“Um.” He hesitated as if it was difficult to explain. “It’s not correct for me to walk ahead of you, or even beside you.”
I felt like he was speaking a different language. I seriously didn’t understand a word out of his mouth.
“Huh?”
Poppy’s ears flicked back. “Omegas aren’t supposed to walk equally with alphas...”
I barked out a laugh before I realized he was serious. My laughter cut short as Poppy watched me with a puzzled expression.
“That’s fucking bullshit,” I declared. “Come here and walk next to me. Seriously, what a load of crap.”
Poppy balked, but then put one paw in front of the other until he stood adjacent. He looked vaguely uncomfortable, like I’d asked him to walk a tightrope beside me instead of being squarely grounded.
Ignoring the stiffness in my joints, I reached my wing out to hover over Poppy. He blinked at it before I explained, “Stay under there, okay? I’ll notice if you lag behind.”
It was light ribbing, not a command. Poppy’s ball of anxiety seemed to unwind, and slowly, he looked more comfortable with each stride.
By the time we reached the river, Poppy’s nerves had visibly eased. Until he faced a new anxiety-riddled situation.
Poppy lifted his paw, then grimaced at the matted fur on his wrist. A little water and a tongue bath weren’t enough.
He sighed. “I think I need hands for this...”
When I understood what he meant, my heart fluttered. Was he going to shift into human form? I’d never seen that side of him before, and the idea excited me for reasons I didn’t understand.
I rolled my shoulders and nodded. “All right. I’ll shift, too. Only fair, right?”
“O-oh. Um, sure. If you want.”
Poppy hesitated. It wasn’t strange or awkward for shifters to be nude around each other, yet Poppy seemed shy, so I took the pressure off him by leading. It had been a while since I’d assumed human form—back when I said goodbye tomy brothers—but the feeling was impossible to forget. When summoned, it came as easily as breathing.
As the shift washed over me like passing rain, I opened my eyes. The stiffness in my wings was still present, but it manifested in my shoulders. Tentatively, I rolled them back, then winced. Yup. Still hurt. But the rest of me felt fine enough. In any case, my pain was a dull background afterthought. I was more concerned with Poppy’s comfort than my injuries.
“Here I am,” I announced with a grin.
I sounded confident, yet on the inside, I felt unusually timid. But I wasn’t a shy man. Hell, I wasn’t even naked—my enchanted outfit allowed me to shift to human form fully clothed—so why did I feel apprehensive?
Poppy’s wolf eyes widened as they raked over me. He took me in, his focus wandering. My skin grew warm beneath his curious gaze. I found myself wondering if he liked what he saw.
That thought hit me like a brick to the face. I cleared my throat.
“So, you gonna ditch the fur or what?” I teased.
Poppy’s expression cleared like he’d been pulled out of a daze. “Oh, yes, I’m sorry.”
He closed his eyes in concentration. In the next seconds, his body’s image became fluid and began to transform. Like a mirage, Poppy changed from a four-legged wolf to a slender, naked two-legged human.
He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.
Fluffy white hair flowed down past the nape of his neck. His skin was pale and smooth, nearly glowing in the sunlight. Long pale lashes framed his gentle amber-brown eyes—and when he lifted his gaze to meet mine, my heart skipped a beat.
My eyes were glued to him. I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t stop. My body was frozen, as if lightning had struck me dead. I didn’t even think I was breathing.
As the seconds passed, a ribbon of warmth flowed through my chest, snaking between each rib and gently squeezing until I was breathless with awe.
“Violet?” Poppy asked.
I jerked back to reality.
