Page 42 of Claimed

“I heard it’s a big part of why the region is so magical.”

“Don’t know a whole lot of the lore about the magic.” Though I guess I should know, given my Young genetics. Maybe now that I’m getting acquainted with the Young coven, I’ll ask about that. “But it’s a sight to see.”

“Let’s go!”

I open the door, and she shifts as soon as she clears the entrance, sprinting from my back patio toward the woods.

Her wolf is small, like most females, but also a little underweight. Her eyes look a little too large what with the lack of weight. She trots ahead, so I shift, thinking about the fact that even if she hadn’t made it crystal clear that her former pack was dysfunctional, even just the knowledge they didn’t allow her to shift whenever she wants would be a cue the alpha is problematic. Not letting a shifter shift? Unless it’s for safety reasons, this makes no fucking sense for the wellbeing of your pack. A wolf shifter, male or female, alpha, beta, or omega needs to be connected intimately with their wolf and that comes from shifting to and from both forms. If you’re in one form too long, you become disconnected from the other.

Being alpha, if I don’t shift every day, I feel the nudging from my wolf. This is why I shift most days as soon as I’m up. Running. Exercising my wolf is good for my human mind as well as my animal form.

She excitedly drops to her belly at the sight of my wolf and sticks her butt up in the air, pinning ears back and barking excitedly, then jumping, uncoordinated, her tail wagging. She butts my chest with her forehead. We circle, smelling one another, nuzzling each other, and then she jumps on me, pretendingto bite just above my right shoulder but licking instead before taking off, running a few feet away, skidding to a halt as she turns and barks again. She wants me to chase her.

Gladly.

I can see she’s trying to pick up speed, but she’s not fast. Since she’s putting effort in, I give her the lead for a while. She makes the mistake of looking back to see how far away I am and stumbles, but quickly recovers and tries to pick up pace again as I pass her. I slow so she can catch up. She’s winded by the time we get near the river, so I trot slowly.

Finally, I stop at the riverbank and wait until she skids to a halt beside me. I lick her face. She leans against me, panting before she moves forward, drops her head and sniffs the water and tentatively licks once, sniffs again, then drinks ravenously.

I jump straight in and swim ahead about twenty or thirty feet, then wait, treading water while she looks at me, water dripping from her chin.

After a moment, I let out a low bark. I want her to come in.

She hesitantly moves in, water coming to her neck. I’m about to swim toward her when I feel something hit me in the chest from the inside out. Panic. Her head disappears underwater.

Dark hair bobs up and she gasps, pulling in a mouthful of air and water before her arms flail and she goes under again. She’s shifted to human and she’s in distress.

I shift to human form and quickly swim a few strokes before diving under and grabbing her, hauling her up to the surface.

She coughs and sputters, gasping for breath.

“You’re okay,” I assure, “I’ve got you.”

I swim us back to the riverbank and gather her onto my lap as I clap her back with my palm a couple times while she coughs out more river water.

“You can’t swim?” I ask.

She shakes her head, grasping my back and clinging to me.

“Why didn’t you say something?” I ask gently.

She shrugs, coughing some more.

I continue to stroke her back while she catches her breath. She’s embarrassed.

“You don’t jump into a deep river when you can’t swim, sweetheart. What were you thinkin’?” I ask, thinking about how Riley must have felt, thinking he lost his mate to drowning.

How has her wolf never gone swimming?

“My wolf can be a little dumb,” she admits. “You made it look so easy, and I didn’t know there was that big drop, so I was just… I guessIcan be a little dumb. I shouldn’t blame it on my wolf.”

I stroke her cheek. “I’ll show you the waterfall another day. How about more of a run? Or do you wanna go back home?”

“I want to shift again and run. I…I want to build strength and endurance and just… enjoy letting my wolf play. It feels so good to do it knowing I can. Knowing I won’t get in trouble for stretching her legs. Because I spend so little time in the wolf shape, I don’t generally feel in synch brain wise when I shift.”

“Shift often until you synch up, babe. It’s important for your mind, body, and soul in both forms.”

She nods.

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