Page 76 of Wolf's Chance

Willow’s curiosity was piqued. “You’re a trucker?”

Shaking my head, I smiled. “Nah, been a hitchhiker a few times though.”

She watched me before she realized she was staring at me again, and with a jerk of her head, she looked away. “I can see that,” she told me quietly. “You have total drifter vibes.”

“That’s because I am.”

We lapsed back into silence once more. I knew she wasn’t fully comfortable with the admission or what had happened over the last few hours. I’d come to know her mannerisms, and right now I knew that her mind was in overdrive as she tried to make sense of everything that I’d shared with her.

I had no idea if she still trusted me, or if she’d ever trusted me, and I knew that losing her trust shouldn’t irk me as much as it did. I couldn’t blame her if she doubted me; I’d given her reason to.

I needed to confess it all. But how the hell did I tell her? How did I tell her that the monsters she feared were the same as I was? That the gift of Luna ran through my blood as much as it ran through theirs. The pack that was hunting us wasmykind.

The only consolation was that she hadn’t put it together herself yet. I didn’t doubt that she would. She was clever. The one thing I told myself was that when she asked me, I wouldn’t lie.

For now, she hadn’t asked, and I decided it was best not to offer. Even so, the weight of my secret hung heavy around my neck. All it would take would be one slip, one careless word, and the truth would be unavoidable.

Would she look at me with the same fear that she’d had inher eyes when I told her about shifters? I wasn’t ready to see that.

So for now, I would keep my silence. Hopefully, a bathroom break, some coffee, and food at the diner would distract her for long enough. As long as the threat to her safety remained behind her, I could keep her safe without her realizing what I was.

Nodding to myself, I assured myself that I was doing the right thing. Still, I could feel the walls closing in on me. The sooner we got to Cannon, the sooner she would understand that not all themonsterswere the same, and then maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t matter that I was one of them.

Blowing out a low breath, I tried to clear my mind and focus only on the road. Now that I’d alerted my brain to the possibility of a comfort break, my bladder wanted to let me know it would welcome some relief. My empty belly reminded me it had been a while since it was full.

“Are you hungry?”

Willow had been looking out the window at the darkness, seeing nothing beyond her own reflection in the glass, I would guess.

“Maybe?” she answered softly. “Maybe I don’t know if I will ever eat again. My stomach keeps rolling every time I think of men being wolves and wolves being men.”

“It’s a lot to process.”

“Is it only werewolves?” she asked me suddenly. “Are there other monsters out there?”

“Shifters,” I corrected. “You’re imagining men walking on two legs, a cross between wolf and man.” I didn’t need to seeher nod to know I was right. “Shifters are men or women that?—”

“There arefemaleones?”

That did earn her a look from me, and she instantly flushed. “Of course there are.”

Willow immediately went on the defensive. “Don’t ‘of course’ me. How am I supposed to know? This is brand new information!” Her attention flicked to my hands on the steering wheel. “You’re going to break that thing,” she snapped. “You’ve been strangling it since we left the B&B.”

Loosening my grip on the steering wheel, I turned to look at her. “Happier?”

Willow stuck her tongue out at me before looking away quickly, hiding her smile. “So, there are women and men shifters,” she carried on. “And theyshiftinto wolves.”

I nodded. “It’s only a wolf.” I noted her confusion at that and clarified, “They don’t shift into any other animal.”

“Why?”

Well, that was a philosophical question for someone with more brains than me. Instead, I countered with a “Why not?” causing her to narrow those light green eyes at me.

“What about vampires?” she asked. I shot her an “are you crazy?” look and was rewarded with her flicking me the middle finger. “Zombies?”

“I think you’d notice if there were.” My dry comment pissed her off. “It’s just shifters.”

“Into wolves.”

---