Between Two Wolves (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Menage Werewolf Romance) (11 page)

He kissed me, something between rough and
gentle, that strange combination that always took me by surprise, threw me a
little off guard, had back to day one. And I always hesitated, the tiniest bit
hesitant how to react. I mean, I reacted to the kiss. My body reacted, melting
into Jericho like I always did. But I never knew if I should go aggressive, or
play up the gentle. So I just let him lead the way.

This kiss was anything but gentle. He
grabbed the back of my head, pulling me into the kiss. It deepened. Impulsively
I pulled his lower lip into my mouth, sucking briefly. And then I did it. I bit
Jericho’s lip.

He growled, but didn’t pull away. I did,
tugging his lower lip with my teeth. I opened my eyes to see him looking at me
from beneath hooded eyes. I bit down just a little harder, and his eyes widened
just a bit. Then I chickened out and let go. Jericho reached up, rubbing his
lip.

“You’re getting better. You still pull
your punches though.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “You’re a wolf now, Red. You
can act like one.”

Colt’s breath was hot against my ear, his
hands moving up my back, thumbs working into the hair at the nape of my neck.
“So can I.”

Before I had a chance to think of a comeback,
Colt grabbed me from behind. With a surprised yelp I let go of Jericho. Colt
was quick, far quicker than I was. I found myself on my knees, practically
falling onto my face. Colt was already pressed against my ass, his cock sliding
between my legs. My body was still humming from Jericho’s attention to that
part of my anatomy. Then Colt was there, sliding into me. It was different; he
was different.

I managed to push up, against the
pressure of Colt pushing me forward with each thrust. It was a struggle, but I
finally got up on my hands. I was panting, from exertion, from arousal. From
the desire to want to turn and snap at Colt, to taste him, like I had Jericho.

I shook my head, blinking in surprise.
Something wasn’t right. Or maybe something really was right.

“Jericho…” My voice sounded harsh,
choked. “Jericho, something’s happening.”

I saw panic in his eyes, and then he was
leaning over, pushing back the hair from my face. Then I was moving, lunging
forward on the bed, fingers gripping the sheets. Colt was beside me, trying to
stroke my hair. But I shook him off.

“This is it, right? It’s happening…but
why? I don’t want it…”

A force like nothing I’d ever felt before
shook me. And I mean shook. All I wanted was to curl into a fetal position, to
hold myself from splintering into a million shards. It was like every cell in
my body was set on some high pitch vibrate mode. I closed my eyes, gritted my
teeth, and tried to hold on.

“I guess this means you’re ready.” There
was a mixture of apprehension and excitement in Colt’s voice. I forced myself
to look at him.

“I am not. I am not ready. This isn’t…I
don’t want…” Whatever the hell I wanted to say got lost in the growl that tore
from my throat. My voice rose to an almost-howl, then cracked, turning into a
guttural moan.

“This hurts.” I was sweating now, my body
running hot, very hot. I uncurled myself, rolling over onto my back. The room
spun around me, and for a horrible minute I thought I was going to be sick.

“Fuck this hurts…is it always like this?”

Colt loomed up next to me. Everything was
distorted and I blinked, trying to make him come into focus. He knelt beside
the bed.

“Yeah. It does, at first. It gets easier.
But we’ll get you through this, and from then on, it’ll be a breeze.”

I blew out a breath.
A breeze, right.
My
body felt like it was going through a meat grinder, my mind being blown to
pieces. There was no way they knew what I was going through. I was alone in
this.

Alone…

I jerked my head around. “Wait. You’ll be
there, right? I can’t do this alone.” I shot a look at Colt, then to Jericho,
standing behind him. “You’ll be there?”

“We will, Red. Right beside you. But…” I
got that grin from Colt, the crooked one, the one that drove me insane
sometimes.

“But what?” I gasped out what I was pretty
sure were going to be my last human words for now. Maybe forever.

“Well, we can’t talk as wolves. And we
don’t know if you’ll be able to…communicate as a wolf.”

