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Clearly there’s a third option—freeze—and I’m experiencing it right now.
I don’t think anyone is going to get to us in time to rescue us. We aren’t far from the mansion, but we’re talking about two massive wolves. It feels like violence dances around them as they take a step closer to us in unison.
I’m not sure how I do it when I move with Tilly and take a slow, measured step back towards where we came from.
Suddenly, a massive golden wolf comes from behind me and stands in front of us. There’s something protective in his stance that has me breathing a little easier even though it doesn’t make sense that a wolf would want to protect us.
Wouldn’t he join the other two in stalking his prey?
I thought the first two wolves were huge, but the golden wolf makes them look small in comparison. It also makes it obvious how malnourished and sickly looking the first two are. The new wolf looks healthy and like he’s the apex predator all others should fear.
Tilly’s grip on my hand tightens and a small yelp escapes my mouth when Mayer, shirtless and only wearing basketball shorts which is not what he was wearing at dinner, touches my shoulder. The golden wolf’s head whips around to look at me and his blue eyes look so much like Crew’s that I almost fall onto my ass.
Mayer is there to help hold me up, but the golden wolf doesn’t seem to like it considering he growls and takes a step closer, his eyes never leaving where Mayer is touching me. Once I’m steady on my feet, Mayer lets go of me and holds his hands up in surrender so the wolf can see.
It’s an opportunity which the first two wolves who showed up on the path are more than willing to capitalize on. They leap toward the golden wolf at the same time, and I find myself taking a step toward him on instinct. It doesn’t make any damn sense. What would I even do in a wolf fight?
Before I can warn the golden wolf, he spins around, and his massive jaws clamp down around the neck of one of the sick looking wolves. With a loud growl, the golden wolf rips out the other’s throat and the wolf’s body goes limp.
While I’m not all that thrilled with witnessing death, I don’t think the golden wolf had much of a choice in the matter. A few massive men come out of the woods and circle the other scrawny looking wolf. I stare with my jaw on the ground as the golden wolf transforms right in front of my eyes.
It’s not a wolf at all. Well, it is, but it’s not. Because now that the wolf is gone, Crew is standing above the body of the dead wolf. Power radiates off him and everyone around us tilts their head to the side to bare their necks to him.
I’m too stunned to do anything.
“You were just a wolf,” I blurt out.
Crew takes a step toward me, not giving a single fuck that he’s naked in front of all these people. “I was.”
“But now you’re you?”
Crew gives me a small smile and his blue eyes sparkle with amusement. “I am.” Without looking away from me, he addresses the men surrounding us, “Take him down to the dungeons and then deal with the rogue who dared to try and attack your Luna.”
I blink at him a few times. I understood all the words he used, but not the context or order he used them in. Dungeons? Rogue? Luna?
My knees give out a little bit and before Crew can reach me, Tilly is there to help hold me up. That’s probably for the best considering I don’t know what to think or how to feel. I look at my best friend for a long moment and then I have a light bulb moment.
“You turn into a wolf too, don’t you?”
“Yes,” her voice is small and unsure, something I am not used to when it comes to my best friend.
I look at Crew and demand, “I want to know everything. Don’t hold back or try and sugar coat it. I have to have all the facts in order to process what I just saw here.”
He nods slowly and reluctantly as he holds a hand up toward the massive mansion. Is that really what it is?
Some of what I found strange here starts to make sense. Wolves are pack animals, right? It would make sense for them to live close to each other and on a lot of land with nature surrounding them.
But they aren’t just wolves. Are they?
I have a headache starting to pound right behind my eyes with the pressure of how hard my mind is churning. I know I should feel more about witnessing the violence out in the woods, but that is the least of my concerns right now.
I’m barely aware of being led into Crew’s office and then how soft the couch is as I sink down into it. I close my eyes for a moment to breathe through a wave of nausea. My eyes snap open when hands land on my knees and I wildly look around the room to find not only Crew and Tilly, but also their parents along with Mayer and Ivy.
Crew’s eyes are filled with concern and a little fear as he looks up at me from where he’s crouched in front of me with a water bottle as an offering. This man is a dangerous wolf, someone who could rip me to shreds in a matter of seconds, and he’s looking at me with fear?
The realization that any of them could have hurt me time and time again since I arrived has me getting my shit together and straightening my spine. A small smile tugs at the corner of Crew’s mouth, but I ignore it. Now is not the time to find the man sexy.
He’s a fucking shape shifting wolf, and that needs to be addressed before hormones, or any other part of me, takes over my common sense again.
