“And if I scream there, people will hear me.” It was almost a threat, telling him others would come to my rescue.
The blood drained from Devyn’s cheeks. He lifted one hand as if to push a strand of hair from my face. But I shoved it away even though a little voice in my head told me to stop. He loved me. He’d never hurt me, but that was before. Now I wasn’t sure who he was and how my hallucination of him becoming a canine fitted in with the whole scenario.
“That might be best,” he agreed.
He turned the car around, and we drove in silence back to town. But Dean messaged, saying his shift had finished and asking if I wanted him to drop Dad at our place or would we collect him. He’d done me such a huge favor by having my dad with him, I couldn’t ask him to bring him home too.
“Can you make a detour to the motel?” Would I ever be able to think of the place Devyn and I met as the beginning of our lifelong journey, or had it been tainted by whatever the fuck happened today?
A niggling in my belly told me I wasn’t being fair to him, but I was pissed and scared. Not a great combination, so I was in no mood to admit I’d been hasty in my judgment that this was all his fault. I was too far into myyou did some fucked up shitmood.
“We can talk after my night shift. Meet me in the park near the motel at six AM.” There were plenty of joggers and dog walkers in the mornings, so I wouldn’t be alone with Devyn.
I almost wept as I helped Dad into the car.
Why couldn’t I be alone with the man I loved?
Chapter 22
Why can’t it be like the movies?
Devyn
I knew better. Humans freaked out at things they didn’t understand. Sure, shifters did too, but this wasn’t about us, it was about Heston. I totally fucked up by revealing myself the way I had. I should’ve gone slowly, let him in little by little. Something not what I did.
I ruined fucking everything and now Heston had canceled our meeting in the park saying he was exhausted and going home to sleep.
My wolf was pounding at me, begging to get free. He didn’t feel the same as I did. It was also so confusing and lonely. That was the weird part of this. I wasn’t any more alone than I’d been a week, a month, or even a year ago. Try telling that to my emotions. I couldn’t remember a time I felt this alone. It sucked.
I pulled the car off the road and through the worn grassy path to my wolf’s favorite place to shift. It wasn’t a road and was barely big enough to fit my car. I’d yet to run into anyone out here, though. This was my private escape—that is until some land developer came and turned it into apartments galore or maybeoverpriced crappily constructed houses. Either way, it was mine until it wasn’t.
As a small child, I’d dreamed of one day owning the woods. Not a particular woods but “The Woods” which I somehow believed existed, just like in story books. I thought if I did, all the shifters could come and have parties in their animal forms. This was before I sprouted my fur and knew better.
I still enjoyed my youthful vision of playing birthday party games with bears, as fairy tale-esque as it sounded. Maybe that’s why I brought up those stories during my botched reveal.
Why couldn’t it have been like in the vampire movies, but real and with wolves:The dashing young man shares who he really is and their true love exclaims that they suspected so all along and even if they didn’t, their love could conquer anything.
They’d follow it up with the sexiest kiss imaginable and a montage of the moments that led them there. Sure, my sharing of my wolf with Heston could never have included a montage, but the rest of it? That would’ve been perfect.
I parked the car, climbed out, and took off my clothes.
Let’s hunt. You’ll feel…better wasn’t the word. Stable? It didn’t matter which because my wolf didn’t give me time to complete the sentence, instead ripping through my skin and scenting the air.
Rabbit, deer, squirrel, and skunk were the closest of smells. Although the skunk might not be as close as my beast thought. Their scent tended to linger… for days.
Don’t you dare go for the skunk,I warned him. I didn’t want him taking down a deer either, but at least that wouldn’t result in mebeing stinky and needing to buy tomatoes in bulk to mask the skunk smell.
He scented the air again and this time caught a whiff of a fox—his favorite. He took off, following the fox’s trail, downing and eating him with ease. Probably too much ease if I knew my wolf. He’d want to go for round two, this time ideally with an animal who gave him a tiny smidgeon of a challenge.
He ate the carcass fairly clean and stood up, scenting the air once more. This time he went for the deer because of course he did. It was that kind of day. He bolted in the direction of the unsuspecting animal and started to circle it, first with a real wide circumference, but getting smaller and smaller each time until the deer finally decided to have some self preservation and bolted.
My wolf was hot on its heels and seconds from attacking when he scented humans. He froze in his tracks, listening intently. Hunters weren’t kind to wolves and if this was one, we’d be better off shifting and being a naked guy wandering around than a four legged creature. But if it was drunk kids looking to get some privacy, then we’d just run back to the car.
The scent didn’t get any closer and we didn’t hear anyone walking, or talking for that matter. My wolf took that as an indication of safety and headed back to the car, walking slowly and keeping cover. It was for the best. The two of us couldn’t hide forever. What if Heston was looking for us?
Ha! Like that would happen. If anything he was packing up and moving across the country, saying fuck you to the arranged marriage and hiding from me.
Mate.
