ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (57 page)

The beeping of a monitor woke her. She felt tremendously groggy. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked. The lights in the room were so bright it was almost blinding. Her eyes felt crusty and she reached up to wipe the sleep from them. Her right arm ached horribly, and so did her leg.

She tried to push herself up, but she didn’t quite have the energy to do so.

“Hey, you’re up.” Shane’s voice came from beside her. He pushed her hair off her face and smiled at her. “How are you feeling?”

She opened her mouth, realizing how dry it was. “Thirsty,” she replied.

“I’ll get you some ice chips.”

“And in pain.”

“There isn’t much we can do for that right this second. But it will pass, promise.” She heard rummaging and the sound of ice being put into a cup. He handed her the cup. “This should be a bit better at least.” She sucked a few of the chips into her mouth and closed her eyes. The feeling of ice on her tongue was pure bliss.

“What happened? Where am I?”

His hand went to her back and he started to rub in small circles. “Matt attached you in the parking lot. I took him down, shifted and got you into the car. The pack has a doctor that usually handles any of our issues so we brought you to the pack infirmary. Dr. Smith left a while ago. You’re bandaged up.”

She lifted the sheet and looked at her leg. It was covered in clean gauze. She was confused about the lack of blood on the bandage. The sort of wound that a wolf would have inflicted would likely still be bleeding. She frowned.

“Did he put something on the wound before he put on the bandages?”

Shane looked down and cleared his throat. “Uh, no.”

“Why not?” she demanded. “Did he tell you why?”

Shane sat at the edge of the bed and took her hand. “Lexi, I uh, have some…interesting news. There are two ways to become a shifter. You’re either born a shifter because one or both of your parents are shifters or…” he trailed off.

“You get scratched by a werewolf…” Lexi finished, her heart sinking. “Like in the legends?”

Shane looked uncomfortable and Lexi wasn’t sure what to tell him. Hell, she wasn’t even sure how she felt about it. Was she still going to be able to practice medicine? What if she accidently scratched a patient with her nails? A thousand things could go wrong. A choked noise left her lips.

Shane put his arms around her. “This isn’t as insane as it seems. You can live your life completely normally. On the full moon for the first few months, you’ll shift but after the first few times you’ll be able to do it at will. We’ll practice it. You’re only…” he searched for a word. “Contagious? That sounds horrible. But you can only make other shifters if you’re in wolf form.”

He pulled her close, careful not to shift her leg too much. “I’m so sorry about this. Honestly, I never, in my wildest dreams, thought anything like this would happen. Ever.”

Lexi took a deep breath. Everything Shane explained wasn’t so bad. And he would coach her through it. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to be together for…forever. The word made her stomach knot. They were mates. That was it. She was falling in love with him, but somehow being told that fate had a hand in it made her bristle a little. She took a deep breath. If they could handle his homicidal cousin and come out on top, then they could handle anything.

She kissed his shoulder. “It’s okay. If anything, now I can actually rip Adam limb from limb if I wanted to.”

Shane laughed. “You could. As much as I’d love to see that bastard torn apart, you’d feel awful if you did. You’re still in full control of your human faculties when you’re a wolf, sweetheart. You’d remember all of it.”

She sighed and nuzzled closer into him. “Good.”

He kissed her forehead. “The consolation prize is that you’re going to heal really quickly from now on.”

It was her turn to laugh. “That would have been a bit more useful a few years ago.” Shane’s eyes darkened. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“The thought of you being hurt by anyone just sends my instincts into overdrive. I can’t really explain it. It’s all very ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane.’” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “God, this is what it’s like to have a mate. Constant concern for their safety and wellbeing, but in an insane way.”

“God help anyone who tries to hit on me then.” Lexi pulled away from Shane and moved down on the bed so she was lying flat. “Come cuddle?”

Shane followed her down and turned so he was holding her. In the short period of time that she had been awake, her leg did feel a lot better. Maybe there was something to be said for being a werewolf after all.

Shane brought her back to his apartment the next day despite her still bandaged leg. It was going to take a few days for everything to heal completely, but she had already taken off the bandages. Amanda was waiting for them at Shane’s apartment. She was sitting in his living room, looking very agitated. The moment they entered the room she stood up.

“We have a problem,” she snapped.

“We have multiple problems, Amanda. Which one are you talking about specifically?”

Amanda rolled her eyes and made a move to help Lexi sit down on the sofa. “Your dad was officially told to step down last night.”

“Fuck. I thought we had more time.” Shane ran a hand through his hair, disheveling it even more.

“Apparently not. And this morning, Matt officially filed a bid for Alpha so the council has scheduled a match.”

