She only had a moment to register the stinging pain of his teeth before satisfaction roared up to consume it. Every muscle in her body melted like warm taffy as the urge to fight him dissolved.
Quiet. So quiet. She almost remembered words. “Jay?”
“I’m here,” he rasped. “I’ve got you.” His hand dropped to her pants and pulled them open.
Human modesty slammed against the wall of madness, and she wriggled away with an alarmed noise. “What, why—”
He held up both hands. “If you don’t get them off now, you’ll get tangled up in them and freak out.”
She couldn’t make sense of the words, could barely understand them, but she understood the retreat in his upheld hands, the worry and care in his tone. Jay wouldn’t hurt her. Closing her eyes, she eased out of her shoes, pants and underwear, tossing the clothing aside until she knelt shivering and na**d on the hardwood floor.
He wrapped his arms around her and bit her again, this time a gentle press of teeth to the back of her neck. “Don’t be afraid, and don’t fight. Just feel her. Let her out.”
The words vibrated through the room, a command and a soothing order, neither of which she knew how to obey. An anxious pressure built inside her, one uncomfortably like arousal. “Help. Help me.”
“She’s in there, honey, I know she is. Find her.”
Her. The wild strangeness. Eden shivered. “She’s calm now.”
“Yeah.” He stroked a hand over her hair.
She shivered again, only this time it didn’t stop. Shivers turned to trembling, and trembling to shaking. The tension inside seized tight without warning, bowing her back as her nails scraped helplessly over the floor.
Pain shot down her spine. Bones cracked. Eden tried to scream and couldn’t get enough air into her burning lungs. Her body tore apart in slick, wrenching agony.
Broken.
Dying.
No, not dying. Remade. Reborn. Power rode the pain, swelled and swelled until there was no way to contain the sweetness, the glory. Her wolf swept aside the last bit of human thought in a rush to claim her, and the sound of her own triumphant howl chased her into the wild.
Chapter Two
She was still sleeping.
Jay knelt on his bedroom floor and peered under the bed. “Eden? You awake?”
A muffled, sleepy noise answered him. Eden tried to curl onto her side and froze when her shoulder bumped the box spring. Her eyes snapped open. “Uh…”
He turned his head. “I brought you a shirt.”
“All right,” she said, voice faint. “Could—could you give me a minute?”
“Do you need me to do anything?” He’d left her alone for most of the night. After her change, no amount of comfort or soothing magic seemed to get through to her. She’d hidden under the bed, and Jay had slept on the floor beside it.
She squirmed a little and bit off a curse as something thudded against the bed frame. “Maybe lift the bed a little? This is awkward as a na**d human.”
“Yeah.” Better to put his eyes above the mattress anyway. He rose on his knees, lifted the frame with one hand and held out the shirt with the other.
Her body brushed his as she crawled past him, grabbing the shirt on the way. By the time he lowered the bed, she’d tugged the garment over her head. “Thank you. Do I want to know how I ended up under there?”
“I think you wanted to den up and hide. It’s pretty common after an initial change.”
“So it wasn’t a dream.”
He turned to find her kneeling a few feet away on the floor, rubbing her cheek against the sleeve of the shirt he’d lent her. “No, not a dream,” he whispered. It was too much for her to go through, for anyone to face. “I’m sorry.”
She dragged in a shaky breath before burying her nose in the sleeve. “It smells like you. I don’t even know how I know that, but it’s comforting.”
“Your sense of smell will be a lot more pronounced now.” He could handle teaching, offering her information, and he knew a woman like Eden was bound to appreciate it. “People think wolves have the best sniffers out there, but it’s not true, not compared to a lot of dog breeds. Sound, though—that’s a big one. Your brain will block out the worst of it, but loud noises might be painful until you get used to them.”
Her gaze dropped to his chest as her eyes narrowed. “I can hear your heart.”
“You’ll be able to see in the dark too.” He rose and held out his hand. “Hungry?”
“Starving.” She let him pull her to her feet but didn’t release his hand. “Jay… Thank you for taking care of me.”
His skin tingled at her touch. She’d slept two feet away from him, he’d seen her na**d, and now she was wearing his shirt. Not just wearing, but luxuriating in, like his scent was the only thing she wanted on her body ever again.
