Page 27 of Moved
“Stupid move, Gillian.” His menacing growl caused a shiver to run down my spine.
“Why me, Chuck?”
He laughed. “I have a better nose than the rest.” He buried it in the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply.
The door to the kitchen eased open, and blinding light flooded the room.
“Evening, Chuck.”
“Evening, Chuck?” I repeated, glaring at Racer. “He has me by the hair and that’s all—”
Chuck clapped a hand over my mouth, stopping my wrath.
“So what does your nose tell you?” Racer asked as if I hadn’t said anything.
“She smells human, but I caught a hint of something else weeks ago. Alpha. It only happened once but it was enough. It got me wondering how a human could smell like an Alpha. Then I saw her father with Larry. Good thing Gillian took after her mother and not her grandfather.” Chuck stroked a finger along my cheek.
Was he saying Larry was my grandpa? Larry looked more like my dad’s age.
“If that’s true, you’re starting trouble, taking an Alpha’s granddaughter.”
Chuck laughed. “How unforgiving can he be when he let his daughter run off with a human?” He thrust me to the side with his last word.
As I fell to the carpet, narrowly missing the coffee table, Chuck threw himself at Racer. Fear clawed at me. The idea of Chuck facing Racer had been laughable when I thought Chuck a human. But not now.
Racer’s eyes grew dark. He rolled his shoulders as his arms rose to block Chuck. Time slowed and every detail of his change burned into my mind. He grew taller, the cuffs of his pants rising to his sock line. His thighs stretched the material so tightly seams started to give way. The bottom of his hoodie cleared the waist of his jeans. The dark hair on his stomach thickened. The muscles of his arms inflated as his bones stretched.
Between heartbeats, he’d exploded into a seven-foot monster with ripped clothes, fur, claws, teeth, and a pissy attitude. His lips thinned and stretched over his jaw, which protruded slightly. The growl that came from him made the hair on my arms stand up. His dark blue eyes seemed to glow as he looked down on Chuck. Chuck, seeing his attempt at attack fail, moved back a step and rolled his own shoulders.
Before Chuck could transform, Racer grabbed him by the throat and shoved him against a wall. The drywall cracked, caving in around the point of impact.
Chuck growled as his own body started to adjust. My fingernails dug into my palms, and I watched in terror as he started to grow. His muscles expanded. His legs lengthened. But Chuck’s changes seemed…smaller than Racer’s. Then, everything just stopped. I blinked and realized Chuck’s change was complete even though he was still twelve inches shorter and much leaner than Racer.
My worry evaporated. I laughed, re-splitting my lip, at the sight of Chuck in his diminutive werewolf form.
Racer towered over Chuck, still snarling, and drew back his fist. Chuck growled back. He tried to claw at the hand still gripping his throat. Racer didn’t seem to notice as he jabbed his fist forward. One hit to the jaw, and Chuck’s head lolled as he fell unconscious.
Racer opened his other hand, and Chuck collapsed in a heap on the floor. That was it? It was done?
“What was that?” I said standing.
Racer turned toward me, a snarl curling his lips. “Pack dirt.”
I walked toward him. He wasn’t reverting.
“So how long do you stay like that?” I stopped in front of him.
He leaned in and sniffed me. “You smell like him.”
“That would be because he had me pinned against the wall, kissing and licking me.”
His eyes narrowed. He kicked out a foot, punted Chuck in the face, then started to shrink, regaining his more human form.
“Your dad lost his phone last night. He’s with Larry.”
“You mean Grandpa Larry?”
“They’ll be here in a few hours. When they lost track of Chuck, they got worried.”
