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Morlie popped opened her eyes. She blinked and blinked again.

She tried to make out what she was seeing, and why, it seemed that her color spectrum was off.

Chanin lay stretched out before her in the dark, but she could see his form clearly, as if a light was on.

The dark grey tones in his room looked white or a pale gray when she knew they weren’t that color before.

Chanin shifted back and glanced down at her. His blue eyes were electric and magnetic; they were the most vivid thing in the room, drawing her in. She could see there was a large amount of concern there.

Why?

I want to make sure you're alright. It’s your first time and can be the hardest on your body.

As the warmth spread through her core, she figured Chanin was speaking about them having sex, but her shyness was waylaid as she stared at his mouth and now knew for sure he wasn’t talking...but somehow his voice came to her crystal clear.

You’re beautiful. I’m proud of how you went through the change.

Her sharpened gaze momentarily spotted his fingers' small movements an instant before he lifted his hand to her face.

But he didn’t cup her cheek. Instead, he stroked his fingers along the bridge of her nose and up between her eyes.

Morlie watched his gesture and felt his touch as she became aware of multiple things simultaneously: Chanin’s touch felt more intense, causing shivers to race along her body, but more important was her nose.

She could see it before her face in a way that had never been possible.

However, it wasn’t her nose; it was a snout.

Dark in color and surrounded by brownish-gray fur.

Change . That was the other thing that she understood. Chanin had said her first time, but he meant changing.

I changed. I’m no longer myself but a wolf. That knowledge didn’t freak her out. She’d expected it. She just wasn’t sure it would happen so soon .

“Shifted is what you will do from here forward,” he informed her, stroking over her wolf’s head and behind its ears again.

Her foot started tapping fast on the bed from the extraordinary pleasure. Every fiber of her being wanted her to roll to her back and let Chanin continue the glorious touches down to her belly.

He chuckled. “Belly rubs later. Are you alright, mate?”

Her wolf’s ears flicked, and its tail wagged at his voice's deep, rough timbre. The beast loved the sound of it. It could listen to Chanin count leaves on a tree, and it would beg at his feet for him to speak some more.

Morlie took stock of her body. Outside of the minor aches already beginning to fade, she felt fine. Good, I think. Then she asked the question she’d been wondering about. Why can I hear you when you're not speaking with your mouth?

Her wolf sat up and shifted back onto its haunches in the center of the bed.

We’re mated now, Morlie. With your shift, we can communicate through a mental link.

Can I do this with everyone in the pack?

In wolf form, yes. He gave her a short stroke under her muzzle. But with mates, we can communicate no matter the form.

Oh . It was strange, but she admitted she enjoyed its intimacy.

“Okay. Food now.”

Food . The beast turned its head and sniffed. Its nose picked up on something coppery, fresh, with an inviting sweet grassiness. Its stomach grumbled, and the ache there seemed all-consuming.

Morlie could only think of searching out what smelled so delicious.

The wolf bounded off the bed, landed on its paws, and tilted to the side briefly before the beast got its body to move forward. Her wolf’s legs felt solid but strange and wobbly to a certain degree.

Easy. Being steady on your feet will take some getting used to . Chanin quickly matched the wolf’s slow, awkward gait as he rubbed a hand along the animal's back.

It seemed he couldn’t help but touch her wolf, and it loved having him touch it.

Morlie felt the difference of his touch over the fur.

Fur . The thought of it blew her mind. She knew mating with Chanin and agreeing to receive his bite would change her into a wolf, like the others in his pack.

Before, she couldn’t process what it would be like.

Or how it would feel. Morlie realized she should have asked more questions of her friends and Chanin.

It was too late now. She was in it and would have to learn on the go.

Right now, the wolf led and was more interested in following its nose to a meal.

“Evening, Alpha. I got everything you need—”

The wolf barked. It smelled the person before the beast’s gaze locked onto the small-framed, human female standing in the center of the kitchen. Rudie smiled at the wolf and stepped toward Chanin.

He needed? Her wolf growled and launched in the young woman’s direction.

The wolf’s feet went out from under her on the tile floor, and she found herself skidding on her side into the cabinets by the stove.

A part of her was embarrassed by her ungraceful display, but it didn’t stop Morlie from snapping her jaw at the other female.

