Free Accidentally Wolf by Elle Boon

you to trust
me, remember?
    Her eyes bugged, and the smell of
her fear overwhelmed to his senses.
    “How are you talking to me?” she
demanded.
    The same as you can now. As a shifter we can communicate telepathically
in either form. Do you want me to shift back?
    She sucked in a swift breath,
straightened from the sofa, and reached out her hand to touch his head.
    He lowered his head to rest on her
thighs.
    “So, are you saying I can do that
too?”
    Yes. If she kept scratching him the way she was he was sure he’d
roll over like a domesticated pet and beg for her to rub his stomach.
    “How?”
    He scooted back, missing her touch
immediately. With ease, he shifted back to his human form.
    It was hard not to jump his mate
and make her forget, for a little while at least, what he knew she needed to
know.
    Zayn gave her an abbreviated
description of shifters and how he and his brother, along with Jett had come to
Mystic. The compassion she couldn’t hide for his nephew made him all the more
happy that she was his mate. Being born a shifter from two parents who were
shifters, he wasn’t sure what to expect for one who was accidentally turned.
    “So where are your parents now? I
thought wolves were pack animals?”
    A genuine smile crossed his face.
“They are pack animals. We are pack animals. My parents are still with their
pack, our old pack. I don’t know how to explain it. We were restless, Niall,
Jett, and I. There just didn’t seem a place in the pack for us.” He shrugged
his shoulders.

 
    * * * *

 
    “So do I have to wait till the
full moon and then, you know, like turn all furry?” Cora tried to make light of
the situation, when inside she was a little freaked. Okay a whole lot freaked
out.
    Zayn grinned. “We don’t need the
moon, full or not. All you need to do is picture your wolf in your mind.”
    She wasn’t ready. The thought that
her…boyfriend—or whatever he was—turned into a wolf was enough to take in at
the moment, thank you. She had a thousand other questions that needed answered.
“How do you know I’m one, if you haven’t ever met a human who was, you know,
bitten or whatever? How do you know I don’t need to be naked? And why do you
call me mate? And what does this mean for me and my life?” The questions
swirling around in her mind frightened her.
    “Hey, calm down. Listen to me. I
know that humans have been turned and are fine. Our life expectancy is longer
than the average human. No, we are not immortal. We don’t live for hundreds of
years without aging. Our oldest elder is a hundred and fifty-one, but don’t
quote me on that. We can go see him and his mate. They will have answers to
your questions. If they don’t, we will find someone who does. As for mate, you
are it for me. Don’t you feel it? It’s an unmistakable pull with a scent only a
mate has.”
    She sniffed. “Are you saying I
smell?”
    Cora wasn’t sure if she should
knee him in the nuts, push him away, or pull him closer. Now that he’d
mentioned it, he did smell really good. Truth be told,
no other man she’d met, before or after she’d made love with Zayn, had done
anything for her. Although in her defense, she hadn’t really dated anyone after
college. The need for Zayn was a little disturbing, a compulsion that was far
beyond what was natural, or what used to be normal for her.
    “I’m saying that when a shifter
finds his or her mate, nature lets them know by their scent. I was confused
because when I first scented you I wanted you, but you were human. Hell, want
is too tame a word.”
    “And you didn’t want a skinny
human.” She had little doubt he regretted his words.
    “Oh, baby, I was running scared. I
didn’t mean it. You’re the perfect mate for me. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve
you, and I will work for the rest of my life to make it up to you.”
    She was drawn to him, whether it
was because of the shifter thing or not. She steeled herself against her
heart’s reaction