Page 43 of Chased

She wished she could ask Breanna if that was normal for wolves, going wolfy when things were getting hot, but she didn’t think it was, which meant Sanchez probably didn’t want people to know.

And he’d kept her secrets. He deserved to have her keep his.

When they got back to the Ridge, Switch drove his truck all the way to Madison’s cabin to drop her off, and he and Breanna waited to make sure she got inside okay.

But as soon as they were gone, Madison went to the window that looked out over the garden. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but she knew Sanchez’s wolf was there. She could feel him, like whatever he’d awakened in her that night in the truck was still connected to him.

Madison pressed her lips together, thinking, and then she grabbed her jacket, a tin of Breanna’s cookies and a cushion from one of her Adirondack chairs, and headed out into the yard.

She stopped at the edge of the garden, looking up into the woods. She could still feel him up there, and now she could feel he was getting ready to bolt.

She knew how sharp his wolf’s hearing was, so she spoke without raising her voice. “I’m coming up. And you better wait right there, because if you don’t I’m going to follow you through the forest yelling our business for everyone to hear.”

Her hearing was pretty sharp too, and she heard him move restlessly. “I mean it,” she warned.

The movement stopped.

Madison made her way through the underbrush until she found a little clearing. Just like she’d thought, Sanchez was there in wolf form. His eyes and teeth gleamed in the bits of moonlight filtering through the trees.

She wished she could get a good look at his wolf, see how pretty he really was. All she could see was that he was gray with some lighter patches, big and muscular just like he was as a human.

He was looking at her like he had no idea what to make of this invasion, and he was still poised to run.

She plopped her cushion down as protection against the cold damp ground, sat down, and opened the cookies. “Want one?” she asked, holding one out to him.

Even with him being a wolf, she could tell he was staring at her like she was a lunatic.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said. “I’m drunk and I had an orgasm in a bar parking lot, and I got a tattoo and sang karaoke and got my first spontaneous present all in one day. I’m fucking unstoppable. Have a cookie.” She tossed him the one she was holding, and he snapped it out of the air and munched it down.

She took one for herself and started eating it. “Remember that fiancé in the newspaper?” she asked him. “I was supposed to get mated to him today.”

Sanchez gave a little growl.

“Yeah. You and me both. I got the tattoo instead. Just as permanent, but a lot cooler. Wanna see?”

She shrugged her jacket off, pushed the sleeve of her shirt all the way up to her shoulder, and peeled off the bandage.

Because of her shifter healing, the tattoo was already healing up nicely. Sanchez took one look at Snowball the bunny with his evil cartoon face on and started giving little wolf huffs that were obviously laughter.

“Laugh all you want, Wolf. That’s the me I want to be. In case you haven’t seen The Secret Life of Pets, these dogs get taken by dogcatchers, and their friends go on this big adventure to free them. On the way they meet Snowball.” She indicated the bunny. “He’s the leader of this animal street gang, and he’s like, my hero. Because he looks all cute and fluffy, but he’s actually homicidal and insane.”

Sanchez the wolf was laughing harder now. At least he wasn’t running away. Madison said, “This is a quote from him, from the movie.” She ran her fingertip over the writing. Liberated forever. Domesticated never. “The Renards tried to domesticate me, and I liberated myself. Now I’m free. I fucking rule.”

Sanchez snuffled her arm, and then licked the tattoo. She could tell he was saying he liked it.

“Thanks,” she said. “I like it too.”

She handed him another cookie, and then sat quiet for a minute, eating hers, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say.

Finally she began, “I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m not a fox, I’m a rabbit.”

Fox, Vixen said.

Uh huh. “You can’t hear her, but just so you know, my inner rabbit calls herself Vixen and thinks she’s a fox. Or maybe a Rottweiler. She’s also a total princess, and when not biting people, she wants to basically lie in a lounge chair all day by the pool and drink mimosas brought to her by hot pool boys. Which, by the way, if you have any inclination to do at any time, would win you major bonus points with both of us. Just sayin’.”

Sanchez-wolf gave another little huff and moved closer, leaning against her side. He was warm and surprisingly cozy. Madison put her arm around him, running her fingers through his fur. He gave a soft little whine, as if he liked that.

She went on, “So while I have you here and it’s easy to talk to you because I’m drunk and you’re a wolf, I’m going to tell you some stuff about bunnies.” She gave him another cookie, and took another one herself.