He bit his tongue. Hard. “You’re welcome.”
She swayed toward him, like she was fighting the urge to close the distance between them. Her fingers clenched tight as she turned away. “I can feel her. She’s me, but she’s separate. And she’s not confused.”
“Good.” Too many new wolves went nuts from the sudden shift in sensory input, not to mention the lifelong implications—the transformation was irreversible, those changes unavoidable. Adjusting was hellish, and some people couldn’t do it at all.
If Eden was one of them…
It didn’t bear consideration. Jay would have had to end her misery, and how the hell would he explain that to Zack? To Eden’s father?
How would he handle it himself?
She cleared her throat. “Am I supposed to want to sniff you?”
“If you want to check me out.” Only shit, that sounded like an invitation. “You’re going to want to test other wolves. That’s unavoidable.”
Silence. Eden edged closer, as if she couldn’t help herself, her gaze fixed on his throat. “If you don’t want me to, I think you better run or lock me in the bathroom or something.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m going to do neither,” he answered. “I wish we had a couple of days for you to hide away from the world and deal with this, but we don’t. We’ve got to get you solid on your feet and head back out to the farm.”
She moved in a rush, slamming against his chest and burying her face in his throat with a distressed whimper. Her fingers dug into his shoulders in a painful grip that only eased after her first gasping breath.
Jay wrapped his arms around her, already regretting his blunt words. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re fine, Eden. Just fine.”
“I know.” The words sounded more frustrated than scared, but the nervous energy pulsing just under her skin didn’t fade. “I don’t have time to fall apart. I need to be stronger.” She dragged in another breath. “Why do you smell so safe?”
“Because I’m strong. Because you know me already.”
“Because I trust you?” She turned her cheek to his shoulder with a sigh. “Tell me I can do this, and I promise to believe you.”
That much, at least, was easy. “I’ve seen people way weaker than you handle this. You can do it, no doubt at all.”
“Okay.” She eased out of his arms and glanced down at her bare legs. “I need food and clothes, and then we should get back out to the farm.”
“Your clothes are in the bathroom.” He dragged his gaze away from her legs and focused his mind on something else. “I made breakfast. You’ve probably already figured out what.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Bacon and eggs? And coffee. Oh, thank God.”
“Real cream too. I hate that powdered stuff.” He gestured to the door. “I’ll be in the kitchen, okay?”
She offered him a shy smile. “I’m fine. I have to be, right?”
“You’re fine, Eden.” He didn’t have to dig deep to put the force of his conviction behind the words. “You’re perfect.”
“I bet you say that to all the women who sleep under your bed.”
“Only the ones who blush as pretty as you.” Then, before he could get himself into big trouble, he ducked out of the room.
The vehicles from Memphis were gone.
Jay pulled his truck to a stop in front of the farmhouse. “You think they parked the other cars out back?”
“Probably. Zack knows all about nosy neighbors.”
They’d have to come up with a more permanent solution—once Jay knew what the hell was going on. “Hang on. It’s an old truck, so I’ll have to come and let you out.” He climbed out and hurried around to open her door.
Eden slipped off the seat and stood next to him for a moment, her body tense as she took in the farm with her newly awakened senses. The front door slammed open, and she stumbled back against the truck.
Zack strode out the door and jumped the porch steps, landing a dozen yards in front of them. His nostrils flared as he stared at Eden. “What in—” His teeth snapped together as he found Jay’s gaze, but the question remained, even if Zack seemed unwilling to frighten Eden by voicing it.
“Her bite healed right after we left,” Jay told him quietly. “She shifted last night. I don’t know how or why.”
“Fucking hell.” Zack ran both hands through his hair. “God, Eden, I’m sorry—”
“No.” She straightened and gave Zack a stubborn look bristling with untamed challenge. “We’re not doing this. It happened, it’s over. Now we’re going to go inside and discuss what’s going on and what needs to be done.”
Zack backed down. Judging from the raw, ragged power that spilled out of the man, he relented either out of respect for his cousin or because he was simply tired of fighting.
“We need the whole story,” Jay said. “It’s the only way I can help.”