Chapter Eleven Matt
The afternoon slipped by in a flurry of dirt, sweat, and more vegetables than I’d ever seen in my life. By the time we finished picking everything, the sun was already touching the horizon. To my great surprise, I had actually enjoyed myself. And I even managed to learn a few things along the way.
Like the fact that beets weren’t always red. Ace grew a gold variety that was bright yellow-orange with a red root tip. They were beautiful and didn’t smell as strongly of dirt as the red ones did. I also didn’t know that you could eat their leaves. Ace showed me how to wash and bundle them for sale at the farmer’s market by wrapping them with a rubber band and keeping the leaves intact. I also helped him pick Swiss chard, which I’d never seen in my life, and little carrots that were adorable and multi-colored. The peas took forever since they were so good at hiding among the vines. There were also quite a few bundles of greens to collect of the thicker variety. Ace said they were mostly mustard and kale, but to me, they all looked about the same. And, again, I was fairly certain I’d never eaten them before.
Once everything was packed up, bundled, and packed into crates, we put it away in the shed so that it could be loaded up the next morning. The sky was nothing but pink and gold by the time I’d finally rinsed the dirt from my hands and got back to the picnic table.
“Are you hungry?” Ace asked, stepping up behind me as I grabbed the bike from where it was leaning against the table. “There’s plenty of Chinese left.”
“I should get going,” I replied.
For the first time since I’d met Ace, there was no animosity in my voice. Spending the day with him had shown me a different side of him. One that, frankly, I wasn’t willing to see before. He was soft and gentle, never raising his voice, even when I straight up cut one of his plants in half by accident. There was nothing but patience in his voice when he spoke to me and a guiding hand whenever I needed help. Despite my best intentions, I’d somehow stopped despising him over the course of the afternoon.
“It’s a full moon tonight,” I added. “And… well, I haven’t shifted in over a week. It’s becoming urgent.”
Ace nodded. “You could run here,” he offered, gesturing to the farm. “Or, if you want, you can come with me down to the state park on the beach. It’s pretty big and nobody will be there after dark.” He paused. “Lake Huron is pretty in the moonlight.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the dreamy look in those blue eyes or his pine forest scent washing over me, but I felt myself nod in agreement. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Alright,” he replied, clearly surprised I’d taken him up on his offer. “Do you want to get some food on the way?”
“You don’t have to do that…”
“I want to. As a thank you for all your help.”
“As long as it doesn’t put you out…”
“Not at all.”
I nodded, still feeling a bit uncomfortable. There were a lot of people taking pity on me lately and giving me handouts. It made my skin crawl.
“Besides,” Ace added. “You work for me now, so let’s just call it a perk of the job.”
That weirdly made me feel better. “I can handle that.”
We loaded up the bike in the back of his truck and piled inside ourselves. Once again, I found myself in the passenger seat, watching the world slip past as Ace drove us back into town. The first stop we made was at the hotel. Sam was busy, so we just dropped off the bike before heading out again.
“There’s not a lot to choose from in this town,” Ace said. “But there’s pizza if that’s okay with you.”
My mouth immediately began to water. “That sounds incredible.”
“What kind do you want?”
“Meat.”
Ace laughed. It was a pleasant sound. “I should’ve known.”
◆◆◆
An hour and a half later we were sitting on the beach in the moonlight, an empty pizza box sitting between us. I was full and content, more so than I had been in a while. Maybe it was the moonlight and maybe it was the crashing waves, but I just felt so peaceful out there on the water. Lake Huron stretched away to the horizon, the moon glimmering off the rolling waves. Ace was right, it really was beautiful.
My gaze drifted over to him, just like it had been all night. Every time the wind picked up and blew his scent my direction, I couldn’t help but take a deep breath, filling my lungs with his essence. It was strange that I craved it, and I wasn’t really sure why. Then again, it was also strange that I’d come to like him so much just in the past few hours. There was something about his quiet nature that just felt peaceful. It was like the turmoil of my life faded away when he was around. I could exist around him without judgment or feeling like I needed to speak all the time. After the past few days I’d had, that sense of peace was a drug I was quickly getting addicted to.
But there were other parts I noticed about him, too. His strong arms and back, for one. Even with a t-shirt on, his muscles rippled under the thin fabric. Then there were those long muscular legs, the tapered waist, and the bulge in his shorts. I was trying desperately not to think of what he might look like without all his clothing, but the more I tried to avoid it, the more I saw it clearly in my mind’s eye.
Lust had gotten me into this mess in the first place. I kept trying to remind myself of that. But I also couldn’t help but remember that Sam, Ace, and I were all in the same boat. If I found them attractive, they weren’t likely to ruin my life and beat the shit out of me. And, while Sam was cute, I didn’t really see him that way. He was more my savior than anything. But Ace… well, there was just something so stupidly alluring about those blue eyes and that dumb cowboy hat.
