[Ace's POV]
Apollo ran like the wind itself was chasing him. Ray's horse was faster than any mount I had ever ridden—faster than my own horse, faster than any horse I had known. The animal's muscles bunched and released beneath me, a living engine of power and grace.
The forest blurred past me—trees becoming smears of brown and green, the ground a rushing ribbon of earth and shadow. The wind whipped my hair back from my face, cold and sharp.
Then I smelled him.
Ray.
I pulled Apollo to a stop. The horse reared slightly, hooves pawing the air, then settled. Ahead, beneath a massive oak with roots that sprawled across the forest floor like grasping fingers, my brother stood—still in his werewolf form, orange fur bristling, orange eyes glowing, his massive chest rising and falling with slow, deliberate breaths. He looked at me, then walked toward me.
