My words die away as, out of the corner of my eye, I see Kane’s form shift. I nearly drop the phone as pelt replaces bare skin, and Kane’s face extends, his teeth sharpening, a snout replacing his nose. His hands and feet become paws, and his torso narrows and rounds.
When it’s done, all I can see of Kane in this animal are my crush’s ice-blue eyes, and even those…those eyes don’t look human.
Holy shit, I have to blink several times to make sense of the wolf standing before me. I go still as its gaze locks on mine.
“Hello, miss? Miss? Miss?” the officer on the line says.
“Please come quickly,” I breathe, and then I end the call.
I don’t move. It’s all I can do not to panic as I stare down a larger-than-life gray wolf.
The animal sniffs the air in my direction, and why, oh, why did Kane decide to shift right next to me? And why did I not have the good sense to get the hell away from him before now?
The werewolf approaches me, and he’s still scenting the air like I’m his next meal.
“Don’t,” I say, putting power behind my voice. I don’t know how much of Kane the man is in control of Kane the animal’s mind.
The wolf stops, his ears flicking, and he shakes out his head like he can throw off the magic.
Just as I’m bracing for him to approach me again, shifter magic thickens around the wolf, and then the transformation is happening all over again but in reverse—limbs lengthening and widening, fur retreating—until a very naked Kane is on the ground on all fours, panting from the exertion. I can see his muscles trembling from the effort, and his skin is covered in a sheen of sweat.
“Sorry,” he says. His voice is more of a growl than anything else. He clears his throat. “I wasn’t thinking. I forgot you weren’t”—he glances up at me—“pack.”
I exhale. I think that was supposed to be a compliment, but considering the fact I nearly shit my pants a few seconds ago, I’m having mixed feelings about the entire thing.
Why does every supernatural have to be so damn scary?
“Lycanthropes don’t hunt humans,” he adds. “Not, at least, to kill.”
When then would a wolf shifter hunt a human?
I’m not brave enough to ask.
Instead, I nod. “How are your wounds?”
“Better,” Kane says, sounding more like himself. He grabs his clothing and begins to put it on. “I think I’m almost completely healed. One more shift should do the trick, but I’ll do that back on pack lands.”
I give him a small smile.
I can hear sirens in the distance. Must be the Politia.
Once Kane is dressed—well, mostly dressed, as he’s still shirtless—he comes over and sits at my side, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. His embrace is so comforting that I can’t help but lean my head against him, Memnon’s threat be damned.
“I think we’re doomed to just be friends,” I say softly, hating the admission but feeling the truth of it.
“What?” Kane looks down at me. “Is this about that asshole?”
I nod against him. There’s no point in lying.
He’s quiet for a moment.
“And is that what you want?” he says, frowning. “To just be friends?”
I take a deep breath. “I don’t know what I want,” I say wearily. “I do know that I was ready to have really fun, wild sex with you.” I’m not even embarrassed to admit it at this point.
“That’s not off the table,” Kane cuts in, skimming his lips along my temple.
Those lips feel wrong there. Fuck, why do they feel wrong there? I want to carve out my own thoughts because they’re all twisted up.
I straighten, pulling away a little from the shifter. “The man who attacked you, he’s…been stalking me, and he’s made it clear he’ll hurt you if we do anything more.”
But that isn’t the full truth, is it? I kissed the sorcerer, and it felt right in a way nothing else has. And now I’m noticing all the ways other touches don’t stack up.
And you are my Selene, my eternal soul mate.
Kane’s hold tightens on me. “Fuck him. Some sicko doesn’t get to tell you how to live your life.”
Yeah, this is true, but the sicko in question apparently overthrew an entire kingdom just to get his girl a summer palace.
That’s not the sort of man I want to go toe-to-toe with.
Before I can form a response, two Politia officers, a man and a woman, come around to the back of the house, their flashlights moving over the lawn.
I wave to them, just to get their attention.
The two come over to us.
I pull away from Kane, putting some needed distance between us.
“Are you Selene Bowers?” one of the officers asks.
I nod.
“Would you like to tell us why you called us out here?” the other officer asks, her eyes moving over me and Kane.
For the next thirty minutes, Kane and I recount what happened to the two Politia officers. I covertly glance at their name tags: Officer Howahkan is the man and Officer Mwangi is the woman. They contact Kane’s pack to inform them of the incident, and then I take the group of us inside my residence hall.
When we pass the house’s library, we catch sight of a witch who sits passed out on one of the wingback chairs, her legs spread and her skirt around her waist. Another woman—a shifter, I think—kneels before her, her head on the witch’s thigh. She too appears to be passed out.
Officer Howahkan clears his throat, clearly not cool with what he’s seen.
He’s obviously not attended too many events with witches. We really do party hard.
I lead the group upstairs, toward my room, skirting around a witch sitting on the landing while singing a bawdy drinking song to her fox familiar, her magenta magic swirling around her.
We head down the third-floor hallway to my room, and once I let the group inside, the officers look over the broken glass, the rumpled sheets, and Kane’s discarded shirt. And then Kane and I recount the evening’s events all over again, starting with the foiled bang session and ending with Kane shifting. The entire time we recount the events, the coven sister in the room next door has really loud, enthusiastic sex.
Good for her. Should have been me, but good for her.
We all eventually head back downstairs, passing that same witch on the landing, only now she and her familiar have fallen asleep together. The couple in the library is still passed out, and honestly, they’ll probably be there until morning.
Officer Mwangi shakes her head at all of it.
I hurriedly escort them out to the front porch before closing the door behind me and giving my sisters their privacy.
“Well, I think that’s all we need for now,” Officer Howahkan says to me and Kane. “We’ll let you know if we apprehend your attacker.”
Officer Mwangi scrutinizes me as her partner turns to her, clearly ready to wrap this up.
Her eyes, however, are fixed on me. “Weren’t you the same girl who reported the last murder?” she asks.
Um…I have zero recollection of meeting this person.
I swallow delicately. “Um. Yeah.”
Kane glances over at me, his brows rising. Officer Howahkan too stares at me with unnerving intensity.
“What a coincidence,” Officer Mwangi says, though the way she says it makes it clear she’s thinking it’s not a coincidence at all. She gives me a once-over, like I’ve just gotten way more suspicious.