I smiled, pleased that he was settling in well to his new body.
“Oh, sorry,” Nero said abruptly when he realized I wasn’t eating. I didn’t expect him to know about my suppressed appetite and I didn’t want to make him feel bad by refusing to eat. But the fish were stacked on a rock near where Nero sat, and I didn’t want to get too close for fear of my arousal taking over.
“You can just toss it to me,” I said.
“Uh, you sure?”
I nodded.
Nero picked up the biggest fish and tossed it skillfully in my direction. I let my wolf take over. The clothes were so big on me that they didn’t split when I shifted, just slipped off. In a split second, I leapt up in the form of a wolf and caught the fish in my jaws. I hit the ground again on all four paws.
“Whoa,” Nero said, his eyes glittering with awe. “Okay, that wasreallycool.”
My black fur fluffed out with pride. “Thanks.”
“It’s also really cool that you can talk. As a wolf, I mean.”
I smiled, feeling warmth in my chest again. It was stupid to feel happy about being praised over something so small, but I didn’t care. It made me feel good.
Nero’s eyes were glued to me as I laid with the fish between my front paws and dug into it. I usually hated it when people watched me eat, but for some reason I didn’t mind when he did it. I knew he wasn’t judging me—he was genuinely interested.
We ate for a while in silence. The awkwardness of Nero nearly walking in on me jacking off had faded. I found myself oddly comfortable in his presence, even though we didn’t know each other that well. I wished I hadn’t brushed off his attempts to get to know me better earlier.
When we finished eating, I got up and shook out my fur. A lot of the time it was easier to be in my wolf form rather than walking around as a human. For one thing, I didn’t have to worry about Nero being able to see me blushing constantly.
After my post-meal stretch, I sat back down. What I didn’t notice was that I’d laid right by Nero by accident.
Damnit!
I realized what I’d done too late and if I got up to move now, it would be incredibly awkward. My ears flattened. Did he notice that I’d basically come to sit next to him?
I snuck a glance up. There was a soft smile on Nero’s face as he gazed down at me.
“Um, is it okay if…” Nero trailed off like he was afraid to ask his question.
“What?” I said.
“Is it okay if I pet you?”
My heart flipped. “Yes.”
Slowly and gently, Nero ran his hand down the thick fur of my neck. And before I could stop myself, my tail started wagging.
8
Nero
Holy shit.His fur was really soft. I couldn’t stop touching it. Remington’s fur was thicker than any dog I’d ever pet, which made sense considering he was a wolf. He was also huge. It was easy to forget when he was in human form, but there was a powerful animal inside him. And now there was one inside me, too.
This shifter stuff was wild. No pun intended.
I felt safe sitting next to Remington like this. I knew alphas were supposed to protect omegas or whatever, but if a bear came running out at me right now, it wasn’t like I could change into my shark on dry land and fight it off. But with my wolf boyfriend by my side, I had no fear.
Wait.
My heart stuttered and I nearly choked. My fingers stopped moving. How could I make such a stupid mental slip? Remington wasnotmy boyfriend.
Even if he did smell amazing, and he was my type of sweet and moody, and really attractive as a human, and I didn’t want this journey with him to end.
