Page 25 of Billionaire Wolf Needs a Pilot
I paused in my movements, fixing him with a level stare.“Oh, I’m completely freaking out internally.But having a breakdown won’t help either of us survive, so I’m compartmentalizing.”
“Practical as always.”His smile was pained but genuine.
“What are you?”The question came out more bluntly than I’d intended.
“Shifter.”He winced as he adjusted his position.“Wolf shifter, specifically.”
I absorbed this information with surprising calm.“That explains the body temperature.And the hearing.”I checked his wounds, finding most had already closed into angry red lines.“How fast do you heal?”
“Faster than humans.Minor wounds in hours, major ones in days.”He studied me carefully.“You really aren’t afraid.”
It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway.“I’m processing.And you just killed a bear to protect me, so fear seems counterproductive.”
“The bear,” he said, trying to sit up.“We need to—”
“Stay put.”I pressed him back down with firm hands.“You’re still healing.”
His eyes narrowed.“The meat will freeze solid if we wait too long.And scavengers will come.”
I recognized the practical truth in his words.“Fine.But you’re going to tell me everything while we work.”
Twenty minutes later, bundled against the cold, we stood over the massive bear carcass.Tanner had donned his clothes before we headed outside again.He looked too normal for someone I’d just watched transform into a wolf.
“We need to process it quickly,” he said.“I’ll show you how.”
What followed was the most primal, visceral experience of my life.Under Tanner’s guidance, and with only the multi-tool knife from our emergency kit, we butchered the bear, salvaging meat, fat, and useful parts with methodical efficiency.
As we worked, he explained his world, the surprising number of wolf shifters who ran the world’s most powerful corporations, ancient family bloodlines, and the careful secrecy maintained to protect their kind from human fear and persecution.
“Your healing, your senses, your strength, they’re all part of being a shifter?”
He nodded.“Among other things.We heal faster than humans.Our metabolisms run hotter.And we form deeper bonds.”
Something in his tone made me look up from my task.“What kind of bonds?”
Tanner’s hands stilled.“Shifters mate for life.When we find our true mate, the connection transcends the physical.It becomes…”
“Soulmates,” I supplied.
His eyes met mine, surprise evident.“Yes.Exactly that.”
By the time we finished processing the bear, my hands were numb and bloody, my mind overwhelmed with revelations.We carried the meat back to the cave in shifts, setting up a makeshift smoking rack near the fire to preserve what we couldn’t eat immediately.
The smell of roasting bear meat soon filled our shelter, rich and primal.We sat side by side, turning pieces on improvised spits, the domestic simplicity at odds with the extraordinary nature of our conversation.
“So all those stories, werewolves, shape-shifters, they’re based on truth?”I asked, accepting a perfectly cooked piece of meat from his hands.
“Some.Most get the details wrong.”He watched me taste the meat with an intensity that sent a rush of heat through me.“Human imagination tends toward the monstrous when confronted with the unknown.”
“You’re not monstrous,” I said quietly.“Terrifying, yes.Dangerous, absolutely.But not a monster.”
Something shifted in his expression, relief mingled with a hungry intensity that had nothing to do with the food.“There’s something else you should know about shifters.About wolf shifters specifically.”
I swallowed my bite of meat.“I’m listening.”
“When we find someone compatible, someone our wolf recognizes as a potential mate, the attraction is intense.Overwhelming, sometimes.”His eyes never left mine.“It can affect humans too, this pull.It creates a connection that’s difficult to resist.”
The implications of his words settled over me.“Are you saying what’s happening between us isn’t real?That it’s some kind of supernatural compulsion?”
