Page 25 of Her Cruel Alpha

I was tempted to make him wear the goggles just so I could get a laugh out of it, but I didn’t. “I won’t make you wear the goggles, but I will make you carry everything. Maybe put those muscles to work.”

He laughed, flexing his arms. “Oh, so you noticed that I have muscles?”

I rolled my eyes as I smirked. “Over eighty percent of men have muscles, Henrik. You’re just like everyone else.

“Ouch, you know how to injure a man's ego.”

I smiled, turning my attention back to the woods. “If you’re done talking, let’s get back to what I was doing. I don’t have all day.”

He waved a hand, motioning for me to show the way. “So, what else are you looking for?”

“I need to find some lavender and peppermint. I know it’s probably a little deeper into the woods. Both require a lot of sunlight, and it’s pretty shady over here.”

We started walking further into the forest, and I glanced at him. I watched as Henrik looked around, seeming to be in his element. Many questions formed in my head, and I knew it was because he was a shifter. I imagined it was different out here for them compared to humans.

“You seem to look at peace out here.”

Henrik glanced at me with a soft smile and nodded his head. “My wolf loves the freedom. The smell of the trees and knowing we can run with no worry. Growing up, we spent a lot of time out here.”

“I always wondered what that was like.”

He tilted his head as he stopped walking. “What is being a shifter like? You’ve wondered about that?”

I nodded. “I mean, if you think about it scientifically. Your bones have to change, which is painful. Your muscles have to change, and your skin has to shift. They are tearing and ripping tissues, and your body does it effortlessly. And without pain. You guys are like gods.”

He chuckled. “Maybe don’t think about it scientifically.”

“That’s not possible,” I said with a shrug. “My mind never seems to stop thinking that way. I mean, when you think about it, you have to grow hair at speeds unseen.” I couldn’t help the giddiness that built up. “I would love to know if there is a way to create it. If we could, humans could easily decide they wanted to be shifters, and shifters could decide to be humans.”

Henrik raised an eyebrow at me. “You think that’s possible?”

I shrugged again. “It could be. You never know.”

“Would you want to be able to shift?” he asked.

I’d thought about it. Growing up, I thought that if I could, maybe people would think I was normal, but I never would be. Even as a scientist surrounded by people just as smart as I was, I was labeled weird.

“I thought about it. I grew up with more shifters than humans, so naturally, the idea is there. Isn’t it everyone's dreamto be able to be something they’re not? It’s biological to want to be better.”

I glanced past him and noticed some lavender in the distance. “Oh, there it is!” I pointed, finding it was growing at the top of a large hill that was split down the middle. I scowled, seeing there wasn’t a place where I could get to it safely without possibly falling and breaking my neck. The rocks were all jagged, and one wrong move and I could be seriously injured.

I frowned. If I went around and tried climbing down, I might have been able to get to it. But that would be a hike up and a hike down, which would take even longer, and I was already losing daylight.

“Damn it,” I grumbled, and Henrik tilted his head. “You looking at the purple flower?”

I nodded. “Yeah, the lavender. It’s good for calming the mind, but there is no way I could get to it up there.”

“I can.”

I snorted. “You’re bigger than I am, Henrik. There is no way you can get in there to pick it up. I’ll just have to look for it somewhere else. I’m sure if we go a little deeper, they will have more.”

Henrik started to pull his shirt off, and I stared at him. “What are you doing?”

I just blinked, stunned, as he handed me his shirt. I took in his ripped muscles and the way his biceps bulged when he moved. He grabbed at his pants and raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you going to watch me strip down?”

I felt my face grow hot and quickly turned to the side. “No. But I don’t understand why you’re suddenly doing so.”

I could hear him chuckle. “You can watch if you want. You were just saying you wanted to see how we shifted.”

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