“We’re doing this together,” he said, thinking maybe if he was a wolf too, she wouldn’t feel so alien. He hoped that he wouldn’t scare her. He shifted and she watched, staring at him as if she were in awe, shocked, or surprised. Maybe a little of all three.
The shift was painless, just a quick warming of the muscles, a blurring of forms, and he was a wolf. A bigger wolf than she was. He hoped that didn’t intimidate her.
She sniffed at the air, smelling his scent and gathering what he was feeling, which was a lupus garou’s interest in another. Because that’s just what she was now. He didn’t know if it would ever work out between them. She had to want him too, forever, and she may never be prepared to mate with one of his kind.
He stood still, not getting any closer, letting her come to him. She remained where she was.
He wanted to smile, but he was certain she wouldn’t understand that showing his wicked wolf canines in this instance meant he was smiling. He sighed, then moved forward. Her ears went back. She wasn’t trembling, but she was unsure of his intentions. Or maybe just what it was to feel like a wolf getting to know another wolf. Again, he realized what a huge undertaking that was for her also.
*
Allan was a huge wolf. Huge! Before he had shifted, he had dropped his boxers, and she’d wondered what in the world he’d planned to do. She hadn’t expected him to shift into a wolf. The sight was extraordinary—so fast, the blurring of one form into the other—until he dropped to his feet as a very real wolf.
He was beautiful in a very handsome wolf way. His coat was shiny and thick. Striking silver and tan markings on his face, his chest white and his back a silvery, golden saddle. But he was so big!
He towered next to her and she tried not to cower before him. She didn’t think she’d be some beta wolf, but this was a totally new experience for her. So maybe as a human she was alpha, and as a wolf, sort of beta?
She had to snap out of this and stand right up to him. Only she was afraid her legs would shake.
He licked her cheek. She bowed her head a little, and she was afraid that was cowering. She lifted her head and looked him in the eye, forced her ears to perk up, but she didn’t lick him back. Wasn’t that a sign she was interested in more? Like courting? Or mating? Dating?
No way did she want to go there.
She didn’t know what to do in response to show there were no hard feelings right now. And that she appreciated he was trying to make her feel better by turning into a wolf. But she didn’t want him to get the notion she wanted to do any mating nonsense.
So how was she supposed to react?
He moved away from her then. She was afraid she’d hurt his feelings, but then he bowed in front of her, his butt in the air, his tail wagging. She recognized it as a play bow, like the German shepherd they had raised when she was growing up did. He would do that in front of the neighbor’s husky. She thought if she could relate what her dog had done to how a wolf would react, she could figure out some of this canine psychology.
The problem still was that she didn’t know how to react. She wasn’t ready to bow down to Allan and play with him. This was just too bizarre.
Good-naturedly and with lots of patience, he waited for her to respond.
Oh, all right. What could it hurt? Well, lots, if she bit him too hard or he bit her too hard. Then again, he would know not to. She wouldn’t.
She twisted around and tackled him, growling fiercely because it just came out that way, even if she didn’t mean to growl so wildly. He rolled onto his back in a purely submissive way and opened his mouth to play bite, but he was so gentle that it taught her to be gentle. Maybe they were supposed to do this in a rougher way, but for now, it was like taking baby steps.
She realized then that she couldn’t have had a better teacher.
She was on top of him, going for his neck, mouthing him, when she couldn’t have imagined anything yuckier than grabbing a furry beast by the neck before, but it felt right. All of it. Tackling him. Biting him. All in fun. Nothing sexual about it. She didn’t think.
She noticed his tail wasn’t tucked submissively between his legs, but straight out, showing he was allowing her to be on top, to feel empowered. She moved off him, giving the play bow a try to see what he would do in reaction. He watched her, then rolled off his back and rested on his belly for a moment, his ears up, his gaze on hers. Then he jumped up and she whipped around and ran. She hadn’t meant to. She knew you never ran before a wild animal. And she knew he was so much bigger than her that he wouldn’t have any trouble catching her.
He nipped her butt and she yipped in startled surprise. He did it again, but this time she rounded on him, and they were in his bedroom, standing on their hind legs, teeth biting at each other’s mouths.