You are going back to the village,” Zolin growled, stomping from his place by the large rock and crouching beside the campfire. “This one needs to speak to the elders, and you can’t go to Choaca. It’s not safe.”
    “She’s my mate, thanks to you. I promised to help her find her mother and that’s what we’re going to do.”
    Zolin’s eyes flashed gold and he snarled.
    Citlani sucked in a quick breath and edged around the campfire closer to Tomás.
    “Look, I’m perfectly capable of protecting her. I have friends that can help locate her mother. Everything is going to be fine.”
    “No. You do not understand. Citlani cannot return to Choaca. She cannot leave the mountain. Ever.”
    Ever? Was he touched by the gods? The man was making no sense. Why couldn’t she go to Choaca? Or leave the mountain?
    Tomás stood and Zolin did too, towering over her mate. Tomás wasn’t a small man, but Zolin was a giant. The two men stepped away from her and she remained, quiet and forgotten beside the fire.
    The men in the village always tried to speak away from the women, thinking they wouldn’t hear, but when quiet surrounded a conversation words always traveled. Especially when the listening ears belonged to a wolf.
    “Citlani’s mother was not of our tribe, originally. The chief took her in nearly thirty summers ago. She was pregnant by a monster and had no family. The man who took her seven days ago, he is the same monster. She said he would torture Citlani if he found her. His heart is blacker than demons from hell.” Zolin spat at the ground and said a short verse to the sun god. “She made me swear to never let her daughter leave the mountain again. Then she ran.”
    Air caught in her chest and wouldn’t budge. In or out.
    Zolin knew much more about what was going on than he’d revealed previously.
    She jumped to her feet and stormed over to both of them. “She ran!” Citlani shoved Zolin’s arm and