When Abel came out ready to defend himself I was so excited to know our training was paying off. His instincts were kicking in, I could feel the vibrations bouncing off of him. I sensed his discomfort and his need, his deep need to shed blood. Oh crap! We weren’t ready, his soul wasn’t ready. It was a mess, his emotions were at every spectrum of the chart; he was going to shift if I didn’t do something quick.
I threw my arms around him and kissed him. At first he was tense, but I could feel him start to relax and kiss me back. I pulled back and took his hand to lead him into the house.
“We need to get inside, so you can calm down,” I say and grab his hand.
“Why did you kiss me?” he asked.
His face was crimson; I had thrown him off… good. “I needed to distract you, or you were going to shift and I needed to make sure it didn’t happen. Your emotions were everywhere and I had to get you to focus on something else, it was all I could come up with off the cuff.”
“You kissed me to distract me?”
“Yeah,” I felt myself blush.
“You’re evil, you know that? Evil with a capital E. Damn.”
“I’ll take that as enjoyment?” I teased.
I stopped talking to him and put my finger to my lips shushing him for a moment. I could hear bickering between Patrick and my dad. This wasn’t good. Patrick was accusing me of forging a romantic relationship with Abel, my dad was defending me, telling Patrick it wasn’t anyone’s business if Abel and I did have a relationship. It was only natural for two young adults to feel attraction to one another when working so close.
Oh no, what have I done; is all I could think. If my dad thought I was in a relationship with Abel that meant Oakley probably felt the same way. How was I going to fix it? I couldn’t have them believing that about me but at the same time I couldn’t let Abel shift, he wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready.
There were scuffles between the two Packs, nothing to worry about. Some of the guys shifted to wolf form and fought with the O’Connell’s that had shifted, the rest did hand to hand combat. My dad stood on the porch with his arms crossed watching the two Packs, ready to pull everyone back if needed. Blood was shed but nothing we couldn’t handle. After I had Abel in the Pack room shooting some pool, I went out and joined in the fun. I’m stronger as a wolf so I shifted and took on the smart ass that attacked Abe.
The fight lasted about an hour, until everyone was exhausted and filthy. Mom made us go out to the pool house and shower before coming in. I stepped through my dog door to shift in privacy, without a bunch of gawking men checking me out. It was easier for me to shift to a wolf than to shift from a wolf to human. It took me between two to five minutes to complete it, and it wasn’t pretty. The minute I was back to human form, Oakley came up behind me and said ‘boo’. I jumped about 10 feet in the air.
I whacked him on the arm and grabbed a towel to wrap around me. “Hey, can’t a girl get some privacy?”
“I’ve seen you a thousand times over Pru, you don’t have to cover up, your body is beautiful.” He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms giving me his sexy grin.
“You’re not standing there naked, so why should I?” My heart skipped a beat as he uncrossed his arms and walked over to me, putting his arms over my shoulders and pulling me into a hug. O M G!
He stood there looking down at me, his eyes, those damn eyes looking directly at me, eye to eye. Our instincts consider it a challenge, but I knew Oakley wasn’t challenging me. Every single nerve in my body tingled. Breath, is what I had to keep telling myself.
“I wanted to know more about the kiss you planted on Abe. Was it real? It looked pretty real to me.”
What? Really? He was wondering if my kiss was real. Oh no, what have I done?
“No, it wasn’t real. I was trying to distract him and get him out of that state of mind. If I hadn’t distracted him, who knows what would have happened, but I think he would have shifted for the first time and he isn’t ready for it. Why?”
“Because I think it would be problematic if you got into a relationship with him. You know when he shifts and we can confirm he is The Great Wolf, his life will be both guarded and hunted. He will never be completely safe again, and that means his mate will be in danger also. If you aren’t interested in him romantically you might want to let him know, because he is already very attached to you. I don’t want you in more danger then you already are. You’re my friend and I find it incredibly difficult to watch you get hurt. He isn’t the right wolf for you to mate with.”
“Hold up. What? You think I want to mate? You’re kidding me!. This is a put on right?” I pulled back from him. All tingly sensations are gone, replaced with annoyance.
“Pru, don’t be that way. I’m just worried about you.” He reached for me but I jerked my shoulder away.
“I am not in a relationship with him, but if I were, it wouldn’t be any of your business. I’m getting a little tired of everyone acting as if I’m some fragile human girl. I’m not! And I resent you of all people implying I can’t handle a relationship. You really don’t know me as well as I thought you did. I’m done with this conversation, so if you don’t have anything else to say, I’m getting in the shower.” I dropped my towel and walked away from him. It took everything I had not to stick my butt out at him and saunter away.