Page 14

“I'm changing? Are you sure?”

“There's no doubt. You knew you had a wolf in your family, didn't you?” Harry observed.

That wasn't a question. Somehow, Harry knew. She thought about asking, but suddenly, her stomach rumbled, and she knew that she was starved half to death.

Harry giggled. “I came bearing food because we knew you would need it. We were beginning to wonder if you and Xantos would ever join. There's no way to deny your fated mate and even trying can be painful. It's best that you get it over with. He's running the office while you go through your change. Moe is sending food, but I won't be able to stay much longer. I will check on you tomorrow, though. Toodle-oo!” Sally hated to see Harry go, but she was gone in a flash.

She still felt bad, and she couldn't say how much time had passed when Xantos returned with food. Harry had mentionedfood, but she had never given her any. The tray was full, and Xanto set up the food so that she would get most of it and he would just get a little bit. He sat in a chair across from her, and she sat up on the bed, beginning to eat like a wolf. She had never eaten so much or so quickly in her life, and she was starting to believe that, yes, the change was upon her. What would she be? Her grandmother was a silvery gray color, and she had never seen that in a wolf before. She wondered if that was what she would be as well. She'd heard silver wolves didn’t exist, so she was sure it was more gray, and she wondered if there was something unique about them. One thing was obvious, and that was that they felt pain the same way all the others did, or maybe even more so.

“You seem to be completely into your change.”

“Yes, Mr. Obvious. A surprise to both of us since I didn't think I had enough wolf in me to make this change, and I'm still not sure exactly what kind of change it will be.” Sally admitted.

“I say that you are a wolf, and that should be good enough. Any wolf will be able to change and take the reins and be part of our world, and that was what you worried about.”

“Apparently, my concerns were not yours. You couldn't have known, so you just didn't care.”

“We are fated mates, and if you know anything about paranormal beings, you know that we cannot turn our back on our fated mates. You wanted me, and you found it hard to resist me, and I felt the same way. Now, we are tied together forever. Tyne and Moe already knew, and they were expecting this. They have some kind of plan for us, and we will not be staying here. We will have some say, but it may have something to do with my father, who is a pack alpha in Nevada. He is an evil bastard, andI think they want me to take him out. I'm not positive, but I am trying to prepare you in case," Xantos admitted.

Sally wondered what the hell that meant. Was it one of those crazy plans that Damon and Tyne had been carrying out up north? If that were the case, why didn't they move to California to begin doing what needed to be done? Everyone was aware of the dire situation in California and its underlying causes. That should be their first effort. She saw some bad stuff coming down on them. They'd mated, and she was now stuck with all his baggage. If she'd known about it, she might have run. It was too late to go now. The need that she knew would strike her suddenly hit, and she attacked Xantos. He let her lead the way, which showed that he wasn't as bad as some alphas were. She pushed him back, pulled his pants low so she could release his cock, and climbed on board. This mating was hard and rough, and she rode him like a rented mule. That need rolled over her, and she could not deny it. Her orgasm hit, and he came right after her. One time wasn't enough, and she did it again. The third time wasn't as rough, but she was still needy.

The sex and the change made her tired, and she rolled off him and was asleep immediately. She woke up hours later, and there was an ache between her thighs. Her nose smelled the scent of food, and she pulled the tray up to the bed and began to wolf down everything on it. A need for sex came to mind, but he was nowhere near, and the need wasn't nearly as strong as it had been before, so she lay down and went to sleep again. The next time she woke, it was because she felt a warm body lying next to her. Her need was undeniable, but this time, he rolled on top of her and began to take care of her. She let him continue, and when he was done, she thought he would roll off and go to sleep, but he did it again.

“Do you need something to eat because I brought food?” Xantos offered.

She did not realize she was hungry until he said that, and then her stomach rumbled. She turned to her side of the bed and pulled the tray up to her.

“It's all for you because I've already eaten.”

Sally said nothing because she was tearing into her food and eating more than she could ever have imagined eating before. It was even more than she had known wolves had eaten, and she thought that was a lot.

“The change must be fed. Your appetite will decrease once it's over with.”

That was good to know, but she was tired now, and the second her head hit her pillow, she was asleep. It was two full weeks before she got through her change and her heat. She never thought she could say that she had a man who was tired of sex, but he was. Maybe it wasn't just the sex but the fact that he had had to take over and do the office and tried to do what he could in the field. Sally was tired of being in bed all the time and was eager to return to her job as well. It probably wouldn't be long before Tyne would call them out on whatever project he was working on. Of course, they would say yes; everyone else had, so they must be very persuasive.

It gave her the feeling that she might not be going back home to live. That had been all she wanted, but now she was mated, and every decision she made would affect him as well as her. The older members of her family would probably be happy because now that she had changed, she would have a long life like they did. They had mated with humans, but only the last generation of humans in her family was alive. To lose a mate was hard. Some said that losing a child was even harder. She wasparticularly close to her grandmother, and she had urged her to try to find a paranormal to mate, but Sally had never thought that she would.

She felt better now, but it was late at night, and she would wait until the morning to get up and start managing the office again. She could feel Xantos lying next to her sleeping. He would be as pleased as she was that the change was finally over. He probably suspected since there had been signs that things were easing. Harry had been there yesterday, and she had told her it wouldn't be long now. Why would a witch know so much about wolves, and yet she did. That little witch was one smart cookie. She hoped whatever adventure Tyne wanted them to go on, that Harry would be there for a little while to help them get started. Sally couldn't help but believe that it would make things easier for them.

Now that her change had been made, Xantos believed it wouldn't be long before they were told what they wanted of them and given a choice. Sally knew they had wanted her to change before they decided to throw them into the fire. That meant they wanted her to possess the strength and speed of a wolf, as she would need it for her new position. Her senses had already improved, but she didn't know about her strength and speed and wouldn't until she got out in the woods and made her transformation.

It was morning, and she headed downstairs before Xantos woke. She started breakfast, and she wondered what the crew had done while she'd been out of it; maybe they'd been sent food the way she had been. If they had, it would have stopped today. Xantos came out first and fixed his own plate, then sat down with her at the table, where she was already eating. Her appetite wasn't as bad as it had been, but her wolf still wanted to eat more often than before. She'd been told that this was somethingthat she would have to live with and that food to a wolf was important. The others began to come out 1 by 1, and it was hard to say what they thought about how long she'd been gone and that she and Xantos had mated. Maybe they didn't care one way or the other.

As soon as she finished eating, she went to the front counter and began printing out the lists for each of her field people. Everyone got five locations except for Xantos, who had seven. He was only likely to get five done, but the extra two were just in case. She was sure that he would be thrilled to get back in the field now and not have to deal with office politics. The field personnel might be glad, too, because he would have been harder to deal with than she usually was. As far as Sally was concerned, she was thrilled to be out of that room because the walls had seemed to close in on her when she'd felt good enough to notice them.

Everyone had left now, so when she realized someone was standing next to her, she just about jumped out of her skin. “Oh, Harry! Where did you come from? Never mind. It's always nice to see you.”

“I wonder if you have anything to eat?”

"For you, I can always find something," Sally said.

She immediately dug out all the breakfast leftovers and piled the plate high. The food was still warm, so she gave Harry the plate.

Harry squealed. “I love bacon!”

It was obvious that she did by the rate at which it disappeared from the plate. Once it was gone, she began on the rest. Finally, she sat back and patted her belly. "Thank you. That was good!"

“What happens now?” Sally asked.