17. Ash #2
I’m about to tell him I’m not into whatever weird shit this is, but the words die on my tongue. The air shimmers around him, like the haze you get when it’s too hot outside. Between one blink and the next, he’s gone. I gasp, then freeze, my whole body locking in place as I forget how to breathe.
Forget how to do anything other than stare open-mouthed at the fucking wolf now standing where my best friend stood two second ago. He’s bigger than what a wolf should be. His fur is a light tawny brown, but even with the evidence right in front of me, my mind can’t grasp what I’m seeing.
I think he broke me.
I mean, I know what I’m looking at, but . . . but . . . My legs give out and I slide down the tree until my arse hits the ground.
Then the wolf is gone and Morgan’s crouched in front of me.
Naked.
“Ash?” He moves towards me, hand outstretched.
I shake my head, boots slipping on the grass as I try to shuffle backwards, but there’s nowhere to fucking go with the tree at my back.
Devastation.
That’s the expression on Morgan’s face as he watches me try and get away from him. I’m shaking. My arms and legs feel like jelly and there’s a thrumming in my chest like my heart is racing too fast to count the beats.
“I’m still me, Ash.”
I shake my head again because he’s fucking not. But a part of me is still refusing to accept what my eyes just saw. “How?” I manage, barely a rasp as my voice joins the rest of me and struggles to function.
“Let me get dressed and I’ll explain everything.”
I nod. It’s all I can manage.
He quickly pulls his jeans and T-shirt on and sits back down. I’m grateful he doesn’t try to come any closer, because honestly? I’m not sure what I’d do. Rationally, I know it’s Morgan. I’m sitting here looking at him. But he also just changed into a fucking wolf, and that’s not okay.
It’s a million miles from okay.
“I was leaving town for a bit.” He gives me a sad smile. “I didn’t lie to you about that. Lynx sent me away because I was in danger.”
“From who?”
“The Feral Beasts.”
Feral Beasts. Wild Wolves.
I swallow past the huge lump in my throat. “And they’re . . .”
“Shifters? Yeah.”
“The FBs attacked me in the forest and then hunters came to the compound—”
“Hunters?”
He winces. “It’s comp—”
“Don’t you fucking dare.” I point a shaky finger at him. “Just . . . don’t.”
He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “There’s a lot more to this story—which I want to tell you, and I will—but for now I’m just gonna tell you that Birch kidnapped me, Beth, Flint, and Mal as bait for Lynx.
Birch bit me and changed me into a shifter.
Lynx rescued me from the fight rings and brought me back here. We’re fated. Soulbound.”
My mouth opens . . . but I’ve got nothing.
Absolutely fucking nothing.
“I know that’s a lot to throw at you, and it’s only a fraction of the story, but it’s how I became”—he flexes his fingers and fucking claws slide out the ends—“this.”
I sit there doing my best to sort through all the information he’s just dumped on me.
Like he said, it’s a lot.
“Do you believe me?” he asks. Four simple words that carry so much weight.
I mean, the evidence was right there, so the answer should be simple. And yet . . .
“I don’t want to,” I whisper, and that’s my truth. I don’t want to believe any of this is happening.
A surprised laugh escapes Morgan, the bitter edge still there. “And you think I did?” He stands and I flinch. It’s automatic, instinct, self-preservation, whatever you want to fucking call it, but it happens and there’s no hiding it.
Morgan’s shoulders slump and he backs away, arms out in front of him. “I’d never hurt you.” The despair in his voice tugs at my chest, at the part of me that’s loved Morgan Webb like a brother almost since the day I met him.
I know he wouldn’t hurt me.
Of course I do.
My brain just needs time to catch up with my heart.
“I think . . . I think you need to start from the beginning. And tell me everything.” It’s the only way I stand a chance of accepting what he’s telling me, showing me to be true.
“You sure?” He grimaces. “If I tell you, then you can’t repeat any of it. Not to anyone, Ash.”
“Who the fuck would believe me?”
He gives me another sad smile. “That’s exactly what I said when I found out.”
I’m about to say, I would’ve, but the words die on my tongue.
No wonder he didn’t tell you.
“It might put you in danger.”
“More than I am already?” I think of Callum inspecting my home, then my mind comes to a screeching halt.
Callum.
He’s one too.
They all are.
I screw my eyes shut, pushing all of that to the back of my mind. I can’t deal with it now. I can’t face looking back at the last week, all the time we spent together, the things we did . . . I just can’t. Not now.
So I push it aside and focus on Morgan.
One life-altering revelation at a time.
“Well?”
“Yeah, maybe. If I tell you everything.” He runs a hand through his hair, then rubs the back of his neck. Something I’ve seen him do a thousand times.
It’s still him, I think, letting the words settle.
It’s still my best friend sitting opposite me, struggling to find the words to make this okay.
I want to crawl over to him and wrap my arm around his shoulders and tell him it’s all right.
I almost do it.
My body twitches, muscle memory trying to kick in, but I force myself to stay where I am.
I’m not ready.
Not yet.
Will I ever be?
I can’t answer that because, first, I need to know.
“You promised, Mor. No more secrets.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me. What happened after you left my house and came to the Wild Wolves compound that first time.”
He takes a deep breath, like he’s steeling himself, then starts talking.