The Gift of Love

by Lori Foster

  Staring down at my crunched car below, I said, “See?”

  “Yeah.” His arm snapped around my chest, trapping my arms against my sides. His other hand clamped a smelly cloth over my mouth and nose.

  Surprise sucked a deep breath into my lungs and with it whatever he’d doused on the cloth. My thoughts went fuzzy quick, but I was sharp enough not to take another breath. I squirmed, trying to get my elbows up to jam into his gut, or stomp my foot in the right spot to crush his toes. I missed. He held me too tight, and I needed to take another breath before I passed out.

  And then I heard it again, that weird low rumbling sound. Only this time it was closer. A lot closer.

  “Oh, shit.” The guy spun around, putting me between him and whatever it was. His hand slipped from my mouth, and I took a fast breath before my brain identified what I saw.

  A dog, probably the same mutt that’d caused this mess, stood in the middle of the road, growling at us. He was a big dog, but this close the sound of his growl rumbled through my chest like it was part of the air around us and made the hairs all over my body vibrate. Goose bumps raced down my back. “Uh-oh.”

  “Get outta here,” my savior—turned kidnapper—said to it. “Go on, get.” He faked toward the dog, like he’d attack him. Problem with that was he still held me between him and it.

  “Hey. Knock it off. Le’go of me.” I pushed back each time the idiot lunged forward. Even I could see the dog wasn’t buying it. He was just making the thing mad, and it was a freaky big dog. Seriously.

  Idiot’s third fake-out triggered the reaction I’d worried over. The giant dog lunged, and my captor twisted, shoving me right into the biggest set of teeth I’d ever seen. Reflex brought my arm up, and its sharp fangs drove through my skin like it was tissue paper. I could’ve sworn I heard the snap when his teeth met.

  I screamed, the pain blinding me for a second, and stumbled back. The dog let go, but I fell into the arms of the jerk who’d pushed me. With his hands on my upper arms, he used me like a human shield, yanking me this way then the other to keep me between him and the crazy beast he’d pissed off. Not that it worked very well.

  You see, I have a small weight issue. In a society where thin is in, and there are more programs to help people lose weight than there are to help feed the poor or teach the illiterate to read, it’s easy to get caught up in body image. Mine—ain’t so great.

  I’ve always struggled with my weight, but after graduating college two years ago without even a meaningless one-night stand, let alone the love of my life, to show for it, I gave up. There are plenty of more important things in life to worry about, like paying bills, keeping a job, inflation, war, frequent-flyer miles … I refused to waste another minute thinking about what I ate or worrying about how much I weighed. At least that’s what I’d been telling myself.

  So at my size I’m not that easy to swing around.

  Within seconds, blood covered my forearm and hand. The front of my blouse and slacks were soaked, sticking to my body. My head was like an overfilled balloon with the prickly poke of the bite wound stabbing at me, threatening to explode my brains over everything. I couldn’t get my footing, couldn’t get away, and every other second I had the loud snap of teeth in my face followed by that chest-rumbling snarl.

  I couldn’t breathe around the pain, and my sluggish brain kept me a half beat behind, jerking back from the snap of teeth in the nick of time again and again. My feet scrambled over the gravel at the edge of the road, but I couldn’t break the guy’s hold on me.

  “Stop it.” I didn’t know if he heard me. I didn’t have the breath to raise my voice above a raw whisper. “Please. Let me go.”

  The guy brought me up hard against his chest, cowering behind me. “There’s another one. God help us, it’s a whole pack.”

  Opening my eyes made me realize I’d closed them. I was starting to pass out, but seeing the guy was right helped zero my attention. Three more giant dogs had come out of nowhere to surround us. Their muzzles trembled, baring their teeth, growling and snapping at us. The guy spun us around, guarding against one dog and then the next.

  They held their heads low, the scruff between their sharp shoulder blades standing on end. Step by step they crept closer, the sound of their growls vibrating down to my bones. I freaked—a flash of wild panic. The guy hadn’t been ready for it. The quick spasm tangled my feet. His grip slipped, and I dropped. I didn’t even have the reflexes left to catch myself, and the side of my face smacked the hard rough gravel.

