Page 49 of Wolf Claimed
She was, but would he believe the truth? She had questioned it herself so many times over the years.
“I might have met shifters without realizing it,” she fumbled, scrambling for what to say. “And there have been a few people I suspected were shifter, but no one I ever knew for sure.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
God, he was too perceptive. She should have kept her mouth shut, but she needed an ally, someone she could trust. And that was Maddox. He had literally killed for her.
He drew his nose along her neck, sending a shiver down her spine, the delightful type that made her tingle all over. She tilted her head to the side, giving him better access. The tip of his tongue left a wet trail up her neck to her ear, where he sucked on her lobe. She almost told him that’s not where she wanted his tongue, but he would think her too forward, especially after she’d played with the button on his jeans earlier.
“I never slept with two guys at once before,” she said as his mouth moved back down her neck, planting kisses everywhere. “I had only been with one guy before coming here.”
Maddox leaned his forehead against hers. “I shouldn’t want you, angel, but I do. Very much. I don’t care who you’ve been with in the past, including Rafe and Tiernan. Everyone has history. But I need the truth, and you’re stalling. Again. What did you mean you wanted to learn about yourself?”
Alyssa gathered all her courage, opened her mouth, and then shut it. It wasn’t until Maddox cupped her face with both hands, so very like Rafe at that moment, that she found the courage to speak. “I think I’m a shifter,” she blurted out.
She half-expected Maddox to laugh, but he didn’t. Those black eyes shined with an intensity that said she had his full attention.
“Why do you think that?” he asked, taking her seriously. She appreciated that. Him laughing at her, telling her she was imagining things, would have destroyed her. She needed someone to believe in her.
“There were things my mother said that never made sense when I was a child. And then later in my teen years, other pieces of my life never added up. I’ve never told anyone what I suspected. You’re the first. I was afraid. I still am, I guess.”
Maddox crossed his arms over his chest and scrutinized her. He subtly scented the air again, but his expression remained neutral, stoic even.
“You’re not shifter. I’ve scented you. Multiple times. So has every other shifter in this place. There’s a distinct scent that shifters and humans each carry. And yours is human.”
“Can something else mask the scent?”
He thought for a minute. “Not permanently. Skunk spray works for an hour or two. Shifters aren’t born to humans, and the Shifter Origination Virus that created the first shifters has been destroyed, right?”
“Yes. Or so I’ve been told.”
“You can’t spontaneously become a shifter without the origination virus infecting you. That virus carries the shifter DNA to merge with and rewrite a human’s DNA. That’s assuming I understand the science behind it. School wasn’t exactly mandatory in my pack. My mom taught me as much as she could before she died. Anyway, what it comes down to is this. You have to be born shifter, have shifter parents.”
“What if someone was adopted and didn’t know what they were?”
“Were you adopted?”
“I don’t think so.”
“The ultimate test is simple enough. If you can shift, you’re a shifter. Have you ever shifted?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You’d be sure. There’s a connection between the shifter and the wolf within. You’d be aware of each other’s presence. And the first shift isn’t voluntary. Your wolf would have pushed her way to the surface during puberty. Mine chose to do it when I was up in a tree, climbing with my friends. Stupid wolf kept me stuck up there for hours until I learned how to shift back and could climb down.”
She smiled. “You talk as if your wolf is another person.”
“He is. They all are, but they don’t rule over us. It’s a partnership. They’re the primal side, more or less.”
“There are times it feels like there’s something inside of me. Part of the reason I came to this program was to find out more about shifters so I can figure out if that’s what’s inside me.”
“Believe me, angel, you’d know if you had a wolf inside of you. There’d be no question. Your wolf would make herself known. There is nothing shifter about you.”
Alyssa shook her head, not convinced, but everything Maddox said made perfect sense. She’d never shifted at puberty or anytime that she could remember.
He smiled. “Shifter or not, I like that I was your first.”
She slapped him playfully. “First to know my secret.”
