Page 8 of Pregnant Wolf's Mate

Of course, she'd had sexual partners before. The high libido thing seemed to have started well before her full powers came into effect, but even that was different.

"You done being shy?" Ray demanded over his shoulder. Before she could answer, he added, "You know, you should be grateful for this opportunity. Most shifters don't get the choice for their first shift. Many of us wake up in tattered clothes with bunny guts all over us."

Macie had heard enough of the stories to know he was right, but that didn't make her feel any better.

"I'd prefer that to not feeling my wolf at all," she snapped back at him, and it was then that he turned to look at her.

"You don't feel her at all?" he asked, his face filling with concern. Suddenly, the look on his face made her feel as though hiding her nudity was the least of her worries.

"Is…is that really bad?"

"Well," Ray said gently, scratching the back of his neck. "It isn't exactly good."

Macie cringed.

"Don't worry. We'll figure this out," Ray assured her as he stepped forward. Though he didn't come close enough to touch her, Macie was unnerved by the lessening distance between them. She wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved when he instructed her, "Close your eyes and concentrate."

Reluctantly, she did as he suggested and closed her eyes. The moment she did, she was sure she could feel his eyes looking her up and down, and it was more than a little distracting. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around her chest to hide her breasts.

"Stop worrying about me seeing your tits and just relax," Ray snapped, and she could hear the growl of his wolf beneath the words. "Concentrate and look inside yourself. Search for your wolf. You need to find her mother more than anything in the world. Feel it, breathe it."

As he talked, Macie could sense him walking slowly around her and the more she sensed it, the more she felt like prey trapped in a predator's gaze.

"It's not working!" she screamed when she could take it no more. She slammed her hands to her sides and opened her eyes, only to realize she couldn't see Ray anywhere.

And that's when she felt him stepping up behind her. Breath catching in her throat, she felt the heat of his body pressed up against her back. It wasn't at all unpleasant as she would have expected it to be. In fact, when he gripped hold of her wrists and forced them to her sides, whispering into her ear, "Relax," she did just that. Leaning back against him with a deep sigh, she oddly felt as though the weight of the world was being lifted from her shoulders.

It was only when she started to relax that he pulled her wrists back up with his hands, wrapping both of their arms around her.

Holding her close, he growled deep in her ear. It was not a human grumbling but a wild and animalistic growl that could have only come from his wolf, as though he was calling to hers. And it was in that moment, when she felt him so close and she heard him calling to her, that she felt something surging up inside of her.

The wolf sprang up from the depths of her soul so forcefully that she yanked herself free of Ray's grip the moment she felt it. Whipping around, she started to claw at her own skin, agony lancing through every single sinew of her body.

"Go with it, Macie," Ray told her, taking a step back as though he knew he was in danger. "Feel it. Feel it all."

But in that moment, Macie didn't want to feel it all. She wanted nothing to do with the wolf that felt as though it was ripping its way out of her. She had been told a hundred times over that shifting for the first time was the most painful, but never in a million years could she have guessed at this kind of pain.

It surged through her so relentlessly that she wanted to rip herself out of her own skin just to stop from feeling it. She heard the sound of bone snapping, of flesh tearing. And even though she felt every ounce of pain, she couldn't quite comprehend that those sounds were coming from her.

Her vision became a blur and suddenly she dropped onto her hands and knees, unable to take another second of the pain.

"Help me!" she screamed but as she did, it became more of a growl than a voice.

Everything after that was awash in darkness and the next thing she knew, she lay in the leaf mulch, curled in on herself with another body wrapped tightly around her, holding her close.

"Shh, shh, I've got you."

For a second Macie didn't recognize Ray's voice but as the world came rushing back to her and she sensed his familiar scent, she started to relax against him. It was only then that she realized she was sobbing and trembling and her entire body hurt as though she had been run over by a truck.

She wasn't sure how long she lay there like that, but one thing she did know was that Ray had never left her, not for a single second, and when she finally managed to recover herself enough, she struggled to roll over to face him.

"You did it!" He smiled at her, and she was certain that there were tears in his own eyes. He stroked her hair away from her face and cupped her face with the palm of his hand. Looking deep in her eyes, he reassured her, "Don't worry. The first shift is always the most painful."

Macie wasn't certain that was very comforting with just how painful it had been, but the emotion of it all overwhelmed her and before she knew what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him close, and kissed him.

The desire-filled grumble that erupted from his broad chest only urged her on and when his arms slipped around her, pulling her on top of him, she didn't protest.

Animal instinct took over, and still feeling her wolf just beneath the surface, she didn't try to stop it. Leaning down to kiss him further, she allowed him to guide her pelvis down with his hands upon her hips. And when she felt his rock-hard manhood glide against the moist lips between her thighs, she felt a shiver of desire like none other.

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