9. How to Train Your Werewolf
9
How to Train Your Werewolf
Eight hours later found me standing in my bedroom and staring at my closet.
I was trying to figure out what constituted appropriate attire for werewolf training.
“How about your old yoga pants?” Bo suggested from my bed. “You know, the ones with the hole in the?—”
“I am not wearing those.”
“You said Samuel told you to wear something you don’t mind getting dirty.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to look like I rolled in it first.”
This was my third outfit change. Not that I was trying to impress anyone. I just didn’t want to look completely incompetent on my first day as a supernatural creature.
“I may be overthinking this,” Bo huffed, watching me swap shirts again, “but you seem to be paying more attention to your appearance than you did on your last three dates.”
I flinched. I’d taken Ellie’s stupid advice to get over Mark and briefly signed up to a dating app.
“Those weren’t dates. They were mistakes.”
“Like the guy who collected ceramic chickens?” Bo said innocently.
“We agreed never to speak of him again.”
My phone buzzed. It was another text from Samuel.
I’m outside.
I checked my watch. 7:55 p.m.
“He’s early,” I muttered.
“Alphas probably don’t do fashionably late,” Bo commented, climbing off the bed with obvious reluctance. “Unlike some people I could name.”
Luckily, Ellie wasn’t in the room. Not that it would have mattered anyway, seeing as she couldn’t understand my dog.
I grabbed my house keys and gave myself one last look in the mirror. I’d settled on black leggings and a fitted long-sleeve top that wouldn’t get in the way. My hair was pulled back in a sensible ponytail.
I pursed my lips. I looked ready for a workout, not a supernatural training session.
The sound of an engine idling reached my ears as I exited my room. Even from four floors up, I could tell it was something expensive.
“That’s a Bentley,” Bo said, his nose pressed against the sitting room window. “Very alpha-ish.”
I rolled my eyes. “Since when are you a car expert?”
“Discovery Channel did a series on luxury vehicles.” He paused. “It must be new. I can smell the leather seats from here.”
I realized that I could too.
These enhanced senses were going to take some getting used to.
Ellie popped her head out of the kitchen. “You leaving?” She had flour on her nose and smelled of sugar.
I grimaced. “Are you stress baking again?”
“Yes.” Ellie’s mouth pressed to a thin line. “Who can blame me after what Mrs. Chen told us this afternoon?”
I sighed. “I’m sure she was exaggerating. Also, you know I need to watch my calories.”
“Not anymore you don’t,” Bo said.
I stared at him.
“Are you saying werewolves don’t get fat?”
“Yes,” Bo said, tail thumping the floor. “High metabolic rate and all that.”
I brightened a little. The fact that I wouldn’t put weight on was the only silver lining to my day so far.
“Not to mention the constant humping,” Bo added.
“You’re ruining the moment.”
We said goodbye to Ellie and headed for the elevator.
“You ready?” I asked Bo as the doors creaked closed.
“Not really.” His tail drooped. “Do I really have to come?”
“Yes. Samuel said you need to adapt to the pack.”
He gave me puppy eyes. “My favorite show is on tonight.”
I grimaced. “The one about serial killers?”
“No, the one about wolves in Yellowstone.” Bo huffed at my expression. “Fine. But if he tries to make me do tricks, I’m filing a complaint with the ASPCA.”
We found Samuel leaning against his car, arms crossed and expression unreadable behind his glasses. The street lights caught the amber in his eyes, making them gleam like a predator’s.
My pulse quickened as the connection between us hummed to life.
“You’re late,” he said.
I checked my watch. “It’s 8:01.”
“It’s 8:02, actually.” His gaze swept over me. “At least you dressed appropriately.”
“If you only knew how many outfits she tried on— ow !”
I’d stepped on Bo’s tail.
Samuel’s lips twitched. “Get in. Both of you.”
Bo brightened. “I call shotgun.”
“You’re in the back,” Samuel and I said in unison.
We looked at each other, startled.
Bo huffed and climbed into the rear seat. “This is discrimination against canines. Also, the two of you had better not canoodle while I’m in the car.”
“No one is canoodling,” I said firmly, sliding into the passenger seat.
Samuel’s scent filled my nostrils as he got behind the wheel. It was something wild and masculine that made my inner wolf sit up and take notice.
“Where are we going?” I asked, desperate to focus on anything else.
“Somewhere private.”
“That’s not ominous at all,” Bo observed from the back.
Samuel’s mouth curved slightly. I could tell Bo was growing on him.
