“And what do you suggest I do?” He lifted his eyes to meet hers. What Austin didn’t say was that he was willing to do anything.
Ivy knelt down and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Kiss her nose. Tell her she’s safe. Whisper you need her back. Don’t demand it, Austin. Ask her. Let her wolf know she’s more than just another Shifter of a lower rank; make her trust you because you care about what happens to her.”
In front of all his pack, Austin laid down on the floor without a second thought. He stroked her white face and nuzzled against her snout, close enough to her canines that her wolf could have taken a chunk of his face off if she wanted.
“You need to shift to heal,” he whispered, stroking her soft ears back. “No one here will hurt you; I won’t allow it. No one will ever touch you again.”
Her glittery eyes partially opened and she whined, her tail flapping once.
Austin smiled and kissed her nose. “There’s my Ladybug.”
And just like that, Lexi’s wolf shifted.
Nudity was not a huge deal because it was part of their lifestyle with the shifting. Austin still pulled his shirt over his head and draped it across her hips to protect her modesty. The cuts healed and the bruises on her windpipe were faded, but not completely gone.
“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Lynn gasped, barely holding on to her sanity.
Austin lifted his chin. “Your daughter is a Shifter. Your husband stole her from a pack years ago after killing her mother. We can discuss this later, but right now, I need to save her life.”
He turned his focus back on Lexi and she moaned, her hands beginning to slide up to touch her throat.
“No,” he said, gently holding her wrists. His mouth grazed against her ear and he asked her to shift. In another split second, Lexi switched back to her wolf. Relief swelled through him, as he knew this process would work the healing magic.
Most guys didn’t care about scars, so they didn’t bother shifting to heal the little things. Serious injuries could be taken care of by shifting, allowing the magic to work its way through the body, as long as it was done as soon as possible. The more time that elapsed, the less likely a wound would heal through shifting. Breed magic was something remarkable without explanation.
Austin rose to his feet and confronted Lynn with the truth about her daughter. “It’s imperative you never speak of this to anyone. There are consequences for revealing our secrets. This is who I am, who I’ve always been. This is why I couldn’t stay here after Wes died, because I belong with my own kind. Lexi loves you as a mother, and I hope you can still love her as a child. But know she’s a dangerous animal, and the only reason I can get so close is because she’s barely conscious. Our animals are nothing to mess around with.”
When he twisted around to kneel by Lexi’s side, Lynn broke free from the twins and flung herself on top of the wolf.
“Don’t you touch my daughter!”
Chapter 23
I opened my eyes and found my face nuzzled in silken fur.
“Oh no,” I murmured. Lorenzo had somehow found me again and wrapped me up in fur blankets. Although, they were warm blankets. I lifted my heavy head and glanced around.
No penthouse view. I noticed a poster of Led Zeppelin on the wall and my left arm was tucked around something soft, furry, and warm. When his head popped up and he growled, I was eye to eye with a wolf.
My heart skipped and I slowly retracted my arm. The wolf flipped onto his feet and stood over me, yawning. I curled my arms, instinctively covering my neck, and then it all came back.
Beckett choking me.
I threw my arms out and slapped at the wolf’s chest and head. In that moment, I didn’t see a wolf—I saw Beckett. My breath quickened, my legs kicked. He merely turned his head to the side and made a grunt, taking the full beating. My panic attack subsided and I threw my arms over my face, trying to catch my breath.
He was an impressive creature. Sable black fur with the iciest blue eyes I’d ever seen, rimmed in black and staring down like two glaciers. He stood astride me with his legs on either side, sniffing my nose. I would have been willing to bet he weighed more than I did.
“I have to pee.”
He seemed unconcerned with the current state of my bladder. The wolf lapped my cheek with his pink tongue. When I tried to push myself up, my weakened body refused. It was similar to the gravity you feel when you try to get out of a swimming pool after having spent over an hour in the water. I tried again and sighed in frustration.
The wolf rested his chin on my shoulder and snorted, making an impatient sound. Instinct took over and I did what might have been one of the dumbest things I’d ever done, and that was wrap my arms around a wolf’s neck.
He backed up, pulling me to a sitting position. There wasn’t much room on the bed, so he hopped on the floor and sat down. Thankfully, someone had dressed me in a long nightgown.
“Austin!” I called out.
The wolf barked.