“When is it supposed to happen?”

“In two days.”

“Fuck.”

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.” Amanda didn’t look sorry though. Lexi thought she looked a bit smug about the whole thing, and maybe relieved. Did she think that Shane was going to drop his bid as Alpha because of Lexi? She probably did. Lexi wondered if Amanda’s opinion of her was going to change now that she was technically part of the pack, and Shane’s mate. Somehow, she doubted it.

“One more thing,” Amanda continued. “The council wants to know if you are going to challenge Matt for attacking your…mate.” She cast a look over at Lexi.

“I wasn’t planning on handling it officially,” Shane said darkly.

“You may have to. And probably Lexi will have to be part of it, since she’s one of us now.” Amanda stopped for a moment, opened her arms wide and looked pointedly at Lexi. “Welcome to the club.”

“Amanda. What exactly did the council say about Lexi being involved in this?”

“Just that as the mate of our possible new Alpha she’d probably go have to prove herself as someone that can hold their own in our community by taking on her attacker, Matt.”

“They want a brand new wolf to take on Matt?”

“Uhh, it’s unclear.”

Shane buried his face in his hands. Lexi put her hand on his shoulder. “We can handle this.”

“You’re not going to have to deal with anything besides healing and getting the change under control. I’ll handle Matt and the council. They’re being absolutely idiotic. Making you prove yourself to the pack forty-eight hours after you were turned is insane. This sort of trial is usually planned out for months.”

“Usually the incumbent Alpha knows they’re going to step in months ahead of time but you’ve been dragging your feet on this, Shane. It’s your fault.” Amanda looked completely unsympathetic. “I’d love to say that I would challenge for Alpha but I really have better things to do.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “The pack would be a mess with you as Alpha.”

“I know. That’s why you have to do it. Taking care of Henry is practically my full time job.” Lexi remembered Henry, Amanda’s fiancée. He was a wolf and he had some sort of big wig finance job. She remembered him being a nervous sort of guy. Amanda probably had quite the leash around him. Lexi giggled at the imagery.

“This really isn’t a laughing matter,” Amanda told Lexi drolly.

“I wasn’t laughing at our situation…” Lexi started.

“She was probably laughing at our luck. Because it really is quite hysterical, once you get past the fact that one of us is probably going to have to kill Matt.” Shane stood up. “Okay, I’m going to make a few phone calls. Amanda, please keep an eye on Lexi. Get her anything she needs.”

“Fine.”

“I’m really okay. I feel fine, Shane.” He pressed a fast kiss to her lips.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked towards the kitchen. She could hear his voice, sharp and frustrated, from where she sat.

She looked at Amanda and Amanda looked right back at her. “Uh, look,” Lexi started, not quite sure how to handle her boyfriend’s sister. “Since I’m in the pack now, and since I guess I’m Shane’s mate, we should try to get along.”

Amanda raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Sweetie, until you prove that you’re good enough for my brother, I’m not going to be nice to you. So far, all you’ve shown me is that you get yourself into a lot of trouble and that isn’t exactly something my brother needs more of.”

“To be fair, the whole reason I’m in all this trouble is because of Shane.”

“Then prove you can handle it.” Amanda stood up and crossed her arms before she turned away from Lexi. The conversation was over.

Lexi rolled her eyes. Fine. Two could play at that game. “Amanda, be a dear and get me a glass of ice water. I’m parched.”

Amanda turned back to her. “Why don’t you do it yourself—“

Lexi tapped her bandages and tilted her head. Amanda scowled but walked into the kitchen to get Lexi some water.

Lexi didn’t remember falling asleep, but she must have. And Shane must have carried her in to bed, because she woke up in his room, wrapped tightly in sheets that smelled like him. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Shane?” she called. “Are you here?”

The door of the bedroom opened and he entered the room. He was wearing sweatpants that rode low on his hips and his muscular chest was bare. He walked to the bed and set his knees on the edge of the bed. He leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “Hey you,” he said against her skin. “How are you feeling?”

She pulled him down so he was lying next to her and she curled into him. “Better. I want to take the bandages off today.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“I’m a doctor, of course I’m sure.” But she really wasn’t. She had no idea how fast she was going to heal from now on. She had more important things to focus on, however. She wanted Shane to teach her to fight properly and to shift at will. She didn’t want to be stuck in a situation where she needed control and didn’t have it.

He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t guarantee that the wound is completely stitched up, babe.”

“You don’t need to.” She paused. “Shane, I need you to teach me to fight. If your pack wants me to prove myself, then I need to learn all the wolf stuff as soon as possible.”

