Chapter Seven
Steve was damn near hyperventilating as he stared at himself in the mirror.
Right into his golden-brown eyes.
Steve’s eyes were blue, not brown. Perfectly normal, human, blue eyes.
Not golden-brown wolf eyes.
Fuck. He wasn’t ready yet. Couldn’t the stupid change wait a day or two? Or four?
“Graciela?” He cleared his throat as the raspy squeak left his mouth. “Graciela!”
“Hmm?”
Oh, God. That sleepy rumble had him nearly stumbling back to the bed. She’d moved him into her cabin right after the mating bite, informing him that now they were mated he needed to be close to her. He’d be changing soon, she said, and…
And…
He whimpered as he looked down at his hands.
He had fur between his fingers.
“Graciela!”
He heard her fall out of bed. “Steve?”
“I’m fuckin’ furry!”
She stumbled to a halt in the bathroom doorway, taking in his appearance quickly. A sexy, satisfied grin flitted across her face as she leaned against the doorjamb.
He snarled at her. “You don’t have to look so happy about it.” He knew, intellectually, that he was going to become…like her, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. It was only two days until Ben and Dave’s wedding, three until Christmas, and here he was, all fuzzified and freaked out.
“Get naked.”
He blinked. “Now?” She wanted to make love now?
She laughed, her whole face lighting up. “Perv. No. If you change in your clothes, it can hurt you. You’ll get all tangled up as your limbs change and you go down on all fours.” She waggled her brows. “And you know how much I love you on all fours.”
He rolled his eyes and turned back to the mirror, jumping as he realized he had fangs. He pulled back his upper lip, staring at the white, pointy teeth that looked so foreign in his mouth. “I’m too old to be Teen Wolf.”
She snickered, pulling off the nightshirt she’d thrown on before falling asleep in his arms the night before. Underneath, she was gloriously naked, nearly distracting him from the fact that fur was beginning to sprout on his arms. “You’re going to be golden, amorcito.” She stroked her hand over his T-shirt, his muscles bunching involuntarily under her fingertips. “We need to get you outside.”
“Naked.”
“Yup.”
“In the snow.”
Her grin was pure evil. “Yup.”
“I hate you so much right now.” Steve tore the T-shirt over his head with a frustrated growl.
“Get naked, amorcito. Trust me, it will be worth it.” Then his—girlfriend? Mate? Possible love of his life?—sauntered out of the bathroom, wiggling her hips like a siren luring her prey.
His pants practically flew off as the creature inside him urged him to go after her.
The wolf wanted her too.
“Come on, amorcito. I’m waiting.”
That seductive, slightly accented purr was enough to spur him on. The woman was going to be the death of him. He darted after her, following her laughter out the front door of the cabin—
“COLD!”
He was back inside the cabin before he could blink, shivering and wondering if this was the last he’d ever see of Little Steve, who was pretty pissed at him right about then. And Graciela, naked and glorious, was laughing her very fine ass off at him.
“It’s not funny!”
“You…” She laughed again, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to catch her breath. “Your feet didn’t even touch the ground.”
He shivered as a particularly vicious breeze blew through the door. “I have not, nor have I ever wished to, join the Polar Bear Club.”
She wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye. “Your fur will keep you warm, I swear.”
“Yeah, well, I ain’t furry yet.” His teeth started to chatter, which felt really fucking odd with fangs.
“Do yourself a favor. Relax and let the change flow over you. It’s coming, whether you like it or not.”
Wonderful. He winced as he caught a glimpse of more fur sprouting on his arms.
Graciela grinned. “There you go. Don’t fight it, amorcito. God, you’re going to be a beautiful wolf, all golden and red.”
He grunted, the sensations rocking through him almost too much to bear.
“Close your eyes and scent the wind. Can you smell that? The new snow, the other Wolves, all waiting for you to run with them.”
He could. He smelled exactly what she described. “There’s a Lion, isn’t there?” The scent, familiar yet different from the others, was…Charlie?
“Yes, you’re right. You’re smelling Charlie.”
She sounded delighted, but he still couldn’t believe this was happening to him.
“Our Pack is waiting. Change, amorcito. Change, and let’s run together.”
He didn’t even feel the freezing cold anymore as his skin rippled, flowing over muscle and bone. Electricity danced along nerve endings that were abruptly in different places. His paws hit the wooden deck with a thump as he fell to all fours, his ears twitching as he caught the sound of other Wolves running for Graciela’s cabin.
He ran out the door to put himself between her and danger, snarling as the first Wolf approached.
No one would lay a paw on his mate.
Then a massive red wolf approached, growling, his teeth bared. Steve instinctively lowered his own head, bowing before the Alpha Wolf and baring his throat.
The Alpha knocked him on his side and Steve whimpered, wondering if this was how it would all end.
The Alpha’s teeth were at his throat, the sharp fangs digging in until he could feel them through coat and undercoat. Steve held perfectly still, instinctively giving in to his Alpha, his human half reminding him that Rick Lowell wouldn’t hurt him without good reason.
Snarling at the Alpha Wolf might be good reason.
The Alpha held him pinned only by his throat for a few moments before releasing him. With a quick swipe of his tongue across Steve’s muzzle, he signified his approval, and the Wolf in Steven danced with joy. He’d been accepted into the Pack, and the full meaning of that flowed over him as his Alpha spoke to him in his mind for the first time.
“C’mon, pup. Let’s run.”
Steven followed the rest of his Pack into the woods behind Graciela’s cabin, his mate right by his side.
“You did it!” Chela leapt into Steve’s arms, giggling like mad. Her mate had run with the Pack, had been accepted by all of them. After their run they’d scampered back to their cabin, not changing until they were inside.
There was only one thing that could make her happier.
He grabbed hold of her ass, his blue eyes slowly turning golden brown. “You’re naked.”
She returned the favor, squeezing the firm globes. “So are you.”
His eyes shut for a moment. “I have the strangest urge to bite you.”
Chela moaned. “Oh fuck, please do.”
When his eyes opened, they’d turned completely, his Wolf close to the surface. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Chela licked the mark she’d left on his neck, smiling when he shivered. The mark would forever be a hot spot. “Trust me. You won’t hurt me.”
He buried his face in her neck and breathed deep. “You smell so good.”
“Mm-hm.” At this rate they wouldn’t make it to the bedroom. She’d drag him down to the floor and—
Oh. Oh, fuck.
Chela cried out as Steve bit her, marking her as his. The orgasm ripped through her, shattered her before his touch brought her back together, forever his.
She snarled, aware her own eyes had changed as the colors around her changed, went golden. Before she could do anything more than growl, Steve had her up against the wall.