“Yeah?” Holt’s grin was broad.
Theo traced his index finger lightly around my areola. He seemed mesmerized and didn’t look up.
“Can I? Is it… hard to change?” I wondered.
Holt’s laugh was rich and warm. “No, sweetheart. It’s easy. The first time can be hard. But the real difficulty can be learning how to shift back.”
I frowned, considering. It was something I’d never thought about before. Turning into a wolf and back as if there was a switch. It wasn’t like they were Superman and went into a phone booth. Or Wonder Woman, who spun in a circle and magically changed. “When do you learn? Is it like learning to walk?”
Theo kissed my bare shoulder and murmured into my heated skin. “No, the ability comes with puberty. And just like puberty, some get it earlier, some get it later.”
“When did you both get it?”
“Thirteen,” Holt said.
“I was younger. Twelve,” Theo answered. “I don’t know what it’s like for a human to go through puberty, but for a shifter, it can be pretty fucking overwhelming.”
“Oh yeah.” Holt chuckled as if thinking back.
I wouldn’t be paid to go through seventh grade again. A girl and her first period was a hot mess, but turning into a wolf? That had to be kind of scary. Or perhaps exciting.
“Raging hormones that get stronger with the full moon,” Holt continued. “The urge to spontaneously shift every time you get a hard-on. That’s not just embarrassing, it could be damn dangerous to the pack.”
“What do you mean?”
“Say a kid turns furry in the middle of his middle school gym class? The humans might not take that well,” Theo explained.
I laughed. I could only imagine. “Oh God, has that ever happened?”
“No. It gets drilled into our heads from the time we’re tiny to never, ever reveal our secret,” Holt said.
I gasped. “Wait—does this mean I went to high school with shifters? Which ones? Who were they?” I tried to picture the kids in my class, and wondered who was human and who’d been so stealthy I never knew they were… more.
Holt and Theo looked at each other. I sensed hesitation from them.
“Oh. Can you not tell me?”
“You’ll know soon enough, sweetheart. Once we’ve claimed you, you’ll be part of our pack. All the secrets will be yours.”
Once we’ve claimed you.
My belly did a little flip-flop.
Secrets. Yeah, they’d revealed a big one, by mistake, but weren’t too keen on sharing everything with me now. Because I wasn’t claimed.
The pressure I’d felt last night to make a lifetime commitment to these guys returned. I’d just met them, but they believed I was the one. Their only one. Forever.
It was a lot to take in, especially since getting to know them more was tied to it.
“Show me your wolves,” I blurted, in part to distract myself from the thoughts swirling in my head.
They stared at me in surprise.
“Really?” Holt asked.
I frowned for a second. “Is that a secret too? That I can’t see you like that?”
“No, it’s just… well, it might be weird for you to see your two men turn into wolves. Don’t be afraid,” Theo cautioned.
“I’m not afraid.” I wasn’t. I was excited. Curious.
“We’re big,” Theo added. “Bigger than standard wolves. But we’re not dangerous—not to you. You never need to be afraid.”
I let out a light scoff. “I work with big animals on a daily basis.”
And then I screamed.
It was more out of surprise than fear. Holy shit. Theo had shifted right before my eyes. A giant silver wolf was lying beside me where Theo had been. I couldn’t be sure but I could have sworn it—he—was smiling at me! Mouth open, rows of sharp white teeth gleamed in the morning sunlight through the window.
“Oh my God,” I murmured. I raised my hand, but dropped it.
“You can touch him,” Holt said. “Go on.”
Now I understood why they’d cautioned me not to be afraid. I wasn’t, but I could see how someone not used to working with animals might be. His head was massive—so much larger than a big dog’s. I stroked his silky ears, and when he licked me, I buried my face in his fur and kissed him back. Theo.
“Show me yours,” I challenged Holt, who was watching with amusement.
He shuddered and I heard the crack of joints as he changed form. This time I wasn’t as freaked, but wow. It wasn’t every day you saw your naked lover turn into a wolf.
Holt was black with tan markings. His wolf-eyes were amber. He stood over me, and I giggled when he leaned down to lick my face. I grabbed his neck and curled my fingers into the soft fur.
“You’re beautiful.” I reached with one hand for Theo’s head to rub his ears. “Both of you.”
THEO
After we showed Ali our wolves, I showered, even though my wolf was not too keen on me washing off my mate’s scent.
Now, as I dressed, Holt and Ali were in there together.
Holt had texted his friend, Cord, to see if he and his scent-match, Nash, and their mate, Rachel, would be interested in meeting us at the diner for a late breakfast. It wasn’t because we wanted to share Ali—we sure as hell didn’t—but it was the perfect opportunity for two human females who had wolf mates to chat. In case there was girl stuff they needed to talk over. Like how it works having two mates. Or things we wouldn’t even know Ali might be thinking about or worrying about.
I hadn’t considered it, but it was a solid idea. We needed all the help we could get.
Ali now knew what we were, which was a step forward in terms of claiming her, but this in-between period made her a huge liability to us, and the pack. We’d barely known each other for more than a few days. What if she rejected us? While I couldn’t even consider that possibility, the alpha would say there couldn’t be a rancher out in the world knowing what we were, even if we were fated mates. It would be a huge problem. The most serious of threats to every single shifter in the pack. Hell, everywhere.
If Gibson found out she knew about shifters but we hadn’t claimed her, he’d be pissed.
So we needed to do everything we could to move things along. Move us down the road to permanence. For shifters, a long courtship wasn’t necessary. One sniff, and all parties instantly knew their destiny, as Holt and I knew our fates were entwined with hers.
With a human, it was different.
Ali wouldn’t have the biological need to be with us. We had to make her fall in love with us the human way. Which, unfortunately, neither of us knew anything about. It went beyond sex. It required compatibility. Trust. Friendship. Loyalty. Honor. Faithfulness.
We had all of that. We knew it. It came to us automatically. Ali needed time to believe she’d have all of it with us.
Holt was right. This was a good thing. Any positive words from Rachel would be a win.
When Cord texted back that we could all meet at the diner for breakfast, some of the background tension left my body. According to Holt, Cord and Nash had locked down their human mate, and the two males hadn’t even known each other before they both discovered Rachel was theirs. That was crazy on top of the fact their mate was human. If they could make it work, then we could. They might have answers or pointers for us.