JAKE
Run.
It was the last thought I’d had before I shifted.
Run before you give yourself away.
Now Max’s wolf stood there, his light-brown fur darkened by the night, and I was rooted to the spot. The urgency from before vanishing as his deep brown eyes met mine.
We’d have to talk when we got home, I knew that. But wolf-me didn’t care.
Not when I had Max with me and a whole park at our disposal.
We were the only ones here, too.
A rare occurrence that I had no intention of wasting.
Max took a step closer, dipping his head so his nose ran along the side of my neck, huffing as I danced backwards out of his reach.
He padded after me, his low growl making me do it again and again until I turned and set off at a run, dodging through the trees until I reached the wide path running along the right-hand side.
Here I could stretch my legs, let go of everything except the wind in my face, ruffling my fur, and the damp grass under my paws.
And Max hot on my heels.
I heard him crashing through the trees after me, his panting breaths getting closer, but I wasn’t ready to be caught.
Not yet.
I raced ahead, through the car park near the old abbey, Max keeping pace behind me.
He was faster than me, could probably catch me if he wanted to, but he seemed content to chase me over the stony ground and back into the trees.
We raced around for what seemed like hours, but the sky was still dark, the stars bright above us, like the moon, lighting our path.
My mind was clear in a way it hadn’t been for days. I felt lighter, the heaviness that’d been weighing on me gone in this form.
And I’d done enough running.
Max barrelled into me as I came to a complete stop, and we tumbled to the ground. In spring, the forest floor here was littered with bluebells. Now just grass and leaves cushioned our fall.
I shifted back first, Max a split second behind me, the two of us so closely entwined he ended up sprawled on top of me.
Naked.
So much warm skin and hard muscle, I didn’t know where to put my hands at first. When he went to move off me, instinct kicked in and I gripped his waist, keeping him where he was because the last thing I wanted him to do was go.
His hair fell forward as he looked down at me, framing features so familiar and yet so new at the same time. Sharp cheekbones, a dusting of stubble covering a strong jaw, and a smile that was the brightest I’d ever witnessed. How had I looked at him for all these years and notseenhim?
His eyes widened as he stared at me, full of questions I wasn’t ready to answer, but it turned out I didn’t have to. A sense of wildness lingered inside, my wolf still so close to the surface after our run. With Max pinning me in place, his body blanketing mine from waist to toe, it was inevitable that my body would react.
I saw the exact moment he felt me hardening against him. His eyes darkened, the brown almost totally gone as he raised an eyebrow, then ever so slowly rolled his hips.
My breath hitched, fingers digging into Max’s waist, because I wasn’t the only one enjoying our proximity. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The realisation that I wasn’t alone in this, that I wasn’t the only one struggling with a newfound attraction to my best friend… it waseverything.
There were a million things we should probably talk about before doing anything, but the only word I could manage was a rough, “Yeah?” And I prayed to the Goddess that Max knew me well enough to hear all the questions in that one word.Do you feel the same as I do? Are we really doing this? Will we be okay?
In answer, Max smiled down at me, soft and warm, his eyes searching mine, and I hoped to fuck he found what he needed to see. “Yeah,” he whispered.
