Page 9 of Her Werewolf Protector

As he focused on the road ahead of us, illuminated only by the round headlights of the Jeep, I focused on him. Sure his physique was incredible, and he had the dick of a porn star, but his features were also striking. His strong square jaw and high cheekbones were what modeling agencies look for in their male models. The one thing that did stick out as unusual for me was his canine teeth, they were longer than an average human’s. It made me wonder about how he transformed. Would it be rude for me to ask about it?

“Out with it. What’s on your mind?”

“You can read my mind already?”

He chuckled, glancing at me.“You’re not that hard to read.”

“What does it feel like when you turn into a werewolf?”

He clucked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, then remained silent for a moment.“You never get used to the pain of a full shift. The beginningis fine. When my emotions are elevated, my ears and fingers get longer and my teeth grow out, stuff like that. That doesn’t hurt. But when I do a full change, where my bones snap and reform into a wolf it hurts like hell. I hate it, yet love the feeling of being in full wolf mode. I can’t even begin to describe how free it makes me feel, and how at one with nature.”

“It sounds horrifically beautiful,” I whispered.

“That’sa nice way of putting it, yeah.”

Another few minutes of driving took us to a lake with a small beach. Hopping out of the Jeep, I grabbed the blanket Roosevelt had in the back. Clutching the blanket to my chest, I headed to the beach, with Roosevelt carrying the picnic basket in tow.

As I spread out the blanket, he began unloading the wicker basket that was filled with an assortment of fruit and cheese.

“I also brought a bottle of wine I brewedmyself. I’m thinking about adding it to the menu, but I’d like you to be the first to try it. Most of the scoundrels here haven’t had winefrom the outside world in a long time, so I don’t trust theirjudgment.”

“Sure, sounds good.So, what keeps you all from just leaving?”

“We can’t. We physically can’t. Trust me, we’veall tried. But the town isn’t willing to letgo of us.”

“I can leave when I want to though, can’t I?”

His smile faded.“You can. Butif you decide that you want to be with me, then you won’t be able to leave. At least until the curse has been broken or lifted.”

“That’s a lot to process. I’d never see my friends and family again. It’s a huge leap of faith.”

“I know. And it’s not something we need to discuss right now. Tonightis about us getting to know each other.” He pulled the cork from the bottle and poured me a glass of wine and then one for himself, before putting the bottle back in the basket.

“What do we toast to?” I asked, settling down on the blanket, laying on my side, with my head propped up on my hand.

“Hmmm. How about we toast to us? And the potential start of something magical.”

A grin spread across my lips. That was so sweet.“To us.” I clinked my glass to his and took a tentative sip of the wine.“This is nice.”

“Thank you. I think.”

I giggled, taking another sip.“What’s wrong with nice? Nice is a good word.”

“True enough. As good as the stuffin the outside world?”

Taking a third sip, I nodded.“Definitely. My father has an extensive wine collection. I think it’sa requirement for old guys with money. Gotta have a wine collection.”

He laughed.“I seem to recallthat.”

“Can I ask how old you are? I’m having a hard time pinpointing your age.”

“I’m thirty-two. I’vebeen here a few years now. I think. It’sreally hard to say, every day here is exactly the same so time gets hard to track.” He cocked his head to the side, eyeing me.“Twenty-five?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Oh…” The moonlight hit his features enough for me to see that he wasn’t excited about my news.

“I’m hardly a child. I know you don’t know how I grew up, but I’llinform you that even though I got everything I wanted, there was a trade-off. I was raised by nannies and the hired help. So I grew up quick. Always trying to gain my father’s approval.”

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