Page 38

Cameron

I t had felt like the world was spinning out of control a few minutes ago. Now it was like I’d been thrown completely off the face of the planet.

This shouldn’t be possible. It was something out of a movie or comic book.

Humans couldn’t turn into wolves. They couldn’t .

Biology, physics, and a dozen other sciences told us it was impossible, yet I’d just seen it happen with my own eyes.

Nate’s face had morphed, seamlessly, into the muzzle of the wolf standing before me.

My feet were rooted in place. Even if I’d had the energy to run screaming from the gym, I didn’t think I could. Nate, or the animal that had been Nate, took a few steps forward, then sat back on its haunches.

“Nate?” I whispered. “Is that really you?”

The wolf bobbed its head once.

“This isn’t happening,” I mumbled.

He nodded again. His pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he started prancing back and forth, shaking his head to make his tongue flop back and forth. An obvious attempt to get me to laugh.

It worked—sort of. Something that sounded like a mix of a chuckle and a sob burst out of my mouth. The wolf sat again and stared at me. The eyes were nothing like Nate’s, yet I could almost see him in there. Hesitating only slightly, I lifted my hand, palm out, toward him.

The wolf—Nate—stood and padded over, pressing his head into my hand.

Soft fur, thick and warm on my fingers, drew a real laugh from my lips.

How could this be happening? Was I dreaming?

A small sliver of my mind tried to convince me that I was still at the gala, that I’d chugged too much champagne and passed out on a chair in the corner. That this was all a weird fever dream.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a dream. It was real. The silky fur beneath my fingers told me everything I needed to know about reality.

“What’s two plus two?” I asked.

The wolf tilted its head to the side, much like a confused dog would. Their version of What the hell did you just say? Raising its paw, it tapped on the concrete floor four times, then sat down.

“Holy shit,” I said. “It really is you.”

I didn’t think dogs or wolves could roll their eyes, but this one did as close of an approximation as I’d ever seen. That was definitely Nate in there.

That meant… oh, God, that meant what he said earlier was true.

I was evolving into this. I was one of them.

If I let myself believe that what I’d seen had really happened, then I was going to become one of these things.

What were they even called? Werewolves? Skinwalkers?

Maybe all those old legends were based on creatures like Nate?

“The man who attacked me? He was like you?” I asked.

Another nod from the wolf.

So some psycho wolf/human hybrid had bitten me, and now I’d turn into some mystical creature? It always looked pretty cool in the movies, but would the reality of it be? Were you more wolf than human?

Wolves ran in packs and needed companionship.

That much I knew from school and nature documentaries.

Could that be why I felt strange around Nate?

Since meeting him, I’d had a strange desire to be near him.

Most of those desires had been carnal in nature, sure, but I also felt bizarrely safe when I was around him.

Maybe that was some effect of this spell or curse or whatever.

Running my fingers deeper into his fur, I allowed myself a few seconds to enjoy the moment.

Nate’s eyes closed in pleasure as I rubbed and scratched his back and chest. The smile died on my lips.

If I was right, did that mean the feelings I was starting to acknowledge for Nate weren’t real?

Just some biological process pushing me toward one of my kind?

“Get away from her!”

The bellow of rage made me jump. Rick ran across the room, panicked anger in his eyes. He looked psychotic, lips peeled back, nostrils flared, hair messy and falling across his eyes. He was waving something wildly through the air, so fast that I couldn’t quite make out what it was.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “How did you find me?”

Bang.

I screamed, slapping my hands over my ears. Rick was holding a gun. Turning, I found a divot in the floor where the bullet had struck, only a few inches from where Nate had been standing. His wolf had backed away, glaring at Rick from behind a squat rack.

“Get your mangy fucking ass away from her, you piece of shit!” Rick spat, aiming the gun in Nate’s direction.

“Stop, Rick!” I shouted. “It’s not a wild wolf. It’s okay, it’s… it’s tame.”

“He knows that.”

