Chapter 17: So He’s a Werewolf. Now What?

CLARA

My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, I thought I was literally choking on fear.

There was no denying it now. Elias was a ~freaking werewolf~!

And not only that—six other slightly smaller wolves padded into the clearing to join him.

That low hum I’d heard last time we were in the woods returned, but this time I recognized the voices.

These were Elias’s brothers!

I suspected they had really meant ~pack~, though, as they gathered around him and began to wait.

The urge to run was strong, but I didn’t really trust that I could get myself back to the cabin without getting lost. So instead, I hid behind a tree and peeked around the edge to see what would happen next.

What happened was the arrival of yet more wolves. At the head of the group was a black wolf even larger than Elias. I thought he looked like the same one from before, the one that had attacked us—but it was hard to tell.

The black wolf growled as his pack closed in, surrounding Elias and the others.

“~Where is she?~” he growled.

“~Where is who, Xavier?~” Elias’s deep voice replied, and he held his head up proudly. ~“I have no idea what you’re talking about.~”

So it ~was~ the same wolf!

“~The girl. Marius told me he could smell your scent on her when she showed up in the hospital. She is mine.~”

“~You have no claim to her! She is my mate, and I will fight every last one of your pack if I have to.~”

Elias stepped forward, his teeth bared and a growl rolling in his throat, growing by the second. But Xavier showed no signs of fear or submission.

“~She has to be the one spoken of in the prophecy. I’ve studied it my entire life, and everything points to it coming true in our lifetime. And she has Renskyn blood in her veins. That means she belongs to ~my~ pack!~”

Xavier’s words sent a chill through me. The Renskyns belonged to his pack?

“~That’s what this is about? The damn prophecy? You’re destroying both of our packs over a centuries-old ~prophecy~?~”

“~You’re the reason wolves are dying, Elias. You and your pack.~”

“~It’s bullshit, Xavier. Nonsense bullshit spewed by some crazy wolf that has hung over our heads for way too long.~”

Before I could even wrap my head around the fact that these two giant beasts were arguing over ~me~—or that Xavier thought I was part of his pack—they seemed to give up on words.

The black wolf lunged at Elias, and I couldn’t help a squeak of surprise from slipping out.

All of the wolves turned in my direction, and I heard laughter echoing in my head.

“~She’s here, isn’t she? You fool! You shouldn’t have brought her with you.~”

Elias cursed and snapped at the black wolf’s throat, sending both packs into a frenzy.

I covered my ears and cowered between two large roots of the pine I was hiding behind, hoping that today wasn’t the day I was going to die.

I heard paws rushing toward me over and over and considered trying to climb the tree again.

But none of them made it around the tree. Elias’s pack must have intercepted Xavier’s every time.

The sounds of fighting seemed to last forever, but eventually they gave way to the crashing of bushes, followed by silence.

Then I heard Elias’s voice in my head.

“~Clara, come on out. I know you’re there, and I suppose we have a lot of explaining to do.~”

I continued hiding behind the tree, curled up into the smallest ball possible. I trembled with fear and cold while I heard footsteps getting closer and closer.

When I felt breath on my arms, I finally lifted my head.

I found myself face-to-face with the giant silver wolf, just as I had been in my dream.

Fear and curiosity danced through me but calmed when I stared into the familiar eyes. There was no question that those eyes belonged to Elias.

He remained still as I extended my hand and touched his muzzle.

He leaned into my hand, burying my fingers in his thick fur. It was warm, and I dug my hand in deeper.

“I have questions,” I whispered, and I heard laughter in the back of my mind.

“~Go home, all of you.~”

The words echoed as loudly in my inner ear as if they’d been spoken aloud. And obviously it was the same for the rest of the pack, because they scattered with no further pushing necessary.

Elias sat next to me, and I couldn’t help it. I stroked his soft ears and his long tail, my inner twelve-year-old wolf girl absolutely ~thrilled~ with life.

Should I have been afraid? Five hundred percent.

Was I? Not really.

Despite knowing this monster of a wolf could easily tear me apart, I told myself he wouldn’t. If nothing else, I needed to keep my sanity in check while I was stuck in the frozen woods with Wolf Man.

“~You don’t seem as surprised as I would have expected.~”

I straightened my legs to ease the cramping and shook my head.

