Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl, #1)(13)

Everything inside of me clenched when he said “undress.” I know he didn’t mean it like that, but … damn.

I cleared my throat, looking behind me to make sure his back was in fact to me.

It was.

“Okay.” My voice cracked and I hated myself for it. I was not a boy-crazy girl. Never had been. You either wanted to be with me, and that was cool, or not. I always knew where I stood and I didn’t chase men. This Werewolf Bachelor was like my worst fucking nightmare. Did he like me? Did he like fifty other women? Was I just here because of some bylaw or because he wanted to date me?

Without over thinking it too much, I pulled my shirt off and tossed it on a nearby flat rock. Blowing air through my teeth, I unclipped my bra and tossed that next. My inner wolf’s desire to run was overshadowing my fear at being naked in front of Sawyer, even if he wasn’t looking. I was sure they all grew up being naked all the time and it was no big deal, but it was to me. He seemed to understand that. It seemed like he was a great guy, which was rare in my experience.

“Sawyer?” I tossed my panties on the nearby rock and stood completely naked.

“Yeah?” His voice had dropped three octaves and I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d seen me throw the panties or not, but the desire in his voice was thick. It brought heat right to my core.

I just realized that I’d never thanked him for his rescue from Delphi, from the cuffs. “Thanks for … getting me out of that place.”

Silence.

When he finally spoke, his voice was husky and serious: “You belong with us.”

Us. He meant the werewolf species of course, but damn at this point I was totally hoping for a rose at tomorrow night’s dinner. I wanted more of him, to get to know him better before he married some Barbie and I never saw him again.

“What if … I can’t shift?” I croaked.

I mean twenty years in magical handcuffs surely broke my wolf, no?

As if answering that thought, my wolf stirred to the surface and Sawyer laughed, a bright trilling sound that had butterflies turning in my stomach.

“The girl I saw today … her wolf is alive and well and waiting to be freed.”

His confidence in me was sexy as fuck, but now I felt performance anxiety. What if I half shifted and got stuck? It had happened before, my parents told me about it. Or what if I just sort of grew fur but nothing else and was a furry human?

Only one way to find out, I guess.

“Okay. I’m ready,” I told him before I lost my nerve.

“Alright, close your eyes.” His voice was smooth and deep and so damn distractingly sexy. Talking to someone without looking at them was a total turn on.

With a shaky breath, I did as he said. Standing here, naked, eyes closed, back to back with the alpha’s son in the middle of the woods, was hands down the weirdest thing I’d ever done.

“Imagine you are driving a car, your hands are at the wheel. Look down at your hands.”

What the what? Okay … was this some New Age visualization shit?

I did as he asked.

“For twenty years you have been the one driving the car, you’ve been in control,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination or if he moved the slightest bit closer to me, because I felt more warmth at my back. “It’s time to let her drive. Let your wolf take the wheel, watch as your hands turn to claws.”

I swallowed hard, pulling my thoughts away from his sexy voice and back to the hands on the wheel.

I’m ready to let you drive, I said to my inner self, my wolf. Then I visualized my human hands on a steering wheel and watched as my fingers lengthened to claws. Fur puffed out on the top of my hands and my bones cracked.

“Now let go. Just let it all go. Lose control,” he whispered.

My whole life had been an exercise in control. Don’t shift, don’t show your fur, don’t let your teeth lengthen, don’t this, don’t that, and for the first time ever I just dropped it all. Like a brick wall being smashed to bits, I let it all come tumbling down.

A scream ripped from my throat as pain flared along my spine and I flew forward onto all fours. Fire ripped through me, pain mixed with heat.

“Breathe through the change. Your wolf knows what to do,” he said from behind me.

“Everything … hurts,” I panted, my voice barely human.

A cool hand landed on my back and my entire body melted under his pressure. Everything within me relaxed then, and that’s when it happened. I’d never forget the sound of my own bones snapping. It was a sharp sound that come from within me and outside of me at the same time. The heat lessened, as well as the pain, and I just … transformed. The fur I was used to popping up on my arms flared to life on my entire body. I literally felt my face grow as my nose protruded into my line of sight and I saw that it was a white silvery fur. My tongue rolled out of my mouth as I panted to cool myself off. When I looked down, I saw four white and gray paws.

“Oh fuck…” Sawyer’s voice behind me was like sandpaper.

Okay … not the reaction I expected. More like, “Your wolf is beautiful,” or, “I really like your markings.” I spun around, to see what was wrong and a terrified howl ripped from my throat.

What. The. Hell?

Sawyer stood over my naked body, my naked human body. I was curled into a ball at his feet.