Shane sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I talked to them, but they are pretty insistent about testing you. It’s really not a usual thing, but I think they want to make sure the Alpha bitch is up to standards.”

Lexi scowled. “Is that what my technical title would be?”

Shane laughed. “No, it’s totally an informal thing, but some people are going to call you that. Not everyone is thrilled about the fact you aren’t a bred wolf.”

“But isn’t like half your pack turned?”

Shane nodded. “That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a hierarchy. Is it right? No. But that’s the way it is.”

Lexi pursed her lips and rolled away from Shane. She pushed herself up and sat on the edge of the bed. She propped her bandaged leg up and began to pull at the gauze. She gently unraveled it. She expected it to stick to her open flesh but nothing like that happened.

When the gauze was fully peeled back, she examined her leg. The skin was completely knit back together. She ran a finger along the puckered, red scar. It looked like it was already months old.

“That healed faster than normal…” Shane muttered in her ear. He was looking over her shoulder.

“That sounds really ominous.” Lexi stepped off the bed and tested her weight on the injured leg. It twinged slightly but didn’t really hurt.

“It’s just unusual. But it could be because Matt is a powerful wolf, so you’ll probably be quite powerful.”

She jumped in place a few times. “It seems to be okay.” He nodded. “Alright, teach me how to shift.”

He laughed. “Right now?”

“Yeah. Right now. No time to waste.”

He took a deep breath. “Sit down.” She sat back down on the bed. He sat as well and turned to face her. “This is all going to sound very odd.” She raised an eyebrow expectantly. “But you also can’t assume that anything is going to happen today. This sort of thing takes time. Close your eyes and examine the way your body feels. Kind of like meditation.”

Lexi took a deep breath and reached into herself. She felt so stupid. She didn’t feel different. She just felt like normal Lexi. She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, hoping that something would happen. But nothing did.

She opened one eye and looked at Shane. “Nothing happened.”

He nodded. “It’s going to take a while. I turned for the first time when I was 13. It usually hits right around puberty. But this is what they teach you before it happens. Everyone needs to be in control of their shifting ability. What would happen if a 13 year old kid turned in the middle of their classroom? Disaster. No one would get hurt, you’re still pretty in control of your human mind, but instinct is a way bigger deal as a wolf. You feel everything more intensely. Fear, hunger. You practically smell what people feel too. It’s amazing. But terrifying.”

“This isn’t making me feel any better.” Lexi didn’t want to feel things more deeply, or be so tuned in to what others were feeling. She had enough to handle with her own emotions.

Shane reached forward and took her hand. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, promise. It’s actually pretty amazing.”

She closed her eyes again, and instead of focusing on herself, she started focusing on Shane. The way his hand felt in hers, rough and strong. She took a deep breath in and released it slowly. The warmth of Shane’s hand grounded her.

She thought about seeing him change, the way his bones bent and shifted, the hair, everything. She imagined herself doing the same thing. An itch started at the top of her head and moved down her body. She opened her eyes as she felt something lurch inside of her.

Shane smiled. “It’s happening.”

She looked down at her arm which was rapidly sprouting course brown hair. There was a pain in her skull as the bones began to shift and move. The way the room looked changed. She assumed it was the difference between seeing things through a wolf’s eyes and a human’s eyes.

Shane reached out and ran a hand over her head. “You’re an adorable wolf. Now that you’ve changed, it’s time to try becoming human again.”

The change from wolf to human took much longer. Shane was right about the feelings and sensations. Lexi could barely keep still. She sheets felt so strange on her paws. Shane smelled so interesting. She constantly pressed her nose against his skin. He laughed whenever she did. She wished she could bottle his sent and save it for when she turned back into a human.

Finally, after an hour of padding around the apartment as a wolf, she managed to turn back. “You smell awesome,” she said.

“That smell has to do with us being mates. I don’t actually think I smell that good.”

She shrugged, and as she came back to full awareness of her human body she realized something important. She was naked.

Shane’s eyes were roaming over her body and she blushed lightly. “I want you,” he said, his voice low and full of desire.

Her eyes found his and she closed the space between them. “Take me, then.”

When they finished making love, they lay on the couch together. Just as they were drifting off, Shane’s phone rang. He moved her so she was laying down on the sofa rather than on him. She watched his firm backside as he ran to the bedroom to grab his phone. She closed her eyes and listened to the distant sound of his voice. She couldn’t quite make out what he was going to say.

She heard his footsteps and she opened her eyes. He stood in the entryway of the living room. He was wearing clothes and there was an expression on his face that made her worried.

“What’s wrong?”

“The council called. We need to go.”