CHAPTER 15 #2
I slowed my shift to a trickle so I could track his responses.
My shoulder blades contracted and then rolled forward, positioning my arms straight beneath me.
He shrugged his own shoulders like he was shaking off an itch.
I dug my claws into the ground. My hands morphed into paws, and Michael curled his hands into fists.
With a loud pop, my knees dislocated from their sockets and bent backward. He jerked in response.
“I’m okay,” I told him. It sounded like it hurt, but it didn’t. All I felt was relief, like I’d eased a cramp in a stiff muscle. “I won’t be able to talk from here on out.”
He nodded.
I ran my tongue over my teeth as they pushed out of my gums, elongating and gaining razor-sharp edges.
My jaw cracked and grew outward, nose sliding down my face until it landed on the tip of my muzzle.
I’d won the Lon Chaney Award two years ago by stopping the shift around this point, only with half the fur, so it looked like I had mange.
My face was half-melted. I’d let my ears grow long and pointy but stopped them before they moved to the top of my head, so they stuck out from the sides like Yoda from Star Wars.
I paused my shift where I was, not to compete in a monster-off, but because I needed to check in on my own well-being. I felt… fine. Like me. In total control of myself like always. Michael’s lunacy must not be infectious. Either that, or my own mastery was so great that it didn’t impact me.
With a thought, I finished the shift. Pressure came from the base of my spine as my tail grew. My ears realigned themselves on top of my head. In a final shake, I landed on four large paws.
I glanced around. The night forest was a stark world of shadows and moonlight, but with my enhanced eyesight I could see deep into its depths. Ah, yes, this was so much better. And look! My mate!
I padded around in front of him, tongue lolling out. He had his arms wrapped around his waist and his eyes screwed shut, like he was holding himself together through sheer willpower.
In wolf form, my head came to his chest. I leaned forward and bit the sleeve of his sweater, trying to loosen his grip on himself.
His eyes cracked open and then flashed wide.
He dropped his arms to his sides and stared at me.
The threat of panic disappeared from the bond, replaced by outright shock.
My mate was surprised and impressed by my size.
It made me want to preen. I took a few dancing steps in front of him, showing off.
“You are enormous,” he said.
I pulled myself up to my full height and grinned at him.
He blinked at me several times in quick succession.
I headbutted him in the chest.
He took a staggering step backward. “What was that for?”
I whined at him. Shift, you goober.
When he just stared at me, I whined again and moved forward.
He put his hands up to hold me off, but I was faster.
I snuck beneath his guard and rubbed my entire length over his hip.
Why was my mate still in human form? He should be down on all fours with me.
The forest beckoned, and I wanted to run through it with him.
Howl with him. Show him all of my favorite places.
Maybe we could spook a rabbit or catch a trout in the river.
I turned and rubbed over his other hip. He smelled too much like a human, too much like himself. Where was my scent?
“You are leaving an untenable amount of hair on my clothes,” he said.
I whined louder and leaned my forehead into his ribs.
He released a shaky breath. The subtle sound of movement came from overhead, and then his fingers were in the thick band of fur on my neck.
My mate was touching me back! Yay! I yipped and pushed into him, forgetting my strength.
He landed on his ass in the dirt. Happy that he was now at my level, I lunged forward, nearly tackling him.
“Okay. Yes. I know this is all very exciting.” Michael tried to pat and subdue me at the same time, but I rolled roughshod over him, coating him in my hair and my scent. “Layla, you are being absurd right now.”
He sounded stern, but my mate couldn’t lie to me. I felt his amusement. He thought I was funny! I yip-growled and took him all the way to the ground, landing flat on top of him, demonstrating my superior strength and skill, all the reasons I made a good mate.
He let out a low chuckle. “I believe you now. You can keep me from hurting anyone.”
Oh. Yes. That’s what I’d been doing. Demonstrating my ability to contain him. Not losing my mind with giddy abandon because this was the first time I’d turned in almost a week.
