by Terry Spear
All the bizarre happenings all made sense now, if they all had been werewolves. Rowdy. He’d been right all along.
No wonder Rose and Lori had been upset to find the murdered woman! And for Allan to be upset about Tara nearly dying.
Then Debbie thought of Rose and Lori carrying all those babies, and she realized just how much of a danger they were in.
Every time she thought of one thing, she thought of a ton of other problems with this whole scenario. Like driving a car and all of a sudden getting the urge to shift. She could see herself sitting in the car while it was parked alongside the road. Then a police officer she knew would check her abandoned car out and discover a wild wolf. But of course he wouldn’t know her. Not as a wolf. Then what? Tranquilize her and put her in the zoo? Kill her?
Oh, no, that’s just what she had been about to do to Tara. Put her out of her misery when she was a wolf. Debbie whimpered at the thought. Now she understood a little of what their kind faced.
But weren’t there evil werewolves? All the people she’d met—Allan, Paul, Lori, Catherine, Tara, and Rose, and the others—they’d all been really nice to her. And they’d been nice to everyone they met. No pretenses. They weren’t vicious people. Well, of late, Rose and her mother were reluctant for Allan to date her, but no wonder!
She thought back to the way he had kissed her, so lovingly, passionately, wolfishly. Here she’d thought it was the SEAL in him. Now to learn it was the wolf!
She groaned, sat down in front of the door, and stared at it, listening. He hadn’t moved from the bed. She frowned. He better not have gone to sleep while she was stuck in the bathroom.
No way was she going to allow that. She’d fix him! She’d had a puppy when she was young, and she remembered it missing its littermates when her mother brought it home. So for the first three nights, it barked bloody murder. She could do that. Bark until he couldn’t stand it anymore and let her out!
But as soon as she lifted her chin to bark, she let out the most hauntingly beautiful howl instead. One wasn’t enough. She had to try it out several times to see if every time the howl sounded just the same. But it didn’t. It was just a little different each time. Long, low, beautiful.
The bedsprings moved.
She sat still in anticipation. Was he going to shoot her with a sedative? Shoot her with silver bullets? Wish he’d never taken her home with him?
Should she get ready to pounce?
Chapter 16
Allan was wolf tired. Listening to Debbie howl all night was not going to happen. Hell, everyone with wolf hearing within a two-mile radius could hear her. And with her in a tiled bathroom connected to his bedroom? Even worse.
She reminded him of a puppy that was being isolated from the pack. But she wasn’t a puppy, and he knew she was frustrated with him and with what she had become. As much as he didn’t want her attacking him any further tonight, he couldn’t make her stay in the bathroom any longer while she was in her wolf form. Not when she was howling like she needed a rescue—from him.
Hoping this wouldn’t be an awful mistake, he sighed, pulled his covers aside, and left the bed. She immediately grew quiet, which meant she heard him coming and was listening to his footfalls on the carpeted floor as he approached the door and making decisions about what she would do next if he opened the bathroom door. At least she hadn’t been clawing at it.
Wearing only a pair of boxers, he felt vulnerable again, but he wasn’t going to get dressed just to let her out of the bathroom.
He hoped she wouldn’t lunge at him again when he let her out. If someone had shut him up in there, he would have been furious, but then again, he could shift at will. Then he wondered if she had to pee. Since she was still in her wolf form, she would have to relieve herself outside. He was sure she wouldn’t be happy about that at all, but worse, she couldn’t have any privacy. He’d have to put a collar and leash on her, and he could imagine just how unmanageable she would be.
All the things they did naturally as wolves would be first-time experiences for Debbie. All of this was just part of their nature, but dealing with a newly turned wolf, he realized just how much he took for granted.
“Debbie, I’m opening the door to let you out. You can either return to your guest bedroom, or you can join me in bed. If you have to go out to relieve yourself, I’ll take you outside.” Which meant he’d have to bundle up for the snowy cold first. “It’s hard to say how long you’ll remain in your wolf form, a couple of hours or longer. It all depends on the individual. But it won’t last forever.” He didn’t want to mention that she would have no control over it for some time.
He really didn’t think she’d join him in bed, the way she was so antagonistic, and he wasn’t sure that was a good idea anyway. But he wanted to offer, just in case she felt more comfortable staying with him.
Slowly, he started to open the door, but he met resistance as the door bumped into her. She was sitting in front of it, and he had to wait for her to back up a bit so he could open it further and let her out. She was so unpredictable, he wasn’t certain what she would do, and he tensed for the lunge. Instead, she brushed by him, tearing out of the bathroom, running in a couple of tight circles in his bedroom, then grabbing the hem of his boxers and giving them a tug, nearly pulling them off. Wolves had a hell of a grip. Then she released his boxers that now had teeth marks in them and dashed down the hallway to the living room.
Like a wild wolf, she raced around the couches. Before he could follow her, she tore back down the hallway into his bedroom.
Like a mad animal, she turned on the proverbial dime and raced back down the hallway. She needed to burn up some of that excess energy, and he was glad she wanted to just run and not attack him again. At least for now.
