TEN
Will
I can’t stop looking at Bella out of the corner of my eye. She’s beautiful—radiant. The moonlight pales in comparison with the glow that seems to be coming from her smile, her spark.
I shove my hands in my pockets, determined not to reach out for hers like some lovesick teenager.
In reality, it’s all I can think about for several blocks. If she thinks it’s weird I offered to walk her home instead of calling her a cab or asking her to stay, she says nothing.
I’m surprised she agreed to it. Something tells me walking on public streets like this is something she doesn’t often get to do and that makes me sad for her.
But if I’d asked her to stay, I would never be able to let her go. Still, I’m not ready to say goodnight, and I’m definitely not ready to say goodbye.
It has to be goodbye, though, doesn’t it?
I saw the way she looked at me beneath her lashes after what Harry said. Like she was actually thinking about it. To be honest, I’m counting my lucky stars she’s agreed to see me as often as she has. I feel like the little boy in the story who thought he could catch a star, only to find out I’ve been grasping at a reflection in the water all along.
She’d run a mile if she knew...
I’m so distracted it takes me a moment to notice when Bella stops and gazes in through the black wrought iron bars of an elaborate gate which leads into an enclosed garden.
When I turn back, she has stepped up to the gate, hands clutching the bars, nose pressed between them looking through. “How pretty.”
“Is it?” Would it be trite to say I wasn’t looking at anything except her?
She turns to me and there’s that smile that bowls me over like a shock to the system. “How do we get in?”
“We don’t. These are private gardens.”
To my surprise, Bella scoffs. “Private. It should be illegal to keep something that nice to yourself. Come on. There must be a way.”
“Not unless you intend to climb over the gate.”
“OK.” To my complete and utter amazement, Bella looks up, grabs a low hanging branch from a tree that stretches over the gate and lifts her foot, hooking her ankle over the top of the gate. I try desperately not to stare at her panties when the tight dress she has on rides up. I fail. Astonishingly, she simply slides onto it and then slips down to the ground and straightens her dress as if that was nothing at all.
“Bella! We can’t go in there!”
She grins back at me. “Looks like I just did.”
“Bella, come back.”
She gives me one last look over her shoulder. “Catch me.” She takes off at a run.
Oh, hell.
My jaw snaps, bones stretching, nose growing before I can stop it. My wolf takes over.
There’s no way to fight my body’s instinctive response to my mate running from me.
I double over, hands on the ground, as my body stretches and changes. Bones crack, muscles tear and reform. Soon my clothes hang from me in a ruined mess and my body has sprouted thick fur. I’m still roughly man-shaped, with two legs I can walk or run on, and arms and hands. But I have a long bushy tail and my jaw has reformed into the elongated muzzle of a wolf. I’m also almost twice the size I am as a man.
I throw my head back and howl.
Bella’s scent is strong. It carries across the background of dank city and people and greenery from the park and dinners cooking in the houses nearby. It’s sweet and mingled with familiar smells. Candy, Jane, Brian, Harry. Me. My home.
Another howl tears from my chest full of pent-up longing.
She’s mine.
My muscles bunch, ready for the chase.
Bella’s hurried footfalls are a thud, thud, thud on the grass to match my heart rate. Her breath catches in her throat as I howl. She stumbles.
To my shame, instead of worrying for her—instead of keeping away for fear of scaring her—I feel only excitement. Blood throbs through my veins. A burst of adrenaline spurs me into action.
In this monstrous form, I easily leap the gate. I simply place a hand on the top and vault over. I land on two legs, then drop to four as I launch into a run.
My jaws part. My mouth waters. My teeth ache to sink into her flesh. To mark her.
Mine .
About that moment, Bella realizes she’s being chased. I can hear her sharp gasp and hear her heart speed up.
When she glances back, her eyes widen.
Now she’s really running.
This is no longer a game.
She’s fast. Faster than I thought. I have to actually run to catch her. She’s headed for a garden bed full of roses. Perhaps she’s trying to hide from me. Perhaps she’s not thinking at all. Too terrified.
The thought of those thorns tearing up her beautiful skin makes me growl.
She’s two steps away from the roses when I catch the back of her blouse in my jaws. I twist my head. The rip rents the air, and her dress. Bella shrieks and falls on the grass, with me on top of her.
She’s panting. Her eyes are wide with fear.
Her scent has grown acrid.
I whine.
Words are hard with my mouth like this. I never meant to hurt her.
I would never. I only want to keep her safe.
But sometimes, the monster wins.
Feeling terrible, I lower my head and lick gently at a smudge of dirt on her cheek. Bella’s eyes narrow. “Will?”
