The Wolf’s Whisper: The Complete Series

11. Caleb

W hat the hell just happened?

One moment, everything was fine. Emily was just beginning to lower her guard and actually listening to me. The next, she was sprinting out of the bar like there was an assassin after her. It had to have been that phone call she got, but what could’ve possibly made her run out like that?

I didn’t know, and honestly, I was so frustrated that I was ready to let her go. I’d tried to help as much as I could, and she’d given me way more trouble than any other soon-to-be shifter. On the other hand, I knew just how dangerous it was to be in her compromised state. The least I could do was try to go after her.

Leaving my just-purchased drinks on the bar, I jogged outside. It wasn’t hard to spot her streaking down the street, her bright blue coat like a beacon to my eyes. Her speed was impressive, but I didn’t miss a couple of heads turning sharply in her direction.

Shifters.

The fact that both of them were male was not lost on me, and I picked up the pace in following Emily, making sure to snarl at one as I passed. Emily was getting closer to her shift if multiple wolves were able to sense her on the street. As annoying and frustrating as the whole process was, I had to keep her safe. It was only going to get worse from here.

“Emily!” I called after her, though I knew that wouldn’t do anything. “Emily, you have to stop! It’s important!”

She didn’t, not that I’d expected her to. One of the many stark differences between being close to her first shift and being a shifter with years of experience was that my physicality was enhanced, while hers was decidedly not.

I didn’t break into a full-on sprint, just more of an urgent jog, and although Emily was fleeing for her life, I didn’t even have to break a sweat to keep up with her. That was the danger of an unmonitored wolf during a first shift. Our strength was so much greater than in our human forms that it’d be so easy for her to hurt her mother or her father or accidentally kill a family pet. Even break into another house and massacre a whole family. I’d heard horror stories throughout the years, and I didn’t want Emily to experience any of that.

It didn’t take long for me to catch up with her, but when she saw me in her peripheral vision, her mouth dropped open and I knew she was gonna scream. We had already drawn enough attention to ourselves, and frankly, I was pretty over it. I knew the situation required delicacy and tact, but unfortunately, I was short on both. Subtlety was never my strong point.

So I grabbed her arm and yanked her into an alley. Naturally, she tried to push against me and wriggle away, and I didn’t hold that against her. But I held her in place, tilting my body to shield her away from the sight of any passerby.

“You need to calm down,” I said, putting as much of my alpha voice into my words as I could. I didn’t like abusing the tool or using it to coerce other shifters into doing things they didn’t want to, but the situation most certainly called for it. Henry had always taught me that the voice was a tool, not a weapon to be wielded.

“Emily, breathe for me,” I commanded. “In. Out. Breathe.”

“Help!” she cried, and I had to slap my free hand over her mouth. Again, I knew that wasn’t helping the situation, but I also didn’t know what else to do. I was completely out of my depth, and she wasn’t making it easy for me.

“Hey, I know this whole situation is scary,” I said gently but firmly. “But I need you to slow down and just listen to your body for a second. Feel everything. It’s so much more than you ever could sense before, right? Can you smell the food from the restaurant down the block, the perfume and colognes of people passing by? Can you hear conversations on cell phones impossibly far away?”

Finally, her struggles ceased, and I was able to pull my hand away from her mouth. From the way her pupils were blown wide, I assumed she could sense every single thing I’d mentioned.

Had my luck finally turned? I decided to press further.

“Now I want you to turn those same senses inward. You can feel the heat radiating from my body, right? More than you’ve ever been able to, and if I’m not mistaken, you are acutely aware of my scent in a way you’ve never experienced with anybody else. It should feel calming to you, but at the same time, exciting. Like the taste of memories you’ve never had. Impossible, yet utterly familiar. It feels like it’s always been there.”

Her mouth dropped open at that, as if she were indeed inhaling all that she could of my scent. Once more, I was caught up in just how... everything she was.

Her eyes were so expressive, the warm amber of them looking up at me like I was the entire world. And in that moment, I felt like I was. Though her eyes were wide open, our height difference made it so she was looking at me with those thick lashes, and combined with how large her pupils had grown, her expression was borderline hypnotic.

There was just so much passion in Emily. So much life. The idea that it could really be Kaia there in front of me, so unapologetically alive and thriving, made my heart swell in my chest.

