Page 5 of Predator

Lucas gives his body a shake, fluffing out his fur before padding over to my cage.

Even during my coherent moments, I’ve never been able to unlock the cage. There are strange pads near that side—pee pee pads, I think with a horrified human thought, that I’ve been using—that I avoid. When Lucas feeds me, he slips it through the bars, but I don’t remember leaving this cage since I’ve been in it.

He does something. Going up on his back legs, he slaps at the cage door with his paws. Next thing I know, the door to my cage is open.

Lucas yips encouragingly at me.

I want to go to him. I want to prove to my mate that I’m all right now, that he made the right choice to trust me enough to let me join him outside of these metal bars.

But what if I snap again? What if I attack Lucas? I swore I killed him until I was lucid enough to be grateful that I didn’t. I love him. My bite… I never meant to hurt him. In the aftermath of mating him—of bonding myself to him—I found myself shifting, and with my new wolfish instincts, I had the overwhelming urge to bite.

I regret it now. I can’t tell Lucas with words, though I try with my body language. Lowering my muzzle, tucking my tail between my legs, I move slowly toward him, showing him deference while using my wolf to beg forgiveness from his.

Lucas opens his muzzle, his long pink tongue swiping along the edge of mine. A wolfy kiss, I think, and something shattered inside of me starts to heal. It’s like using super glue to put a plate back together. It’s holding, but it takes a little time, care, and patience before it can be used again.

That’s why, after I ease my way out of the cage and past Lucas’s wolf, I walk gingerly around the room. I want to scent everything, see it all with my new eyes. And if I’m also keeping my distance from him while stretching out my legs… just knowing he’s in the room with me is enough.

Just not for my mate.

I’m tired. I’ve been so, so tired for days. I don’t even know how many it’s been, but I’ll do anything to keep from being put back in the cage. Wolf or not, I strive to be on my best behavior, and that leads to me searching for a spot to rest and recover.

I lay down beneath the Grand piano, sprawled out on my belly.

Lucas waits a few moments until I’m settled, then ducks his head, maneuvering his bulk so that he can join me.

I stop breathing as the Alpha lowers himself at my side, but when Lucas curls up around me?

The glue hardening up the broken pieces inside of me seems to work a little faster.

For the next two days, my mate doesn’t leave my side.

I get the feeling that he’s afraid that, if he does, any progress I’ve made will disappear as easily as it does when I close my eyes.

I’m not so sure it won’t.

So, despite being the Alpha, Lucas stays with me in the piano room around the clock. Before he would leave when I got too agitated, returning with food he made and a calmer attitude. Not anymore. Except for when he needs to use the bathroom, the only other time he opens the door is when one of the pack knocks at it.

Except for when I’m visibly exhausted again, he also spends most of his time back in his human form. I get why. Now that I’ve shown signs that I can understand him even though I’m a lost cause, he does more talking now than he has in all the time I’ve known him.

Lucas plays the piano, too. He constantly feeds me. He talks to me about everything and anything, and though I can’t speak while I’m trapped as a wolf, so long as he plays for me whenever I show signs of losing control of myself, I can understand what he’s saying. I remember who I am. Who he is.

There’s only one thing I can’t do: return to being human myself.

That makes for some awkwardness that would probably bother me more if I wasn’t a wolf. Take the bathroom, for example. He can easily step out to do his business. Not me. And while I did my best to use those damn pee pee pads he put out for me, the more I remember that I’m really a people, not a wolf, I just… fuck. I can’t bring myself to do it.

It’s so damn embarrassing.

So what do I do? I hide out in the corner and go.

Lucas cleans up any of my messes without a complaint. One of the best things about giving yourself over to your animalistic side is how easy it is to give up human concepts like pride and shame when the wolf is in control. If I have to pee, I pee, and though part of me is so horrified the first time I tinkled in the corner, he takes care of it.

He’s doing everything for me, and the most I can do to thank him is curl up at his side and allow him to stroke the space between my ears.

I don’t know how long it’s been since the full moon. Falling asleep means more dreams I can’t avoid, so I push myself to stay awake as long as I can before I give in. Usually that’s when Lucas shifts back to his wolf, and the security I feel, having his big wolf next to mine, is enough to lull me into unconsciousness.

The dreams aren’t as bad when he’s near.

One night, I forget when, I woke up whimpering, the memory of being torn apart by another wolf so fresh, I expect to be a bloody mess when I come to.

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