Free The Wolf Inside Me (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) by Celene Lowe

Chapter One
    Selina
    "Selina!"
    My mother was shrieking from the back room, her cigarette-strained voice strangled and raspy. I pricked up my ears, straining to hear her over the noise of the bar. There were too many conversations swirling around me and I struggled to focus on just her.
    It was Saturday night, always our busiest, but my mother refused to hire anyone else to help with the crowd. She didn't trust people, didn't trust anyone but her own flesh and blood.
    That's how she kept me tethered to the bar.
    "Yes, Mom!" I chirped. I hoped she couldn't hear what I really thought, but in nineteen years my mother has never read my thoughts. I could be angry around her but as long as I masked it well, I was okay.
    Masking it was a problem, though. I looked down and saw that my fists were clenched. The awful crawling sensation under my skin was annoying but manageable.
    "Table fourteen ordered nachos fifteen minutes ago. Quit flirting and get your fat ass over there."
    I blinked. Tears pricked at my eyes, and that made me even angrier.
    I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I knew I could handle her cheap insults most days. But tonight I was just too tired to keep up my normal defenses. I was nineteen years old and my back ached like an old lady's from standing behind the bar twelve hours a day. My feet were freaking killing me.
    I leaned back, pressing my fist into the small of my back to work out a kink and I heard a low whistle from the one of the loggers seated at the bar.
    I whipped my head around to see who was ogling me. The man lifted his pint glass and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, letting his eyes fall straight down from my round face to my generous breasts.
    Harmless. I sniffed the air, testing him for danger. There was no malice in his eyes and no aggression in his thoughts. I relaxed slightly and shot him a smile.
    Times like these I was grateful for my talents.
    Other times not so much.
    How can I explain it? I barely understand myself. The best I can tell is that there is a part of the world that lies unseen to most other people, but to me it is as clear as the nose on my face. People's intentions, I know them, usually before they're aware of them themselves. It has made it really hard to trust anyone. I was always on high alert.
    "Selina!" My mother sounded even angrier. If such a thing was possible.
    I sniffed again. My mother was really pissed. I needed to smooth things over. "Sorry Mom!" I shouted, then listened for a second. Like a radio tuning in through static, I narrowed in on her until I found her frequency. The alcohol dulled everything about her until she was as indistinct in my head as my childhood memories. But I could still tell when she was about to blow up. And she was teetering on the edge of that right now. "I've got it right now, Mom!" I called. "I'll get it right out...Mommy"
    As usual the word stuck in my throat. But my mother liked it when I called her that. I sacrificed everything to keep you safe, girl. You needed discipline and a firm hand and that's what I gave you. Where would you be without me?
    Where would I be? I thought grimly. Anywhere but here.
    As usual, that thought brought with it a frission of fear along with a strange, crawling feeling. Like I needed to run. It was another one of those feelings that I couldn't quite put in to words. Just that sometimes it feels like my skin is stretched too tight over my frame. Like something bigger inside of me is trying to come out. I think my mother knows what it is. I could tell by the way she would grab me when I got the "crawlies" as I called them as a kid. Stop it right now, Selina. You get ahold of yourself.
    Get ahold of yourself, I echoed in my head. It was a mantra that I lived with, my mother's words sounding in my head like they were my own thoughts. And her words were always filled with fear.
    Don't ever go into the woods.
    Don't forget who you are. You're human. You're my little girl.
    Don't ever