Page 67 of Marked By Moonlight
“But he was in control enough to tell you that he needed help?”
“He didn’t consciously do it. It’s a pack thing. If the alpha is in trouble, the rest of us can sense it.”
“Why couldn’t I shift?”
Rowena strokes my hair. “I don’t know.”
I stare up at the ceiling, frustrated that, once again, I failed. “Does this mean I’m closer to being able to shift?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you know?”
“I know that you are incredibly strong and caring and that you and Ambrose are perfect for each other. And you still have a couple of weeks before the next full moon. You’ll figure it out by then.”
“Why does it have to be the next full moon? Why the pressure to do it this time?”
“I don’t know. I can just sense it—time is running out. It has to be this full moon.”
I narrow my eyes at her, trying to sense if she’s lying or at least not revealing the entire truth to me.
“You really don’t know more?”
“I don’t. Ambrose keeps his secrets close to him. He doesn’t burden anyone he doesn’t have to burden. He carries the entire weight of the Moonlight wolves on his shoulders alone.” She pauses. “Until you.”
I scoff. “He hasn’t told me anything.”
“Maybe not yet, but he wants to.”
I open my mouth and then hesitate because I know she’s right. I know he wants to tell me. He wants to share everything with me. I just have to prove to him that he can trust me. That he can share his burden with me.
“I need to train. I need to learn to shift. I won’t let anyone else get injured or die because I can’t break the curse.”
Rowena nods. “I’ll get you some spare clothes.”
I’ma pile of sweat in Rowena’s backyard. We’ve been at this for hours, but I haven’t even made my claws reappear. And despite how hot and sweaty I am, nothing came close to how I felt last night with Ambrose. No earthy moving change in my body that rattles me to my core. Not even a flicker of anything supernatural happening in my body. If I didn’t know better, then I would think that wolf shifter DNA doesn’t run in my blood.
I heave a deep breath. “What now?”
Rowena runs her hand through her golden hair, her face unreadable. “Maybe if you watch me shift a few times, you’ll get some inspiration?”
I nod, sinking into one of her back patio chairs. I suspect she’s doing this to give me a break. But I’ll try anything at this point. I’ve tried concentrating, exercising hard, and letting my emotions overtake me—but nothing has worked.
Rowena takes a step off the deck, tossing her robe off, and shifts as easily as if she were breathing. One second she’s a human, the next a beautiful golden furred wolf with a feminine fierceness in her yellow-eyed stare. She winks at me and then she’s back in her human form and completely naked in front of me.
I gape at her, remembering how beautiful her body is and how perfect she would make as a mate for Ambrose. She should be his match. She should be alpha female. She’s strong enough, beautiful enough, and she can shift.
Rowena picks up the robe and puts it on, eyeing me suspiciously. “What are you thinking about?”
“How beautiful you are and how effortlessly you shift.”
“Ambrose told you?” She sits down in the chair across from me.
“Yes.”
She nods. “Good, I wanted to tell you but thought he deserved to get to tell you first.”
“Are you sure you two aren’t mates?”
