Between the Pack

8

Chapter 8

Ollie’s POV

Paisley was soeasy to talk to. Seriously easy. I felt like I could tell her anything and she wouldn't be affected. It had been a long time since I'd felt this comfortable around anyone. It was wild. Now I could see why the other guys seemed to have such an obsession with her. There was something real special about this one.

"Should we head over to the pond?" Paisley asked with a smile. "I haven't had a chance to dip my feet in the water yet and it looks so nice."

"Oh, sure." I loved water as well. Something that Paisley and I had in common. "Yeah, that sounds really nice actually. Although it might be cold."

Paisley shrugged and giggled a musical sound. It was lovely to my ears. I wanted her to keep laughing all the time. "I don't mind that. I actually prefer swimming in colder water because it gives me a chance to warm up."

My body naturally ran hot, so cold water wasn't going to be an issue to me at all. If Paisley was up for it, then I was too. I was up for anything she was.

We sat at the edge of the pond and dipped our feet into the water. Yep, it was freezing cold. Paisley let out a little gasp, but she didn't let it deter her. Her beautiful slinky feet slipped beneath the ripples and sat their comfortably.

"Hmm, this is nice." Paisley leaned her hands back behind her on the grass, and flipped her long red hair over her shoulders. With a sense of peacefulness overcoming her expression, she let her eyes fall closed. "I really like this."

"Yeah…" I couldn't take my eyes off her. Damn it, she was lovely. "It's beautiful."

I suddenly realized that my heart was hammering in my throat. There was such an intense urge for me to reach over and take her in my arms, that I almost went through with it. My God, I hadn't had this urge since my marriage fell apart.

I wondered what it would be like to kiss her. To peel her clothing slowly off her body and know how sexy she really was naked. A sizzle trickled down my spine as I thought about what it would be like to be inside her.

Shit, I was getting all kinds of hot and bothered. My fingers clawed into the ground beneath me, digging into the mud in an attempt to prevent myself from acting on my desires. I didn't want to push Paisley away by moving too quickly. I wasn't entirely sure if she had the same feelings I did.

I would have liked to assume that she did, since she'd been giving me the eye a little, but divorce had knocked my confidence. Especially since my ex-wife didn't like a very vital part of me that I couldn't change, no matter what.

Yeah, that was going to mess me up forever.

"You're very quiet," Paisley suddenly commented, shaking me from my thoughts. "Is everything alright? Sorry, I know I'm quiet as well."

I chuckled lightly. "I don't mind the quiet. I find peace within it. I'm enjoying your company whether we're talking or not. You're a great listener, and a great person to just be with as well. I'm having a much better time with you."

Her beautiful smile caused my stomach to flip flop. God, she was stunning. Seriously. I just wished I could fully open up to her. Actually, maybe it was better for me to do so, to push her away from me immediately before I allowed my heart to sink into all of this a little too quickly.

It would let her know the truth about the other guys as well, when it wasn't really my place to do so, but it might be for the best. I mean, not telling my wife in the first place and letting her find out later on did not work out well.

Paisley was far too sweet to have this thrown at her later on by surprise.

"The moon casts such lovely hues on the water, doesn't it?" Paisley commented idly, having absolutely no idea about the inner turmoil circling through my brain. "It looks so lovely. Like a painting, but it's real life."

"It's a full moon, isn't it?" I dared to speak, stepping dangerously close to the subject I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to dive head first into. I was one hundred percent still at the debating stage. "Do you know what happens on a night like this?"

"Ooh, a scary story, huh?" Paisley laughed. "Claire and I used to like scaring one another with spooky tales when we were younger. And, obviously, if we're talking about a full moon, then you must mean werewolves."

I tried to laugh, but she'd hit too close to the truth for my liking. I wasn't quite sure where to take the conversation from here. Did I just continue talking about something else entirely and forget that I'd even started this conversation? Or did I do what was right for Paisley and do the scary thing? Should I be honest?

"You know…I know a lot about wolf shifters," Paisley continued, eyeing me curiously. "I know not everyone believes in them and thinks they're fairy tales, but I've done some research. I know they're really here."

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, waiting for words to come spilling out, but they didn't. I was way too silent.

"You believe in them too, don't you?" Paisley gasped. "That's why you have the tattoo? The wolf one, and also the crest, right? That's a wolf thing?"

I nodded ever so slowly. I could almost feel all the blood draining from my face. "Yeah, you're right. That is a wolf thing."

"So, you know wolf shifters?" she tried. "Or you…you are one?"

