Mated To The Alpha: A Standalone Wolf Shifter Romance, стр. 35

"No, it's just not as liberating. It's more like shrinking. You're all confined and limited again. It's like being stuffed back into a box. It doesn't hurt either, but... Have you ever spent a lot of time on a boat? Or a train? When you get off, you almost have to re-learn to walk right, just for a bit? It's like that. Just odd."

"And you think I can do it? Really? How? Just decide to?"

"Do you want to try?"

She looked at him for a long while, conflicting thoughts whirling through her head as he waited patiently for her decision.

"In for a penny, in for a pound, right? I'm mated, forever, to an Alpha wolf. Alpha blood runs through my veins, from mom. If you think it's possible, I might as well go all in."

"Oh, it's definitely possible. You're already this close. You have to be. Our eyes only get like that when we are on the verge of shifting. The timing is great. You are hungry, and horny. I just have to push you. It's easier that way. Telling you how won't work. Emotion drives it, at first. Until you learn to control it. Are you sure?"

"It really doesn't hurt?"

"Not even a little."

"OK. Let's do this."

"Come on, then. Follow me."

He shifted in one smooth motion above her, still pinning her to the bed.

She hadn't expected that.

He released her, jumping off the bed and heading to the front door.

She looked around for her clothes, but when she heard his nose bump the lever handle on the front door, installed on all the cabins probably purely so they could be opened with a wolf's snout, she quickly pulled the top sheet off of the bed. She wrapped it around her toga-style as she headed out the door behind him, curiosity and surprise winning out over modesty.

She saw the flash of his tail disappear around a corner, and followed him as quickly as she could, being barefoot to his wolf paws.

She followed flashes of him, as he kept just out of her field of vision, until they reached a small clearing about a quarter mile away.

When she entered the clearing she realized their lesson was on hold. Something had happened in the few minutes it had taken her to catch up.

Elam was no longer in teaching mode, he was attacking two smaller wolves she hadn't seen around the camp.

She heard a warning, sinister growl roll out of Elam, and she jumped out of the way, behind a tree for protection.

He growled more, the ferocity of his sudden change making all the little hairs she possessed as a human stand on end.

His teeth were bared at the two, and he circled, keeping himself between her and them, she noticed.

The two smaller wolves faced Elam, teeth bared and growls just as insistent as Elam's. She pulled her eyes from Elam's wolf to really look at the other two.

They were tiny, really. Pups even. They were almost cute in their growling and threatening, if their eyes didn't glow so serious. Surely Elam would just scare them, sending them running back to their mother, who was probably looking for them already.

One little one lunged at Elam, and Elam responded with a snap of his sharp teeth that closed just an inch or so from the tiny aggressor.

Emma gasped at the direct attack.

She looked to see how the second one would react to his friend's lunge, but couldn't find him for a second.

There. There was the other little cub. He was widening an arc around Elam, using his friend's or brother's attack as a chance to get behind Elam and take him by surprise.

Elam must have been aware of the technique, cause he turned suddenly. Quick as anything he snapped again, biting the sneaky one on a shoulder before the little one could nip at Elam's hindquarters.

The bitten pup yelped, and drew back.

Elam turned to find the other one, facing him and growing as he took slow steps toward the unwounded one.

That one stood his ground, growling and snapping back toward Elam, until Elam got too close for comfort. With a defeated yelp, the unhurt one turned, bounding into the woods to escape. Or to go find its mother, to come fight its battles for them.

Once only the bitten one remained, Elam turned toward him.

Emma looked to where he had been, but only a small child lay in its place.

Probably only a year or two old, the now human shifter lay wounded on the wooded ground, shoulder bleeding into the dirt.

Emma assumed Elam would stop, all danger from two pups gone. But he didn't.

He stalked the wounded child like the toddler was still some kind of danger to him, or to her.

She'd heard some shifters could shift from birth, but this one was the youngest she'd personally seen. Why was Elam still slowly closing the gap, teeth bared and growls issuing a warning.

This injured child was no threat. And he seemed to also be defenseless now, as a human toddler.

What the hell had gotten into Elam? It was over, obviously. Why was he still stalking this child?

Before Elam could get any closer, Emma rushed over, placing herself between Elam and the now crying, wounded child. She spread her stance, facing off against her mate, thinking maybe the adrenaline rush of the initial attack was still clouding his judgment.

"Alright, Elam. It's over. Knock it off."

Elam didn't lift his eyes to hers, but stayed totally focused on the little one just behind her and between her legs.

"Elam! Stop! It's just a child. It's over."

Elam took another step toward them, his eyes glowing with predation and fixated on the defenseless toddler.

"Elam, I swear to all that is holy, no matter what your weird pack rules dictate, if you take one more step toward this baby you will have to deal with me!"

He didn't even seem to hear her. She started to panic. He was getting close, and she really had no defenses herself, but for the sheer bravado she'd just