Page 67 of Hunted Mate
“Honey, you’re a werewolf,” Gray says.
“I mean, I know that.You’rea werewolf,” I say, staring at him in confusion.
“No. I’m a shifter. I’m a wolf. You’re a werewolf. A proper werewolf.”
“What the…” I frown slightly. “You mean, like…”
“I mean you have fangs, and fur, you walk on two feet. You’re incredible,” he says. I can hear awe in his tone, but I can also see a small amount of something like fear in his eyes.
It feels like he just told me I’m actually a unicorn. There’s not really any reference for what he’s trying to tell me. I used to discard all the werewolf information when I was researching wolf shifters. It would come up from time to time, but it wasn’t my area of specific interest. I have a vague sense of a bipedal creature with the body of a muscular animal, but in human form.
“Are you fucking with me?”
“I’m not. You’re beautiful. I think you might want to eat people, but to be honest some shifters want to do that too sometimes. The fact that people are made of meat can get very confusing, especially once you start bringing prey down.”
“I’m a werewolf,” I repeat. “This is going to get so complicated, isn’t it.”
“Understatement, darling,” Gray laughs, drawing me into his arms to hold me close. I am smaller than him, and I curl into the sheltering curve of his body while trying to come to terms with the fact that I am apparently a hideous monster as well as a very pretty heiress.
“This isn’t what they were trying to do, right? Or were they trying to make a freaky monster?” I mumble the question to his chest.
“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me, but from what I understand the idea was to make you a shifter wolf like the rest of us. They wanted to be able to pass on lycanthropy. I guess they managed to do that in one sense or another.”
“Are yousureI’m a werewolf?”
“Very,” Gray chuckles. “There’s not really any mistaking it. You’re a very impressive specimen, my love.”
I like it when he calls me his love. It almost makes me forget that I’m now an absolute monster of the kind villagers get out the pitchforks for, or send for special hunters with silver swords and such.
Gray rolls over onto his back, keeping me held close as he shuts his eyes. He looks tired.
“Am I scary?”
I crawl onto his chest and interrogate him by looking down at his face while lying on his body.
“Of course you are,” he says, his tone indulgent and his eyes still closed.
“Are you scared of me?”
“No,” he says. I see his pulse jump in his throat. I think he might be lying. Maybe he’s not afraid of me right now, but I think he was at least a little afraid of me last night when he saw who and what I was.
“I guess I’m in charge now,” I say. “Because you know of course werewolf beats wolf.”
He opens one eye at me. “Do you want me to thrash you right now? Is that what this is?”
“No,” I giggle. “I just need to know what is going on now that everything is monstrously wrong. No wonder I feel so rough. A werewolf. Did I do anything fun? Did I eat any villagers?”
“You and I ran in the woods and took down a deer or two,” he says.
“We didn’t bone?”
“No, we didn’t.” He opens both his eyes, reaches up, and cups my face in his hands. “We have to keep this secret. From everyone. This is the sort of thing that could land you in a laboratory for the rest of your life. They will want to be able to replicate this. They will want to study you. My father will want to use you. Normal humans will consider you either a miracle or a curse. Both roads will lead to an early grave. We have to be so, so careful from here on out. Do you understand?”
I nod my head as best I can. “I understand.”
“I’m not trying to scare you, but you have been behaving so badly lately. You have been drawing attention at every turn. It cannot go on. You are going to have to get your wild impulses under control. It’s going to be difficult.”
He looks so worried. He truly thinks I am an absolute psycho. He assumes I can’t control myself, and hell, maybe I can’t. But I bet I can take control of my lack of control.