I gave up trying to understand him, and
gave in to the pain. Another blast of whatever the hell this was tore through
me, and I knew this was it. My arms were in agony, felt like they were being
stretched, bent backward, and torn out of my sockets. I screamed.

“Jericho, we need to get her outside. She
can’t stay in here.”

“She can’t walk downstairs. I’ll carry
her.”

There was a roaring in my ears, the pain
in my arms traveling down to my legs. I wanted to lie still, very, very still,
not be picked up and carried bodily downstairs. But that’s what was happening. Colt
slid his arms under my shoulders and knees, picking me up easily. I turned my
face toward his chest. For the first time since I’d known him, Colt’s skin felt
cool against my heated skin. I closed my eyes and hung on as he carried me out
of the room and down the stairs.

Colt set me down on the soft ground
beneath the pines. It was blessedly cool, and for a moment I just lay there,
pain wracking my body. It was too strong for me to fight, even if I wanted to.

Something was changing inside me. Not
just my body, but something deep inside my core. I wanted this, I wanted to
change. I was afraid of the pain, but the desire to be a wolf was growing
stronger than the fear.

“Colt…” I tried to sit up, but I could
only make it to my hands and knees. I stayed there, head down, gulping in the
night air. “Jericho?”

“We’re here, Red. Right here. We’re not
leaving you.”

“Will you change with me?”

“We will…”

I looked up at Jericho, Colt standing
behind him. “Promise?”

“Red, we wouldn’t miss this for all the
world. We’ll be right there beside you, every step.”

Some kind of seismic wave of pain took my
breath away. I arched up onto my knees, head back, screaming my pain into the
night sky. The sound went from human to wolf, and this time stayed there.

Jericho said something, Colt answered,
but their voices were muddy, muffled, words making no sense. My hands hurt, the
tips of my fingers felt like someone was cutting them open with knives. I made
the mistake of looking down.

My nails were splitting, the ends of my
fingers widening, shortening, pulling back into my palms. Claws emerged, thick,
sharp, wicked looking. I wanted to scream, but frankly I was mesmerized. Thick
hair appeared, reddish blonde, and within minutes my hands—my
feet—were covered. It moved up my arms and legs, and I looked down at my
body. I was completely covered.

There was more, more pain, more changes.
My jaw cracked, stretching. It was agony and I threw my hands up to my face,
scratching my skin with my claws. The pain was nothing compared to the torture
in the rest of my body. I tried to lower my arms, but they refused to
cooperate, and I fell forward onto my newly formed paws. I wanted this to end,
to be whatever I was supposed to be.

There was another burst of noise in my
head, the roar deafening now. Someone touched me and I turned, snarling,
snapping my jaws—and my very sharp new teeth—at the hand on my
shoulder. It was Colt.

“She’s one of us.”

The roaring was gone. I could hear
everything, see everything. Smell things I could not identify. I was a wolf.

* * *

Something pushed at my other shoulder. I
turned, teeth bared. It was a yellow wolf…it was Jericho.

“It’s okay.”

I shook my head. It sounded for a minute
like radio static, or bees buzzing. But then the noises cleared. The voice was
his, in my mind. And he was there, standing next to me, a wolf.

“Think it, and you can talk to me. You’ll
have to work at it.”

I wanted to tell him I was okay, or at
least that I thought I was okay. But it was like being in a dream, where you
want to scream, but it’s all muffled, like screaming into a pillow. A brief
sharp pain lanced through my head, and I whined in protest.

“It’s okay. Just take it slow. You can
understand me, right? Just wag your tail.”

Even as a wolf, he could make me smile.
If
wolves could smile.
And wag my tail, right…but there was something behind
me, something I could control. I glanced over my shoulder. I did have a tail, a
big, lush tail, blonde tipped in red. An experimental wiggle of my back end
brought a yip from my left.

“Wag your tail, not wiggle your ass. As
much as I like that ass…”

I spun around. The big black wolf I’d
seen on the trail in the park was sitting, head cocked, watching me with bright
blue eyes. Colt. I snapped at him.