“Well, honestly, I was starting to put clues together. But I thought my conclusion was crazy. How long…have you done that, exactly?” I waved my hand at him and heard his chuckle.

“~My whole life. This is a hereditary trait, not something that came from a bite like the movies.~”

“Can you control it?”

“~The transforming? Yes, with practice. Pups tend to transform unexpectedly if they let their emotions get the better of them. Even as adults, though, extreme enough emotions or pressure can cause the transformation against our will.~”

That sounded horrible, not gonna lie.

“Is that why you live out here in the woods? So you don’t have to worry about transforming in front of people?”

Elias nodded his massive head and lay down on the ground in front of me.

I began stroking his side and leaned on his warm fur. He made no move to make me stop, even when my eyelids began to droop.

“~Isolation is definitely easier. But this cabin has also been in my family for generations. As alpha, it is my right to live there.~”

“So you are the leader of the pack? I guess I probably could have guessed that too, from that commanding air you have.”

Elias turned his head and glared at me with narrowed eyes, but I just laughed and ruffled his ear.

“It’s a good thing, I swear.”

A long yawn interrupted our conversation. The adrenaline must have worn off, because I was suddenly ~exhausted.~

Elias chuffed at me and nuzzled my cheek.

“~I think we should continue this conversation tomorrow when you’ve had some sleep and aren’t likely to freeze to death. Can you walk or do you want a ride?~”

I looked at the large wolf and for a moment, I considered how cool it would be to ride him through the woods. And not in ~that~ way, for the dirty brains in the room. But I shook my head and rose to my feet, brushing the dirt and leaves from my butt.

“I can walk.”

“~All right, if you insist.~”

Pretty sure there was an edge of disappointment in his voice, and I giggled to myself. I don’t think my feet would ever touch the ground if Elias had his way.

Our travel was slow and leisurely, and I leaned heavily on Elias’s shoulder as we walked.

“Can you hear my thoughts too?” I asked through yet another yawn.

I was already mentally curled up in that lovely cloud of a bed in the cabin, next to the space heater and buried in blankets.

“~No. You don’t trust me enough yet. I can only get vague hints.~”

Elias glanced at me, and I felt disappointment in that look.

We stepped out of the tree line and into the moonlit clearing. I picked up my pace, knowing the bed and warmth were so close now.

Elias kept up with me easily and gestured to the door with his nose.

~“I would open that for you, but I’ll have to transform back first. And I still need to grab my pants.”~

My face flushed, knowing what he meant.

I ~definitely~ wasn’t ready to admit I’d already had a full-frontal assault from Mr. Muscles and Fur, so I gave a little squeak and hurried inside to my bedroom.

I heard Elias laughing in my head, and then the connection severed.

***

When I woke in the morning, I considered that my entire night might have been a strange dream.

However, the pine needles in my hair told me I ~definitely~ had gone for a jolly jaunt through the woods in the dark.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Now that the shock had worn off, I felt much less calm about the whole “Elias turns into a wolf when nobody is looking” thing. Or maybe it was because I didn’t need to trust that he’d still get me out of the woods now… Either way, I was conflicted.

The connection between the two of us was undeniable. He was hot as all hell.

I flushed a little. Would sex with him count as bestiality? Obviously it would only be in human form…I shook those thoughts right out of my head and climbed out of bed to find something to eat.

Just like last time, Elias was in the kitchen cooking up a Saturday morning feast. The portions looked more appropriate for the two of us this time, so I suspected the pack wouldn’t be showing up.

He looked up as I padded into the room, his eyes lighting up.

“Good morning,” he said, flipping the pancake he was cooking onto a plate. “Did you get some sleep?”

I nodded and sat down at the table where a plate of pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs was already waiting for me. He gestured for me to dig in, and I didn’t need any further encouragement.

I poured syrup over the whole thing and attempted to maintain a somewhat ladylike pace.

I was one pancake down when Elias sat down with his own plate.

He didn’t attempt to make idle conversation or say anything, really. Part of me was disappointed that he didn’t seem inclined to start the discussion.

The other part was glad that he was letting me take control of the conversation. That was the exact opposite of Grant, who just talked over me when he didn’t like what I had to say.

But now the silence pressed on my chest. The questions were there, waiting.

I knew that the moment I asked them, there’d be no going back.