I should have left, ending our relationship when I got home by text or email. But I stood frozen, as he stripped down to nothing. The other guy was doing the same, and they were both laughing about something and completely comfortable with one another. I should have looked away.
But I didn't have words for what I witnessed. One moment, Dawson was human. His body was the one I'd been pressing against numerous nights in the past month. And the next instant, he shimmered and rippled so I couldn't focus on him. I blinked, not believing what I was seeing. Thick, dark fur sprouted across his skin. His face elongated into a muzzle and he stood on four legs.
It took only a few seconds and Dawson wasn't a him any more. The laws of physics and biology and everything I knew about the world shattered like glass. I understood nothing as the man I knew vanished and in his place stood a magnificent wolf. And beside him, the other guy had changed too, though his wolf was smaller than the first one..
My brain couldn't process what was before me. This wasn't reality. It was fantasy and I was hallucinating. The stress from the storm and the wolf saving me from drowning a month ago had been simmering below the surface and now it had bitten me on the butt.
But they were moving, pawing the ground and sniffing the nearby bushes. And Gods I was here alone with two wild animals.
But as I blinked and my mind whirred, I focused on the bigger wolf. I'd seen that one before. I'd gripped onto him as heswam to safety and saved my life. And Dawson had become that wolf seconds ago while I watched.
Somehow the man I'd been sleeping with, the one who I thought was a great guy and who might be 'the one', had turned into a wolf and saved me in the floodwaters. There had to be other pieces to the puzzle but I couldn't put them together.
The two wolves were stretching as if they were preparing to run. I needed to get out of here before they saw me. But as I backed off, a bunch of dead leaves crunched beneath my foot and the wolf, the big one, the Dawson one, turned his head in my direction. Those emerald green eyes were still his eyes. Did wolves have green eyes? Whether they did or not, they locked on mine.
We stared at each other across the clearing, human and wolf, and I couldn't breathe. Those same eyes had met mine as we kissed and made love, as he made me scream in ecstasy and as we shared pizza.
But now those same eyes belonged to a wolf.
ELEVEN
DAWSON
The scent hit me before I saw him.
It was Parker. His scent along with a woodsy aroma and anger tangled together and my wolf whined in distress. I'd been so focused on finally getting to shift and allowing my wolf to run free that I hadn't noticed.
Parker and I had spent so much time together because he'd stayed at my house for weeks because of the damage to his street. We'd grown so close but my wolf needed to take his fur. Somehow Parker had followed me and watched me shift.
Our eyes met across the clearing, and the color drained from his face. He looked like he might be sick, or run, or both. But he just stood there, frozen behind that tree, staring at me as if I was a monster. In his mind, I probably was.
I shifted back immediately and stood naked as Parker finally moved and tugged at his hair. Tony was still in wolf form but I ignored him.
"Parker." I cleared my throat and tried again. "Parker please wait." Oh gods I'd ruined everything.
He took another step back. "You're a… no you were a wolf."
"I can explain."
"You turned into a wolf." There was no inflection in his tone as if he was trying to piece together what he'd seen. "That wasn't real."
Tony shifted back. "I'm going to give you two some privacy." He grabbed his clothes and disappeared into the trees, leaving us alone in the clearing.
Parker's eyes tracked Tony's departure, then came back to me. "There are more of you."
"Yes." I pulled on my jeans, needing the barrier of clothes for this conversation. "We're called shifters and we live among humans."
"And you didn't think to mention this?" His voice cracked. "We've been working together for eight months. We've been dating and we've had sex. And you never thought to say 'Oh, by the way, I turn into a wolf'?"
"I wanted to tell you." I took a step toward him, and he immediately stepped back, putting up his hand and telling me to stay away. "Parker, please. Let me explain."
"You lied to me." His hands were shaking. "You said you were sick. That was fake so you could what? Come out here and run around as a wolf?"
"I need to shift regularly, especially around the full moon." I shrugged. "If I don't, my wolf gets agitated and he's harder to control. It's not an excuse, but it's the truth. I should have told you, but I didn't know how."
"How about 'Parker, I'm a shifter'? That would have been a start." He laughed but it was harsh and there was no laughter in his eyes. "Gods, I thought you were cheating on me. I saw you pick up that guy and I—" He shook his head and stamped his foot. "I followed you like some paranoid stalker because I thought you were lying about being with someone else. Turned out you were just lying about being human."
The pain in his voice cut deeper than any physical wound. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."
