Free UnleashingtheAnimal by J L Taft Page B

have you anyway. After
all, you are a little below my social scale. I don’t need your help. I can take
care of myself. It was fun while it lasted but it was little more to me than
great sex.”
    She saw him flinch but he still didn’t turn. Instead he
nodded once and opened the door to disappear in the night.

Chapter Nine
     
    As soon as the door closed behind Shane, Blair burst into
tears and lowered herself to the floor. It had hurt more than she would have
imagined throwing those words at him. She had figured out too late that she was
in love with him. But he didn’t want her.
    When the tears subsided she pulled herself up off the
kitchen floor and went to bed. But sleep didn’t come easily. She was already
missing his arms around her and his warm body next to her.
    Her cell phone rang and she let it go to voicemail,
promising that she would call her mother back in the morning. She couldn’t
listen to her ramblings tonight. She was more determined than ever to stay and
prove her words true, that she really could take care of herself and she didn’t
need anyone. All she needed were a few blank canvases and some paint.
    She was ashamed of hitting him with the low blow about her
social scale. She had never fit in with her parents’ friends and she couldn’t
believe she had said that.
    Slowly her eyes got heavy and just as she was dozing off she
heard the distant howl of a wolf. But this time she was sure a wolf could be
sad.
     
    Shane howled at the unfairness of life, the pain of it
pouring out long and deep. To have her, claim her as his and then have her be
ripped from his grasp.
    He knew he had hurt her and she had just been lashing out.
But what if she really meant it? Just the thought of it had a sharp pain spearing
into his chest, right where his heart was.
    His travels had put him in more contact with other Shifters
than most and he had spent time enough with them to know that mating with
another breed was dangerous. He had heard terrible stories of people falling in
love and then turning on each other when they were in their animal forms.
    But besides that it wasn’t accepted by most to live with
someone outside of their own species. A cat couldn’t live with a dog and a bird
couldn’t live with a cat. It was just the way it was. Why couldn’t she just
have been a wolf?
    He didn’t understand. But as he ran through the trees, anger
and desperation driving him on, he realized he really didn’t care what was
accepted or not. He loved her enough for that not to matter.
    But then he thought about children and what would happen to
them, or if they could even have them. Would their differences affect any
children they might have from being healthy? He needed some answers because he
was going to make Blair his, damn the consequences. But he needed to at least
know what they would be facing.
    Taking off for home, he dressed quickly and, jumping in the
truck, he headed for the city. He knew the answers were out there, a person
just had to know where to look.
     
    Blair awoke with the birds despite her nocturnal activities.
Her newly finished painting of the wolf drew her gaze and she knew what she
needed to do. Throwing on a jacket and grabbing her painting, she took off
across the yard and to the path that led to Shane’s.
    She had to apologize. If he didn’t want her then she would
learn to live with it, but he was still a friend and she didn’t want the last
thing she said to him to be what had passed her lips last night.
    He had helped her through the most amazing thing to ever
happen to her and she owed him. They were still neighbors because she wasn’t
going back. This was where she belonged.
    Reaching the field, she paused, more nervous than she wanted
to admit. She was committed now—he might have already seen her. She continued
walking until she reached his door. Knocking several times, she didn’t receive
a response. Sitting on the step, she waited an hour for him but he didn’t show.
    Leaving