Page 89 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
Licking her lips, still not able to fully meet my gaze, she nodded fast. “You, um, you said, ‘I am a wolf shifter.’”
“Exactly.” I blew out a breath. “Did I ever use the termwerewolfin there?”
“That’s the same thing,” she groaned. “That’s like saying a dragon and a wyvern are different. They really aren’t.”
“One’s a majestic, intelligent, incredibly powerful being with four paws and the ability to change shape and use magic that could flatten this entire town. The other is a pint-sized Microsoft paint rip-off version without the intellect or magic and lacking half the paws. They are, in fact, different.”
She glared at me. “That’s semantics.”
“Sorry,” I said, crossing my arms. “I didn’t realize you knew so much about us.”
The glare grew hotter.
“They arenotthe same thing, Sylvie. In my world, differences like that matter. You can insult the wrong people by calling them the wrong term. We are dire wolf shifters. We can shift into our forms at will.Weare in control. Werewolves are not. They are more wild beast than man. And under the full moon … they are dangerous.”
Sylvie listened while I spoke, the only sign of her nervousness the constant gnawing on her lower lip. I hoped she didn’t bite it off. Eventually her brain would clue in to the fact that I’d talked with very specific knowledge of dragon versus wyvern. Probably.
“And the full moon, it doesn’t make you dangerous?”
“To ourselves, perhaps,” I muttered. “And the letting me into your house bit, by the way? You’re gettingthatone confused with vampires. Don’t ever let one of them in, though. That would be bad.”
Her next question died on her lips as she went bug-eyed. “Vampires arereal?” she hissed.
“Very. There’s a coven that lives a couple of towns over.”
Her face went white.
“Don’t worry. You’re not in any danger,” I said, hoping it sounded reassuring. The last thing I needed was Sylvie succumbing to shock. In my current state, I doubted I could catch her.
“Not in any danger?” she said with a strange hiccup. “Not in danger? That’s kind of hard to believe, Lincoln Wolf Shifter. I nearly died to a tree-monster earlier today. At least, I’m assuming that’s what it wanted to do. Now I find out you’re, like, a half-wolf shapeshifter. Vampires exist as well. This is fuckedup.”
Sighing, she pulled out her phone and started punching at the screen.
Alarmed, I got up into a sitting position. “What are you doing?”
Sylvie didn’t pull her nose out of the phone screen. “Checking when the next full moon is, so I don’t get hurt by you.”
I growled. “One. I wouldneverhurt you, Sylvie. I told you that, and I meant it. Second, I told you that it doesn’t affect us that way.”
“How does it work on a wolf shifter then?” she asked, finally looking up at me.
I tried to fight it back, to stay calm, but I failed.
“Are you … blushing?”
I snarled wordlessly. “No. I don’t blush. To answer your question, the full moon acts as a, um, as heat. Okay? There. But that’s not the point. The—”
“Remind me not to be around a bunch of you during the next full moon,” she said, shaking her head.
My growl shook the room, freezing Sylvie. “I. Will. Not. Let. Them. Hurt. You. Understood?”
Sylvie, limbs rigid, managed to meet my eyes. “Can you protect me from yourself when it comes around?”
I didn’t shy away from that gaze. It was time I laid some of those cards on the table. Called her out on it to see how she reacted. “If you can tell me you don’t want it, I won’t.”
She was the first to break the stare, looking away before her cheeks could flush pink.
“All we’ve ever done is kiss,” she whispered.