Mate, Chanin chided gently but in his leader-like tone. Her wolf’s ears picked up on the tone Morlie heard him use on others, which never brokered any argument and caused them to heel.

Her wolf heeled but crouched, ready to attack if given a chance.

Morlie knew the other woman was Chanin’s assistant, but right now, she didn’t care about Rudie’s position in the pack. Instead, Morlie’s wolf was more concerned with sniffing out the actual relationship between its mate and the woman.

Rudie’s smile didn’t waver. “A little unsteady still, I see.”

Why do I smell you on her? Morlie directed her question at Chanin.

The beast drew up its upper lip and snarled at the young, pretty woman, letting Chanin know it was not pleased with the situation.

Do you have two mates like Bleddyn?

For a brief moment, the wolf shifted its gaze from the woman still standing calm, for some strange reason, in the middle of Chanin’s kitchen and fastened them on Chanin’s soul-shaking, blue ones.

If you do, I will not stand for it. I can’t share you, Morlie declared.

The aching truth in those words took some of the bite out of her. She knew Chanin didn’t know much about her, that they hadn’t had a chance to talk in the days she’d been there, but in her life, she never had anything... nothing that belonged solely to her.

Chanin cupped her wolf’s head in his big grasp, holding it in place so he could search deep into Morlie’s eyes in the shadows. He began, I. Only. Have. One. Mate. You.

Could his words be true? Morlie wanted to believe him, but the same woodsy, earthy scent that saturated her body was light, but she noted it on the woman . But she speaks to you like a mate. Mentally—

He shook his head, cutting her off. “Rudie carries my scent because she is family. My family.”

“Ah. She picked up on that already, did she? She may not be the average new wolf.” Rudie’s voice interrupted.

However, before Morlie’s wolf could show the assistant its canines, Chanin angled the beast’s head toward the other woman.

“Look,” he ordered.

Rudie appeared even smaller now that she was squatting just out of snagging reach from Morlie’s wolf. However, the woman held one bare arm out with her fingers curled in a relaxed fist.

The wolf’s keen eyes zeroed in on what Rudie must have been trying to show: a small bite mark on her wrist. Chanin’s bite on her.

Morlie felt her animal’s brow bunch as it whined.

Why? Morlie inquired.

“When I found Rudie, she had lost all her family shortly after the catastrophes.” Chanin continued to speak, not hiding the conversation from the short woman.

“She was a child, barely more than a cub and smaller than most. She connected with me on an organic level. I bit her to keep any of the wild untrainable wolves from fucking with her. It signaled that Rudie was mine—a daughter of sorts.”

Her beast lowered its head in shame.

Morlie felt horrible that she was going for Rudie’s throat when she was someone important to Chanin.

It’s alright. Chanin gave her wolf a firm stroke along the side of its neck. Our way of life will take you some time to get used to, mate.

Apparently .

Then, a thought struck Morlie. Why can I hear her communicate with you?

Dammit . Morlie gulped as she waited for Chanin’s answer. There were things she wanted to tell Chanin, like how amazing he smelled and how much she loved staring into his eyes because they made her shiver. Could Rudie hear me?

Chanin chuckled. Your scent affects me, too, little bunny.

Oops. Morlie determined she’d have to watch what she thought about.

Don’t worry, mates; communication comes from the heart as much as from the mind.

No, she cannot hear you when you speak with me.

He glided the fingers of his other hand along the bridge of her wolf’s snout again.

However, because Rudie is my family...and you are my mate, you can hear her even when she is in human form.

Once we are claimed mates, you’ll not only hear but also be able to communicate with others in wolf form and block them from your communal thoughts.

Claimed mate? It seemed that one question for her led to another. Her wolf’s stomach chose that moment to interject and grumble loudly. It was clear that even though she, the person, wanted answers, her wolf zeroed in on the coppery, grassy scent again.

Rudie giggled and rose.

Food first. Chanin nudged her toward Rudie.

Chanin’s assistant grabbed a large silver bowl from the counter.

Morlie’s wolf instinct told her that the mouth-watering scent was coming from that dish, and she wanted it.

The beast let out a bark, not ferocious but demanding.

Thankfully, Rudie didn’t waste time but lowered the bowl filled with several skinned animals, setting it on the ground.