Then we were off again, occasionally smiling at each other as we tore through the trees.
When the sun was high in the sky and the forest was flooded with midday light, we stopped at a river so I could look into the water and see my bright blue eyes and buff-colored fur reflected back at me. I was smaller than Jesse, our size difference more pronounced in wolf form. Our noses were the same coal black, and our scents were the same. I knew without asking that our mate bond made it so. He’d said we were dating. But now that I’d shifted, I realized we were more than that. On four feet, we were married.
When I looked at him, he was gazing at me with the same tender expression he’d worn in bed when he told me I was a treasure.
My heart sped up, the beat thumping in a slightly different location than I was used to. But the heat that snaked through me was exactly the same.
He led me to our piles of clothes. Then he rubbed his snout along mine and huffed in my face, telling me without words to watch him. I bobbed my head, and he lowered his body to the ground, looking like a werewolf sphinx. He closed his eyes, and the change melted over him, rearranging skin, bones, and sinew in a gruesome, mesmerizing display. When it was over, he stood and ran both hands through his hair. Then, still nude, he came to me and scratched gently behind one of my ears.
“It’ll be a lot easier for you this time,” he said. “Just lie down and let it happen, okay?”
I gave another bob of my head and settled in the snow. He crouched and continued stroking me as he spoke in a calm rumble that sent shivers coursing through me.
Except they weren’t shivers. That rumble was magic.Hismagic, I realized, opening my eyes and meeting his gaze. He’d said teaching was his gift. That I was lucky to find him.
More realizations slammed into me.
He’d planned the whole morning, waking me early and making me angry. Denying me an orgasm. Withholding breakfast and putting me on edge. Taunting me until I snapped.
And shifted.
He’d manipulated the shit out of me, but all for a good purpose. If I’d seen it coming, I probably would have fought the transformation harder.
I stared at him, wonder and gratitude blooming in my chest. And somewhere under the bone and sinew, a third emotion flowered. Its name hovered just out of reach. I recognized it anyway.
Jesse booped my nose. “Close your eyes, baby. Let it happen.” When I obeyed, he ran his fingers through my fur, stroking and petting and making me feel so damn good. After a minute, I sighed and rested my head on his knee. And a minute later, the shift rolled through me. Pain blossomed and faded. My skin itched fiercely as fur receded and skin shivered over my bones.
He took me through all of it, his low, steady voice guiding me back to myself. And when I was human once more, he pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.
“I’m so damn proud of you,” he whispered, his voice unsteady.
I pulled back, shock tripping through me as a tear tracked down his cheek. “Jesus, don’t cry.” I wiped it away. “Youdid everything.”
“Not true.” He cupped my jaw and feathered his thumb over my cheek. “That was all you.”
The wind shifted, fluttering our hair and spinning his scent around me. Sunlight gleamed on his broad shoulders and caught the stubble already darkening his jaw. We were both naked in the snow. Lust hit me hard, tightening my dick so hard and fast that I clenched my jaw against a groan.
Jesse drew back, his brown eyes dipping to my groin. “Hello,” he murmured in a voice thick with appreciation.
I put a hand over my erection. “Ignore it.” Out of nowhere, another bolt of lust hit me, and I squeezed the base of my dick, struggling not to come. “Oh…my god.”
“It’s normal,” he said, pulling me to my feet. “Shifting does that.”
“Why aren’t you hard?”
“I have a lot more control than you. But standing here with you looking like all my wet dreams definitely isn’t helping.” He scooped our clothes from the ground, and we dressed hastily as the sun climbed above the trees.
I’d barely yanked my pants over my straining dick when he grabbed my hand and tugged me in the direction of the car. His voice was more wolf than human as he cast a heated look at my groin.
“Come on. Let’s get you someplace where I can take care of that.”
Chapter
Thirteen
JESSE
Caleb climbed into my lap the second I shut the SUV door behind us. I’d had the foresight to get in the backseat, but the space was still too cramped for comfort.