I stiffened, probably giving her the answer without a need for words.

"Oh my God, that's what this camping trip is all about, isn't it? Because of the full moon. You need to be away from the public." Paisley's hands clenched into fists. "It isn't just you. That's why I've seen that crest tattoo on Vinnie as well. Because he is a wolf too, right?" Her eyes popped wide. "Oh my God, are you all wolves? Are you a clan? What's going on here?" Realization struck her hard. "What about Claire and me? How are we going to keep ourselves safe?"

She was on the verge of panic. I sidled closer to her and pressed my finger to her lips before she got carried away with that thought. Of course this was going to be a shock for her, it would be a shock for anyone, even if she did have a vague idea about the existence of wolf shifters beforehand.

Paisley's eyes stopped dancing quite so wildly as I stared at her for a little while. She seemed to adjust to the idea that not everything was going to fall apart here just because her view of the world had been changed. I hoped she hadn't read too much bad stuff about us on the internet. This was why, as a race, we tried to mostly stay hidden. Because the misconception of what we were led to fear and chaos. Humans couldn't be trusted, and mob mentality was a nightmare.

"We won't hurt you and Claire," I reassured her. "You don't need to worry about that. We're out here so we can commune with the moon at midnight, that's all."

"But it's risky, right?" she whispered as I took my finger away from her lips. "For a human to be around a wolf shifter once they've changed, it can be problematic, right? The wolf, animalistic side can take over?"

I had to accept that. She was right. There were times when the human side of a shifter all but disappeared once the shifting was done, but I was pretty sure the rest of the guys and I were going to be on high alert the whole time.

"I promise you that we will take care of you," I declared. "We won't let anything happen to you. We all care about you and Claire too much for that."

Actually, that was also really true. I hadn't ever gone into a job like this before and come out the other side really caring about the people involved. It was all just work. But I felt different with these girls. They had something special.

Internally, I really did promise myself that I would protect them over everything else tonight, no matter what happened. I wouldn't allow my wolf side to overshadow everything else because these girls were too important.

Paisley glanced down at her watch and sighed heavily. "What a shame we only have half an hour until midnight. Not much longer to hang out. Do you think maybe we should go back to the others so I can get Claire to bed?"

Normally, this would be something I would agree with instantly. I would be totally on board with being sensible because it was the right thing to do. But I was honestly enjoying my time with Paisley way too much to think about that right now. I just wanted to continue throwing caution to the wind to see what would happen. Of course, her safety was still going to be my top priority, no doubt about it, but I wasn't ready to give up the only time I'd gotten alone with her.

"Let's do something crazy first," I said spontaneously. "Is there anything you would like to do quickly before we have to run back?"

"Anything?" Paisley's eyes twinkled. I knew instantly that I'd done the right thing. "Actually, there is something on my bucket list that we could do."

I threw my hands in the air, admitting defeat. "Anything at all. You just let me know. I am along for the ride."

"Skinny dipping."

Wait…what?I stared at her in shock. I wasn't expecting that to come out of her mouth. Never mind my animalistic side, I wasn't sure how on earth I'd be able to control my human side around her naked. That was going to be intense.

"You up for it?" Paisley continued as if she didn't see the effect she'd had on me. "Could be fun, right? We should take advantage of our time alone together."

She rose to her feet, almost challenging me with her gaze, and whipped her summer dress up over her head. My eyes might as well have bugged out of my head as I watched her reach behind her back and unhook her bra. Holy shit, her body was even more incredible than I thought it would be. Her delicate pink nipples standing firm against her pert pale breasts. My head was spinning.

She looked absolutely glorious under the glimmering moon light, and that only intensified when she shimmied out of her panties and kicked them off to the side.

"So." She rested her hands on her hips and stared at me. "You joining me?"

Without even waiting for an answer, Paisley rushed to the water and dived in, managing to look elegant and graceful as she did. The splash she made in the icy cold lake caused my heart to skip about ten beats.

Yep, Paisley really was something special.

Ragged breaths struggled to get out of my mouth as I hurriedly stripped myself down to join her. The burning hot blood was surging through my body, so I barely even noticed the temperature as I dived in to the water to be closer to her.

"Whoa, nice dive," she chuckled once I came bursting out of the surface of the water for air. "You got some good form there. I can tell you used to be in the swimwear business. Although I have to admit, you look damn fine without anything on at all." Her eyes raked all over me. "Better than fine actually."

