The wolf whined. It was a high, distressed sound that didn't match its size.
Then it started to do something that my brain couldn’t process. I watched in horror as the wolf's form rippled as if I’d thrown a stone in the water. The front legs buckled, and where there had been paws, human hands emerged along with fingers and joints, knuckles and skin. The transformation spread up the limbs and the dark fur receded to reveal muscular forearms and shoulders.
The hind legs followed as the wolf's haunches reshaped into human thighs and calves. But it was the face that had me frozen in fear.
The muzzle began to shorten, but it didn't complete the transition. It was caught halfway and still covered in patches of fur, but with human features emerging beneath. The eyes were too large and the mouth was neither snout nor human lips. And the teeth? I imagined them ripping through my flesh.
The animal or whatever it was now made a sound. It wasn’t a howl or a word but something desperate and broken that came from a throat caught between two forms. I couldn't move. My brain couldn’t fathom what I was seeing. This wasn't possible and it couldn't be real.
But the transformation completed and oh gods, no. It was Renard. He was naked in the stream and his expression could only be described as stricken.
"Julian."
I ran back through the woods and ignored the branches catching at my bare skin. My feet hit the hardwood floor and the temperature shift from cool morning air to heated housebarely registered. Grabbing my pants, I raced through the house searching for the front door.
The rest of my clothes were somewhere. I’d seen them when I woke up. But I wasn’t detouring into the bedroom and I tore outside bare-chested, ignoring my shoes beside the door.
"Julian, wait." Renard's voice came from somewhere behind me.
I couldn't look at him. If I looked at him, I'd seethatagain. The cross between an animal and a human. I gulped as I pictured that impossible, nightmare thing.
"Stay away from me." I could hardly get the words out.
"Just let me explain. Five minutes is all I'm asking."
"You're—" I couldn't say it. "What are you?"
"I'm a shifter. A wolf shifter. I was going to tell you, I just needed time."
"A shifter." Did I know what that was? "Those aren't real. They're not real."
"Julian."
"Don't." I finally looked at him. He'd pulled on pants but was still shirtless with water dripping from his hair. He looked exactly how he had last night. He was the man I'd kissed, touched and fucked. "Don't come near me."
His eyes were awash with tears and he couldn’t disguise the raw pain on his face. "Please. I never wanted you to find out like this."
"Find out?" My voice was edging toward hysterical. "Find out that you're some kind of—that you can—" I couldn't get the car keys out of my pocket. My hands kept fumbling with the fabric.
"I'm still the same person."
"No." I backed toward the door, finally getting hold of the keys. "No, you're not. I don't even know what you are."
"I'm someone who cares about you. That hasn't changed."
"Everything has changed!" I gripped the keys so hard the metal bit into my palm. "You're not human." My breath was too fast and shallow and I was going to hyperventilate. "I need to leave."
"Where are you going?"
"Away." I yanked open the car door. "Don't follow me. Don't call. Just stay away."
The keys slipped from my fingers twice before I got them in the ignition while Renard stood shirtless in his doorway.
I couldn't think about him or the pain in his eyes or how desperately he'd said my name. Because if I did, I'd remember the way his body had changed when the wolf became human that defied everything I thought I knew about the world.
I had no idea where I was going as long as it was away from Renard and his woods and his impossible secret.
My phone rang and it was Renard's name on the screen. I let it go to voicemail but it rang again. And again. And again until I turned it off.
