Until Caelan was standing in front of me. Very human and naked, looking like he wished he were anywhere else.
I couldn’t focus on the body in front of me, though. Not like I would’ve in the past. I was spiraling too hard, my brain desperately trying to process what my eyes had just witnessed.
“Riley.” His voice was rough, urgent. He was moving toward me, hands reaching. “Are you okay? Let me see... your neck... your face...”
His hands were gentle as they cupped my jaw, tilted my face to examine the damage. His expression was anguished as his fingers ghosted over the bruise blooming on my cheek, the red marks ringing my throat.
“I’ll kill him,” he said quietly. Not a threat, but a statement of fact. “As soon as you’re safe, I’ll...”
“No. What the fuck was that.”
The words came out strangled, barely audible. But they stopped him cold. Caelan’s hands froze on my face. The protective rage drained away, replaced by emotions more complicated, more afraid.
“Riley...”
“What. The fuck. Was that.”
He took a breath and released it slowly. I tried not to lose my shit.
“So,” he said. “Funny story.”
“What?”
“I’ve been keeping some secrets from you.”
No shit, Sherlock.
I stared at him. This beautiful, naked man standing in a dirty alley, his unconscious enemy at his feet, talking about secrets like this was a normal conversation.
“Secrets,” I repeated flatly.
“This is one of them.” He grimaced, the expression awkward, almost boyish, completely at odds with the violence I’d just witnessed. “Surprise, little menace. I’m a werewolf.”
My brain made a valiant attempt to reboot.
“Werewolf,” I said flatly.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“You’re a werewolf.”
“I am.”
“You just turned into a wolf. A giant wolf. In front of me.”
“That’s correct.”
“And then you turned back into a naked man. That kind of werewolf?”
Caelan glanced down at himself, seeming to realize for the first time that he was, in fact, completely nude. His expression flickered with embarrassment, but his focus returned to me almost immediately.
“Yes,” he said. “But that’s not the most important...”
“Then what is?” I interrupted, my voice reaching high pitches it never had before. I could pass for a dog whistle now. Ha. That’d be handy. “What other secrets do you have?”
He paused, his jaw tightened.
“What other secrets, Caelan?” Hysteria was creeping in at the edges of my voice. “You said ‘secrets.’ Plural. What else?”