“There’s a preserve outside town where the pack trains. It’s protected by wards that keep humans away.”
“Wards?” I raised an eyebrow. “Like magic?”
“Yes. The local coven maintains them for us.”
I recalled Mrs. Chen’s words about the Hawthornes owning half of Amberford.
“Do witches usually help werewolves?” I asked in a casual voice.
The way he glanced at me indicated he’d not missed my wary undertone.
“They do when it’s mutually beneficial.” His expression grew thoughtful, suggesting there was more to that story.
We drove in silence for a while, the lights of the city giving way to darker roads that wound upward into the forested mountains around Amberford. I became more and more aware of Samuel as his car ate away the miles.
Every breath he took. Every slight movement of his hands on the wheel. Every rustle of his slacks over his muscular thighs as he worked the gas and brake.
My nails sank into my palms.
I had never been so conscious of any human being in my entire life.
Of course, Samuel wasn’t a human being.
I rolled down the window to cool my flushed face, convinced the mate bond was going to drive me crazy before the first full moon.
“You hot?” Samuel asked with a faint frown.
“Kinda.”
His frown deepened. “It’s probably to do with you having just turned.”
I decided not to deny his assumption.
“So what exactly are those pack protocols we need to learn?”
“They are rules that keep order in the family,” Samuel replied. “And ways of behaving that maintain hierarchy.”
“Like rolling over and showing your belly?” Bo asked suspiciously.
“Among other things.”
“I knew it!” Bo’s tail thumped an annoyed beat against the leather seat. “This is totally going to involve tricks.”
“It’s not tricks,” Samuel said with a sigh. “It’s survival. A pack without order is dangerous to itself and others.”
Something in his voice made me stare at him. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
His jaw tightened. “Let’s just say I learned the hard way what happens when wolves don’t respect the hierarchy.”
The Bentley turned onto a dirt road that led deep into the woods. I picked out details in the darkness I wouldn’t have before, including eyes gleaming in the shadows. I suppressed a shiver.
“The wards start here,” Samuel said. “You’ll learn to feel them eventually.”
He was right. Something buzzed against my skin for a moment, like static electricity but warmer.
“That feels tingly,” Bo said. “Like that time I stuck my nose in an electric socket.”
I twisted to stare at him. “Wait. Was that when our TV went out and blew all the fuses in the building?!”
“I was young and curious,” Bo admitted without an iota of shame.
Samuel chuckled. I looked at him.
He shrugged. “It’s funny.”
The car emerged on the edge of a hilly clearing bathed in starlight. Samuel pulled to a stop under a sycamore tree and killed the engine.
“We’re here.”
I stepped out and looked around warily, my breath misting in front of my face. The space was roughly the size of a football stadium and ringed by oak trees, the heavy branches leaning inward to create a natural arena.
It smelled different here, like the whole place was charged with something old and wild.
“This is where the pack trains?”
“Among other things.” Samuel shrugged off his jacket, revealing a fitted black T-shirt underneath. “It’s also where we gather for full moon runs.” He went to the back of the car and got a duffel bag out of the trunk.
I eyed it warily. “Do these runs involve hunting and killing prey by any chance?”
Samuel shot an amused look my way. “Yes to the hunting, no to the killing. Most packs stopped doing that decades ago.”
I swallowed a sigh, relieved I was not going to accidentally rip Thumper’s or Bambi’s throats out. Another concern came to mind.
“How excruciating is my first transformation going to be?”
Samuel didn’t sugarcoat his answer and I was strangely glad for that.
“It’s pretty bad,” he said curtly. “But I will help you as best as I can.”
I swallowed. “Promise?”
I should have hated the vulnerability in my voice. But I found I didn’t mind this man seeing me at my weakest.
Samuel stilled, his eyes flaring.
Both he and I sensed the slight shift in our bond. Like neither of us was fighting it that hard anymore.
“I promise,” he said solemnly.
The air thickened between us. We took a step toward one another.
Bo licked his chops noisily. “Sooo, I get that you two are having some kind of moment, but I’m still here.”
Samuel looked at the ground and muttered something under his breath. I sighed.
The Hawthorne alpha’s expression turned serious once more.
“First things first. Your wolf? She’s right there, under your skin. You need to learn to work with her, not against her.”
The creature that had been prowling inside me all day stirred at his words. I nodded nervously.
Samuel’s smile was like a punch to my gut.
“Good. I’m going to teach you how to control your strength.”