“Get out of my head!”

His low chuckle made my stomach flip again, only this time it wasn’t from fear. “I don’t need to. You have the worst poker face.”

“You’re giving me cat thoughts again,” I grumbled, deciding to ignore him. Now wasn’t the time for this. I concentrated and changed us into jeans, sweatshirts, and running shoes. It was kind of cool—I’d never had control over my dreams before.

Declan opened his mouth to respond, only to snap it shut as the hounds bayed, singing their song of triumph. They’d found our scent. Declan got a better grip on my hand before pulling me along through the woods.

We moved swiftly, cutting through trees and underbrush. Even in his human form, Declan was faster than me. To be honest, I was pretty out of shape. Jogging sucked, and the last time I ran was so I could get to a passing ice cream truck.

Another chorus of howls drifted over the treetops. They were closer. They would catch up to us soon. “What happens if they reach us?”

Declan scanned the woods as he ran, finding us the quickest route. “She’d try to take me from you. We can’t even let her catch sight of us.”

“She doesn’t need to see us to try to tear apart the binding,” I huffed. “Just be close.”

We came to a river, the water churning into a white froth around a handful of large boulders jutting from the surface. There was no way I could jump to those boulders. They were too far across, and we had no idea how deep the water was or how fast it was going.

Declan came to the same assessment, because he squatted down and motioned for me to get onto his back. “You stopped her last time, so she must have realized that another animal mage is involved. If she can’t find me, then she can look for you. She sees you here? She’ll know what you look like.”

Making me easier to find. I wrapped my arms tight around Declan’s neck.

He backed up a few feet, then surged forward, running full speed at the river. He jumped, gracefully landing on the first boulder despite my weight. “I’ve moved, changed my name, and my legal files are sealed.”

He edged back as far as he could on the rock, assessing the jump. I closed my eyes, pressing my face into his neck. If I couldn’t see it, he couldn’t fall, right? “They’re having a hard time locating you,” I said, understanding. “But I’m public. If they can track me down, they’ll find you.” The hounds called out again, the sound faint over the rushing river. “Shit. They’d be able to look me up easily.” As an apprentice, I’d had to file paperwork. There were a lot of animal mages, but if they knew what I looked like, it wouldn’t take them long.

“It would take her a while, but yeah.” Declan’s muscles bunched, then once again we were hurtling through the air. He slipped a little when we landed this time, making me cling even tighter to him. “UTC records are confidential, but a good hacker, or a few bribes? She’ll find us eventually.” We hurtled forward again, this time landing hard as we hit the ground. “Maybe I should keep carrying you.”