To my surprise, he looked up, catching me gawking at him instead of the beautiful scene laid out before us. I turned away immediately, my face turning bright red as I pulled my knees to my chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him smile.
“You can shift whenever you want to,” he said. “There’s probably a few other wolves around, so don’t wander too far.”
I nodded. “Okay.” Getting to my feet, I slowly looked around. I grabbed the hem of my shirt to lift it over my head but stopped when I saw Ace looking up at me. “Uh… would you mind turning around?”
“Right,” he replied, shaking his head to snap himself out of it. “Sorry.”
He turned on his butt in the sand until he was facing the opposite direction. It still felt weird getting naked just a few feet from him, but if there were other wolves in the woods, I didn’t want to risk running into them while I shifted. I was already a bit of a runt and the last thing I wanted to do was get into a territory squabble with strange wolves. With Ace around through, I would be fine. It took a stupid wolf to tangle with an Alpha and they never came out on top.
I stripped off my shirt first, dropping it on top of my backpack. Next were my shoes, socks, and my shorts. I hesitated for a moment with my underwear. All night, I’d been sporting half a boner or more whenever I caught a whiff of Ace’s scent. Once I shifted, that would go away on its own. But if he turned around and saw me… well, I would probably die of embarrassment. Plus, I didn’t want him to see my underwear either. That felt weirdly personal.
Taking a deep breath, I whipped them off as fast as I could, wadded them up inside my shorts, and then stuffed all of it inside my bag. Straightening back up, I cupped my hands over my junk and closed my eyes. The wolf inside me wanted out badly, but I had to find my center first before I could do it. Being too nervous gave werewolves performance anxiety, too.
I took another deep breath, inhaling through my nose and then blowing it out slowly between my lips. Maybe four or five of them passed before I felt that familiar tingle roll down my spine. My bones began to shift, the wolf coming out at last. I leaned forward, allowing my body to shift where it wanted as fur sprouted from my pores. Once it started, the shift happened fairly quickly. Within a second or two, I found myself standing on four paws in the sand. I shook out my fur, kicking up my back leg to scratch at a couple spots on my side. Growing fur was always a bit of an itchy process.
The colors of the world around me dulled, but my senses were a hundred times sharper. I could smell the water, the sand, the trees, the dead fish a half mile down the beach, and even a raccoon some hundred yards off in the woods. But what I smelled most was that thick pine scent rolling off Ace. The moment it hit my nose, the wolf went crazy. A low whine rolled out of my throat as I bounded through the sand. Before I knew it, I had my nose on the back of Ace’s neck, sniffing deeply before I nudged the hat right off his head.
“Hey!” he cried, swatting me away with a big smile on his face. He gave me a good once-over. “Well, look at you,” he said. “I really like your reddish fur.”
The compliment went through my system like a bolt of lightning. Before I knew it, I was practically in his lap, licking at his face. The human side of me was absolutely panicking that I was being so ridiculous, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. After not letting my wolf out for over a week, he wasn’t about to let me wrestle back control. Besides, there was something about Ace’s scent and the taste of his skin on my tongue that was driving me wild. It made logical thought all but impossible.
“Alright, alright,” he said, pushing me away at last. “You want to play, right?”
I huffed through my nose, sneezing into the sand.
“Just let me shift and I’ll join you.” He got to his feet. “Can I put my hat in your bag?”
I yipped in response.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he smiled, tucking the hat into my bag.
It felt sort of odd standing there as Ace stripped off all his clothing. Human me would have been blushing and gawking, but wolf me was just impatient. I had so much pent-up energy! Within a few seconds, he was standing there naked in the moonlight, striking quite a magnificent figure. But a moment later, a massive black wolf stood in front of me, his golden Alpha eyes glimmering in the moonlight. He turned toward me, gave a small woof, and stretched his front legs out, giving me the universal sign for play with me.
He didn’t have to tell me twice.
Without thinking, I ran at him full tilt, tackled him to the ground, and kept right on running for the water. There was an incredulous bark behind me as he righted himself and came racing after me. We both hit the water at about the same time, splashing and romping until we were in over our heads.
I wasn’t sure if a minute passed, ten, or even an hour. All I knew was that I was having the time of my life running up and down the beach with Ace. We tackled one another, swam through the waves, dug in the sand, and even fought over a few sticks we found lying around. I’d never had so much fun. But I’d also been panting for some time, and I felt like I was finally running out of steam a little bit. The full moon energized me, but I was ready for a little bit of a break.
Breaking into a run, I darted back toward where my bag was left on the beach. It was up near the woodline and cast in shadow, so it wasn’t until I was within twenty feet of it that I realized something was wrong. I skidded to a halt in the sand, my tail straight up in the air as a low growl filled my chest.
There was another wolf there and he had his nose in my bag.