With a monumental effort, I reined in my baser instincts and heaved myself off him.
He got back to his feet, brushing hair and dirt from his clothes. “Will you stay here?”
I nodded, proving that I was capable of some semblance of rational thought.
He turned and paced away. A minute later he disappeared behind a massive white pine that had split near the base early on in its life, so that three trunks punched through the canopy instead of one.
I cocked my head sideways and listened to him taking off his clothes.
Ferns rustled and leaves crunched. His fear returned, threatening to infect me, but it was easier not to let it in this form.
Shifting was right, natural. I beat back his fear and projected my own calm toward him, and his worry abated some.
I grinned, proud of myself, but my amusement disappeared when a sharp stab of pain suddenly cut down the entire length of my spine.
I dropped to the ground, writhing. Ow! What the hell?
I jerked my head up and searched for my assailant. There was no one in sight. Another wallop of pain punched through me, this time in my ribs. It felt like someone was trying to tear them free from my torso.
A low, mournful sound that no human throat could make came from behind the tree, and I realized that just like last night, it wasn’t me being hurt. It was Michael.
I struggled to my paws and raced forward, skidding to a stop when I caught sight of him.
He was halfway through the shift, curled in the fetal position, his back to me.
Something was wrong. Something was so, so wrong.
He still wore his human skin, allowing me a front row view of the bruises that covered it.
With a popping sound, his right arm wrenched up and backward, like a malicious ghost had gotten hold of his wrist and was trying to dislocate it.
We growled in shared pain, and he let out a low moan when it passed.
I stepped up to him, sniffing and whining. Why was he fighting it? If he just gave in to the shift, it would go so much smoother and wouldn’t leave him looking like an assault victim.
“Layla, go!” he yelled.
Over my dead body. Something was hurting my mate. It was my job to protect him. Even if that meant protecting him from himself. Power punched at the cage I kept it in, demanding out. I dropped my shields and let it pour from me, focusing the tidal wave straight down onto Michael.
You are a wolf, I thought. Claiming this form is as natural as breathing.
It is power. It is beauty. It is family.
Fur and freedom and moonlight. Come out, Michael.
I crowded in close, brushing my fur over him, forcing the comforting scent of his mate to fill his nose, projecting a torrent of peace and acceptance across the bond.
His shoulders relaxed. Marginally.
Yes. Come on. You can do it. Come run with me beneath the stars.
He turned his head and looked at me with amber eyes.
I barked in joy to see them. As I watched, the shift took hold of him, progressing much quicker than my own had.
Fur flowed over him. His muscles contracted and bulged.
The sharp smell of wolf musk filled my nose.
His spine bowed and then lengthened, his tail breaking free.
It was a beautiful sight. Not something to hide.
I redoubled my efforts to tell him this through the bond, and his lingering pain vanished.
When it was over, he lay panting on the ground.
I took a step back, wary. He was… not what I’d expected.
Most wolves were half my size. Michael was closer to three-quarters of it.
Had his forefathers somehow bred with a MacKenzie wolf?
If anyone was capable of pulling that off, it was probably the Kolbecks, though if they had, they shouldn’t have reacted like they did when his mother outed me at dinner the other night, and he wouldn’t have been so caught off guard when he saw me in wolf form for the first time.
Michael lifted his head. Where my fur was uniformly black, his coat was tricolored. Brown and sable and white. His belly, legs, and nose were the lightest parts of him, while his back was a low-contrast mixture of the darker colors. Black tipped his ears and skirted his eyes, like a half mask.
He rose to his paws on shaky legs and stared down at himself in shock.
Oh, Goddess. What if the bond had made him bigger? Like his increased speed? If that was the case, he was probably stronger, too, and I was starting to regret my earlier demand that we shift.
Michael’s shock dissipated, and he lifted his muzzle. The amber eyes that bored into mine held no warmth. No recognition. His lips quivered. A snarl split his muzzle.
Shit.
He lunged at me.