I bit my lip, surprised at the ‘threat.’ Was he actually trying to be nice? Or was this one of those things where someone pretended to like you only to go back and laugh at you with their friends? “The movie really does make a difference, though,” I said slowly. “Cause the extendedLord of the Ringsedition is different from something likeScream.”
“No slasher flicks,” he promised.
Nervous energy tingled through me as I took a deep breath. Was I really doing this? I finally nodded and closed my eyes to shift. It felt good to stretch my legs and shake my coat. I peeked up to judge Renz’s expression, but he had already shifted to wolf form. He wagged his tail and trotted into the forest.
I followed after him, cautious at first. But soon I realized Renz was keeping pace with me. When I slowed to inspect something, he stopped and waited patiently. While he might have talked about running, it seemed more like a leisurely stroll.
Since I’d long felt nervous about going into the woods alone, this was the first time in years that I’d entered the forest. I wanted to explore everything.
The trees around Tyrell were mostly the kind that lost their leaves in the fall. I forgot what they were called, though I was pretty sure that we had a lot of maples, birches and one that started with aT. They were tall and further apart than I’d realized. The ground was covered in lots of brush, grasses, and flowers. I let my nose take the lead, following trails from woodland creatures that led me to small burrows or new nests.
It wasn’t silent, either. The noises of small insects waking up from their winter hibernation filled the air, along with the occasional call from a bird or the blowing of a deer. I absorbed it all, my tail swishing back and forth in something that came close to wagging.
This was magnificent. I was so caught up with how lovely the forest was that I forgot to be nervous about Renz. When I finally remembered that he was here, too, and that he might not appreciate being ignored, I turned toward him.
His tongue hung from his mouth in a wolfish smile, tail held high and wagging. He spanked the earth in a play bow, inviting me to wrestle. I blinked in surprise. Was he really asking me to? Or was this something else?
How long do I stay suspicious of them?I asked myself, cautiously returning the bow.We’re married now. My heat won’t hold off forever. I don’t want to have sex when I’m scared of them.
And to stop being scared, I had to take risks. Let them prove themselves, even if it meant they could hurt me. It was like with Owen. The more he saw that I wasn’t up to nothing good, the more he’d start trusting me. I had to give them space to prove they weren’t going to hurt me.
Renz jumped at me, batting me gently with his paws. I responded by spinning and mouthing his shoulder, though Ibroke away and backed off soon enough. His tail kept wagging, and he came back, bumping his head into my chest. Then he spun onto his back, shocking me, and nipped at my leg. I jumped away, and he rolled over again, lightning-quick, and came back at me. This time, he licked my face and threw one leg over my back.
He was being so gentle, even with the wrestling. I could feel the strength of his muscles and the way he controlled himself. It was like he knew exactly how far he could push without actually hurting me. Slowly, he coaxed me into more earnest play. We ended up chasing each other, zipping through the trees in ways that made me bark with laughter.
When he flopped over to his side and shifted to his human form, I trotted up to him and just stared. Normally, I didn’t let myself look at the alphas so openly, but here it felt…safe.
His dark blond hair was tousled, his dark blue eyes sparkling. Even in his wedding attire, I could see the tattoos on his hands and glimpses of others on his neck. His full lips curved into a smile, emphasizing his strong jaw.
Warmth spread through me as I looked at him. He really was handsome. Too handsome for the likes of me, which those women who had confronted me had been quick to point out. And yet, now that it was the two of us, he wasn’t scowling like he had been at the wedding. He looked relaxed, happy even. It made my heart beat faster.
“See?” he said as he opened his arms. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
I shook my ruff, scolding myself for ogling, then shifted to human form. “What’s not that bad?”
“Taking your wolf form around me.”
I sank onto the ground and wrinkled my nose at him.
“Admit it. You got yourself all worked up for nothing,” he teased. “You owe me an apology. Maybe I should demand that you punch Owen in the face every time I want. Except then you might break your hand, he’s so thick-headed. So I’ll stick with an admission that I was right and you were wrong.”
“And what makes you think that you were right?” I challenged automatically.
He lifted one eyebrow at me. “We’re here, aren’t we?”
“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard for me,” I shot back, enjoying this back and forth. My earlier anger at his assumptions had cooled, especially considering how he’d behaved here in the forest. It gave me hope, the same way Killian and Jace had. The three of them didn’t hide their feelings entirely, but they seemed willing to change how things went from here on out.
If only it were as easy with Owen. He was the one I was most worried about. He’d been the first one to start tormenting me, he’d been the last to stop, and he was the one who hated me the most.
I shook my head slightly, trying to push aside the thought of him. “I’ll be the judge of what is hard. And it will take a few months at least before I decide whether I can actually trust you.”
“Months.”
I nodded as I lay on the forest floor, adjusting myself to avoid the poking twigs. The starry sky above was lovely, the deep, dark velvet making me wish I were an artist. It would be amazing to put this on paper.
“I’m not sure we have months, Jasmine.” Renz rolled to his stomach and gazed down at me, propped up on his elbows. “Now that the wedding ceremony has happened, your heat willbe triggered sooner rather than later. From what I heard about Burgess, their omega went into heat less than a month after the wedding.”
My stomach swooped at his words. Less than a month? That wasn’t enough to change how they saw me, or how I saw them. Yes, I had glimmers of hope right now, but did I really want to lose my virginity to my bullies?
