Brand of the Pack - Tera Shanley Page 0,2
were an invisible wall and she ghosted the outskirts, familiarizing herself with the creeks and crags, rock faces, ledges, animal trails, and water sources. She marked as much as she could with her own scent, rubbing against tree trunks and squatting wherever the feeling took her. She was a right proper little animal.
A long and dehydrating couple of hours later, she returned to Grey’s log mansion. From the shadows of blackberry brambles hidden away from the house, she lay down and waited. Her Change back hurt but not like before. She expected the transition this time and didn’t fight the pain. Even if it was excruciatingly slow, her fears the Change would stall again went unwarranted.
On the sprawling front porch, Grey waited with a small stack of clothes that smelled like laundry detergent, mixed with his intoxicating scent, and a glass of ice water. Even in her human form, her sense of smell stayed heightened. His eyes were steady upon her, glinting with worry, and she smiled as the last of the soreness left her body.
He stood at her approach, his gaze dipping to her bare hips and chest. A wicked smile spread across his face, and she paused at the top of the stairs. It should’ve felt strange to be vulnerable in front of him again after their time apart, but it didn’t.
Like an oncoming storm, his eyes darkened, and he dropped his head and cleared his throat. His hair, shoulder-length and the color of sand, fell forward, hiding his frown. He was probably reliving her awesome little panic attack she had when he kissed her earlier. “I brought this for you.” He handed her a shirt, and she cast a baleful look at her shredded blouse in the grass.
“I dressed up for you.”
He hadn’t shaved in a while, and the short, blond scruff on his jaw tempted her to touch it. Afraid of the rejection, she stilled her itching fingers.
“I know.” His smile was back on a smaller scale. She’d take what she could get.
She pulled on the oversized T-shirt, made for a Sasquatch-sized man who stood well over six feet tall with wider shoulders. It hung down past her knees like an ill-fitting dress. She probably looked like a twelve-year-old at a slumber party.
Ice cubes clinked against the sides as he handed her the water glass. “Thought you might need this,” he said with a knowing grin.
Heat crept up her neck and she looked away before it reached her cheeks. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “Sorry for—” She waved her hand toward his newly watered forest. “Well, you know.”
His golden eyes narrowed. “I’ve noticed something.”
“That my wolf is disgusting?”
He chuckled deep in his throat, the sound so close it sent a tremble up her back.
“No. I don’t think your wolf ever wanted you to leave me.” He looked over the clearing around the house, his land. His territory. “If she were okay with it, she wouldn’t have pushed for such an immediate show. She couldn’t even wait to mark this place up.”
Swallowing hard, she admitted, “Neither of us wanted to leave. I was just so scared of what we were, I let it consume me.”
He reached out and rested his strong hand against her hip. The cotton of her T-shirt bunched underneath his fingertips, and warmth radiated down her thighs as he ran his thumb in lazy circles over the cloth. Inhaling, her breath turned ragged at the intensity of his gaze.
His voice was so low, it was more vibration than sound. “I remember. I didn’t at first, but now I remember the way I touched you after Montana. The night after I found you.”
Clenching her hands against the shaking, she pursed her lips. If he even knew how many times she’d relived those moments, he’d run. “I didn’t know how to bring it up. I thought it was just Wolf with me that night. I should’ve said something sooner.”
“Hey, I’m not mad.” He stepped closer, his shadow encasing all of her. Fingers splayed, he brushed the top of her leg and leaned forward until his lips brushed her ear. “I’d never be mad at what you let me do to you.”
He gripped the shirt and the first tendrils of panic spread through her, inky and suffocating.
As if he could sense the change, he pulled away. “Come on,” he said with a jerk of his head as if he hadn’t almost seduced her into a lusty coma. “I have something to show you.”
Chapter 2
Grey opened the front door to