“You’re beautiful.”Wonder in her voice.“I didn’t expect that.”
I shifted back before I could do something stupid like weep.Stood before her naked and exposed in every way that mattered.
“I should have told you.”The words tumbled out faster than I could control them.“I wanted to.I was afraid.”
“What are you?”No judgment in the question.Just the need to understand.
“Wolf shifter.”I raked a hand through my hair, trying to find the words.“My wolf recognized you the first moment I saw you at the hotel.Everything in me said you were mine.”
Her breath caught.“Fated mates.”
“You know the stories.”
“I read.Romance novels, mostly.”A ghost of a smile.“I never thought they were real.”
“They’re real.What I feel for you, what my wolf feels, it’s not something I chose.It’s not something I can fight.”I stepped closer, close enough to touch if she wanted to.“When we were together, during the contract, a bond started forming.It’s been growing ever since.That’s why I feel what you feel sometimes.Why I know when you’re afraid or angry or…”
“Aroused?”
The word sent heat flooding through me despite everything.“Yes.”
She processed this, fitting the pieces together.All the strange moments, the knowing looks, the times I had read her mind.
“The scars on your back.”Her voice dropped.“The claw marks.That was…”
“Pack punishment.”The admission cost me nothing now.Not after everything else.“For caring about you.For putting you above pack loyalty.”
“Your Alpha did that to you?”
“His enforcers.At his command.”I turned to show her my back, though she had seen the scars before.“This was the consequence of wanting you.Of not being able to stay away.”
Her fingers found the raised lines, tracing them with a gentleness that made something loosen in my chest.
“Why didn’t you tell me?All those nights, all those times we were together.Why didn’t you just explain?”
“Because I was afraid.”The truth, finally.“My father was a wolf.My mother was human.He claimed her, bonded with her, loved her more than anything.And then one night, he lost control.Shifted when he shouldn’t have.His wolf didn’t recognize her as mate, only as threat.”I forced the next words out through a jaw that wanted to lock.“He killed her.I was three years old.I watched it happen.”
Her hand stilled on my back.
“The claiming bite,” she said slowly.“That’s why you haven’t…”
“If I lose control like he did, if I hurt you…” I turned to face her, letting her see the fear I had carried my entire life.“I would rather die than become him.”
She stepped into my arms.Not hesitantly.Not as if she was afraid of the monster she now knew I was.She wrapped her arms around me and held on like I was the one who needed saving.
“I’m not afraid of you.”Her voice was muffled against my chest.“Either of you.”
The wolf finally settled.No longer pacing.No longer demanding.Just quiet, content satisfaction at being held by the woman we loved.
I carried her to the cabin.Found blankets, started a fire, created warmth in the small space that had been cold and empty for too long.She let me take care of her, something she rarely allowed, and I savored every moment.
When we came together again, it was different.I let the wolf closer to the surface than I ever had during intimacy.The growling sounds I usually suppressed rolled through my chest.
She touched the places where fur would be.Traced my jaw as the bones began to shift, then pulled her hand back.
“I want to see your eyes,” she whispered.“The amber.”
I let them change.Watched her face as she looked into the wolf’s eyes while I moved inside her.
