Page 21 of Ensnared By the Werewolf

I moan at the contact and my cheeks burn at the thought of that strong tongue.

Wait.The workings of my brain are slow with how my body hums with tired satisfaction.If Jack’s shift was halted, wouldn’t his features be either canine or human?My eyes sharpen on him with a more clinical gaze, and I sit up, straddling my mate.

I’venever analyzed Jack’s true appearance in our previous meetings because of his reluctance, his shame.I let myself take in the details now, adding each one to a list of observations.Instead of being flat like a canine, his tongue is long and pointed.The small things add up: the shape of his ears are thicker points, the broadness of his shoulders exceeds that of his human appearance, and do wolf shifters have knots?

After my inspection, which makes Jack raise an eyebrow in question, I have my conclusions.

Well, fuck me.I snort.

“I know why I couldn’t break the curse,” I say.

Jack frowns down at me.“You don’t need to worry—”

I cut him off.“It’s because it’s not a curse.”

The way the green thread was so tightly wound with the silver comes to mind.I bet if I looked again, it would be right back as to how it was before I touched it.I spread my palms on his furred chest and close my eyes to check.The world lights up in magic threads in my mind’s eye and I laugh.Just as I thought, the green thread is back winding around the silver, as if they are making up a whole thread.

“How did you feel when I tried to untangle the curse?”I ask to make sure.

“Um, I’m not sure.I was feeling a lot of things.”The gray of the skin of his cheekbones darkens in embarrassment.Ah, because he’d just left me.“But...drained, I guess.And a little nauseous.”

I shake my head at both of our follies.If he’d only let me see him before...

“The logistics are unusual...”I trail off, thinking of the chances.

“Belinda.”Jack shakes my hips a little to get my attention.“What are you saying?”

“Oh, sorry!You must have fae in you.Lycanthrope, I’d be willing to bet.”

“What?”

“Hybrids don’t usually happen,” I say.“For most beings anyway.”

I make a gesture in the air, not wanting to go into the way magics and genetics interact.

“There have been guesses that lycanthropes from the fae plane were the first wolf shifters, but that doesn’t really make sense because the appearance isn’t the same and the differences in anatomy,” I say.

Jack shakes his head.“But I’m a wolf shifter.I had my first shift when I was twelve.”

“That’s the thing,” I start.“Shifters shift with puberty.I bet if I do some research, we’ll find that lycanthrope strength grows with age.You could have been dormant...until you weren’t.”

The longer Jack blinks at me, the surer I become.

Finally, he clears his throat.“What you’re saying is that you think this is how I’m supposed to be?”

And this is how he’ll stay.

I bite my lip before nodding.“Yeah.You can always see about being trained in fae magic instead of using a manufactured glamour by someone else.”

I wait for Jack’s reaction, knowing this isn’t the answer he was looking for.This isn’t anything in the realm of what he expected.

“Not a curse after all,” Jack whispers, dropping his gaze to where he’s gripping my hip.

“Are you okay?”I ask.

“Just processing.I’ve had so many hang-ups about being turned into a corrupted version of myself and you’re telling me that I’m actually something else entirely.”

I narrow my eyes at him.“I’m saying that you’re just a different kind of monster and that there’s nothing wrong with you.”

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