  I groaned, wincing against the slam of pain, but otherwise couldn’t move. It was a good thing.

  Wind rustled my hair as one of the big dogs leapt over me, driving into the guy with a sickening thud. He screamed, but it couldn’t mask the wet sound of his flesh ripping under those powerful jaws. He hit the ground somewhere near me, his boots scraping and kicking against the gravel. I didn’t look.

  His screams turned to gargled spurting sounds as his mouth filled with blood. A sharp clawed foot knocked against my thigh when one of the other wolves passed by me to join the frenzy. My heart jumped into my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, terror petrifying my body.

  A furry leg brushed against my back, warm breath snorted through my hair. I held my breath, and then a long, rough tongue licked the side of my face.

  Just like that, the world went away.

  two

  “I’m sorry. Should’ve been more careful…”

  Someone was whispering in my ear. And licking my arm. Eww.

  I jerked my hand away and opened my eyes. One of the dogs that had attacked me lay inches away, staring at me.

  “I’m not a dog, ” the male voice said next to my ear.

  Wait. The voice wasn’t coming from next to my ear. It was coming from inside my head. I looked at my hand, but all I saw was the hairy leg of another dog. I must’ve been lying on it. All the wild panic from before came rushing back, my heart pounding in my head. I had to get away. They’d killed that guy; I just knew it. I was next. I had to get away.

  I jerked backward, but the stupid dog underneath me followed. I pushed up and watched the hairy paws move, too. They braced under me where my arms and hands should’ve been. How was that possible?

  “Ohmygod, what’s wrong with me? Is it my eyes, am I hallucinating?” I’d hit my head in the accident. Maybe that was it. “Or maybe I died… and came back… as a dog. ”

  “Ella, calm down. Let me explain, ” the voice said again. I ignored it. I mean, that’s the first sign of crazy when you start talking back to the voices in your head, right? Of course, hearing voices in your head to begin with doesn’t exactly scream sane. But I was pretty sure the train had already left the station on that count.

  I pushed to my feet, all four of them. It wasn’t easy. My dog legs were thinner than my human legs had been, and I wasn’t much lighter. Apparently when the powers-that-be sent me back as a dog, they decided to send all of me back. So not only was I a dog, I was a plus-sized dog. “Perfect.”

  At least I wasn’t lying half chewed along the road. I was in a bedroom—a nice bedroom, big, tall ceilings, long windows. There was a four-poster bed and a separate bathroom from what I could see… from the floor. I looked at where I’d been lying. Muddy towels stained with blood were in a pile on the floor. “Nice way to treat the dog. ”

  “You’re not a dog, ” the voice said.

  “Really? Then I just have some sort of severe brain damage or something?” Scary how hopeful I sounded.

  “No. You’re… ”The voice trailed off, and I heard his sigh.

  “Great, I’m frustrating my own crazy voice. That can’t be good.”

  The dog that’d been watching me sat up, shook his head with a hard snort. “Let’s take this one step at a time. First. Stop calling me a dog. I’m not. I’m a wolf.”

  “Who?”

  “Me.”

  “The voice in my head is a wolf? What, dog’s not good enough?” My crazy voice had attitude.
“Perfect.”

  “No. I’m a wolf.” The dog in front of me stood, wagged its long bushy tail, its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. “I’m not just a voice in your head. I’m a wolf, a werewolf, a shape-shifter … like you. That’s why we hear each other’s thoughts in our heads. ”

  “Shape-shifter? That’s different.” My crazy voice had a better imagination than I did. And what was with this dog, lookin’ all perky and happy all of a sudden? Maybe he had to go out. “Sorry, boy. No hands. ”

  Pretty dog, though. Looked like a husky, only bigger.

  “No.” The voice sighed again. It wasn’t easy being my crazy voice. “Listen. Please. The dog in front of you wagging its fool tail? That’s me. I’m not your crazy voice. I’m a werewolf. I accidentally bit you last night and now you’re a werewolf, too. Not. A. Dog.”

  “Seriously?”

  He sighed, this time sounding more relieved than frustrated. “Yes.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Ella…”

  “Okay, okay, I guess it’s the lesser of the insane possibilities and the evidence does seem to support it,” I said.