The sound of Nate’s human voice made me flinch again. I glanced over my shoulder. Nate had transformed back to normal, fully clothed and human as though nothing had happened. He still stood by the squat rack, his gaze pinned on Rick.

I snapped my head around, expecting to see shock on Rick’s face, but instead, there was only hatred.

No surprise, no horror—none of what I’d experienced.

He looked like he’d just watched someone change a tire.

As though seeing a wolf transform into a human was some trivial thing unworthy of comment.

“Do you want to tell her? Or should I?” Nate asked.

“Tell me what, Rick? What’s he talking about? And put down the fucking gun,” I said, swatting his hand away.

The gun didn’t tumble to the floor, but he lowered it, keeping his finger on the trigger.

“Yeah, Ricky ,” Nate said. “Tell her what I’m talking about.”

Rick was practically vibrating with rage as he stared at Nate, his lips pressed into a thin line. As I glanced from his angry face to Nate’s cocky knowing smile, a puzzle piece seemed to slide into place. There was only one reason Rick wouldn’t have been surprised to see Nate transform.

“You’re one of them? Like Nate?” I asked Rick in a shaky voice.

Rick finally dragged his gaze away from Nate and looked at me. I saw the truth before he even spoke.

“Yes,” Rick grunted. “I’m a shifter.”

I would have been less surprised if he’d kicked me in the stomach. Just when I thought I was getting my footing in the world again, I was hurled back into chaos.

“A shifter? Is that what you all are called?” I asked, letting my eyes bounce back and forth between the two men.

“It’s what we call ourselves,” Nate said lazily.

“Shut up,” Rick hissed.

“Don’t tell him to shut up!” I cried, slapping Rick’s arm. “You lied to me. You’ve lied the whole time we were together.”

“I couldn’t tell you everything, Cam. You have to see that. I couldn’t tell you anything more than you already knew until now.”

“Couldn’t tell me?” I clenched my jaw, hands balling into fists.

“You’ve been fucking me for months! You’d think you might mention something about being a magic creature to the woman you claimed to love, the one who shared your bed.

I was right to break up with you,” I said, giving him a disgusted look.

He winced but didn’t apologize. Instead, he pointed with his free hand toward Nate.

“He lied, too. He didn’t tell you what was going on until right now.”

“I met him a week ago,” I hissed. “You were my boyfriend, for God’s sake. Didn’t you think you could trust me? At least Nate told me there was some weird secret,” I added. “He was cagey as shit about it, but in that way, he was more honest than you.” I jammed a finger into Rick’s chest.

Ignoring me, he turned his attention back to Nate. “What the fuck is the matter with you?” he demanded. “Why would you tell her? You know what this means for us. For our kind?”

“You haven’t been following along, have you?” Nate moved out from behind the rack, obviously less worried about Rick’s gun than I was. “Can’t you put it together yet?”

Rick sneered. “Put what together? Filthy fucking lone wolf. Stay back,” he said as Nate moved closer toward me. “You’ll pay for exposing us to my woman. Mine . Do you understand that? Mine.”

Rick didn’t even look like the person I’d known for months. He most certainly didn’t look like the man I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with.

“I don’t belong to anyone,” I told him. “I’m not property. Especially not yours, Rick. How many times do I have to make it clear to you that we are over?”

Too much had happened. I had to get away. I needed a few minutes to calm down and collect my thoughts. Turning, I marched toward the door.

“Cameron, wait. Come back,” Nate called after me.

I ignored him, picking up my pace, walking as fast as my heels would allow. Before I got to the door, five fingers wrapped around my upper arm like steel bands and yanked me around.

Rick hauled me back inside.

“Let me go,” I demanded. “You’re hurting me, Rick.”

“No,” he snarled, digging his fingers into my arm.

“You stay with me.” He pressed his face close to mine, teeth bared like a mad dog.

“You hear me? I let you play the little breakup game, but that’s done now.

Get your shit together, Cameron. This isn’t over.

It’s not over until I say it’s over. Like I said before. You. Are. Mine .”

