But you can hear mine.
I put my hands to my ears and begged it to stop. Jack took the baby into the bedroom, and my mate rested his head on mine and whispered, “Take it slowly, please. If you don’t, there could be serious consequences.”
“What?”
Phelan sank to his knees in front of me. “I wasn’t talking to you, babe.”
“Then who?”
“Your wolf.” He got on the couch and pulled me to him.
“My what?”
He didn’t say anything for a while, and I muddled through the images in my head and made a face as I tried to rid myself of that new taste.
“Do you have any memories of what happened outside?” Phelan handed me a glass of water. I guzzled it, and it tamped down that unusual taste.
“Ummm, something happened?” He must know I’d heard a voice, and I didn’t want to admit what it was. I was scared because Holden proved I wasn’t one of those.
You’re not. I’m part of you, your other half.
“Stop talking.”
My mate clasped both my hands and brought them to his lips. Maybe he wanted sex, but Jack was here.
“You’re hearing a voice.”
Shit, how did he know? Was it showing on my face? I leaped up and studied myself in the mirror. I tried to rearrange my features, but though I gripped the skin and I expected it to be pliant, it was inflexible. And my nose and eyes also remained where they were.
“I don’t want to.”
“The voice belongs to your wolf.”
“Phelan, there’s no need to pretend with me. We both know I’m human, pretending to be latent.” I was miffed that he was jerking me around, and I pivoted and pummeled his chest.
But he didn’t hug me and apologize and tell me it was going to be okay. Instead, he twisted me back to face the mirror and lifted my chin so I was once again looking at my reflection.
“What do you see?”
“I don’t like this game.” I stamped my foot, thinking if I had a temper tantrum, he’d tuck me into bed and bring something yummy to snack on.
“Look at your eyes, Rawling.”
“Don’t want to.” But I did as he asked because I wanted this, whatever it was, to stop. “What am I supposed to see?” I looked the same as I did every day except my skin had red splotches and my eyes were a little darker.
But the longer I stared, the more I freaked. My pupils were huge and inky black, and it was as though someone else was staring back at me. Images flitted into my head and danced away before I could focus on them, but Professor Shaw and Mrs. Ardilla were there. He was holding Eira, and Atticus was yapping about something.
There was someone else too, but they were me or outside me or maybe I was inside them. Voices were dimmed, and the world was in shades of blue and gray. There was fur and a scent that was similar to the one that clung to Phelan’s skin after he shifted.
“I’m not me.” I leaned against my mate, and he wrapped his arms around me and put his lips to my ears.
“Yes, you’re still you, but you have an added dimension.”
That look in my eyes, it wasn’t my expression. “I have a… a wolf?”
“Yes.”
I asked him how that was possible, and he said he didn’t know but he could ask his parents, or maybe Channon’s grandfather could provide an explanation.
