Page 4 of The Quiet Alpha and His Fox

I scratched behind the other ear, and he rolled onto his back so I could reach his belly. I laughed. "Okay, boss. I see how it is."

His tail thumped against the blanket as I scratched his belly, mesmerized by how soft his fur was for an animal out in the wild. It was definitely one of the weirder experiences I'd had, and yet, it felt totally normal at the same time, like we were old traveling buddies.

After a while, he scooted the newspaper closer to me, then looked at the fish and then back at me.

"You want me to have some, too?" I almost fell over when he nodded. "How did you do that? Can you understand me?" I immediately felt like an idiot for asking such a dumb question.

He cocked his head and grinned.

WTF? I ate a piece of fish and shrugged. Then, not knowing what else to do, I opened my book and read aloud to him.

He settled his head between his paws and closed his eyes with his ears perked up, listening.

I wondered if it possible to get high from sleeping next to pawflower because I actually thought that coyote was smiling at the funny parts of the story. But then again, pawflower had never affected me, so it would have been a first, for sure.

I kept reading until the coyote's breathing fell into a deep rhythm and his legs started to twitch. Once he was asleep, I reached over to stroke his soft fur. I didn't know where he'd come from, but it felt like a sign that the worst part of my journey was maybe coming to an end.

Carefully, I got up to put out the fire, stamping out the coals and kicking dirt over the embers. Then I unrolled my sleeping bag. It wasn't too chilly, but I still unzipped the bag enough that I could settle it partly over my sleeping companion, even though the warmth from his body radiated over to me.

I smiled and scooched closer until his fur touched my forehead, and I could hear the gentle rhythm of his breath. And within a few minutes, I fell into the best sleep I'd had in a long time.

Chapter 3

Waylan

I woke up feeling…happy. I'd become used to feeling content since I moved to the farm, but happiness still eluded me most of the time. Then I gazed up at the willow branches above me, vaguely wondering what time of day it was and how long I'd been asleep.

It took a second to realize someone was breathing beside me.

I held my breath as the events of the night before unfolded in my half-asleep brain. The omega, the fire, salmon, and…a spicy bedtime story?

That made me smile. He actually read me to sleep with bedtime porn.

My smile dropped as a breeze blew across my bare skin. My naked, human skin.

I fell asleep beside a stranger as a coyote and woke up as a man. Slowly, I turned to look and saw he was on his side, facing me. Fuck, he was even more gorgeous in the early light of day.

His hair looked like it hadn't had a decent cut in a while as it fell across his forehead, and his slightly parted lips exhaled soft, warm breath that still smelled faintly of cinnamon.

He looked innocent and young. Too young. What was he doing out here…alone?

I slowly moved the edge of the sleeping bag that was draped across half of my body, with my breath trapped in my chest. A robin called out his full morning song, and I rolled away from the boy into the dew-drenched grass.

A pain shot through me as I scooted farther away and took a better look at him.

His sleeping bag was tattered on the edges. His sneakers, placed neatly beside him, were worn at the soles, and one of the shoelaces was knotted where it had clearly snapped in half.

My heart went out to him. Who was this kid? Was I okay with him continuing to camp here? Where did he come from?

Suddenly, his eyes opened, and he was looking right at me. I froze again, completely forgetting I was in my skin, bare ass naked for the world to see. His eyes grew wide, and he sat up.

I opened my mouth to explain, but realized I had no idea what to say. Instead, I turned and ran into the rows of pawflower.

When I was far enough away to shift, I ran the rest of the way home in my fur. How could I be so stupid? I'd been so careful to protect my identity since I moved there. For five years, nobody had a clue I was a shifter.

Granted, I didn't see very many people, but even when I hired laborers to work on the farm, I was always careful. At least until some random kid showed up and made me lose all my common sense.

Once I was back in my skin, I took a shower to clear my head. After breakfast, I started to feel a little better.

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