This man before me was a stranger. A completely different person. For half a second, I readied myself to slap him, but before I could, Nate appeared.

“Get away from her,” he growled, shoving Rick in the chest and wrapping a hand around his throat.

Rick snarled like a dog and raised his gun, jamming the barrel against Nate’s forehead.

“No!” I shrieked and pushed his arm aside.

His hand jerked away an instant before the gun went off. The bullet fired into the ceiling instead of blowing Nate’s brains out.

The three of us froze, the noise deafening. Nate, rather than looking like he’d just evaded death, was staring daggers at Rick, a threatening growl rumbling in his chest. For his part, Rick looked more upset that I’d forced him to miss.

The moment was broken as Nate slapped the gun out of Rick’s hand. The gun clattered to the floor, sliding under a line of lockers.

“Stupid fucker,” Nate hissed.

“I can’t believe you, Rick. What the fuck is wrong with you?” I said, tears forming in my eyes.

With my free hand, I brought my forearm down on Rick’s wrist, breaking the hold he had on me, then slapped his face.

The crack of the impact wasn’t as loud as the gunshot, but it did cause some change in Rick’s eyes.

His head rocked back, angry red finger marks already appearing on his cheek and the side of his mouth.

“Don’t follow me,” I warned.

“This is all your fault!” Rick screamed, turning on Nate.

For the second time in ten minutes, I saw a man turn into a wolf. Rick morphed, seamlessly changing into a large brown wolf. He crouched low on his haunches, growling at Nate.

“Get out of here, Cameron!” Nate called, not taking his eyes off of Rick. “I’ll handle this.”

Nate transformed as well. His wolf was a bit bigger than Rick’s, and the two of them circled one another.

For a few seconds, I watched them snarl and snap at each other, lips peeled back to reveal wicked ivory-white teeth.

Then, without warning, Rick leaped upon Nate.

I watched in horror as the two wolves tumbled, biting and clawing each other.

I wanted to help, to stop them, but there was nothing I could do. At best, I’d lose a finger to one of those massive sets of jaws. At worst, one of them might accidentally kill me. Still, I didn’t flee. My eyes were locked on the fight.

Rick’s jaws snapped forward, trying to clamp down on Nate’s throat, but Nate pulled back at the last second, snarling and rolling onto his back.

In a move so fluid and graceful, it almost looked like magic, Nate rolled onto his back, shoved all four of his paws under Rick’s stomach, and kicked.

Rick yelped in surprise and flew backward, sliding across the concrete floor and slamming into the wall.

Nate shifted back and glanced at me, irritation flashing in his eyes. “I said go. I’ll handle this.”

“But what if–”

“I’ll be fine,” Nate said. He glared across the room at Rick, who’d shifted back to his human form as well. Rick lay against the wall, wincing and holding his side.

“You fucking prick,” Rick hissed, glaring at Nate.

“I’m serious, Cameron,” Nate said. “Get out of here. Unlike some people,” he gave Rick a withering look, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Rick scrambled to his feet, stomping toward Nate, rage in his eyes. “I never wanted Cameron hurt,” he growled.

Unable and unwilling to watch more violence, I turned on my heel and rushed for the door.

Before it closed behind me, I heard the sounds of cursing and scuffling.

Now that Rick didn’t have the gun, I wasn’t worried about how the fight would turn out.

Nate’s wolf was bigger and stronger than Rick’s.

Plus, Nate was powerful and had the lean build of a fighter.

Rick, while in shape, was a rich lawyer and nothing more.

In their human forms, the outcome would be much the same as in their wolf forms.

I found a strange satisfaction in the fantasy of Nate pummeling his fists into Rick’s face.

Tears flowed down my cheeks as I ran. Eventually, I kicked my heels off, letting them tumble into the gutter.

In five minutes, I’d made it far enough to leave the gym behind, leaving what felt like my entire future behind. Ahead of me lay nothing but questions and worry. What had I become? Would I turn into a monster like the feral, like I think Rick might be? Or would I be more like Nate?

If what he’d told me was all true, then I’d find out very soon.