  “Finally.” The dog—I mean, wolf—sat.

  “So, uh, what should I call you?” I asked. “Spot? King? Lucky—?”

  “Luke. My name’s Luke.” He was sounding a little frustrated again.

  “Oh. Okay. I know a guy named Luke.” I felt a nervous ramble coming on but was absolutely helpless to stop it. “He’s a teacher. So am I, by the way. That’s how I know him. I teach seventh grade English. He’s science. Am I going to get fleas? ’Cause I’m really not okay with that. You killed that guy from the pickup truck, didn’t you? No. Never mind. Not my business. Anyway, I should be getting home. Got a ton of things to do, call a tow truck, let the school know I’m okay, grade some papers, and then there’s the whole circling around twenty times before I lie down. That’ll eat up some time. Am I ever going to stand on two feet again?”

  “Ella…”

  “Hey. How do you know my name?”

  Luke’s pale wolf eyes looked away with a blink then back again. They were pretty eyes, light blue rimmed with an ink black ring. Luke from school had eyes like that.

  A preverbal light flicked on in my brain. My stomach dropped like I’d gone airborne for a second. I stopped thinking about it.

  “After you passed out last night, we brought you here to the pack house. It’s been twelve hours, ” he said. “You were hurt… I mean, besides the bite wound. I hoped you wouldn’t shift, but… you did.”

  “Obviously. ”

  “Sometimes the virus that alters human DNA doesn’t spread There was a chance, but…” He looked away again, like there was something he didn’t want to tell me, or was ashamed to. “I didn’t want to infect you, Ella. I just…”

  “Hey, you didn’t eat me, so I figure I’m ahead of the game,” I said, trying to make him feel better. Not sure why, but whatever. “Still haven’t told me how you know my name. And shouldn’t shifting shapes be, I dunno, part of being a shape-shifter? How do I get back on two feet?”

  “You should’ve shifted back already, ” he said.

  “Huh?” Not a good sign.

  “The initial shift normally alters your human DNA so you can go back and forth between forms, but it also heals the bite wound and whatever other health issues you have at the time. ”

  I thought about that. My head didn’t hurt anymore, and the bite wounds on my arm were gone. Well, as far as I could tell, seeing as how my arm was now a leg and covered in fur. “So what’s the holdup? What do I do?”

  “Nothing. It should just… happen.” He stood, maybe sensing my growing terror. Maybe sensing he should get out of striking distance. “The fact that you haven’t shifted back makes me think there might be internal injuries from the accident that are taking longer to heal. It might be something you can’t feel until it’s too late.”

  “Too late? Too late for what? No. Don’t answer that. I’ll be okay, though, right?” The hairs down my spine shivered with the ice that whooshed through my veins. “The shape-shifter DNA will heal whatever’s wrong, right? Right?”

  Luke didn’t answer. He moved closer, nudging his nose against my neck. I kinda liked it. Weird, ’cause, well, he was a dog—I mean wolf. Either way, I’m more of a cat person. Go figure.

  “The virus should heal you, but we want to take you to our doctor just to be sure. ”

  “Yes. Good idea. ”Anything that keeps me breathing is a brilliant plan in my book. “Let’s go. ”

  He stepped back, just far enough to stare at me with those pretty—uncomfortably familiar—eyes. “I thought you might want to get cleaned up first. ”

  “Oh. Right. ”I’d forgotten about the ice cream swirl and rainbow jimmy hair treatment I’d given myself last night. Not to mention the blood from the gash on my head and the fang holes in my arm. I must’ve looked like crap. But then again, I was a dog—wolf. “Where’s the shower?”

  If a wolf face can look embarrassed, Luke had it down. He turned, not looking at me. “That’s the, uh … other thing I have to tell you. ”

  “Oh, crap. ” There was more? “What? Am I going to have an uncontrollable urge to drink out of the toilet?”

  “Showering is going to be hard at first without, γ’know, arms and hands. ”

  “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. ”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll help. ”

  “You?”

