by Trisha Linde
She rolled her eyes and gestured to the window. “Have you seen outside?” I gave her an incredulous look. “Yeah, well, their plane couldn’t land because of the storm, so they’ll be back tomorrow. Probably. But in the meanwhile, I ran out of food and my car is so tiny that I couldn’t even get it out of the driveway. You guys may have literally saved my life.”
“Literally?”
“Daniel may have been hungry enough to eat me. And if he didn’t, then the noise was enough that I would’ve thrown myself out into the storm to die a slow and horrible death.”
“Then you’re welcome.”
Ella gestured for us to sit at the table, and Wolf pulled out my chair for me. She put glasses of water in front of us, and threw a plate of cheese and pickles on the table. She shrugged, “Sorry, my mother would never forgive me if she found out we had guests over and didn’t put out a plate of snacks.”
We all picked at the snacks awkwardly, an unsettled quiet descending over the kitchen. Daniel, finished with his meal, hopped up into Wolf’s lap and curled up. A minute later, a soft purring snore came from the monster. Huh, I guess even Daniel can tell Wolf is a tremendous beast, worthy of his respect.
Ella was picking at her nails and sneaking glances at us from under her lashes. Finally, she couldn’t take the silence for a moment longer.
“I’m sorry, I gotta ask. What does it feel like?”
Wolf and I exchanged a glance, and then he asked, “What do you mean? What does… what feel like?”
Ella gave an epic movie-worthy eye roll and flopped down across the table. “Fated love,” she said with a dreamy sigh.
I frowned at her. “Who said anything about fated love?”
“Oh puh-lease,” she said, sitting up and directing a finger at me. “I did a little research about the whole magic wolf shifter thing. I told you I’d heard the story before, and I was right. I ended up tracking down this Scandinavian professor who studies the paranormal. He specializes in unexplained myths and legends.”
Wolf grabbed my knee under the table and leaned forward. “What did this professor have to say?”
“Well,” she said, leaning to meet him halfway across the table and looking straight into his eyes. “He was quite familiar with the story. It wasn’t just that your ancestor had disappeared into the woods, never to be seen again. That kind of shit happens all the time. No, the interesting part was that every 30 years or so, a stranger would wander into a town somewhere and claim that he was a wolf, looking for his soul mate.”
While Wolf avoided her gaze, instead staring down at the table, I just scoffed. “Gimme a break, that could be a bunch of delusional people coincidentally wandering around telling lies.” My voice cracked and I cleared my throat. It wasn’t that I hadn’t believed Wolf’s story, but it was another thing entirely to have it confirmed.
Ella was already nodding. “Uh huh, I knew you were going to say that, so I brought something to show you.” She scooted her chair back and grabbed a folder from the counter. “Check it out,” she said, flopping it down on the table, the paper equivalent of a mic drop.
I flipped open the folder and found a stack of photocopies inside. “Is that…?”
“Yep,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest, a self-satisfied grin on her face. “That was the last man who claimed to be a wolf.” She tapped the top picture, and then slid it across to show the next one. “This one here was from 32 years earlier.”
Wolf and I hovered so close over the pictures that our noses nearly touched the table. Wolf began to slide them aside, faster and more frantic, the pictures degrading in quality the deeper he got through the stack; becoming black and white, grainier, until we were down to sketches and painted portraits.
They all had one thing in common. They were all mirror images of Wolf.
“Are you ready for the kicker?” Ella’s eyes were glistening in the most childlike way. It might as well have been her birthday, and we were her present. She didn’t wait for our answer, she just pulled out another folder and pressed it down on top.
I held my breath as she slowly opened it. I think, deep down, I knew what she was going to show me even before my eyes landed on that portrait. It was just a photocopy of an oil painting, but I could still tell that whoever painted it had put a lot of time and effort into getting it just right. I could tell because—
“It’s you,” Wolf said reverently. He was right, it looked nearly exactly like me. He picked up the paper delicately and ran his finger over the details as if he could actually feel them. Then he turned in his seat, his legs rubbing against mine. He held the picture up next to my face and looked back and forth. “Nah,” he said. “It doesn’t compare to the real thing.”
