He followed me and pulled his shirt over his head. “Perfect.” The sunset had long passed, and darkness moved in to take its place. Not a cloud to block the golden moon rising into the sky. The omega’s skin glowed in its light as I broke the courtesy rules of shifting to take in every inch exposed. He was lean and toned and very different from the bears I’d seen more of. And then, before I could look my fill, he was shifting, changing, fur sprouting as he dropped to all fours. Paws, a snout…a plumed tail unlike any wolf I had encountered. His ears stood up straight, eyes a golden amber that drew me in.
All wolf, yet still my mate. I didn’t know how it worked, had never experienced the shift of someone I had this connection with, but it didn’t seem at all strange. Just perfectly right. I’d planned to shift right away, if I could do it at all, but instead fell to my knees before him and buried my face in his fur. It was thick and double layered, not as soft as I’d imagined yet somehow lush. And his scent was exactly the same. When we met, I’d been so congested that I hadn’t been able to really take it in, but as we’d sat under the trees with their various-sized and colored fruits, it had been a touch point. If I closed my eyes, his scent of ripe wheat and sunshine drew my face right toward him. After I’d had a chance to familiarize myself with him, the wolf bumped me with his nose, and I got the idea.
“I’ll try.” I stood and took a few steps away from him, undressing while his beast took in my body—it was only fair. Leaving my clothes on the bench, I descended to the yard. “My bear doesn’t fit well under the porch roof,” I explained.
The wolf also left the porch and sat down a few feet away from where I stopped. Far enough, I wasn’t too worried about blundering into him if my shift went sideways. Honestly, I didn’tknow what to expect. I’d never had trouble shifting since my first time until this virus or whatever it was had laid me low.
Squeezing my eyes closed tight, I sought him within me.Want to come out and greet the wolf?
For a breathless moment, nothing happened. He didn’t move or respond. Nothing changed in my body, and then, instead of the steady way I was used to taking my fur, the bear took me. Instantaneous shift, violent and fast, and painful. The underfur and longer guard hairs spiked through my skin. Bones broke and reformed, ears changed. My head grew larger and eyes reshaped. Claws, fangs…everything bigger and different.Why?I asked.
My bear growled.Because everything is different with our mate here.
Is it going to be like this every time?
No. Only until you complete the mating and marking.
I’d never heard of anything like this. Was it my bear trying to twist my arm to do something I’d have done anyway? Or was this some kind of secret that happened in our line? With my fathers dead, no one I knew could tell me. And I supposed nothing could be done about it. Except maybe avoid shifting. And with the way our animals behaved together, that was not an option.
The minute my bear was fully in, the two bumped noses, sniffed each other, and tore off across the yard and into the fields. Their joy was contagious, and for the moment, I pushed aside any worries about where this might be going and what would happen if the wolf did not agree that we were mates. He let us lead, showing off the farm with all of its beauty. The stream that wound its way through, the low hill giving a view of the surrounding countryside. All the flower beds and trees and other features that made me so happy to live here.
After the tour, we returned home and shifted again. Wilder was friendly and excited, but I couldn’t read whether he wantedme the way I wanted him or not. And while the shift seemed to have gotten rid of most of the remaining ailment, I was still tired out from the energy expenditure and confused about what was going on with the mating thing. I wanted to ask him, but this omega had not held back on anything else. If he wanted me, wouldn’t he say?
Torn and tired, I was gruff and awful and ended up saying goodbye and spending the night lying alone on my bed, brooding.
Fun.
Chapter Ten
Wilder
The date ended on an abrupt note. One that had me yearning for more but also resolved to let things lie for a while.
Lewis got weird on me after we ran. Maybe it was because our beasts bonded so quickly. Maybe it was the talk of his parents. Maybe he had indigestion. There was really no explanation for his whiplash change of attitude, but on the way home, I decided to be at peace with it as much as I could.
There was a time, with other alphas, that I would’ve shouldered the blame. Overcommunicated, thinking I’d done something wrong or misspoken. But I’d realized over the years that I couldn’t force others to communicate effectively. If I’d offended, then it was up to the other person to tell me, not my place to overthink and drive myself nuts deciphering the mind of another.
Knowing that Lewis was my mate made that detachment ten times harder, but I had to do it for my own mental clarity.
I had a business to run and a life to live, even if he never called me back.
Customers came in droves that weekend. I was packed from opening Saturday morning until noonish on Sunday. Although I’d resolved not to think too much about Lewis and the way he was so hot and cold, I couldn’t shake the night from my mind.
“This shop is fantastic,” a man said as he bought a bunch of my calming teas and a few tinctures.
“Thank you. Is this all?” I asked. He was still scanning the room.
“Well, this is all the product I want to get.” He leaned in, and I did too. People who came in sometimes had intimate issues.You didn’t exactly want to shout those things out. “Are you single?”
I stood up straight. The question shocked me. Yes, I was hit on here and there, but that was before Lewis. To my wolf, I was absolutely not single anymore. He was my fated mate. There was only one of him, and the life I wanted to build with him would be second to nothing and no one else.
“I-I’m involved.”
The man grinned. He was handsome and sexy, built like a machine, but he wasn’t Lewis. “That’s not a no, omega.”
Strangers shouldn’t go around calling people by their designations. That was reserved for mates or people you were dating.
“Is there any other product I can help you with?”
