The blackness took me again and the next time I woke up I was warm, in a bed, with a woman hovering over me.
“Claire…”
I couldn’t open my eyes. The pain in my head was like a hammer pounding on my skull.
“Take these. It’ll help with the pain.”
I put my hand up, took the pills.
“Thanks.”
I took the water and washed them down my tight throat. I struggled to open my eyes, but forced myself to.
Claire was not the only one in the room.
I let my gaze roam around and there were the three next door neighbours, all hovering like expectant parents.
And they were all shirtless.
They wore jeans, but nothing else.
The most embarrassing part of it all was, despite my confusion and soreness, my attraction to them grew, flooding my belly and lower with blood.
“Um… why are they… not dressed?”
Claire crossed her arms over her chest. “If I tell you the truth, do you promise not to stomp off like a toddler and get into a car accident?”
I nodded quickly, dragging my eyelids up to focus on Claire’s face.
“Tell me.”
Claire gave me one of her most stern looks, one she usually kept for her wayward patients.
“Okay. I’m going to spill this out all at once, because I’ve been through it myself, and I can tell you, it’s fucking… unbelievable. And amazing. And perfect. But I know you, and you’re going to fight it with everything in you.”
I wet my lips with my tongue, my focus returning as the pain receded into the back of my mind.
“Tell me, Claire.”
“This is a town full of wolf shifters. All the men, and the women, can change into a wolf at will. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it’s true, and the guys can show you when you want them to…. But it’ll freak you out I guarantee it.”
It didn’t freak me out that much. I’d been int
roduced to the paranormal world several years ago.
“Wolves… I heard wolves in the woods tonight.”
“Yes. Grayson, Aaron and Brad shifted, and followed your car when they smelled bear shifters following you. They fought one of them, a large black bear, and Brad was injured.”
Claire walked across to Brad and turned him around.
His back was slashed, blood still dripping down his beautiful skin.
I sat up straight, pain ripping through my head, but I fought back the wave of nausea.
“Oh my God. Brad, I’m so sorry.”
Brad turned back around, his eyes focused right on me. “You’re worth any amount of pain.”