So many emotions crashed through me. Fear. Revulsion. Curiosity. Disbelief. What if all of this was a twisted farce, and I hadn’t seen what I’d thought was a wolf turning into a man in the woods? What if this was just a town full of crazies who thought they were wolves, and in my stress, I’d bought into that?
“Show me.”
The words were out of my mouth before I could form another thought. I had to see it. No matter what.
Daniel stood, the afghan falling to the floor. He met my eyes, and a ripple went through me. They were even wilder than before, starting to slant and gleam with amber. He undid his jeans, letting them drop to the floor. Nothing but bare skin underneath.
I might have made a sound. Seeing a magnificent naked male body only a few feet away is worth a sharp intake of breath, no matter the circumstances. But all my feminine appreciation fell away when he crouched on the floor and rivers of silvery hair began to replace the skin on his back.
There was a crunching sound. Bones curved, popped and formed where none had been before. It didn’t look the same as in the movies. There was no screaming. No slow protracting of a
muzzle replacing a face, blood spurting, or drawn-out writhing. Daniel had simply crouched on the floor and then, in about ten seconds, a wolf the size of a pony, covered in silver and charcoal fur, stared at me with bright yellow eyes.
“Marlee,” it - Daniel - rumbled.
I felt light-headed. Nope, you’re not crazy, and neither are they. But that’s the bad news.
I had moved towards the door without even being aware of it. Daniel sat on his haunches in front of it, those golden eyes drilling into mine.
“Sit,” he said.
A rather unhinged cackle came out of me. What looked like a huge dog was telling me to sit. How backwards was that?
“Woof,” I replied in a shaky voice, but sat in the chair he’d recently vacated. The wolf’s lips pulled back in a canine version of a grin.
“Stay.”
I was about to say he was pushing it, when there was another ripple over his body. As seamlessly as water flowing on rocks, skin covered that thick silvery coat of hair, bones elongated, reformed, and in less time than it took me to get over the shock of seeing a wolf in the room, a naked man knelt on the floor. The only thing left over from the unbelievable transformation was a fine sheen of sweat on his skin.
“Does it hurt?”
Daniel sat back. “The first few times. Then you get used to it, and it feels . . . freeing.”
He looked like a man. A beautiful, mouth-watering specimen of a man, in fact. But an enormous animal was inside him, and took up God only knew how much of his mind and conscience.
Daniel smiled slightly. “You smell like fear again, Marlee, but I’ve already told you - you have nothing to be afraid of.”
“That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” I replied, glad my voice was steady even though I was shaking inside. “How do I even know I’m talking to you? It might just as well be the wolf.”
“It’s both,” he said at once. “Always. And you still don’t need to be afraid.”
Yeah. Sure. Considering it might be me shifting into an animal in a couple weeks. From where I was sitting, I had plenty to be afraid of.
“I want to go home.”
Even as I said it, I knew it was useless. But it was true - so true that the very words ached.
“I’m sorry for what brought you here. But even if you left and never told anyone about the Pack, think of your family. You’d hurt one of them, Marlee. You wouldn’t mean to, but you’d do it.”
Ice crept up my spine. “What are you talking about?”
He inclined his head. “Your ankle.”
I looked at it. It was still wrapped in a cast, same as before. What . . . ?
It hit me. When I’d walked to the door from the bed minutes ago, I hadn’t been limping, hadn’t felt a twinge of pain. The ugly scratches and cuts were also gone.
“Your ankle isn’t broken any more,” Daniel confirmed, sympathy etched on his face. “And there isn’t a mark on your skin, which would be impossible . . . unless you were one of us.”