He leaned in, claiming my lips with his. A small spark ignited between us, but it was more than just sexual chemistry, although we certainly had no shortage of that. This was more than just sex.
It was magic.
“Awww,” Ella said, and we broke apart. I turned to find her watching us with her chin in her cupped hands. “See? Fated love! So… what does it feel like?”
Wolf answered for the both of us. “It feels like home.”
“I can’t wait to tell my professor friend. This is paranormal history in the making!” Ella started to collect all the papers back into the folder.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about Ella advertising our budding romance to the world. We weren’t some circus sideshow, we didn’t need a bunch of people shoving their noses into our business. It made me feel insecure, it was way too soon to be expanding our relationship to include the entire paranormal studies faculty into our bedroom.
Ella must’ve seen something on my face because she quickly backtracked. “I won’t name names, I’ll make sure it just stays between the professor and myself for now. If you decide you want to discuss with him further, I’ll make sure you have his contact info. How’s that sound?”
I shrugged at her, and then her gaze wandered over to Wolf, where he seemed to be wearing a similar expression to what I imagined I wore.
“Maybe I shouldn’t contact him then,” she said with a huff, then she brightened considerably. “Well, there’s no point in telling him yet, I guess. You guys need to have a baby first.”
I choked on my water. “Excuse me? We’ve been dating for a couple weeks, I think we’re a little early to be thinking about starting a family, don’t you?”
Wolf’s hand tightened on my leg, but it was hard for me to tell what he was thinking from that. Ella, on the other hand, wasn’t fazed at all by my stress. “I’m not saying you need to rush into it or anything. I’m just saying that the curse probably wouldn’t be broken until a baby was born.”
Wolf’s hand was now a clamp across my thigh. I hissed in pain, and he eased off, but only slightly. “What makes you think that?” he asked, his voice tight with strain. Had he been stressing about the curse? He hadn’t said anything to me about it. In fact, any time I’d tried to ask about his ancestors’ memories, he said they didn’t matter, only this life, this incarnation, was important.
Maybe I should’ve pushed him to talk about it, but it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to invade into his past, I was sure we all had something we were hiding from. Why should he be any different?
“Doesn’t it make sense?” Ella said, her eyes shining with excitement and romance. “The curse began when your soul mate died in childbirth. And here you are, reunited at last. Except for the baby that died. Dad, and Dad, and baby makes three.” She held three fingers up and waved them around in our faces.
My stomach felt queasy just remembering the nightmare I’d had. It felt so real, I could all too easily put myself into his position. I wasn’t at all eager to get pregnant, only to relive the whole horrific scene.
“I don’t feel so well,” I muttered, nudging Wolf. He immediately deposited a disheveled Daniel on the floor and jumped from his chair, pulling my own out for me.
Ella looked rather disappointed that w
e were making our escape. “You’re leaving so soon?” she pouted.
“Thanks for the… snack,” I said, gesturing to the half-empty plate of pickles. “And the information. It was very… enlightening.” I didn’t know what else I could say. There was a pit opening up beneath me, ready for me to fall straight through to bedrock. I needed to get home and curl up with Wolf. I needed time to process.
Wolf and I moved through the house and got bundled up to trudge through the snow again. Ella, now resigned to the fact that we were leaving, wrapped her arms around herself. She looked about ready to come home with us, her eyes were so sad and lonely.
“Hey,” she said as we were stepping out the door. “There’s a shifter run on Christmas Eve. If you’re interested.”
Wolf gave this matter some thought. “Maybe,” he said slowly. “I honestly hadn’t given much thought to shifting back. But it might be nice to stretch my legs.” Ella shrugged but seemed pleased with his response.
“Later then?”