“When you’re done playing,” he said, tired and hoping that if he acted like this was no big deal, she’d settle down eventually, “you can join me or go back to your own bed.” He climbed back into bed and hoped she would feel better and wear herself out. Wolves didn’t like confinement. If running around the cabin got rid of some of her pent-up anger and frustration, so much the better.
He loved her howl, loved her beautiful, agile wolf form, and loved her high-spirited race through the house. If she broke something, it didn’t matter. Just as long as she didn’t injure herself in the process. He could envision taking her to the clinic and having to explain to the doctor how she had broken a leg.
Debbie raced up and down the hall, making hairpin turns in his bedroom as he folded his arms behind his head and watched her. The full moon shone through the uncovered windows. He hadn’t thought he’d ever witness a newly turned wolf running into his bedroom and out again. She looked as wild as any genuine wolf. He thought of running with her in the forest as wolves, enjoying the crisp cold night in their fur coats, but he didn’t believe she was ready for that. Not if they encountered a wild wolf pack or the hunter they still hadn’t caught.
She began to slow down, tiring, her running spirit spent. She was trotting at first, then walking, cooling down, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. She stopped to peer at him as he observed her. He didn’t smile because he knew how serious the situation was. How vulnerable her feelings had to be.
“If you want to join me, you’re welcome.” He wasn’t certain it was a good idea, but he would do anything to make her feel welcome in his life.
She still hesitated. Then, before she made the leap, he saw the sparkle in her brown eyes, the way she crouched and then sprang into action.
She jumped over him, startling him, landed on top of the bed with one huge lunge, but her jump was too strong. She ended up hitting the bed with way too much force and slid off the side, taking half the comforter with her.
He tried not to laugh, not wanting to embarrass her. But he could see learning her new wolf skills was going to take some time for her, and for him, to get used to. Those born as
lupus garous learned their own strength as wolf pups, and their parents taught them limits on biting and roughhousing. With a full-grown wolf, it was going to take some work. She wouldn’t realize her own strength, and he was afraid she might hurt someone accidentally.
Which meant he’d have to turn into his wolf and teach her how to play. But not tonight. She needed to sleep. Hell, he needed to sleep.
She sat on the other side of the bed on the floor, waiting to see his response.
Still wearing a serious expression, afraid smiling would put her off because she’d think her action had amused him—which it had, but he was trying hard not to let on—he patted the bed. “Come on, Debbie. There’s plenty of room up here.”
She jumped up and landed in his lap. He groaned as her weight pressed against his groin. He hadn’t expected that or prepared for it. He didn’t think she’d planned it either.
She moved off him, then came around and licked his face—as kind of an apology, he suspected. This was much better. He ran his hand over her head and smiled a little. “If you need anything, just let me know.” He was still thinking of her needing to relieve herself outside, but he was praying that wouldn’t happen.
She moved around the bed, then around and around.
Find a spot already, he wanted to say. Patience, he warned himself. He’d said he could do this, and he had every intention of doing it for her and for the pack.
She got settled, and he was about to drift off when she sat up, stood, circled, and settled again. This was going to be a really long night. He thought his king-size bed was big enough for the two of them, but when she finally went to sleep, she still kept moving around, restless, kicking him with her big wolf paws, whimpering and woofing while she had wolf dreams. So much for getting a good night’s sleep.
She was so restless that at some point during the night, he finally pulled her against his body. She looked up at him with sad eyes, and his heart went out to her. Then she rested her head against his chest, and sometime in between sleeping and fully waking, he found her sleeping on top of the covers between his legs, her head resting on his crotch. He smiled down at her. At that point, he wanted to get up and start the day, but he didn’t want to disturb her. After a few minutes he finally drifted off to sleep again, and when he woke, she was gone.
* * *
When Debbie had awoken after one of her many nightmares of being a wolf, she found herself asleep against Allan, her head resting on his warm crotch! She was all curled up in a ball, and she had quickly moved off him, realizing that not only had she slept with him as a wolf, but she was now sleeping with him as a human, and naked!
Not that she hadn’t been that way with him before, but now he was a wolf, so that made a hell of a lot of a difference.
Well, she was too, but that wasn’t her fault!
She was confused, angry still—who wouldn’t be?—and having a horrible time dealing with this. She’d had to go to the bathroom as a wolf, but there was no way in hell she was going to go outside and squat in the snow. Besides, she knew he’d have to put a collar and leash on her, and she really wasn’t going there. She had no plans to run off. Not now that she’d become this…this half animal, half human. She knew she couldn’t handle it on her own. That she wouldn’t be safe. And ultimately none of his people would be either.
As much as she didn’t like what she’d become, she wouldn’t jeopardize all of their safety. Not in that way. Maybe by accident. If she had to go outside as a wolf and if he even could manage getting a collar and leash on her, she would yank the leash right out of his hands and do her thing in privacy, then return to let him know she had no intention of running off.
So she was much relieved when she woke to find herself back to her normal self…if sleeping naked with Allan with her head on his crotch could be called normal.
