Page 25 of Wolf Bound

The sound of movement behind me makes me turn around, and I gasp when three more wolves enter the clearing, all various shades of silver, gray, and black. The two larger ones head for where the black wolf refuses to drop his prey while the smaller silver wolf slinks over to where I still sit on the ground.

“Oh, no,” I whisper nervously. After the past twenty-four hours, I have the right to be a little gun-shy around these animals. “Nice wolfy?” To my surprise, the animal makes a noise I swear sounds like a laugh. “Are you laughing at me?”

The animal shakes its large head before turning to watch the other three. The two larger wolves are softly barking and whining at the black wolf, trying to get his attention away from the carcass. I cringe when I see the blood dripping from his mouth.

“That’s disgusting,” I say aloud, even though I know no one will answer me.

But my words catch the attention of the black wolf—of Ryker?—whose big head whirls around to look at me. It’s as if he forgot I was sitting here, too preoccupied with his kill. Those golden eyes I’ve spent so much time thinking about, look at me, and then back at the animal in its mouth. I can tell he’s conflicted between giving up his prey and coming to me.

Slowly, I rise to my feet and the silver wolf that’s been at my side shifts with me, refusing to move from my left side, its large body so close to mine its fur brushes against my bare legs.

On instinct, I speak to the black wolf. “Are you planning on chewing on that the rest of the day, or are you going to drop it?” I ask, my voice soft, being careful to not spook him. “Because I have so many fucking questions, and I don’t think I’m going to be getting any answers if you don’t let that nasty thing go.”

Another low whine escapes his throat as he watches me. I know he wants to come to me, so I decide to force the issue. I turn my back on him and slowly walk away, hoping he’ll want to come to me more than he wants to protect his kill.

I take deep breaths as I walk toward the edge of the clearing, and the sound of bones snapping behind me causes me to stop and turn around. I’m pretty sure my jaw hits the ground because when I look behind me, all four of the Weylyn siblings are standingbutt-ass-nakedwhere the wolves had previously been.

“Oh, fuck!” I gasp, looking at all four of them. I quickly realize I’m staring at their very naked bodies and whirl back around, covering my eyes as I do. “What the hell is happening? How is any of this possible, and why are younaked?”

“Pru,” Remi says, speaking first, “We wanted to tell you sooner, but Addison said we had to wait for her to get back. And we’re naked because our clothes can’t make the change with us.”

“The change?”

“When we shift in or out of our wolf form,” Ryker explains. I hear footsteps coming up behind me, and I don’t have to turn to know that it’s him.I just know.

“Your wolf form? I... Wait, what—whatare you saying?” I stammer, at a complete loss for words. “You’re…werewolves?” I choke out while still refusing to look back at them.

“We prefer the term wolf shifters, but yes, basically, we’re werewolves.” A hand grips my shoulder, and the electric current that shoots from it confirms its Ryker. I can’t help but shy away from his touch. It hurts me to do so, but this is all way too much.

“Will you please look at me?”

“How is this possible?” I ask him, and I reluctantly turn around to face him. I keep my eyes on his chest, afraid to look anywhere else. They all seem to be very comfortable in their nude state, but I’msonot okay with it.

“We need to go back home,” he says softly. “We’ll explain everything there.”

“We’re supposed to wait for her aunt,” Ranger reminds him, walking behind Ryker.

“I’m not waiting anymore. She saw us shift, and she just watched me kill another wolf. She’s needs answersnow,” Ryker argues, and quite frankly, I couldn’t agree more. There’s no way I’m waiting until tomorrow for Addison to come back to get my answers.

The sound of bones popping and cracking makes us all turn around. The dead wolf that had been lying there had now shifted into a redheaded man. His throat is a bloody mess, and his leg is bent at a strange angle.

“Holy shit,” I breathe.

“Pretty cool, right?” Ransom asks, a stupid grin on his face.

“Dude, shut up!” Remi reaches around Ranger and slaps Ransom on the back of his head.

I look at the ground the whole walk back to the campsite, stumbling once only to have Ryker reach out to steady me, but I pull my arm out of his reach.

I feel horrible I’ve refused his touch twice now, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to be acting right now. So many things have happened in the past hour, and I need some time to come to grips with it.

I sigh in relief when we get back to camp. When I was running, I hadn’t realized how far I had gone, but the walk back was shockingly long. I guess when you’re able to move at superhuman speed, it doesn’t seem far.

“I’m going to run back to give them a heads up,” Ranger tells the group before shifting into a large gray and black wolf.

“Is this my new normal?” I wonder aloud.

“Would that be so bad?” Remi asks, her blue eyes soft as she looks up from digging in a bag for a change of clothes. “We’re still the same people we were before. You just know more about us now.”

---