Page 13 of Runaway Wolf
Chapter Four
HER HEART WAS thumping a mile a minute.
They held hands in the back seat.
Penny and Noah were babbling back and forth, probably muttering sweet stuff to each other. She and Isaac looked out their prospective windows. But right there, between them, in a spot made much smaller due to the fact that his huge body took up more space than was humanly possible, they linked hands.
It was the sweetest experience of her life, just her and that big ole, tatted-up, bad boy shifter huddled in the backseat of her car. When they reached the next town over and parked, they dropped hands and she was left feeling a little… odd? Like maybe he didn’t want Penny and Noah to see they’d been holding hands. Which made her feel childish and rejected, but only for a minute.
He scrambled out of the car to help her out. And this time, Penny’s eyes were wide and shooting her silent messages as she watched him hold his hand out for her like he was afraid she’d hurt herself just getting out of the back seat.
“Thanks,” she murmured, offering him a small, shy smile.
Noah had driven them to an outdoor mall, a collection of outlet stores. She and Penny wandered together while Noah and Isaac were discussing something between them.
“I think Isaac likes you,” Penny whispered.
She shook her head. “No, he’s just being polite because he’s the wolf-alpha and I’m visiting you.”
Penny snorted. “Like the host of the mountain? Leader of the pack?”
“Well, kind of.”
“If you could have seen him a week ago, you’d know”—she leaned in to whisper near her ear— “he’s never polite.”
Caitlin let her gaze drift over to Isaac, but her stupid eyes just fell to his muscular ass. “He seems really nice.”
“To you. That’s why I think he likes you.”
“He likes you too.”
Penny shook her head. “He tolerates me. More so now that he’s into my sister.” She nudged her with her shoulder.
Did he like her? Or was he some kind of alpha-host? It wasn’t easy to sort it all in her tired brain.
“We just met.”
“Doesn’t matter. Isaac’s wolf is a little different, but Noah said his wolf knew right away, as soon as he saw me. Animals are more instinctual, no preconceived notions about wait times like humans. But Noah was on the same page too. He and his wolf are more combined. Isaac and his are split.”
“Split? What does that mean?”
“When the wolf has the skin, he’s total wolf. Isaac doesn’t have control. And when he’s human, the wolf is aware but doesn’t have control. The two don’t communicate as one. They’re separate, fighting for the skin. Plus, the wolf is a little crazy.”
“So, when he’s a wolf, stay the hell out of his way?”
“Pretty much.”
They were staring into a store window at hiking boots. There was a gorgeous pair in pink.
“I want those,” Penny murmured.
“They’re pretty,” Caitlin agreed.
A reflection of the guys approaching showed in the window, so she wasn’t startled when Isaac came up, close enough to sniff her hair.
“We could match,” Penny said, turning slightly to smile up at Noah as he rubbed his chest against her back.
Caitlin wanted that. But Isaac was a stranger. A shifter with a crazy wolf. She had to be wary, at least until she got more sleep and her brain was functioning fully.
