Wolf Bargain (Wolfish 3)

1

Sabrina

Dawn begins to peer its pinkish face through the canopy of tree branches in the forest.

The night of the full moon is almost over and I have my eye on a deer that I’ve been tracking for the last hour. I never used to be much of a hunter, but ever since the full moon ritual, hunting seems to be one of several new things I’ve been drawn to.

I think I’m pretty good at it too … at least for a human.

Even for shifters, I’ve gotten good enough to give the boys a run for their money. I’m fairly silent prowling around the forest on my human feet, my toes searching out the soft spots in the fallen leaves and underbrush, and after much practice my aim has gotten better. In fact, it’s usually spot-on.

I stop in my tracks and scan the dim light beneath the trees.

When I see the deer again, I signal to the boys that it is in perfect sight.

True to Romulus’ word—or more like true to the word he’s prepared to break—everything has changed.

More than the promise of my turning, everything about my life with the Gray family has changed.

I’m truly one of them now. Or, at the very least, I know I will be soon.

The boys have been better about letting me come along with them to everything now. No more being asked to leave. No more protecting me from a safe distance.

No more leaving me behind.

And I, in turn, have left my old life behind. At least as much as I could.

I’d had enough to pretending to be something I wasn’t, of toeing the line between my old world and their new one. So, I started by dropping out of school.

No more pretending.

I was surprised when even Rory didn’t complain.

I think they all realized after what happened the last time, that they just couldn’t expect me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while I waited for them to decide when it would be a good time to turn me. I wasn’t going to sit back and wait. I was going to do as much as I could with them until I could actually be one of them.

And even if they hadn’t realized it, I would have made them.

I’ve had enough of waiting for everyone else to do the right thing. I’ve made it clear over these last months that if they’re going to be with me, then they have to treat me like they want me.

Because for a while, even after they came back, I wasn’t sure if I wanted them.

Not with the way they treated me before.

Not if I was going to wake up every day and wonder if that was the day they decided to leave again.

I think, for me, it was watching and participating in the full moon ritual that was the tipping point. I had always known that I wanted to be with the boys, but I never really understood why. During that ceremony, the reason became much more clear. I still couldn’t really put it into words, it was more like a feeling that resonated within me … but it was so strong that it was practically seeping through my skin and into my very bones.

It was like when I first felt the bond.

That night, there under the eclipse of the full moon, I watched as their kind gathered and bathed in the light as it was drowned out. I watched them shift, then turn human again, their bodies quivering as they were unable to stop the change back—just like they usually were unable to fight the change from human into shifter.

It was … humbling.

It was terrifying.

But more than that, it was welcoming.

I was suddenly aware of the nakedness they felt at that moment, and I understood why all the packs had traveled to be together in that moment. It wasn’t to feel the strength of their numbers.

It was to feel weak, together.

And in that, there was a strange strength. Something, I wonder, if Remus’ pack not too far off in the adjoining forests felt as well.

I loved the boys even before the ritual, and I wanted to be with them more than anything in the world, but on top of that I also felt a need to be a part of this life. From the moment they introduced me to it, I knew this was where I was destined to be.

Where I am destined to be.

And now I stand on the precipice, or the ridge of my own transformation. I know, when it happens, I’ll feel weak. I’ll feel out of control.

But all I feel now … is the power. All I feel now is the strength.

I watch the deer in a silent stillness as I get ready to pull out my tag gun and shoot. But as I’m waiting, something appears at the edge of the thicket, something that looks more like a man than an animal.

Much to the surprise of both me and the deer, Marlowe comes stumbling out of the thicket in a frenzied, naked rush toward me. He looks as if he’s just shifted back into a human, and the wolfish adrenaline running through him hasn’t quite let go yet; which is made very apparent by the still-swollen and excited appendage hanging between his legs.

Marlowe rushes up to me and as soon as he is within arm’s reach, he grabs me and pulls me against him as he tries to put his mouth on mine to kiss me. It isn’t a soft, gentle kiss that lingers on my lips like the thrill after a good hunt; it’s an urgent, violent kiss that wants to push our bodies into each other out of a primal need as if we are the hunt.

I slide my hand up inside the tight space between us and put it onto Marlowe’s bare chest as I push him away. He stumbles back a step and looks at me with an aggrieved angst.

It takes me a second to catch my breath, but now that I’ve realized he isn’t here out of fear, chased by some giant creature in the woods, I’m feeling more than a little annoyance creep up.

“You might be finished with your hunt, but I’m not,” I say as I spot the deer again, glad that he hasn’t scared it off completely.

I aim and shoot at the deer and would h

ave struck it dead-center, if it wasn’t for both Rory and Kaleb staggering out from the woods as well. All three are naked and full of pent-up sexual energy that is emanating from them so profusely that it almost gives the boys a visible aura of libido.