Page 19 of Wicked Wolf

She was a witch. Those powers had shattered his soul and had almost killed him and his son. He would never trust her, even if his wolf wanted to—and the Pack needed him to.

Instead of listening to that, though, he nodded. “Fine. We’ll run as wolves so we have better senses. You got a problem with that?”

She shook her head. “That’s what I wanted to do anyway. I have a backpack my uncle Josh made that fits me in my wolf form. I can get in and out of it without human hands. I’ll put our clothes in it. That way we don’t have to leave them here to pick up later.”

He nodded and held back a frown. He’d wanted them to run as wolves without the preliminaries so he wouldn’t have to speak to her and get to know her. He needed the space between them. But now he knew he’d see her without her clothes. Probably not the best move for a man who wanted to get a woman out of his head.

He followed her to the side of the building where she’d stashed her bag.

“Strip down and give me your clothes. I’ll pack them up and then shift.”

He raised a brow at her tone and watched her ears redden. Wolves weren’t supposed to care about nudity since they had to shift naked. It was supposed to be casual. They wore clothes inside the den common areas for the children, but usually, they weren’t modest.

The fact that the both of them were reacting to each other’s presence didn’t bode well.

He turned away from her and stripped off his shirt then toed off his shoes. He took a deep breath then shucked off his pants and boxer briefs. He heard the wisp of fabric behind him and knew she was doing the same. His wolf nudged at him, and he held back a curse. The thought of her naked behind him wasn’t doing him any favors, and now his cock was hard against his belly.

Shifting with a hard-on was not pleasant.

He sighed then folded his clothes in a pile. Damn it. He wasn’t some young pup who had never seen a naked woman before. It shouldn’t matter that she wasn’t wearing clothes. They were wolves.

He picked up his clothes and turned around.

Dear. Goddess.

She was perfect. All thick curves and muscles mixed into one. Her nipples were dark and erect. Her breasts were larger than his palms although, in clothes, she didn’t look as though she had all those curves. Her belly was smooth and looked soft, bitable, and flared out to sexy, grip-worthy hips. He pulled his gaze up to her face before he caught sight of her pussy. Once he did, he knew he’d be in trouble.

He didn’t even like her, yet his eyes feasted on her.

He handed her his clothes as she kept her wide eyes on his face. He could smell her arousal, taste it on his tongue, and he knew he needed to get out of there fast.

With a grunt, he turned to his side then knelt on all fours. The change from human to wolf and then back was not easy. It took minutes instead of a flash of light and fuzzy feeling, like some would choose to believe. Those minutes dragged on in agony as bones broke, ligaments tore, and fur sprouted from his skin. The stronger the wolf, the shorter time it took to change, but that didn’t make it any less painful.

His face elongated, and his body hunched. They weren’t the werewolves from the old movies. No, they were true wolves. Some might be slightly bigger than the wild ones humans had almost killed off, but not most.

By the time he finished shifting, he was tired, yet edgy at the same time. He needed a good run and knew that the perimeter check with Gina would get that done. He turned toward Gina and saw she was almost done shifting, her body panting with the exertion. She was even more dominant that he’d thought if she was so close to him in terms of timing.

When she was done, she shook her body then wiggled into her backpack. He couldn’t help but notice the grace of her wolf. Strength and a sense of fragility entwined together to make a truly magnificent shifter.

While he was a dark gray wolf with only one white foot, she was chocolate brown with a solid white stripe on her nose. She also kept her blue eyes from her human form, but that solid ring of yellow around her irises told him her wolf was close to the surface.

He gave her a nod then started to turn. They couldn’t talk in this form so they had to use body movements to communicate. Gina yipped at him—wolves didn’t bark—and he stopped. She came up to him and sniffed around him, sticking her nose along his neck. He stood still, knowing from the look in her eyes before she’d gotten closer that this was her wolf, not her human half, that needed to do this.

She wasn’t a submissive wolf, but he was a clear dominant that she’d never seen before in wolf form. Her wolf needed some kind of reassurance, whether it be scent or something else, so she could move on.

Quinn might not trust her because of her witch half—and also, if he was honest with himself, because of his attraction to her—but he couldn’t let a lower ranked wolf down. He growled softly then nipped at the back of her neck. She let out a sigh then lowered her head.

He let his fangs gently press into her fur then let go. Her wolf met his gaze then did a little nod.

With that over, he turned back toward his den then started off at a run. He heard Gina’s paws hit the ground behind him. He wasn’t going at full speed, so he knew she could keep up. She was going to be the Enforcer of her Pack, so she wasn’t weak or slow.

They kept at it for a good thirty minutes, scenting around the perimeter to ensure there wasn’t anything out of place. He watched the way she came up to his side, her nose on the ground when they paused, and the way her ears were always perked, on alert.

She was a good scout, a gorgeous wolf.

Maybe if he could ever learn to trust another person again, he might like her.

That, though, wouldn’t be happening.