My body began to respond. How could it not? Emily was beautiful and about to enter the prime of her life, her first full shift where she’d step into her wolf heritage. My inner alpha crooned that I should take care of her, protect her from all the evils of the world while showing her the wonders of what we were.

But I couldn’t do that if I scared her to death.

Not for the first time, I wondered what the hell had happened, what had ripped her away from us, landing her in the hands of two lovely but relatively milquetoast humans who had no idea about the beautiful, dangerous predator they were raising.

“Does it feel like coming home?” I murmured, my voice dropping into more of that alpha rumble. But this time, it wasn’t intentional. It was my own wolf reaching out to hers, communicating in a language human tongues couldn’t convey. “Like you’ve finally found a part of you that’s been missing your entire life, but you just never knew? I feel it, too.”

Emily let out a heavy exhale, and that brought me back to earth. I was getting carried away with how drawn I was to her. I needed to keep my head on straight, considering there was still so much I needed to say.

I was Kaia’s guardian, even if I’d lost her for a long time. So I needed to focus on her needs, not mine.

“I…” Emily took a few more deep breaths, and I could see, feel, and smell her calming down. Good, good. I hated that I’d scared her so, but something told me I couldn’t just let her get away this time. Not if I wanted her to remain in the hospital and all of her family members to live.

Ultimately, there was no running away from shifterhood. It wasn’t the easiest thing in life, but it was our life.

“Why is any of this happening?” Emily asked. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

Her tone was so fried at the edges, I felt terrible for her. I had grown up with pack who gave me plenty of guidance, even with my father dipping out on ever getting to know his child, and my first shift had still been a trial. I couldn’t imagine going through it with no idea that shifters even existed and discovering I was one.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way, Emily,” I said. “But please, believe me when I tell you there are things other than humans, and you’re one of them.” I didn’t expect to say all this while holding her up against a wall in the alley. I supposed I should’ve just let her go, but I was still concerned with her bolting.

Besides, if I was being honest, I wanted to keep my hands on her, even if I shouldn’t.

“But that can’t be true,” she said in a hushed voice. “It can’t. ”

I didn’t know what possessed me, but I reached up and stroked her hair. “I know, I know. It sounds impossible, but at the same time, you can feel there’s something true about it. Your brain is fighting your heart. But here, I can show you. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“It can be scary. But I want to assure you that you’re safe. I would never hurt you.”

She swallowed hard, and I saw that fire return to her. “Easily said, harder to believe. You have been stalking me.”

Fair enough.

“I apologize for my actions causing so much fear,” I said. “That really wasn’t my intention, and I take responsibility that I went about this the wrong way. You just have to understand, I never expected to ever see you again.”

Emily frowned. “Again?”

Ah, shit. Another instance of too much, too soon. Why was I always putting my foot in it around her?

“I need to know that you believe I won’t hurt you. No matter how frightening or impossible what you see is.”

She stared at me for a moment. “You’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry. I just need to make sure I don’t blindside you anymore. I’ve really bungled this, and I’m trying to make it right.”

I could hear Emily’s heart pounding away in her chest, and I just wanted to shush her, to comfort her. To take her to pack territory and introduce her to the nicest people I knew. But instead, I was revealing the nature of our kind to her in the middle of a stinky, crowded alley with humans passing by not that far away.

It was a huge risk, that was for certain, but it needed to happen. Emily needed to know the truth, or else she was going to put herself in grave danger.

“So you’re saying you’re not human?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m saying we’re not human and you’re about to go into a change soon that could get everyone around you hurt.”

“I would never hurt my parents!”

I felt a mix of emotions when she said that so certainly. Admiration for Emily’s strength and loyalty, relief that the energy I’d gotten from her adoptive family was accurate, and sadness as well. Because as good as her current parents were, Kaia’s parents would’ve been good, too.

If they’d gotten the chance.

“You wouldn’t mean to,” I said. “But the first shift can be an incredibly painful, mindless time. Your mind won’t be your own, in a way.”

“Shift?” she repeated. “What the hell is that?”

“Here,” I said. “Let me show you.”

I pulled my hands away from her and stepped deeper into the alley. To my great relief, she didn’t run away, though she looked quite pale.

This was it. This was the moment. There was no time like the present, so I took a deep breath and shifted.