Page 45 of Her Shifter Babe

Tommy sighed and shook his head. “David will wrap his head around it, I’m certain. He’s just more emotional than me and needs time.” He glanced back toward the foyer once more. “Which brings me to the only secret we still have to reveal to you, and you might want to sit down for it.”

“But Jamie...” I lifted my hand to indicate that he might come back.

Why is he not taking this seriously? He doesn’t know Jamie like I do!

Tommy just smiled, a sinister gleam in his gaze. “Let him try to take you. I’ll call our pack and they’ll be here in minutes. Hell, Lexie will be on her motorcycle chasing him out of town as soon as she finds out what you’ve been through.”

I took another deep breath, trying to calm the racing of my poor heart. “So, you really won’t let him take me? You still want me after all this trouble?”

“Of course not. Fucking hell!” Tommy swore, shaking his head more vehemently this time. “Over my dead body will he touch you ever again,” he promised. “And of course we still want you, sweetheart. That will never change.”

I sank into the chair again, my stomach beginning to calm down from the strange, sickening slithering it had been doing during my near panic attack. “Okay,” I breathed. “So, what’s this big secret, then?”

Tommy’s eyes went dark and sad, and his lips twisted in thought before he began to explain. “Well, you’re not going to believe us without proof, but our family... all our blood relatives anyway... well, we’re wolf shifters.”

I stared at him, waiting for the punchline. “I’m sorry, what?” I asked once he didn’t elaborate. “I don’t think I heard you right.” I couldn’t have. What he was saying made no sense.

And what a time to be making jokes!

Tommy stepped to the side, toward the large windows at the front of the house. “You don’t need to be afraid, okay? When we’re in shifter form, we are in complete control of our bodies. We aren’t wild or feral, quite the opposite. We’re still us, inside. You have to trust me on this.”

I appreciated the change in topic, albeit strange as fuck, to free my mind of the fear Jamie had dredged up there, but I was kind of getting annoyed now. Whatever kind of joke or metaphor this was, I didn’t get it, and I was emotionally spent.

I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

“Um... I don’t...”

“We wanted to show you and tell you earlier. We always wanted to be upfront, but your health was our main priority, whereas now... well, David went and lost control of his emotions and his inner wolf took over. So... he’s right here.”

I scoffed, my eyebrows crooked. “As a wolf, you mean?” That didn’t make any sense. What was he playing at? And why?

“Ah... yeah,” Tommy said, indicating to the foyer. “Literally.”

I sat and stared with eyes as round as saucers, every ounce of logic in my mind trying to make sense of the impossibility that revealed itself to me.

A large, majestic gray wolf strolled into our dining room as if it owned the place and was completely at home.

“Oh my God!” I shrieked, jumping up and racing around the counter and into the kitchen. Which was a stupid mistake, really, because now I was trapped. “What the hell is that? Why is there a fucking wolf in the house, Tommy? Are you insane?”

The wolf sank down onto the floor, resting his head on his front paws while making a soft whining noise.

No. No, absolutely not. This isn’t possible... he was joking. This is... Why? How? I—

My heart pounded like a tribal war drum, its strong, erratic beats like a chaotic melody in my ears. My vision dimmed at the edges, and I saw stars. I was feeling faint. My blood pressure had clearly skyrocketed, and I was about to be in serious trouble. “I... I can’t breathe,” I managed to gasp out as the world began to wobble.

Tommy ran for me, reaching me just in time and grabbing me as I staggered forward and fell into his arms. He carefully lay me down on the floor so I had no further to fall and couldn’t hurt myself.

From where I lay on the warm wooden floorboards I watched in partial horror as the gray wolf became a man, a very naked man—one I recognized immediately. It was David,

He crawled toward me, his eyes stricken as he laid his hand on my head, running his fingers through my long hair. “It’s okay, Stacey,” he soothed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I scared you. Please, please breathe.”

Tommy disappeared from sight, no doubt going for his doctor’s bag.

With no other choice available, I closed my eyes against the feeling that I needed to faint. Black spots burst at the corners of my eyes, and pain throbbed in my head, yet I couldn’t deny what I saw. “You’re a... a...” I stammered.

“A wolf, yes,” David said. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it’s genetic. We don’t have any more choice on that one than anyone has in choosing their skin color. It’s just how it is. I can’t—we can’t—change who we are.”

Tommy returned and checked my blood pressure while listening to the baby’s heartbeat with his stethoscope.

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