Page 44 of Bewitching the Wolf

Arlo is already halfway down the street, hooves echoing on the rock floor of the tunnel.

I sigh as I break into a jog to catch up.

I guess my groveling will have to wait.

CHAPTER 13

TIPPY

Frankly, it’s a relief that Arlo has taken Jax away for a couple of hours.

Hopefully, it’ll be a circuit breaker for the sexual tension between us.

I don’t know how I’m going to survive this weekend without going crazy. My body doesn’t seem to be under my conscious control at all.

I busy myself organizing my elixirs. I have a powder that is stronger than the previous ones, but I’ll need to disguise the unpleasant taste well. I check the fridge—there’s still a big bunch of spinach, a head of broccoli, and several sticks of celery. There are apples and oranges piled up in the fruit bowl, too. I guess I could go to the markets to get more vegetables. Wolves tend to be mostly carnivorous, but I’ve researched places where I can buy fresh leafy greens.

I’m about to pick up my purse when the phone rings. It’s Clem. “Hi Tip,” she chirps. “I’m dying to know how it’s going?”

“All good, and Wolftown is really—nice. Beautiful in parts.” I start to gabble on about the park, and the plants, and the families of handsome wolf folks out walking.

“So what’s the den like?”

“Nice. Small. Um, really comfy couches and an open fire,” I continue brightly. I fail to mention there’s an outdoor shower with no curtain and the bedrooms have no doors.

Clem makes all the right noises. “Have you met up with Sammy and Arlo yet?”

“Actually, Arlo’s just taken Jax to the gym for a workout.”

Clem chuckles. “Hah, Jax hates exercising.”

“Not as much as he used to. We went running this morning. He seems to have boundless energy. Guess that’s the wolf in him…” My throat dries up and words fail me.

There’s a long pause. “So how are you coping with Jax’s wolf?”

“Oh, you know… It’s annoying… kind of full of itself, and macho… I don’t know if it’s Jax or his wolf being difficult…” I take a deep breath. “But, um⁠—”

I chew on my lip, tempted to tell Clem how my body is responding to the wolf in Jax. Clem is human, sure, but in our human forms we vixens share very similar anatomy—apart from our tails, ears and claws of course. And Clem knows about sex. She makes no secret of her very active love life with Otis.

Trouble is, I’ve never actually told Clem I’m a virgin. I’m sure she thinks I have experience with guys by the way I speak. I can’t tell her now that it all comes out of textbook, can I?

Then there’s the fact that she’s also Jax’s sister, so talking intimately about him seems weird somehow. So now, instead of telling her the truth, I blurt out, “I’m still really angry with Jax.”

I hear her heave a little sigh.

“Hasn’t he apologized about the Bait and Tackle incident?”

“Jax apologize?” I scoff. “Not likely.”

“Goddess,” Clem lets out an exasperated snort, “you two just need to admit you’re mad about each other.”

Woah, I wasn’t expecting that!

“Mad at him more like,” I bluster. “He annoys the hell out of me.”

“You know what you both need?”

The question is clearly rhetorical, so I wait. “You need to just fuck him—or rut him, or whatever vixen shifters call it.”