Page 64 of Pack Kasen: Part 2

I eye him like he’s crazy. “No. I’m not going to howl.”

“It’s fun.”

He’s flat on his back, head pillowing his arms, staring up at the sky.

I’m trying very hard not to notice his low-slung pants and bare chest.

As if he knows how hard I’m trying not to look, he angles his head toward me. “You’re being uptight.”

And just like that, it is very easynotto notice his chest. The overwhelming urge to roll him right into the creek takes prime real estate in my head.

I scowl at him. “You have a real skill, you know that, right?”

“At?”

I uncross my legs and get up so I won’t give in to the urge to drown him.

“Stay.” He grips my wrist and gently tugs me back down. “I didn’t mean it as an insult.”

I stare at him. “Do you not know what uptight means?”

And to my surprise, he flashes me a boyish grin. “I didn’t mean to offend. I just meant let go for a bit, you know? It feels good.”

Why is the guy who spent the better part of a week growling and snarling at me now sounding like a mellow, so chill, he might as well be horizontal, Californian surfer?

“To howl?” I don’t believe him.

My wolf whimpers in my head, demanding to know why we don’t howl as much as she wants to. And shewantsto.

He nods.

I glance at the wrist he’s still holding. “You can let me go now.”

“Ah, didn’t realize.” Reluctantly, he lets me go. “Try it.”

“No.” I sit back down, crossing my legs to get comfortable since I refuse to let him chase me away from one of my favorite places here.

“I’ll try that meditation thing you prefer to howling.”

Back in the cage, I lied and told him I’d been meditating so he wouldn’t see—or know—how scared I was that I would die in that cage. I have never meditated a day in my life, but I figure if anyone would drive me to it, it’ll be this guy.

“I don’t care what you try.”

A frown furrows his brow, suddenly serious. “You don’t let her out much, do you?”

“Let who out?” As if I don’t know what he means.

My wolf.

He’s right. I don’t. Living in a city, surrounded by thousands of students, it just wasn’t safe. Not for her and not for me. The best thing was always to keep my head down and do nothing to attract attention.

Government types would stick me in a cage or experiment on me to death if they knew what I could do. For regular people, werewolves are myth and legend, not something walking among them.

“I’ll close my eyes if you’re shy,” he offers.

“So I can howl?” I raise my eyebrow. “You’re joking.”

His expression is still serious. “It probably doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is. I don’t know what happened to you before, but we learn it in the schoolroom.”

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