Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“I think you’re right.”
“Please don’t hurt her,” Mom says.
He’s not going to freaking hurt me, I almost yell.
Instead, I focus on Ramsey, pushing my cheek against his chest, and listening to his heartbeat. It gets louder, stronger, but with the same steady pace as the rest of him.
“This type of change is very rare,” Liam mutters. “There’s sudden change, brought on by powerful emotion. And there’s some joy in that. A release. That’s what most wolves think of as true change joy. But this is rarer, less well-known. I’ve met wolf monks who can attain true change joy. I think that’s what’s happening here.”
My heart flutters, and I laugh, but it’s also a sob.
“Is that good?” I say, still holding onto my man, my wolf.
I’m never letting go. I know he’d never hurt me.
I refuse to believe he could.
We were made for each other.
“It’s incredible,” Liam says. “This type of change, probably because of its slowness...makes a wolf stronger, fitter, even more sharp-witted. Perhaps it’s because the change has longer to prepare the man to become the wolf, each moment meaning more strength. I’ve heard stories about monks who would meditate for several days before a battle, changing the whole time, sliver by sliver until they were as tough as possible to get.”
“What do we do?” Mom asks.
“We wait.”
“Won’t they smell us?”
Liam sighs. “It’s possible but unlikely. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, there’s no way I’m disturbing him now. The shock might send him into a sudden change. We wait.”
I’m not sure how much time passes as I cradle Ramsey. The air gets cooler, and dew covers the grass, damping parts of my clothes.
But I huddle closer to Ramsey, his body getting so warm as he slowly changes, his rumbling breath making it sound like he’s sleeping.
“Have you ever done this before?” I ask.
Ramsey doesn’t register that I’ve spoken. He only rumbles if I move position, as though telling me to remain in place. And this is the only place I want to be, with my man, making sure nothing bad happens to him.
“No,” Liam says. “I haven’t.”
“Ramsey made it sound like you could do everything.”
Liam chuckles softly. Ramsey stirs, rumbling, but I’m beginning to understand the tone. And with his powerful body pushed up against me, I can feel his pounding heart and the goodness in it.
Does that make me crazy?
“He always makes it sound like that,” Liam says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “The truth is, I’m just a kid who lost everything and found a brother. Ramsey thinks because I was a wolf from birth, maybe it makes me better. But those early years were terrifying too.”
“I can imagine,” I whisper.
“Not as bad as what Ramsey went....”
“He told me,” I say when Liam trails off, wanting to protect his friend. “About his parents.”
“Nasty business,” Liam says. “Evil, for a wolf to let themselves go like that.”
“And you killed him,” I murmur.
Liam’s voice is hard. “I would kill him again. Some wolves don’t deserve the power. Some wolves abuse it or let it abuse them. I will never let that happen if I can help it. I know Ramsey won’t either.”
I shuffle a little, changing position, moving so that Ramsey’s chest is against my back. He’s cradling me in his giant arms, his paws resting against the grass.
My eyes are getting heavy, which seems ridiculous that I could fall asleep in the arms of a beast.
But he’s not a beast. He’s Ramsey, just in a different shape.
From this angle, I can see Mom and Liam.
Liam sits cross-legged, hands on his knees. Mom stretches out a few feet away, leaning against a suitcase, her arms around her knees.
“Are you cold, Mom?” I ask.
She shakes her head, but then it turns into a nod. “A little.”
“Ilsa, I’m sorry,” Liam says, standing. “Take my jacket.”
“I’ve got one in the suitcase,” she mutters. “It’s just.... Can I move?”
I bite down in annoyance, and then Ramsey growls, sounding like he might break out of this serene state.
“Calm down,” Liam says, staring at Ramsey.
No, staring at me, but so that Mom might think he’s talking to Ramsey. He spotted that moment, how it hurt me, Mom being so scared of Ramsey.
He’s a giant wolf.
But he’s also my man.
“I’ll get it for you,” Liam says.
More time passes with the slowness of the change.
All I can do is hold onto my man, and push myself closer to him until he’s not a man anymore.
It was all so gradual. I’m not sure I could ever say, there, that’s the point he stopped being a human.
But it’s happened.
He’s a wolf now, heaving against me, flooded with his power. He rumbles, breaking the trance.
Liam stiffens, and Mom hugs the jacket tighter around herself.
With another low growl, Ramsey moves, climbing to his feet.
I roll aside and kneel in the grass, staring up at him. But he’s so huge, even on all fours he’s still taller than me, even as he leans down to sniff my face.