“Why did you block me out? And why are you out here by yourself?” He looks around the clearing, searching no doubt for my parents. He huffs and comes closer.
“I didn’t want to be around them,” I answer and he nods his head.
His wolf sniffs me, pressing his face into my neck before licking it. I push him away. His fur is soft beneath my palms and his big furry head nudges me, forcing his head under my arm wanting a scratch, his tongue lolling out the side as his tail wags excitedly.
“Sorry, my wolf is a little excited,” he apologizes.
I chuckle at the awkward admission. “What’s his name?” I brush his fur when he rolls out from under my arm. He wags his tail harder and plunges his head between my legs, sniffing hard. I shove his big head away and wag a finger at him. "Don't be rude."
His wolf makes a growling sound deep in his throat, but it's not like a normal growl. I stare at him. Was-was this wolf purring at me? I'd never heard one purr before. I raise a brow and he licks the tip of my nose. His broad tongue covers half my face.
I push him away but he evades me and presses his nose into my hair, before licking savagely at the back of my neck. He nips me with his canines in his excitement and I wince and hiss.
Shouldn't the Alpha have better control of his wolf? I push the big head aside again. He is incredibly bad mannered.
"Damn it, I'm sorry, Kat. This is Maddox. Stop that! You're embarrassing us, stop right now," he argues with his wolf.
Maddox responds by dropping into my lap, nearly drowning me in his silky fur. The wolf rubs himself all over me.
“Is he alright?” I ask out loud when his wolf pushes his snout underneath my shirt and licks my stomach. Through the mindlink he argues with his wolf to stop mauling me with his big heavy body. He was rubbing himself all over me like a cat and wouldn't stop licking me and trying to duck his head under my shirt as if he thought he could climb in it with me.
I brush his fur and put a hand on each side of his face, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Stop, Maddox,'' I scold him when he put his head inside my shirt again. He whines loudly pushing against me, trying to knock me on my back.
“I can shift back but I will be naked,” the Alpha warns me.
I did not want to deal with that. “He isn’t so bad,” I protest and Maddox licks my chin.
A much deeper and gravelly voice bursts through the mindlink, startling me. "Your wolf," he insists.
“Was that your wolf speaking?” I ask hoping Alpha Ezra has enough control to hear me and hasn’t been blocked out by his wolf.
“He wants to meet your wolf,” Alpha Ezra replies, and my stomach twists in knots knowing that wasn’t possible. "Are you going to shift?” Maddox nudges me with his nose, urging me to give in.
The trees behind me sway as more creatures make their way through them. Maddox jerks and his ears perk up. His lips lift from his canines and he peers into the darkness. He steps over me, forcing me behind him. Growling in warning, he waits.
My father’s wolf steps out of the treeline and spots us. He ducks his caramel furry head to the Alpha bearing his neck before ducking into the trees again.
“Wait!” I called out to my father. He stops, coming back out of the trees, he pads over and stops next to the Alpha who stands over me completely and I have to push his fur aside to see my dad.
My mother steps out of the trees and my father looks at her, she becomes annoyed, growling at my father and I know he said something she doesn’t like. My mother dodges back into the forest. “I gotta go Kat, and deal with your mother,” my father says.
I panic. “But wait, he wants me to shift,” I tell my father through the link while getting to my feet.
Dad looks at me, cocks his head, and licks my fingers. “Just tell him the truth. Whatever happens, will happen Kat. If we have to move, we will, but I don't think he will kick us out.” He ducks his head to the Alpha.
I try to chase after him when the Alpha’s wolf grabs my hand in his huge mouth, tugging me gently and making me look at him.
He lets go, and the sound of bones snapping and shifting fill the air. I force my eyes closed. The Alpha is shifting right next to me.
"The fact your parents know you're here means they brought you. Are you going to tell me what's going on and why you are hiding out here away from everyone?" I don't answer and he sighs. "I'm starting to think I already know."
A chill travels down my spine at his words. It was nice having an Alpha that cared, but this is it for me. "Please shift back so I can turn around?" I request.
