Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Come on.” Wilde grabs my hand and tugs me off the bed where he’d just taken my anal virginity. He pulls me outside where we stand naked under the moonlight. He looks at me with wolf eyes. “Want to run?”
My insecurities pop up. My fears. I don’t know how to shift. Last time I shifted, I killed a man.
But Wilde’s standing beside me. My lover. My mate. My sexy, sinful stepbrother. He will take care of me. He’s everything.
I nod. In a blink of an eye, he’s on all fours, an enormous, beautiful black wolf. He licks my calf.
I don’t know what happens. I don’t know how I do it. All I know is I have this intense feeling in my body that I want to run with him, and suddenly I’m looking down at two delicate snow white paws.
I bound forward in surprise, my unfamiliar body twisting with joy in the air.
Somehow, I can tell Wilde’s laughing. His wolf’s mouth is open wide in a crocodile grin. I run to him, bumping my shoulder against his much larger one.
He lifts one mighty paw and throws me to my side, pinning me on my back for a tongue-lapping. I yip and whine in pleasure. In fact, I’ve never felt such ecstasy.
Wilde releases me and nips my flank to get me back on my feet, and then he’s chasing me in the direction of the wolf howls.
We find the kids from Wolf Ridge on the mesa. Some are in their human form, sitting around the fire. Some are naked, like they just shifted back. Others still run and chase each other in wolf form.
Everyone stops when we come into the clearing.
“Is that…”
“It must be Rayne.”
“Yeah, that’s Wilde and Rayne. Holy shit. She’s a white wolf.”
“Black and white. Yin and yang. So cool.”
Suddenly everyone’s in wolf form, gathered around me, sniffing, licking, welcoming me to the pack.
It’s almost too much joy to take. I feel like my heart might explode from the pleasure of it. I want to cry and laugh all at the same time. I lift my nose to the moon and yip and howl with joy.
The pack kids mimic me. Join me. We are one. Joined together by the moon and our blood and rules of this tight-knit community.
And then Wilde nudges me out of the circle. At first, I’m not sure what he wants, but then I realize.
He wants me to run. Tonight, I lead the pack on the full moon run.
I take off and everyone follows, Wilde pacing right alongside me. There are yips and cries of pleasure all around me as we spill down the side of the mountain, chasing our own wildness. Exploring thes sense of freedom. Communion with each other and nature.
I love it all so much, and yet it’s just icing on the cake.
I have Wilde now. I’m one of the lucky few to find her fated mate.
And even more than that–I have myself. My wolf self and my human form. Neither is defective. Both are a miracle to behold.
We run and play and run some more.
At sunrise, I find myself standing naked again, nestled in Wilde’s arms, watching the soft glow traveling across the mountain. Around me, stand my classmates. Shifters who never accepted me before, now in complete oneness with me.
“I love you, baby,” Wilde murmurs as he strokes the back of my head.
“I love you, too,” I whisper, happy tears blurring my vision.
Epilogue
Wilde
I slam the football into the turf and backflip as the stadium and my teammates go wild.
“Touchdown! And that’s the game! An incredible score by Sophomore Wide Receiver Wilde Woodward, Duke just won the bowl game!”
Confetti flies. My teammates pick me up and carry me down the field. I pump my fist in the air, but I’m looking to the stands where the most incredible little blonde is on her feet cheering for me. The one I haven’t seen in person since Christmas break.
The only way I made it through was lots and lots of video chats, frequent mailings of clothes with her scent and the knowledge that next year we’ll be at ASU together.
I contacted their coach about transferring, and they offered me a full ride next year including money from boosters and endorsements. It also comes with a primo dorm I can share with Rayne. After the struggle and strife of being apart this school year, we’ll never have to do it again. I need to wake up every morning with her in my bed. Have her scent all over my pillow. Have the taste of her on my tongue. I need to protect her, care for her, honor her in all the ways I failed to in the beginning.
I catch sight of her–how, I’m not sure, considering she’s tiny, and the stadium is packed with jostling fans, but a wolf knows his mate. Her fists are in the air, and she’s jumping up and down.