I grimaced. "Yes. It's blocking my shift."
"You've already tried taking it off," Quinn remarked. He must've noticed the scores on the metal from all the beatings I'd given it.
"No dice," I muttered.
"Do you know how it works?"
I hesitated. "It can only be removed by an alpha."
Quinn's brows raised. "What? Okay, now I have thirty other burning questions. But first, let me get that thing off you. I'm going to shift so I can use my hands, all right?"
I grunted in acknowledgement. At this point, I didn't care anymore. I just wanted the leg band gone.
And, even worse, I wanted to see Quinn's human form again.
The shift fell over Quinn. The space where a gorgeous red fox had been standing was now occupied by an equally gorgeous man.
What the absolute fuck, Farley?
I was going to set my brain on fire. Wherever these messed up thoughts were coming from, I wanted them gone. Quinn was not gorgeous. He was average looking, with his silky dark red hair and black eyes and smooth features and—
Fuck. Focus.
Quinn reached out a hand, palm up, waiting for me to hop on. In any other circumstance it would've been humiliating. Me, an omega smaller than a baseball, being invited into an alpha's hand. But I didn't feel that way right now. Quinn was genuinely trying to help me. Damn him for being so kind.
I swallowed the scraps of my pride and hopped up. Quinn's hand was warm and soft beneath me, like a pillow.
"Okay," Quinn said, tilting his head to get a better look at the band. "Now, how the hell does this thing work... Is it okay if I touch it?"
"Yes. It has a sensor designed to detect alpha pheromones, kind of like the fingerprint detection on a phone."
He laughed. "Well, I've been wild all my life, so I don't know crap about phones or any of that stuff. But all I have to do is touch it, right?"
Words eluded me so I nodded firmly. The nasally quirk of his laughter was too fucking endearing. My heart was beating so fast it felt like my chest would explode.
As Quinn carefully placed two fingertips on either side of the leg band, I shut my eyes. Something about this felt too intimate, too overwhelming. I was completely at Quinn's mercy and the worst part was that I didn't care.
No, scratch that.
The worst part was that I actuallylikedit.
"And... Here we go," Quinn murmured.
The thrum of my pulse was so thick and heavy that I didn't notice the new lightness of my body until a few beats passed. My eyes shot open, gaze snapping to my ankles.
The leg band was gone.
Quinn was smiling as he held up the tiny piece of metal. The thing that had stolen my freedom and the man who had given it back to me.
Relief flooded me so strongly that I gasped for air.
Shift. Shift now.
Two years of my life were already wasted, so I didn't let a single second go by. The muscle memory returned as if it had never been put on pause. The shift slammed into me like a freight train, powerful and violent, ripping through me with great pleasure.
When my eyes snapped open, everything else in the world was a whole lot smaller.
I wasn't staring up at Quinn anymore. We were face to face.
