Free Shadowed Instincts by Wendi Wilson

don’t see me that way.”
    Jeremy cocked his head to the side and looked at her
skeptically. “Really?”
    “Well,” she backtracked, “except you. You’re the only guy to
ever show any interest in me at all. You and Mr. Hughes.”
    Jeremy grabbed her hand. “Don’t go there, Mel. That guy is a
psychopath.”
    “My point, exactly! You and the psycho are the only two
members of the male species to ever want me. I still wonder sometimes why you
do.” She looked down at their joined hands in her lap.
    Jeremy put his hand under her chin and lifted it. “You still
have no idea how beautiful, funny, charming, and outright wonderful you are, do
you?”
    “Stop it,” she said, pushing him lightly on the shoulder. “I
know you love me. I don’t know why you do, but I can feel it. That doesn’t mean
everyone else sees me the way you do.”
    Jeremy stood up and quickly pulled her to her feet. He led
her over to the full length mirror that hung on the closet door. He pushed her
in front of it and stood behind her, looking at her reflection over her
shoulder.
    “Look, Melanie,” he said when she didn’t move her eyes from
his in the mirror. “Look at your hair, so shiny with gorgeous waves. Look at
your eyes. They’re blue today. Your nose is as cute as a button.” He tapped it
with his finger. “And that mouth.” A low growl emitted from deep in his throat.
    Melanie looked at each feature as he named it, trying to see
herself though his eyes. She had always seen herself as plain. Plain and fat.
She’d lost a lot of her pudginess recently, but she wasn’t anywhere near as
thin as Tara or the other girls deemed beauties by the male population at their
high school.
    “And this body,” he continued, placing his hands on her
waist and letting them trail over the swell of her hips. He turned his head and
whispered in her ear, “I’m so glad you didn’t lose all your curves. I haven’t
had a chance to kiss them all yet.”
    He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her
backwards into his chest. He moved one hand up to sweep her hair to the side
and kissed her neck. His tongue darted out to lick the spot where her pulse
beat erratically and her eyes closed.
    “Melanie,” he continued in a whisper-light voice, “you are
so beautiful, inside and out.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Everyone sees it
but you.”
    Melanie turned in his arms and kissed him, wrapping her arms
around his waist. When he tried to gently end the kiss, she was having none of
it and kissed a hot trail down his cheek to his neck. Jeremy chuckled as he
picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
    He smacked her lightly on the butt before striding back to
the bed and tossing her on it. He stood there smiling with his hands on his
hips while she righted herself and swiped the hair out of her face.
    “What was that for?” she pouted.
    “Things were getting a little out of control and that was
the quickest way to break the tension.” One side of his mouth quirked up in a
smirk.
    “Ugh. You’re such a jackhole sometimes. I don’t think you
really even want me,” she retorted, only half joking.
    “It’s time for breakfast,” he said, changing the subject.
“I’ll see you downstairs.” Just before he walked out, he turned back. “Nice
shirt,” he said with a grin before strutting through the door then closing it
behind him.
    Melanie looked down in confusion and her face grew hot with
a blush. She had on a white tank top and she wasn’t wearing a bra. It was
really thin and practically transparent.
    “Oh my God,” she whispered to herself, hearing Jeremy’s
laughter fade as he walked down the hall.

Chapter 14
    “Sundays are a day for rest and leisure.”
    Melanie heard Darren’s voice from the hallway as she tried
to get up the nerve to enter the dining room for breakfast. She had made her
peace with Declan, but facing his parents and the rest of the pack after that
embarrassing conversation at dinner the night