“You can wag your tail however you want.”
It was Jericho again, clearer this time.

“Screw you.”

Colt and Jericho barked what I assume was
wolfish laughter. “Good job, Red. You got it.”

“Leave it to Colt to make you mad enough
to talk.”

“You feel like taking a walk in the
woods?” Jericho wagged his tail and turned. “Follow the leader.”

I took a few experimental steps. Four
legs and a tail, on a woman who had a hard time walking and chewing gum at the
same time. But one step led to another, and another, and within minutes I was
loping down the path behind Jericho. Colt followed. I could hear him, every
footfall on the pine needles clear and sharp. I could smell him too. And Jericho.
Their scent was even more intoxicating like this, mixed with trees, and
foliage, and decaying leaves. It hit me like a physical blow, some place near
my heart.
These were my wolves.

The path I’d walked on before was
suddenly full of things I’d never seen, or even knew existed. Everything was
interesting. I heard something in the leaves, and couldn’t help pouncing on it.
Turned out it was a shrew. I caught it, tossed it in the air. Then I backed
away, my mouth filled with something that tasted horrible. Jericho’s laughed
echoed in my head.

“You’ll learn what’s edible, what’s not.
Those are not.”

I headed off the path, deeper into the
forest. The guys flanked me, never pushing too close, but always there. I
snuffled through leaves, listened to earthworms burrowing, beetles moving
invisibly under cover. All of it was fascinating. I moved through a clearing, a
space beneath the pines. I stopped, taking it all in. It was like a cathedral,
a sacred space almost in our backyard. I wanted to come here again, as
myself…or as my other self.

“Come on. You’ll love the river.”

Colt veered off, heading down the ravine.
I’d never been here, couldn’t have ever walked here. It was steep and rocky,
but I worked my way easily between boulders and fallen logs. If nothing else, I
loved being graceful and surefooted.

The river shimmered in the dark, the
surface giving off colors I never even knew existed, sounds I’d never heard
with my human ears. I stood, open-mouthed, with what I thought was probably a
wolf-like grin on my face.

“Beautiful, right?” Colt brushed against
my shoulder, a bold move since I’d tried to bite him earlier. But the desire to
snap had faded. Maybe I was getting used to being in this new skin.

“Yeah. Beyond beautiful.”

“More fun to play in. Come on.” Colt
nudged me with his nose, pushing me forward. But I didn’t need any prodding.

“Race you.” But I was already sprinting
toward the river. I looked over my shoulder, my two wolves right behind me.

I ran into the water. It was cold on my
paws, but it ran off my fur. The rocks beneath me were slippery, but I
clambered over them with ease. Water hit my muzzle, and I turned. Colt jumped
from a nearby rock, water splashing over me. I barked…I think it was something
like a bark. It was a sound of perfect joy.

We played in the water for a long time,
jumping, splashing each other, veering off to turn over a rock in search of
something hidden beneath them. I discovered a crayfish, nosing it with
interest. Until it clamped one claw on the end of my nose. I pulled back,
snorting, shaking my head until it came loose, sailing through the air. I heard
it hit the water with a little plunk.

Colt crossed the river, and Jericho and I
joined him. We started up the other side, into the park. It was the first time
I’d been here since I’d met Colt and Jericho at the hot springs. It seemed a
lifetime away now.

We skirted the campsites. The scent of
burning wood was acrid, foreign, made me sneeze. Underneath that was the
tantalizing smell of food. I lifted my head, sniffing the air, salivating. It
was irresistible and I turned, following the aroma.

Jericho cut me off, a low grow rippling
from his throat. I stopped. Colt stepped up on the other side.

“No.”

A single word, spoken by both. My hackles
rose. I wanted what I wanted.

“We can’t risk being seen.”

I heard the words, let the meaning sink.
I backed down, stepped away. It was hard, but I turned toward the river. The guys
followed. And we went home.