  “I’ll have to shift. But I want you to remember… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. ”

  I knew, but I didn’t, at least I didn’t want to. In the next few minutes there was no denying it. Luke the wolf sat, lowered his head, and took a deep breath that expanded his chest and sides, and kept on expanding. The skin on his back stretched, his fur separating, thinning. Within seconds he’d gotten larger, there was more skin than hair, and I could see his bones moving underneath. I could hear them snapping and scraping against each other as they changed shape and grew.

  When those same pretty, pale eyes swung up to me peering out of a human face, I knew why they looked so familiar. “Ohmygod, it’s you. ”

  The seventh grade science teacher, my colleague, Luke Danhurst, raised his hands, crawling toward me on his knees. “Ella, wait. Listen… ”

  I learned way more about Luke in that second than I really cared to know. For instance, he was circumcised. I felt my brows rise and I looked away. “Whoa. Don’t remember buying a ticket for that show. ”

  “Oh. Sorry, I … just a minute. ”

  I peeked to see his high, tight bottom racing to the chest of drawers. I looked away again before he caught me looking. Luke was hot. Seriously. Hot. Jet-black hair that would hang in loose waves to his shirt collar, a lean-muscled body, square chiseled jaw, and eyes that almost glowed, framed by lush black lashes. In other words, the kind of guy who would never see a pleasingly shapely woman like me as anything more than a friend.

  He was a sweetheart, a nice guy, always inviting me to sit with him at lunch. It didn’t mean anything. How could it? His table was almost always filled with beautiful young student teachers eager for his attention. You’d have to tie three of those girls together to get one real-sized woman. If that was the kind of girl he wanted, I couldn’t compete.

  Still, he made sure to invite me to tag along when they made plans to go to the club on weekends. I never went, of course. If I’d wanted to see Luke Danhurst shake his goodie bag, I’d watch it in my dreams where I could choose his dance partners. We were friends, though. Of course, that was before he turned me into a werewolf. The relationship was lookin’ kinda iffy now.

  After a minute he was back, kneeling beside me. “Ella, you have to believe me. I was just trying to protect you. I was running with the pack, just messing around. I thought I’d make it across the road before you rounded the bend.”

  “That was you? You were the dog I almost hit?”

  “Wolf. And yes.” He’d put on
a pair of underwear. Dark blue. Briefs, not boxers. Who knew? “You drive way too fast, by the way. If you’d been driving with your hands instead of your chin … Never mind.”

  He was right. If I’d been paying more attention, and yeah, slowed down a little, I might not have wrecked, that wacko wouldn’t have stopped to help, the wolves wouldn’t have attacked, and I wouldn’t be standing on all fours.

  This was my fault.

  I sighed, though in my wolf body it was more of a wet snort. Gross. “How, exactly, do you plan on helping me shower? ”

  His eyes turned hopeful, but the expression flickered then faded. “We, uh, have a metal tub in the backyard. I’d use hot water … and shampoo.”

  Right. ’Cause how else would you wash a dog? “Perfect.”

  three

  Luke drove a Jeep Wrangler with huge windows. I tried to resist hanging my head out with my tongue lolling from the side of my mouth, but …

  Ohmygod, it was like crack! Seriously. I didn’t even try to suck in the string of drool that stretched longer and longer from my bottom lip to flap in the wind. I loved it!

  And then a bug smacked into the back of my throat and the thrill was gone just like that.

  “You know, uh, there’s a leash law in town.” He wasn’t so much asking as telling.

  “Bondage. Yeah, that’s what was missing from this experience. Nice. ”

  “Really? I had no idea.” He bobbed his brows. His smile softened the sharp masculine lines of his face. Made him look more approachable and less like someone you drool over from afar. I liked it. Too much. “You a BDSM girl?”

  “Oh, yeah. The thought of the doctor sticking a thermometer up my butt … Ooo, can’t wait. ”I looked back out my window. “This doctor going to be cool with you bringing a wolf into his office?”

  “Sure. Why wouldn’t he?” Luke said, eyes on the road. “He’s a vet.”

  My head snapped around to him. “No, he isn’t. ”

  Luke glanced at me, smiling. “Yeah, he is.” The smile melted at the edges, then turned to confusion. “What?”