Was this really happening? Paisley knew about my secret, she knew about me being a wolf shifter, and she simply took it in her stride. She truly didn't seem to let anything bother her, which was just wild. I could hardly believe it. After the shit show I experienced with my wife leaving me over it…well, this was a revelation.

I didn't want to get all choked up and emotional in front of Paisley. I didn't want to dump any more of my baggage in her lap, so I dived back under the water and started to circle her. As I reached out and brushed my hand against her leg, Paisley joined in swimming. I had to admit she was right, skinny dipping was such a good idea. This was my favorite camping trip ever, and I’d been on a lot of them.

"Hey, I have to ask you something," I finally said when I surfaced. "And I hope I'm not pushing or saying something too much, so please tell me if I am." She nodded encouragingly. "How the hell is someone as awesome as you still single?"

Her face fell, and immediately I felt terrible. Shit, deep down I knew this was probably a subject matter not to be touched on, and I did it anyway.

"I haven't exactly had the best experience with relationships," she muttered, almost under her breath. "I can't seem to find a guy who isn't only with me until someone better comes along. I'm always the filler."

"What?" I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. I assumed she was going to tell me that she refused to settle and that it was all her own choice, because surely there was no way men were that stupid. I only had to look at her and she had my knees all jelly like. I thought she was gorgeous.

"Yeah, my high school boyfriend, Jeff, eventually broke up with me because he was really only with me to get closer to Claire. As soon as he realized that my sister didn't want him, he had no need for me anymore."

She might have been saying this with a slightly blasé tone, but her eyes betrayed her. She was in a lot of pain because of this asshole. I screwed my fists up by my side, because, unfortunately, he wasn't here so I couldn't hit him.

"Then in college, I met Leon." She sighed heavily. "And it started out good, it really did. I thought he might be the one for me. He was all artsy and cool, although I suppose, looking back, he did talk about himself way more than he ever asked me a question. But I was young and I thought I was in love."

She paused for a moment, her eyes downcast. I braced myself, knowing the next part wasn't going to be good. Even if a breakup was inevitable and there was nothing that could be done about it, it still hurt a lot. Nothing could have saved my marriage, and deep down I knew it was better for us to be done and go our separate ways in life, but that didn't make it any less painful to think about.

"Anyway, Leon apparently didn't see what we had as a committed relationship. I guess he thought that because we were in college, it was a free for all," Paisley eventually continued, her eyes almost tearing up as she told this nasty tale. I didn't think it was for the guy, but more for the situation. "Everyone else knew what was going on. Everyone but me. I was the idiot skipping through everyday life thinking I had it all while he was screwing around with anyone and everyone he could get his hands on. I was a joke to him. To all of them. It was so humiliating when I finally walked in on him having sex with Sadie from his fine art class, and they both just laughed at me. Laughed at me as I cried." She tutted and shook her head. "I nearly gave up then. I almost walked out of college and never looked back because my heart was so shattered. I didn't think I would recover from it."

I edged closer to her and slowly wrapped my hands around her body. "You just met some shitty guys," I tried to reassure her. "That's all. It won't always be like that."

"But it has been," she shot back in a heartbeat, nearly weeping with all of her past pain. "There hasn't been anyone serious since then. I have had been on dates, but never good ones. I've been ghosted and tossed to the side way too many times. I don't know how much more my heart can take."

I could relate to everything she was saying far too well, and I thought it was incredibly sad. Heart break was such a terrible thing for anyone to go through. Especially someone as sweet natured and kind as Paisley.

Without even realizing what I was doing, I was moving closer to her, wanting to kiss her. I wasn't sure if the timing was perfect or absolutely terrible, but Paisley looked like she was moving toward me as well. In this picture-perfect scene, skinny deepening under a gorgeous full moon, it really did seem like the right thing to do. I wanted to kiss her more than I'd ever wanted to do anything in my entire life. The tighter Paisley wrapped her body around mine, the more I lost my mind.

Our lips were so close, I could practically feel her breath tickling my already tingling lips. She was practically grazing against me, and my whole body was reacting to her. Any minute now, we would be connected at long last.

Any minute now…

"Shit, what was that?"

A wolf howled so loud it shattered the sky and burst Paisley and I apart like we'd been electrocuted. Time had flown by because we were having so much fun, and now…

Now I was about to slip out of my human form to become a wolf. I wanted so badly to protect Paisley, just as I'd promised, but that wasn't going to be easy with her so close to me.

"Go," I rasped desperately, my voice barely breaking free. "Paisley, go. Get out of here, now."