Trying to take her mind off what she’d become and needing to get on with her life—that was in total shambles now—she made coffee and was going to fix breakfast when she heard Allan stirring in the bedroom. Normally, she wouldn’t have been able to hear movement on the mattress or the sheets rustling slightly that far from where she was in the kitchen. She guessed with a wolf’s enhanced hearing she heard sounds she couldn’t as a human. It was both wonderful and irritating. Hearing stuff she’d never heard before—the gentle wind brushing against leaves, snow falling off overladen branches, Allan’s waking—was something she had to get used to because right now it was unnerving. She kept stopping to listen, to distinguish what she was hearing.
If someone tried to sneak up behind her, she could see how hearing them as an early warning would come in handy. As it was now, she kept thinking the sounds were closer, on top of her, not in the distance. She couldn’t even imagine going to a movie now. They were loud enough already. What would it sound like to a wolf’s sensitive hearing? Most likely deafening.
And smell. Ohmigod. She couldn’t believe she could smell the sausages before she even started to cook them. The eggs and cheese, the same way. And Allan, spicy, warm, and sexy, wolf and human. Those were good smells. The bad odors would take some getting used to. Dead stuff? Even humans could smell dead things, if they were big enough and decomposing. But she imagined being able to smell dead plants and animals that were farther off, smaller, less pungent.
Still, she could see where that could help her in her police work too. She was a glass half-full kind of person, so she always tried to see the good in things. Tried was the key word.
She growled under her breath as she thought of Allan confining her to the bathroom with no way to open the door and bite him for it. The howling did wonders though. She just had to learn how to use her newfound curse to her advantage.
She stared out the kitchen window, the dark not so dark, just to see if she could see anything any better. And she could. Birds moving about, looking for berries. Leaves fluttering in the breeze, catching her eye, when they wouldn’t have before. Anything that moved caught her attention.
Despite the restless sleep she’d had last night, she didn’t feel as tired as she thought she would. Maybe she could get in a nap later on. She felt more alert than she normally did at this time in the morning. Even so, she poured a cup of coffee, filled it with cream, and sipped from it, her obligatory jump start for the morning.
She heard Allan stirring again. He’d probably worry when he found she was gone, thinking she’d escaped. Or maybe not. If she could smell the coffee and everything else so well, he probably would too. Yes, she was irritated to the max with him about confining her to the bathroom, but she had to admit he’d been really good about not turning into a wolf himself and taking her to task for threatening him so viciously last night.
And he had offered her his bed, which she should have avoided, but she’d been feeling so out of sorts, she hoped sleeping with him would help her to settle down. And it had. But she wasn’t doing that again and waking up the way she had this morning.
The springs in the bed moved, the comforter and sheets were tossed aside, feet hit the floor, and then there was a pause.
Was he smelling the coffee? She put the sausages in the saucepan to start breakfast.
* * *
Allan’s heart did a leap when he discovered Debbie was not in bed with him any longer. He yanked his covers aside and jumped out of bed before he attempted to still his racing heart and listened. He didn’t want her to think he was going to run her down every time she was out of his sight. He heard movement in the kitchen: footsteps, a mug clunking slightly as she set it on the counter, a spoon stirring. He smelled coffee and sausages. Everything appeared to be fine. She was just making breakfast.
Even so, he left the bedroom and then strode down the hall. When he reached the kitchen, he found Debbie dressed in pajamas and that fluffy robe and slippers that made her look so cuddly and lovable as she made coffee, sausages, and eggs for breakfast.
He wa
s glad she was back to looking her usual self if it made her feel like she had more control over her life, and he hoped she was feeling better today. “Good morning.”
She whipped around and glowered at him. So she wasn’t done being angry. She could be mad all she wanted, and really, they had altered her life to such a degree that he understood her animosity. But she’d have to deal with it. He’d help her cope the best he could by showing compassion and understanding.
Instead of backing off and allowing her the space she needed to get over this, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a sound hug. “I never wanted to turn you. Paul and Lori are the pack leaders. I’m a sub-leader and part of the original pack. They left me out of the loop on this one.”
She stared up at him, her expression turning from surprise to realization. “They were afraid I’d be angry with you.”
He smiled a little. “If that was the reason, they were right. But I was also angry with them. I didn’t believe you’d seen Tara as a wolf. I tried to convince them to listen to your side of the story first. We’ve been family forever. I thought…” He hesitated. How would it sound if he told her they had only a couple of choices when a human saw a wolf shape-shift?
“They were going to decide to terminate me,” she said, sounding sympathetic to his concern.
“We can’t let anyone know what we are,” he said, defending his lupus garou kind for what they felt they were forced to do when necessary.
“I understand. I had already died. They didn’t need to revive me,” she finally said, the tension in her body draining. She felt soft and lovable in his arms.
“Yes.”
She frowned up at him. “You wouldn’t have agreed to them changing me?”
He snorted. “What do you think? I’ve been head over heels over you since we first started diving together. And all I knew was the trouble that would get me into. I tried my damnedest to see you as just another dive partner. But it wasn’t working.”
