“Nobody does, baby. But let’s get some sleep. I’ll be meeting with the council in the morning. From there, we’ll talk out a game plan.”
I pull her close and purr until her body is relaxed, her breathing evened out.
I thought our drama was over.
Fuck!
57
BAILEY
Tingles in my nose wake me. The sun is rising but onlyjustby the look of what’s filtering in through the open slats in the blinds.
I sit up and immediately sneeze hard.
As soon as I recover, I sneeze three more times in a row.
And suddenly I’m shifted.
What the heck?
My wolf sneezes three more times. I feel like I’m having an allergic reaction out of nowhere. But I don’t have allergies.
Jase has already jolted awake, sat up, and his nostrils are flaring as I, as wolf, sneeze again while he jackknifes out of bed, rushing to the window and throwing the blinds up, pushing the screen and sticking his head out.
I want to shift back, and on reflex try to tell him as much.
Weird. I’m verbalizing wolf noises, puffs, and yips at him. I’m commanding her to talk!
Not her. There’s not a separateher.
Oh my goodness!
There’s just more…me. Is my wolf becoming part of me, merging with instinct?
I’m confused, trying to cobble my headspace together.
I tell myself to shift.
Nothing happens.
I think about the slurping sensation of pulling my wolf back in, but instead of a shift happening, I sneeze twice more.
I’m thinking about asking what he’s doing as it’s clear he just knocked the screen out of the window so he can stick his head out and look at the riverbank, but a) I can’t talk and b) I sneeze again.
Holy shit! Make it stop!
He slams the window down.
“Let’s go look,” I want to say, but it comes out as more wolf sounds.
I lift my paw and look at it. Yes, I just did that! I’m controlling her movement.Mymovement. What a relief!
“Stay here,” he demands, opening one of the drawers of his dresser, grabbing, then yanking on a pair of sweatpants and storming out of the room, shutting the door behind himself.
Shit, I can’t follow him.
Shift!I tell myself, so I can get back my fingers, thumbs, and height to be able to open this door.