She likened it to a scenario in which she suddenly had elf ears or purple skin. When she looked in the full-length dressing mirror hanging on her bathroom door, she had expected to see her usual self—brunette, brown eyes—not a wolf with gray, tan, and black markings. Not a wolf with a long tail and big ears and teeth.
When she’d first seen her huge wolf feet and wolf legs in the bathtub, she thought she’d somehow turned into a German shepherd. Which was beyond bizarre. She had watched lots of horror stories and thought maybe she’d received a body organ from a canine and now could turn into a dog. But instead of a dog, she had been a long-legged wolf with a shocked expression—her shocked expression. No matter how much she tried to rationalize what she was seeing in the mirror, she couldn’t.
“You’re going to be all right. You’ve got a pack to take care of you, and you have me. We’ll teach you everything you need to know.”
She felt the tension leaving her body. Not because she was done being angry, but because she couldn’t keep the fight going. She felt like sinking into the floor and sleeping for an eternity.
As soon as he felt her relax, he released his grip on her, yet he was ready to tighten his hold again. She could feel the tension in his hands and arms.
Then he let her go and she dropped to her paws, sat, then lay down. She kept her head up, watching him, but she was too tired to battle him any longer.
Allan warily kept his eye on her and pulled out his phone. “Hey, Paul, the wolf is out of the bag. I’m going to need some help here.”
She growled softly. The whole pack would come and get her. She felt she was the blood sacrifice for some pagan satanic wolf pack.
*
Still lying down, Debbie didn’t look like a threat now, but Allan didn’t mind admitting she had scared the shit out of him when she lunged at him. A wolf’s teeth could rip him to shreds. He was lucky she was either holding back and her lovely, true nature still had some control over the anger she harbored against him for what she had become, or she was still so exhausted from her ordeal that she just didn’t have the strength.
Whatever the reason, he was thanking God she hadn’t killed him. “I’m taking you to my place and we’ll talk this all out.”
After about half an hour, though it seemed like forever, he heard trucks pull up and was surprised when Everett arrived with the owner of the Italian restaurant, Fred Garafalo, and his chef, Gary White—all three new to the pack.
They hurried inside to help Allan with Debbie.
“What can we do?” Everett asked, eyeing Debbie.
Despite the arrival of Allan’s new help, she hadn’t moved from where she was lying down. She’d rested her head on her legs, kept her eyes on Allan, and lifted her head when she heard the men arrive, but she didn’t move to attack anyone.
Thankfully. Maybe she was coming to realize they only wanted what was best for her. And they didn’t mean to hurt her in any way.
“She’s got some food in the freezer if someone wants to pack it in the ice chest. Someone can get her toiletries. Someone can pack some clothes for her. I’ll stay with her.” Allan would have packed her things for her so that someone she knew better was doing it, but it couldn’t be helped. If she got vicious again, he wanted to be the one dealing with her. He still had the sedative in case he needed to use it, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to.
She didn’t seem to care. He half expected her to growl again. Maybe she was too tired.
“Paul told me to bring a crate for her in case you need it. I put it in the back of your hatchback.”
Allan didn’t want to have to crate her, but he couldn’t risk her getting all snarly with him on the drive back to his place. It took about a half hour, longer in this weather, and he really had to concentrate on his driving.
“We’ll follow you home and help unpack everything so you can stay with her,” Everett said.
Everett was really good for the pack and Allan was glad he had mated his sister. He always seemed so diplomatic. Saying that Allan could keep an eye on Debbie would have sounded much more antagonistic than saying he could stay with her, as if to comfort her, which he wished he could. He didn’t think that was going to happen right away.
When they were all packed up, Everett and the other men waited to see what Allan wanted to do about the crate or if he was willing to risk letting her ride with him without being locked up.
Everett left for a moment, then came back with a heavy-duty leash and collar.
Allan really didn’t want to put her on a leash. But if they tried to get her out to the hatchback and she wasn’t on a leash, she was sure to run. Chasing her down could be a real nightmare for them and a danger for her. But he really didn’t want to have to leash her.
“Debbie, come on. Let’s go and get settled at my place and then we’ll talk.”
She was watching him, but she didn’t lift her head.
Everyone waited.