I draw back, surprised. She scrambles out from under me. Her dress is torn and hangs half open at the front, but I’m not looking at that. Every muscle in my body is on high alert, in case she runs from me again.
She doesn’t.
She sits up, still staring at my face in my shifted form. “Is it you?”
I nod slowly, trying not to make any sudden moves. I’m just feeling grateful her scent has changed from the awful bitter fear to something softer.
She lifts her hand and reaches out to my muzzle. I let her, keeping still while she runs her fingertips along my jaw as if she can’t quite believe it until she feels for herself.
I can understand that. It must be a strange experience if you’re not expecting it. I curse myself for not telling her. I should have warned her this could happen.
“Sorry.” The word is hard to form and comes out half mangled.
Bella’s expression clears and she laughs. “Oh, it is you. Only you would be apologizing at a time like this!”
I can’t quite laugh in this form, either. It comes out more like a huff. She seems to understand, though. She playfully pushes at my chest. “Do you mean you’ve been a werewolf all along, and you never told me?”
Now that I’ve calmed and it’s clear she’s not running, I have a little more control. Shutting my eyes for a moment, I concentrate and force the wolf beneath the surface, until I’m back in human form.
“I thought there was no chance you’d want to see me again if you knew I was a nobody and a werewolf,” I say sheepishly.
“Are you kidding me? That was amazing. But you’re not going to bite me or anything are you?”
She’s only teasing. At least, her laughing eyes suggest she is. My wolf almost gets control again at the thought of sinking my fangs deep into her flesh for the mating bite, so I can’t answer right away.
When I’m feeling more myself, I give her a rueful laugh. “Let’s not talk about biting right now, OK?”
Her eyes widen. “Oh, OK. My bad. Are you alright?”
I nod. “Yeah. It’s just been a long time since I lost control like that. Maybe it’s closer to full moon than I thought.”
I know damn well it’s weeks away from full moon. Luckily, the moon is hidden behind clouds so she can’t spot my outright lie. I’m not willing to admit the real reason I have no willpower around her.
“Still want to walk me back to my hotel?”
“You still want me to?” I stand, offering her my hand.
I’m beyond pleased when she takes it without hesitation and lets me pull her to her feet. We look a mess. My clothes are torn and ruined from the shifting. Her shirt is ruined too from my teeth.
It looks like I assaulted her and she fought me off.
I wince. “You sure? Like this?”
She grins. “Of course. Now I have a million questions to ask you. Oh, is that rude? I’m sorry. I’ve never met a werewolf before. At least I think I haven’t...”
When she trails off, I shift uncomfortably.
Her mouth drops open. “No!”
I nod. “Yes.”
“Candy, too?”
I nod again.
She tilts her head in silent thought. “And Harry? Jane? Oh my god. How am I such an idiot?” She slaps herself across the forehead. “I knew there were monsters. I just never knew I knew any, you know?”
“Well, some of us find it harder to hide what we are. You know Ian is a vampire, don’t you?”
She gapes at me. “Get out!”
I look at her incredulously. “You couldn’t tell? What about the pale skin and the weird clothing, and the whole appearing in a puff of smoke thing?”
She slaps her forehead again. “I thought it was some kind of magic trick. I just thought he was a bit stuck on the whole eighties goth thing.”
“Dead stuck on it,” I deadpan.
Bella chuckles. “Oh, really? Wow. What about famous people? Can you tell? Like can you all spot each other?” We have made it back to the gate by this point. There’s a latch on the inside but of course it’s padlocked. We’re going to have to climb back over.
“I can usually smell if someone is supernatural or not. Magic has a scent all its own.” I offer my hand to boost her up, but she’s already clinging to the tree, slinging her leg up and over the gate. She drops easily to the ground on the other side.
Which makes it my turn.
It’s a good thing my clothes are already torn. I somehow get my trousers stuck on a spike on the top of the gate and almost land on my face. When I’ve finally detangled myself, I trip on the root of the tree and almost fall into the road. By this point, Bella is in stitches. At least she’s laughing now and not running. I look down at myself and shake my head.
“I can’t take you back to your hotel looking like this. Someone will arrest me. Come back to mine, and I’ll call you a cab.
The smile on her face grows wider as she tips her head to the side, watching me. “Or... I come back to yours and stay.”
My wolf is wagging his tail like a damn puppy and I must be grinning because she winds her arm into mine and leans close. “Don’t blush, Will. I promise not to take advantage of you.”
I just manage to stop myself from whining. O h, please do .
It would be a bad idea. A very bad idea.
But that doesn’t stop me from wanting it very, very badly.