Page 14 of Bitten By Bloodmoon
She didn’t immediately turn me down.That’s good. Progress.
“Let’s go, then.” I lead her out of my house, careful to walk along the shadows. She walks like a zombie on autopilot, just going through the motions. I doubt she even knows what she just agreed to. We keep walking until we get to the thickest part of the forest near my house. The trees are so thick here that almost no sunlight can get through.
Even so, I prefer to be in my wolf form during the day. It’s the only way I can enjoy the sunlight. When I’m in my human form, my vampire side takes over, and the sunlight refuses to allow me into it. If I accidentally step into the light, the sun overpowers me, weakening me with unthinkable pain until I step out.
I transform into my towering midnight-black wolf with striking red eyes—the mark of a Bloodmoon wolf. I turn my head, expecting to see Lumi’s majestic white wolf streaked with the golden markings of the Moonlight pack.
Crystal blue eyes blink back at me as she stands frozen in her sweatsuit.
“You going to shift?”
“No,” she says aloud.
“Why not? I heard that a healer told you not to shift when you were healing, but that’s stupid. Your wolf can heal you; itwon’t hurt you. It would strengthen you to transform into your wolf. Might even help you with your grief.”
She glares at me. “No.”
I’m rooted to my spot, uncertainty clawing at me as I have no clue how to help her. I barely know this woman. I don’t know what she’s been through. So, I do something that is becoming increasingly natural the more time I spend with her—I reach out through our bond.
If she senses me in her head, she doesn’t react. I’m not sure if she even realizes the bond is more than just a way to communicate telepathically with each other. It can also be used to read each other’s emotions, to send each other feelings, messages, and probably more. I suspect I’ve barely scratched the surface of what our bond can do.
As soon as I’m in her head, I want to pull away. White-hot, brutal, relentless pain gnaws at me like a dull blade through flesh. The pain is endless in its vastness. The longer I spend in her head, the more likely it is to engulf me, too.
There’s also a throbbing ache consuming her from the inside out.
For Rowena.
At Ambrose.
At me.
And at her wolf.
Her wolf?
Why is she mad at her wolf?
I force myself to push past the pain and anger that’s threatening to burn me alive. With each push, I want to retreat to the safety of my ice-cold body. But I have to know. I have to find her wolf. Talk to her. Understand her.
Nothing—I find nothing.
I pull out suddenly, realizing exactly why she won’t shift. Shecan’tshift.
That fucking bastard.
I want to tell her why she can’t shift. I want to tell her everything. But she doesn’t trust me. She wouldn’t believe me. And it wouldn’t help for me to be the one to tell her.
So I shift back into my human form, feeling the heat of her eyes over my naked body as I do. Hungrily, she peruses me up and down, unable to get enough of the sight of me.
I’m used to others looking. Despite it being a daily occurrence in pack life, other shifters still appreciate my naked form. Their eyes heat over my body unapologetically, but it’s nothing like what I feel when she does it.
“Like what you see?” I can’t help but quip before realizing it’s not going to win me any awards with her.
She rolls her eyes. “Put some clothes on.”
But maybe it’s exactly what she needs to bring her out of her pain.
“Nah, I think I’ll stay like this. Enjoy the cool breeze on my skin.”
