I tried to nod.
Somehow it came out a whimper.
He lifted my hand to his bare chest, holding it lightly to his skin. Our eyes remained locked as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
I did too. Or tried to. Mine wasn’t as deep as his.
He took another.
I did too.
And another.
And another.
The pain eased, just the tiniest bit.
“There you go. Feels good, right?” His voice was so low, it sent shivers up my spine.
Hello again, gutter.
“That’s better. Just keep trying to relax, Zoe.”
“I don’t—ever—relax,” I gasped out.
He nodded. “It doesn’t come easy for everyone. Distracting yourself helps some people. Focus on whatever you can lose yourself in, despite the pain.”
Something I could lose myself in, despite the pain?
The only thing I could think about other than my agony was… well… the way he’d saidgood girl.
If I hadn’t already been a sweaty mess, I would’ve flushed.
I didn’t want to sit there and think about having sex with a man I didn’t know, whose lap I was sitting on, while he wasn’t aware of what I was thinking about.
But I also didn’t want to die.
Really,reallydidn’t want to die.
So I thought about the praise.
And the way his body had looked, sprawled out on that camping chair like he didn’t have a care in the world.
I imagined what those eyes would look like, staring at me from between my thighs, and groaned.
Hopefully he thought it was because of the shift alone.
Something else within me snapped. Somehow, the pain from it was manageable.
“Damn, that’s good. Your wolf is going to be beautiful.”
Another snap.
“Look at that fur. You’re gorgeous.”
One compliment followed another from the man whose mouth I was currently imagining on my body. In all the best ways.
So, so slowly and so, so painfully, I shifted.
