“We can speak in this form, yeah,” I explain. “Not so in our full wolf form.”
She turns her curious gaze on me, and something in my chest pings with awareness. I want to bask in the glow of her attention. I’ll answer every question she has if that means she’ll keep looking at me like that.
Fuck. I’m completely gone already. And that’s not great with the full moon coming up on Christmas Day. If we haven’t claimed her before then, we’ll be in huge trouble.
“Can you show me your wolf form?” she asks.
Satisfaction courses through me at the realization that she’s asking me. Not them. Which…I’m not proud of. I’m the alpha of our pack, and I’d be the first to remind the other two that everything in the pack is shared equally, so her attention must be, too. But I can’t deny that I want her to see my wolf first.
I stand and unbutton my flannel shirt. I fumble with the small buttons, give up after two, and just drag the thing off my back with one fast tug. Something rips, and Troy lets out another laugh. I pin him with a glare, but the fucker just grins at me, his smile lazy.
“Take it all off,” he murmurs, and damn him, my cock gets half hard in my jeans.
We’ve fucked each other—and Sebastian—often enough over the years. We were destined for each other, even though we’ve been waiting for our fourth mate to show up. The insatiable sex drive leading up to the full moon had us in its grip every month, so we took care of each other. Troy knows exactly what’s happening to me right now, probably because he’s also hard.
Sebastian sniffs the air, gives a small whine in the back of his throat, and pulls a pillow off the couch to his lap to disguise the erection tenting his sweatpants.
That’s a good idea. If Emma sees what he’s packing between his legs in this form, she might run out the door, snowstorm be damned.
I grit my teeth and think of shoveling cow shit in Troy’s mother’s barn, of ice-cold baths in Clearwater Lake, and manage to stop myself from getting a raging boner. Then I shove down my jeans and shift before Emma has a chance to see anything below my belt at all.
The magic of my transformation takes hold, and I let out a huff of breath. Slipping into my other skin is easy. I shake myself, then sit on my rump to scratch my back paw below my ear where I’m itchy. It takes my wolfish mind a moment to gather its thoughts, such as they are, and focus on the woman staring at me with wide eyes.
She’s pretty. And her scent…
Without hesitation, I rise to my feet and step forward. In this form, there is no doubt left in my mind that she’s mine—ours.
“Oh my God,” she whispers.
Her scent spikes with worry, but I don’t want her to be afraid. I let out a low sound, then nudge at her knee. When she raises a tentative hand and puts it closer to my snout, as if for me to sniff, I lick her palm instead, my first taste of her.
She’s so fucking sweet.
Wiggling closer, I put my big head in her lap. In this form, I’m a lot larger than a dog or any wolf, even, so I understand why she’s hesitant, but I need her to relax.
“This is so unreal,” Emma murmurs as she slowly runs her fingers through the fur on my neck.
It feels amazing, so I angle my head a little to get her to scratch me.
She glances up at Troy. “Is that really him?”
He leans in from her side and wraps his thick arms around her. I never thought the big guy would be the one with the bestself-control out of the three of us, but since he’s the only one not sprouting fur at the moment, it makes sense Emma is turning to him for advice.
“Yeah, honey.” He nuzzles her hair with his cheek, rubbing his scent all over her. “Carter’s wolf is black.” He motions toward Sebastian. “His is this reddish brown, like the fur you see on him now.”
Her fingers move absentmindedly over my head, and she scratches me behind the ears. I’d bet she has a dog—or had one growing up—because it’s an instinctual reaction from her.
“And you?” she asks Troy. “What color are you?”
He smiles down at her. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
His expression is mild, but I know he’s stalling. He doesn’t like to let his wolf out—or his half form—and I get that, I do. Now that our mate is here, though, he’ll have to get over it, or they’ll both get hurt. I don’t say anything right now, not that I could in this form, but I’ll have to talk to him about it. If he leaves his revelation for too long, he’ll be in trouble when moon magic is riding him hard in a couple of days.
Emma turns back to me. “Thank you for showing me.” Then she looks down at Troy’s arms, which are banded around her body, and frowns. “You guys like to touch, huh?”
Troy’s contented rumble is a sound I haven’t heard in months. I glance up at him, noting for the first time the fine crow’s feet around his eyes, the frown lines between his eyebrows. He’s relaxed now, though, as if Emma’s proximity is enough to loosen the tension that’s been gripping him all this time.
I curse myself for not noticing how my pack mate was suffering. It only makes me more determined to make this thing work.
