Read Online Marked by the Moon by Lori Handeland - Free Book Online Page B

eventually she succeeded.
    Then together they ran into the night.

Chapter 5
    Julian ran until the stench of the city no longer filled his nostrils. Then he lay on the pine-needle-strewn ground and rolled until his fur smelled again like Alaska.
    God, he hated leaving home. Which was damn funny considering he’d once done nothing but.
    Julian had been born in Norway so long ago, his memories should have been hazy. Yet some were so clear they could have occurred yesterday. Burning and pillaging appeared to stay with a man for centuries.
    Once his name had been Jorund the Blund. Julian shook his golden fur. Pine needles flew every which way. His hair, nearly white in his youth, and his height, tall even among Vikings, had marked him as different.
    In battle, his men could see his pale head far above those of their enemies. Because of that, and his prowess with a sword, they’d followed him to the ends of the earth.
    Or what had been the ends at the time. They’d conquered parts of Scotland, England, and Iceland. They’d plundered their way up and down several coasts. They’d done things Julian wished he didn’t remember.
    He had an excuse. He’d been a Viking . What was hesupposed to do, refuse to plunder and pillage? That was a good way to meet the pointy end of a sword. Besides, the concept that taking whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, because he could was wrong had never even occurred to him.
    Not then.
    Paw-steps approached, the slash of a body through the trees. Alex was closing in. He’d run ahead, eager to immerse himself in home. He had no worries that he would lose her. He wouldn’t be that lucky.
    She burst through the branches, sending the fresh scent of pine into the air. They were going to have to talk about silence and stealth. Perhaps tomorrow when they could actually talk.
    Alex, whose snout had been to the ground as she followed his scent, pulled up when she caught sight of him. Her lip lifted; a snarl rumbled.
    Certainly werewolves could think like humans—reason, plan—they were faster, stronger, and they didn’t die without a silver bullet, but for the most part when they were wolves, they were wolves. Speech was beyond them.
    However, they got their message across. Right now Alex was saying she’d kill him if she could.
    Julian lifted his lip and snarled back. The feeling was mutual.
    In truth, werewolf murder was rare. He’d heard it described as a fail-safe in the virus. Werewolves were selfish and vicious, and many were not quite sane. Therefore, if two met, they would fight to the death. Which would leave very few werewolves around.
    Julian and his wolves were different. Yes, they became werewolves because of a virus, but they weren’t evil. Theydidn’t kill for the sake of killing. Excluding the first kill, they rarely killed at all—especially one another.
    But they could.
    Suddenly Alex tilted her head; her tail stiffened, her snout lifted, and a light breeze ruffled her tawny fur. She quivered once; then she was gone, racing through the trees at a pace only a werewolf would love. If she took one wrong turn in this dense cover she would smash headfirst into an immovable object and break her neck.
    Too bad that wouldn’t kill her.
    She disappeared into the distance, and Julian huffed an annoyed breath through his nose. Was she trying to step on every stick in the forest?
    He followed, but at a more sedate pace. Julian had run snout-first into a tree before. He didn’t plan to do so again.
    He found her sitting in a patch of moonlight, head tipped upward, mouth lolling open to catch the fat snowflakes that had just begun to fall.
    For an instant he wanted to join her, to tumble her to the ground and wrestle as wolves did. To run and play, to hunt together, then later—
    Mounting her as a wolf, again as a man. Fur against fur. Skin upon skin. His breath and hers, coming fast and sharp. Panting. The slick slide, that