I glanced away from him and toward the wolf, who stood at least four to five inches higher than the bed. It bowed its head at Chael and gave me one final look. When I met its hazel eyes, I didn’t see the evilness that I expected to see, but more so a look of compassion and regret.
What the hell is going on?
My mind swirled with all types of thoughts. The dominant one, however, was an assurance that I was going crazy.
“Reese?” Chael’s soothing voice sounded in my head.
In lieu of answering my crazy mind, I squeezed my eyes so tightly that I saw stars and shook my head.
“Wake up, Reese,” I murmured to myself. “Wake your ass up.”
“Reese!” Chael’s voice rang through my mind.
“It’s not real,” I continued. “It’s just one of your dreams again. Any minute, you’ll wake up in your bed with Henry licking your hand for you to let him out to use the bathroom.”
I recited those words repeatedly to myself as I pinched my arm.
“Wake up!”
“Reese!” Chael’s voice blasted through the veil of my attempt, forcing my eyes open.
Sure enough, he stood before me, at the side of the bed, tall and as broad as ever. He was dressed in another one of his Henley shirts, dark jeans, and work boots. The braid he usually wore his hair in wasn’t present. Instead, his long dark locks flowed freely about his shoulders.
His steely copper eyes searched my face, but he didn’t say anything.
“Chael, where are we?”
He blinked and moved closer to the bed. His entire presence shrouded the room in that invisible power he always seemed to possess.
“Do you remember what happened last night?” His voice held the tenderness of someone speaking to a frightened kitten.
“Of course,” I answered and tilted my head to the side, wary. How the heck was he so calm when there had been a wolf in my room only seconds ago?
And, had he told that wolf what to do and it listened?
That was when the memories from the night before flooded my mind. Flashes of Henry and me in the woods, the sounds of wolf howls, a wolf coming out of nowhere right before I was attacked, saving me.
I’m a wolf shifter, Reese.
I gasped and covered my mouth. My eyes watered with all of the memories from the night before and the emotions that accompanied them.
My heart raced because I was certain I had to be delusional. In the latter stages of her dementia, my nana had developed hallucinations, seeing people that no one else did. Could these be early signs of Alzheimer’s? I was only thirty, I had to be too young for early onset, right?
“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” I knocked myself in the forehead with my fisted hand and went to pinch myself again, but Chael wrapped one hand around both of my wrists, stopping me.
“Reese, stop it,” he ordered. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
I let out a dry laugh. “I need to hurt myself, or better yet, call a doctor to have me locked up because something is definitely wrong with me.”
Chael frowned and drew his brows together.
“I could’ve sworn that I remembered you saying last night that you were a werewolf.” I gasped again. “There was another wolf on my porch, and you talked to it. And it listened, and this morning…” I trailed off as I looked over at the far side of the bed where the most recent wolf had stood.
“This can’t be real,” I mumbled, shaking my head.
“It is.” He released my hands and took a seat on the bed. “I’m so sorry to spring all of this on you.”
“Spring all of what?” I insisted, sitting up on my knees.
