Everywhere we touched burned with delight, and the monster finally calmed.
Slowly, the hair on my arms withdrew, and my claws retracted. I collapsed in
his grasp, horrified and spent.
“I like that you’re ambitious, but you need to walk before you run,”
Jaxson said, his voice husky.
“She wanted out. I couldn’t stop her,” I whispered.
He relaxed his arms, and he stepped around to face me. “Of course she
did,” he said, and gently brushed the hair from my face. “Mastering a partial
shift is hard. It requires control and dominance over your inner beast. The full
shift takes less skill because you just let go. But I know you can do this. Out
of all the women I know, your will is the most like iron.”
“I can’t. This is fucking insane!” I pushed away, but my legs were still
unsure whether they belonged to a human or a wolf, and I stumbled to one
knee.
Jaxson pulled me up. “You’ll master this. That was good for a first
attempt—though you haven’t quite finished.”
A subtle smile crept across his lips, and he placed his thumb gently
against my upper lip and softly pressed on my canine. A dull ache spread
through my jaw, and my eyes widened with shock as it withdrew.
“There. No more fangs. Now the shift is complete,” Jaxson purred.
Rather than leaving my lips immediately, his thumb lingered. I closed my
eyes, unable to think of anything but his finger softly pressing my mouth. My
heartbeat quickened as the seconds passed, both of us frozen in place.
I parted my lips just to feel them drag against his skin.
The heat in my belly begged me to turn my head left and take his thumb
into my mouth—to press my lips softly around it and trace my tongue along
its length.
Instead, I turned my head right and stepped back.
He did the same and avoided my eyes. His voice turned hard. “You need
to practice more. Now. We have time.”