Page 48 of Mated
I pull the patty from the bun and take a large bite. Juice flows over my chin, but I don’t care. I’m two full burgers in, and my stomach is still growling.
Something rough scrubs over my lip. “The hunger will ease after your first shift.” I glance over as Tanner licks the fluid from his thumb. My body heats. “The reason you’re starving now is your body is fueling for the change.”
I reach for a napkin and clean my face. Mainly to hide what that one motion did to me. Caine catches my eye from his place amongstmypillows. He grins wickedly, and I know that heknowswhat my body did.
“What else do I need to know?” I ask Tanner to keep from looking at Caine’s snarky smile.
Tanner leans back on his hands, upper body flexing under his shirt with the motion. “That depends on the form you take. Wolves are pack creatures by nature. Cats can go without a pack. We aren’t solitary exactly. The other half of us is human after all.” I smile. “But all shifters experience an upswing in power around the full moon. Alphas can control it better, but we are also the ones that feel it first.”
“Always eat as much as you can before the moon rises. When we hunt, we stay close to reserves and pack land, but I have seen more than one hungry shifter veer towards a town.”
I flinch and finish my damn burger.
He nods. “The full moon isn’t just about hunting though. It’s the time to issue challenge to the Alpha, mate, and generally just handle all pack business. The actual run is how we blow off a month’s worth of steam. How we celebrate our victories. Mourn our losses.”
“A shifter is in tune with the earth, the moon … How everything smells. How the lightest touch feels. We can see for leagues, and hear a herd of deer from miles out.” The first thread of silver filters into his eyes as I watch, and even Caine seems entranced with the man speaking. “It’s the shifting of dirt under your pads. How the wind pulls at your fur. It’s the feeling of your pack all around you. Knowing they’re watching your back as you watch theirs.”
I can’t look away from him.
“Tomorrow, we will run at Silver Rock. And if you shift … Great. If not, you will still run with the pack.”
I look at him. “As a human?”
His eyes flow over me. “You can keep up.”
My cheeks burn. “Okay.”
“But there are a few other rules you’re going to need to know.”
“Like?” I ask, confused.
“As a shifter, we can be a bit … carnal during a full moon. With the call of the hunt, the adrenaline of the chase …”
“It makes you horny?” I ask, struck dumb.
He nods. “I will try to keep the others at bay. Caine will be there too. So you need to stay as close to us as you can.”
“What about you?” The question slips out before I can stop it.
“What about me?”
“Won’t I have to worry about you jumping me?” I try to make it a joke. But it comes out as a plea.
His eyes flash.
One second he is leaning back on his hands, the next he is crouched in front of me, all male and wilder than I have seen him yet.
I gulp.
God he smells good.
He cocks his head, nostrils flaring. “If I want you, Nisha,” he croons, his voice lowering and rumbling with something like a purr in its depths. “Then I will take you.”
My eyes fly wide. “What?”
His grin is feral, and most assuredly not human. “You are a shifter now. Bitten, sure. But you have shifter blood in your veins. Regardless of if you shift tomorrow or not, every male in Silver Rock will be after you by scent alone.”
Heart thundering, I can only stare at him. “What do I do?”
