Rachel wondered if Conrad had died in the fire and, if that was the case, whether he’d gotten off easy.
She and Knox were still lying there when Rachel saw Diego and Zane heading across the lawn in their direction, each carrying a navy blue duffel bag. Knox must have noticed them, too, because he lifted his head, his ears perking up.
Her pack mates walked into the trees, stopping in front of her and Knox. Zane looked a little awestruck at the sight of them, while Diego appeared smug.
“You owe me fifty bucks,” Diego said.
Zane only scowled in answer.
Rachel exchanged a look with Knox, then gave her pack mates a confused tilt of the head.
“When Zane and I picked up your scents, I said you were both in your wolf forms, but Zane didn’t think that was possible,” Diego explained. “He insisted Knox is too new to be able to handle a full shift, and you’re too…well…broken.”
Rachel chuffed, the only response she could make in this form. But even if she’d been able to speak, she wouldn’t have argued.
“But apparently I was wrong.” Zane set down the duffel bag he was carrying and dropped to one knee in front of them, scanning their fur-covered bodies in the darkness. “You two okay? Any injuries or burns?”
Rachel let out another chuff, hoping they understood. Her first time turning into a wolf had been awesome—except for the whole demented clown trying to take over her mind—but now she was starting to discover what a huge pain in the butt it was not being able to speak.
“Needing new clothes is sort of an occupational hazard for us,” Zane said, glancing at Knox. “We brought you some spare uniforms from the operations truck. The size probably won’t be perfect, but it’s better than walking around naked.”
Rachel eyed the duffel bags. Crap, she hadn’t thought about the fact that she was going to be naked under all this fur when she changed back. Shifting in front of Knox would be okay, but she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of doing it in front of Diego and Zane. She felt her face heat—even under the fur.
“Not to rush you or anything, but could you guys go ahead and shift back now?” Diego glanced over his shoulder at all the people moving around outside what was left of the house. “I have no doubt a few people saw Zane and me walk into these woods. If we don’t come out soon, they’re going to start getting curious.”
Rachel made another series of chuffing sounds at that, then shook her head back and forth as best she could, hoping her pack mates understood what she was trying to say. For a moment, they both stared at her in confusion, but then comprehension dawned on Zane’s face.
“You don’t how to change back, do you?” he asked, looking back and forth between her and Knox. “Either of you.”
Rachel would have shrugged, if she could have figured out how to make her wolf shoulders perform a movement like that. So, she had to be satisfied with shaking her head again, even if the movement felt strange. She had a ginormous head.
“Don’t worry,” Zane said. “I can talk you through it.”
Rachel hoped so. But before they tried it, she needed Diego and Zane to turn their backs. She motioned with her head, moving it in a circle the best she could.
Zane frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”
She repeated the gesture, but when her pack mates only continued to stare at her in confusion, she turned around, then back again, giving them a pointed look.
“Dude, I think she wants us to turn around,” Diego said.
“Oh.” Zane gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry.”
Both her pack mates turned their backs to them, then Zane began to talk them through the shift from wolf to human.
“It’s actually easier to go from wolf to human than the other direction,” he murmured, his voice taking on that same calm tone she’d used with Knox the other night. “It’s your natural form, so you won’t have to work very hard to convince your body to go with it. Normally, I’d talk each of you through it individually, but since you’re mated, I think I can have you shift back together.”
She frowned, absently wondering what that expression looked like on a wolf as she tried to figure out what Zane meant. But then her pack mate spoke again, asking her and Knox to imagine they were touching each other, running hands and lips over bare skin.
Picturing doing something so sensual with Knox was a little difficult with Diego and Zane standing there, but as her pack mate continued to talk them through it, her imagination took over, and before she knew it, she was replaying the morning she and Knox had made love. And, oh man, did she focus on the details!
Rachel was so into it she swore she could feel Knox’s warm skin under her fingers as she breathed in that perfect combination of leather and gun oil. She moaned a little, giving into the sensation as arousal throbbed through her core.
“I’d tell you to get a room, but first you’d need to get dressed,” Diego said dryly, interrupting her extremely pleasant sensory immersion session. “Unless you want us to leave you alone here for a bit?”
Rachel opened her eyes to discover she and Knox were back in their human forms. She was lying in his arms, one hand on his chest, a leg draped possessively over him. Saying he was as turned on as she was at the moment was an understatement. Getting a pair of pants on was definitely going to be a struggle with that bad boy. Maybe hanging around in the woods for a while might be a good idea.
“Gage is going to want a full report of what the hell happened in the house, so you should probably hurry up,” Zane said as he and Diego walked away, leaving her and Knox alone with their naked, warm bodies touching each other.
