Free To Catch a Wolf (BBW Werewolf Shifter Romance) by Lynn Red

Jamie paced to the door, and then returned. She moved like a shadow gliding along the floor, her clawed feet seemed to just slide along the ground.
    Her fingertips on my cheek were strangely warm. “Sit,” she said. “Let me guess, this is about the old alpha’s...”
    She didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to bother. I sat, let out a long sigh and turned my eyes upward, staring at Jamie and waiting for her to talk so I didn’t have to acknowledge the insanity running through my head.
    Instead, she just stared back. “Any day now,” she said.
    I took a deep breath, concentrating on the beat of my own heart to try and calm my thoughts. “It’s... I don’t know. This is so embarrassing. I feel like a high school reject.”
    She stared at me, blankly.
    “Not familiar with that around here?”
    “Well, we’ve got high school, but I’m not sure what you mean. Remember, I don’t really know why you’re leaving, so maybe start at the beginning?”
    “It’s just that when I came here,” I took a deep breath that rattled a little bit in my chest. “Okay, well, I left home because yeah I needed a job, but also because I’d never fit in a single place in my whole life. I mean, look at me.”
    I shook a lacy sleeve at Jamie and pushed my hair out of my face. “This hair? I used to dye it blue okay? I’ve never fit in anywhere. And then in college, I wasn’t enough of a lunatic to fit in with the whackos. Right? I went from being the crazy girl in high school to being a bore.”
    “Jesus,” Jamie said softly.
    “And all the while, this asshole,” I pointed at the picture of my uncle, “told me how all the music I listened to, and the, I dunno, the shit I put in my hair, and the nail polish I wore... he told me how it was all just wasting time. He had me convinced that I was just a big, giant waste of time.”
    When tears came, they came in a flood.
    Jamie sat there without talking, more patient than I ever imagined her being, though I guess I never gave her much of a chance.
    “I don’t...  sorry,” I said, sniffing.
    “No, no, no apologizing. I’m the one who asked.” Slowly, she rubbed her hand on my shoulder.
    “Then,” I continued, “I came here, you know? I met Erik and then... it just all fell into place. As stupid as it might sound, Jamesburg is the first place I’ve ever felt like home. And now, because of some zombie reminding everyone that they hate humans, then that’s it? I’m just supposed to suck it up and either say goodbye to this place, or be fine living as a second class citizen?”
    My shoulders trembled, and my breath came in short, hard bursts.
    For a moment, Jamie just stroked my back and let me shake.
    “You know, Isabel,” she said, slowly easing us back into conversation. “You told me things that I didn’t know, but I knew , if that makes any sense.”
    I nodded. “I guess so, but what does it matter? It can’t ever work between us, can it? If the whole town thinks I’m some kind of thief waiting to happen, how can we ever be together?”
    “Well if you put it that way,” Jamie said softly, “it sounds a lot worse than it is. Look. Erik is who he is. Right? He’s big, and strong and rough and has those muscles and...”
    “Uh, right, yeah, that’s all true,” I said, grinning slightly, despite myself. “He certainly does have that going for him.”
    “And he told you he loves you. Right?”
    “Wait, how did you know that?” I asked.
    “I might’ve taken an accidental peak into your noodle. But I swear that was all I saw.”
    I nodded, closing my eyes. “Yeah, he... he did, right before I left.”
    “One thing I know about Erik,” Jamie said, “and remember, I’ve known him a lot longer than you – is that he doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean. He isn’t the type to give you compliments he doesn’t think are real. I’m sure you’ve noticed that, too.”
    “Ugh, yeah,” I said.
    “I dated him for a few years,” Jamie