I stepped over and gave her a long hug before we left. She clung to me in a way that conveyed just how vulnerable she really was. She was hiding inside a shell, just like I was before I met Wolf. I hoped she could find someone who could so perfectly match her, mind, body, and soul.
I made a vow that my next wish on a falling star would be saved for her.
14
Wolf
We barely left the house for the next few days. We used the storm as an excuse, but really it was just that we couldn’t get enough of each other. Sure, the sex was beyond believable, but it was more than that. As much as Noel tried to deny the magical soul mates thing, he couldn’t ignore the undercurrent of electricity that ran along his skin every time I touched him.
He tried to approach me about the curse once or twice, but I really didn’t want to dwell on the impending cycle that could potentially repeat itself into infinity. I didn’t want to imagine being magically drawn back to my wolf form, living out the rest of my days in the woods, lonely and desperate. My ancestors hadn’t found their soul mates, and so had no trouble going back to the wolf life. It was more real to them than their human halves, so it felt natural to return.
But me? I knew deep down that Noel was my other half. When Ella had suggested that the curse could be broken by bringing a child into the world, I had felt a wild surge of hope. That had been suddenly dashed by Noel’s knee-jerk reaction. He had flinched at the mere mention of a baby. He had reared back, and I swore I saw a look of fear cross his face.
Noel slipped his feet into his boots and took my hand in his, dragging me down the steps to the car. The moon was rising over the houses, and our feet crunched through the deep snow.
“Do I really need to do this?” I whined to Noel.
He stopped and turned to me. “No,” he said softly. “I won’t ever make you do anything you don’t want to do.” He pulled off his glove and placed his bare hand against my cold cheek. “I just got the impression that it was something you were considering, and I didn’t want to be the reason you held back.”
“Oh my sweet omega,” I said, leaning forward to kiss him. “You’re not entirely wrong. It would be nice to shift, but I’m not even sure I can. I haven’t felt the urge to shift since I arrived. My soul is firmly rooted in this human world, so it almost feels like it’s going against my nature to go back.”
“Would you be going back, though?” There was a distant glint of doubt behind his gaze. Was he truly worried that I would disappear into the woods, never to return to his side?
“I’ll never go back, not permanently, you have nothing to worry about.” I sighed. “But I see what you mean. I’m not leaving, so there’s no harm in going for a run.”
Noel gave a little smile. “Come on, I’ll drive you up there. Ella told me a lot of mates wait at the edge of the woods.”
I could feel the goofy grin spreading across my face. “Did you just call yourself my mate?”
Even in the darkness, I could see the blush color his cheeks.
“I may have… do you have a problem with that?” He lifted his chin to a defiant tilt and looked me in the eye, daring me to argue.
“Mmmm, I love the way you lay claim to me,” I groaned. I took him by the hand and led the way to the car. “Come on, mate. We have a date with the woods.”
The road to the forest had been plowed, but the snow on the sides of the road was deep with drifts, glittering in the moonlight. Despite the crisp air, I rolled the window down and took a deep breath.
“What does it smell like?” Noel asked.
I gave his question some thought for a moment. “My childhood.” But then I thought twice, and gave a little chuckle. “Puphood?”
Noel huffed a laugh. “Do you remember it clearly? Being a wolf? I mean, it was all you knew until you shifted just a few weeks ago. But it’s also as if you’ve lived multiple human lives, not just this one.”
“I can remember being a wolf, but… it’s not the same. Their minds work differently. It’s all about instinct and reflex. The thought process is almost in bits and pieces, all chopped up. As far as the human part of me, sometimes, it’s like all my past lives overlap. I’ll be doing something, and it feels like I’ve done this exact thing before. Like deja vu, except I have very real memories of doing it. It’s surreal.”
I turned back to the window. I didn’t want to delve deeper into this, but I knew that Noel was intensely curious. Sometimes at night, I could hear him talking in his sleep, muttering names or words in a foreign language, and I knew he was living a piece of a past life too. He just wasn’t as aware of how alike we were in that respect. Maybe he wasn’t ready for that.
