My eyebrows rose as I stared at him, letting that sink in.
I supposed it made sense since, like he said, he’d been around for centuries. But… I hadn’t expected that from him at all.
Before I could figure out a way to respond to that, my gums stung and my body ached suddenly.
Shit. The full moon. It was coming.
Jumping to my feet, I rushed around my apartment, making sure all the windows and doors were sealed up tight. I could control myself, but I liked to take the extra precaution, just in case.
“My shift’s coming,” I murmured to Lanche as he stared at me running around like a maniac.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing. Just… stay there on the couch.”
“Okay.”
Once everything was checked and double-checked, I wrung my hands out and began pacing. Waiting.
My muscles were twitchy, my body aching with the need to change.
That was the first sign I was close. Shit.
“Lanche? I’m gonna…” I swallowed thickly, my teeth aching and growing, making my words slurred. “I’m gonna change… any second.”
He remained on the couch where I told him to stay and nodded. “Let me know if you need something.”
I tried to smile at him, but my body clenched, and I knew it was too late to speak to him. Not that I needed anything. Nothing he did would stop this.
With stiff movements, I yanked my pants and boxer briefs off, then managed to get my shirt off just in time.
Bones cracked, and I fell to my hands and knees with a pained grunt.
I hated this part.
Shifters had so much magic in their bodies that their shift didn’t hurt.
Werewolves weren’t so lucky.
We weren’t born with this magic, our bodies weren’t made for shifting, not really. So our change was… painful.
Although, the more I went through it, the better it got. This was nothing compared to that first moon. That had been the most terrifying, horrible, agonizing thing I’d ever experienced.
The pain was likely part of the reason why so many of my kind lost their minds and started running around biting and eating people… and then ending up being put down.
Thank the Mother I’d had someone to help me learn how to control myself.
Another grunt came out of me as the last of the change washed through my body. I shook myself out, fur covering every inch of me. My vision was blurry for a moment, but I didn’t let thatpanic me—it used to, but I knew it’d come back soon. The mild confusion would pass too.
Thank the Mother of All.
I shook myself out again, blinking and blinking and blinking until fucking finally, my vision steadied. It wasn’t the same in this form. It was actually better, clearer, sharper.
I turned toward a small noise and froze.
There was a man.
A man sitting onmycouch.