He moves but there's no bone snapping. "Step backward," he orders.
I obey. His hand wraps around my waist and he tugs me down to the ground. He pulls me against him so I am leaning on him, his legs on either side of mine. I do my best to not think about what is exactly behind me.
It twitches like it could hear me thinking about it. I gulp. I dare not turn around, but even looking as his dark bare legs contrasted with my paleness made strange tingles work their way through my body.
"There, covered," the Alpha announces with a chuckle. His stubble grazes my cheek when he rests his chin on my shoulder. The warmth of him seeps into my body and the cold breeze around us could turn into a snowstorm and I wouldn't notice.
The tingles spread from the center of me and flow out. My legs are pushed against his, almost tangled together. "You can lean on me," he whispers into my ear. His warm breath makes me shiver.
He's not just talking about physically. Why is he so kind to me? I'm a freak.
His hand curves from around my side and over my stomach. Butterflies explode in my belly at his touch. The strange sensation travels through every spot where our skin touches.
"Kat," my name on his lips is the sweetest sound. My heart pounds like a drum and it beats faster and faster. "Are you going to make me guess?"
Staying here is too dangerous. "I should go find my parents. They'll be worried."
I push off the ground to stand when he pulls me back down by my hips, his voice a husky whisper below my ear "I know you haven't shifted yet."
I jerk away like a live wire is pressed against me. He knows! I twist around to look at him, doing my best to keep my head raised and not looking down. "I-"
"I'm right aren't I?" He asks. He pulls my body back down against him and he buries his face in the crook of my neck. "You can tell me anything, no matter what, I'm not leaving your side."
We will see about that. I lift my head and meet his eyes as he looks up at me. "I have no wolf," I admit softly. My hands clasped above my stomach tremble.
For his part he doesn't shove me away or even show any visible disgust.
He takes my hands and his thumb caresses the back of it. "It all makes sense now. Why you didn't shift in the bathroom, and why you were nervous when I asked about your wolf. Even why you're out here in the middle of nowhere, or why your mom would be crazy enough to use wolfsbane on you."
I swallow and stare at his hands cupping mine. This has to be a dream. He presses his face back into my neck, nuzzling against me.
"You're not mad at me?"
"Why would I be upset?"
I lean against him. "I have no wolf."
"You do. I sense her. You're just a late bloomer and there is nothing wrong with that," he buries his nose in my hair and inhales. His chest shakes.
"You can sense her?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at him. His face is a few centimeters away from mine.
"Yes, that's why my wolf wants to meet her."
I let my head rest against his chest and I stare up into the sky. This was not what I expected when the secret escaped. "Alpha-"
"Ezra," he insists in my ear with a soft growl.
"Ezra," I concede. "Will you banish me and my family for lying?"
His arms wrap around me and he squeezes me close to him. "No, I'd never banish you. Even if you didn't have a wolf, I could never do it."
I continue to stare up into the sky. The moon is hard to make out. "It's what my last Pack did. It is why we left. Alpha Jackson knew I had no wolf and was weak, that the Moon Goddess shunned me and a defect like me should be thrown away when it was discovered what I was."
Ezra growls again, slowly at first but it picks up in speed and intensity until his entire chest vibrates. "Jackson is a dickhead, he doesn't deserve the title Alpha. You have a wolf. I know she will show herself when she is ready. My belief is that late bloomers are late, not because they are shunned, but because they are blessed by her touch."
His fingers brush the sides of my chin and he turns my face toward his.
"You don't know that, I may not have a wolf," I whisper. Tears sting my eyes. That hope I had shoved into the deepest corners of my soul when I believed my mom, it blooms again for the first time in years. Maybe it is true.
"Kat, I don't care if you do or don't. However, I know without a doubt you do. Your aura burns bright."
"My aura?"
He nods. "It's stronger than your parents," He smiles," it matches mine."
I look away knowing now he is just making shit up, I am not stupid enough to believe I have an aura. The fragile hope withered in my soul.