Noel seemed to sense that I was done with the conversation, and we continued to drive in silence. We crossed through into the tree line, their branches criss-crossing the sky above us.
“I think this is it,” Noel said after a few minutes. We came into a clearing, and there were people everywhere. “Wow, I had no idea there were this many shifters in Vale Valley.” Noel’s eyes were wide with wonder and curiosity.
I took another breath and allowed my eyes to roam the small crowd. “They’re not all shifters,” I told him.
“No? Can you tell the difference? What about what kind of animals they’ll turn into?”
I nodded, answering all of his questions at once. “They all carry a kind of scent, their pheromones. Not all of them are familiar, though. There may be some animals I’ve never come into contact with before.”
Noel pulled his car off to the side and we got out, the snow hard-packed from all the feet trampling back and forth across the clearing. “I think it must be close to midnight.”
I could see the other shifters getting antsy, excited to run off a little excess energy. The mingling of scent and adrenaline, it was intoxicating. I could feel it tingling across my skin, coursing through my veins.
I pulled Noel close and burrowed against his neck.
“Hey, your nose is cold!” he squealed, nudging me back.
“Shh,” I hushed him. I wanted to add his scent to those around me. I wanted him to be a part of this memory in my mind forever, and possibly into the minds of my future ancestors. This was a night I didn’t want to forget, until the end of time.
Noel gave me a little nudge. “You’re going to miss it.” Something about his tone of voice made me look up.
A man nearby—tall, dark, handsome—had slid his jacket from his broad shoulders and was unbuttoning his shirt.
“Wow,” Noel murmured. “I didn’t realize this date came with a show.”
I needed to remind myself that he was teasing, but a flare of jealousy surged up within. “You want a show?” I challenged him.
I planted myself between him and the other man, blocking his view. I unbuttoned and peeled the layers at an agonizingly slow pace. Part of me wanted to whip them all off and then move on to his clothing, but the way his eyes followed my every movement was worth the restraint. Noel’s eyes glinted in
the moonlight, and I could almost feel the heat coming off his blush. The mere thought of touching his flushed skin kept the cold at bay.
I almost forgot about everyone else around us in the clearing, totally prepared to follow through with my carnal urges. Almost… but the trance was broken by a low whistle from behind me.
“You seem pretty excited to be here tonight,” someone said, and I was suddenly all too aware of my erection standing at attention. I turned around to see the same man from before, now also fully nude, and as I rounded on him, I caught a full whiff of exactly what he was. An alpha wolf. Just like me.
A ripple ran down my back, where my hackles would be, and a low warning growl issued from my throat. “You need to back up.”
The stranger looked around, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”
A second man, tall with long brown hair, snickered beside him, but it was the wolf that drew my attention. I snarled at him, and he raised his hands out. “Hey, man, no need to get rough. There seems to be some misunderstanding. The name’s Darren.” He put his hand out to shake, but I could see that his muscles were tense. He was prepared for a fight if it came down to it.
I was hit with the intensity of it all at once, the bombardment of hormones, the thrill of the impending shift, and then there was Noel’s scent still lingering in my nares and on my skin. This was more than just an urge to protect my mate. It was even more than a reflex. This was a need, plain and simple, and rage built steadily.
My knuckles cracked as I made fists, then slapped Darren’s hand from the air between us. “Don’t extend your hand to me as if we were friends.”
Darren’s pupils dilated, taking me in and then sliding his gaze over to Noel behind me. His nostrils flared as he breathed him in. “I see how it is,” he said.
“I warned you,” I snarled and launched myself at him, shifting in midair. My wolf form fit over my body like an ill-fitting glove, sliding bones into position, bristles sprouting from my skin, all within just a fraction of a second. It was excruciatingly painful, but the anger overrode it all. Only one instinct could drive me like this.
