Free Legacy Found: Legacy, Book 3 by N.J. Walters Page B

days, fighting whatever it was within her.
    In the end, she’d lost. The wolf had been stronger. When the change had begun, she’d thought she was going to die. Her bones had cracked and reformed. Her body contorting as it changed. Fur had pushed through her skin, covering her entire body.
    She’d tipped back her head to scream, but a long, low howl had emerged instead. She’d been herself, yet not. Something else was with her, sharing her mind and body. The wolf.
    Shelley rubbed her hands up and down her arms, feeling a chill in spite of her coat and the warmth in the cab of the truck. She’d feared she’d never be able to change back. That she’d be stuck in that form forever.
    Then she’d prayed that Tom would finally kill her.
    He hadn’t. Instead, he’d watched her for hours. Finally fear and exhaustion took their toll and she’d curled up and slept. She woke hours later in the midst of another change. When it was done, she was herself once again.
    Tom had warned her to keep her mouth shut about what had happened. Who was she going to tell? His buddies? They all thought he should have killed her years before.
    It took her months, but she’d managed to learn to control her wolf. She hadn’t shifted in years. The change always brought out the worst in Tom. After the first time, he beat her every time she allowed her wolf to come out.
    “Shelley?” Concern laced James’s voice. She’d been silent for quite some time, lost in memories. Nightmares really. Daylight was quickly fading into dusk. Night closed in early in March.
    “Okay. I’ll do it,” she blurted. Shelley hoped she was doing the right thing. “But only for a week,” she added. She was leaving if she didn’t feel right about the situation.
    “Fair enough.”
    As though he sensed she didn’t want to talk, James leaned forward and flicked on the radio. Country music rolled out of the speakers. “You have a preference?”
    “Not really.” She’d been listening to music at the diner for months, but Gus had kept it on a country station. Tom hadn’t listened to music at all. She didn’t even know what other kinds of music there were.
    Feelings of inadequacy threatened to smother her. Defiantly, she reached out and pressed one of the buttons. When nothing happened, she frowned.
    “Like this.” James showed her how to search for other radio stations. And he did it in such a matter-of-fact way she didn’t feel stupid.
    She stopped when she came across a slow, rhythmic song she liked. She tapped her foot and her body began to sway. James startled her when he began to sing, his voice low and deep.
    Goose bumps broke out on her skin and a shiver raced down her spine. She wasn’t frightened or cold. Her body was reacting to James’s voice.
    Her skin felt sensitive. Prickly. Her chest rose and fell, her breathing getting deeper. Her nipples felt tight and she pressed her thighs together to try to still the restless sensation low in her belly.
    She was aroused.
    It wasn’t unpleasant. Nor was it something she wanted to explore. She had too much on her plate without adding sex to the mix.
    James’s voice pitched lower, weaving a sensual spell around her. Luring her. She wouldn’t give in.
    Reaching out, she slapped at the buttons until the music stilled. Her breathing was loud and fast, the only thing she could hear above the whooshing sound in her ears.
    The truck slowed and turned off the road. Shelley looked around, feeling frantic. A motel. James was pulling into a motel.
    She clawed at the lock of her door and whipped off her seatbelt as he brought the truck to a stop. She had to get away. The cab of the truck was closing in around her.
    “Shelley.” She heard him call her name as if from a distance.
    Air. She had to have air.
    She jumped out of the truck and stumbled, barely catching herself before she fell to the hard, cold ground. There were a few patches of snow clinging to the shadowy base of a tree just to the right of the