Page 74 of Howl You Doin?
I bolt, propelling myself out the open window, ignoring Connor’s angry shout for me to stop.
I swallow my scream, the wind tearing at me as I fall. Oh shit! My arms cartwheel as the moat below comes rushing toward me, but they go still when my body is enveloped in shockingly cold water. My brain catches up and bubbles swirl around me as I kick my feet and begin pushing my arms to reach the top of the water. Lungs burning, my head breaks above the swampy surface.
I cringe at the slime covering my face and rake a claw through it to slap it away.
“Ugh, gross.” I glance at the nearby edge of the walkway and kick my feet, moving to get out. A scared whimper exits my mouth at the sight of my arm, still covered in fur. I look like something out ofTeen Wolf.
“Connor’s a werewolf?” I whisper to myself as I swim toward the moat’s edge, wishing my thoughts didn’t sound insane. “Did he bite me and turn me into one? What the hell is going on?”
Tears threaten my eyes when I hear him call my name from the window I jumped from, and I’m just too freaked out to turn to him. Shifters didn’t exist two seconds ago, and reading about humping one and actually meeting one are two very different things.
I could have dealt with it better, maybe even with a giggle and a hair twirl, if I couldn’t feel a tail coming from my own tailbone! Whatever he’s done to me, I’m going to make him pay for it.
I reach the edge of the moat and try to stand, my feet slipping and sliding on submerged algae-covered rocks. The next thing I know, I’m screaming when something tugs me back into thewater. Bubbles swirl again, only this time they’re coming from my mouth as I yell. Something strong pulls me down, deep down, fast and rough through the water.
My eyelids fight to stay closed at the force that’s jetting me through the moat’s depths. I’m dragged for much longer than I’d think the waterway would lead, and I attempt to pull my hands to my chest as my hair whips behind me.
A feeling of weightlessness registers a second before the wind is knocked from my chest. My rough landing onto solid, dry land causes me to heave, and pain lances up my sides as my lungs fight for air. Water climbs up my throat and I gag, choking on the cool liquid. I curl onto my side, retching as the water is violently expelled from me.
“Dè tha sibh a’ dèanamh?” A male voice says to my right, and I catch the awkward waving of a large hand in my periphery.
I go still, waiting for the owner of the hand to reveal themselves.
“Day have—What?” I ask slowly, the words completely foreign to me.
I lift my eyes so I can trail my gaze within the strange place I find myself. It’s dark except for a singular flaming torch, and yet I’m able to see even though that shouldn’t be possible. I squint into the dimness at what looks like a cave wall or something.
“Ye’re not a human,” the dark voice states this time.
My nose elongates like the changes in me haven’t finished, and a low menacing growl shakes from my chest. Sensations batter my senses, but one resounds the loudest. It’s as if the intruder alert sound from a James Bond game is playing on repeat in my head and my body is reacting like this is the bad guy.
“Stay away from me!” My voice is distorted and mean.
I get to my feet, grimacing when I glance at my new wolf-like feet covered in torn, wet stockings. I breathe in deeply,attempting to calm my heart that’s beating like a hummingbird at speed.
“Och, she speaks no Gaelic and smells of dog,” he says.
I bare my teeth, and a deep roar follows out of my throat when the Scottish-sounding male shrugs and lumbers toward me. As he moves closer, he claps his hands to make the lights come on, illuminating the place, and I suck in a breath.
I back away from the giant, red-bearded man. Tall and built like a linebacker, he halts his approach and stares at me with moss-green eyes, his long red hair flowing down his back. A patch of red curls covers his massive chest, tapering into a trail down his six-pack stomach, and...oh my god.
“For fuck’s sake, the bastards canna leave all the women alone, can they?”
“You’re naked,” I blurt, and my cheeks heat. “I mean,whoare you?” My voice is deeper than normal, and I reach to rub at my throat, my jaw dropping at the soft fur coating my neck. My hands trail up my face, and I squawk unnaturally. “What did he do to me?”
My face wasn’t like this before we had sex—completely covered in fur and now turning more lupine.
“Exactly my thoughts, lass. Ye smelled of cookies only two months ago and now look at ye. The mongrel just had tae take ye, didn’t he?” he says, in a strong Scottish brogue, entirely at ease with his junk hanging out for all to see as he pushes some wayward strands of his long red hair off his face. “Just as well, I suppose. He deserves a mate just like the rest of us, aye?”
“Who are you?” I ask him again, and he takes it as an invite to get closer, his bare feet padding against the stone ground as he ambles over.
He stops in front of me, a friendly smile on his face. An emerald eye winks, and he clears his throat. “Lachlan Macbeth at yer service, and who might ye be?”
I groan, rubbing at my face with the heels of my hands and gasp as I change back to human. “My hands!”
“Aye, ye have them, and claws now too, no doubt. Connor’s doing, from the scent of ye.” His expression says he thinks there’s something wrong with me.
“I’m going to murder him! I knew he did this to me.”
