Tobias looked at Cat. “I apologize. Travis had some trouble in his last town, but we’d hoped he’d rehabilitated. I can see we were wrong to give him so much freedom. I’m glad you’re all right.”
Anger surged within me. He couldn’t have told me all that before?
“Better than all right. She put a chair leg in Travis’s throat.”
“I’m impressed,” Tobias said. “A woman who can hold her own. A human at that.”
I cleared my throat. “Not human,” I said quietly. “Not anymore.”
And despite the fact that we weren’t on pack land, this was the tricky part. I’d just helped create a brand new wolf and killed one of his pack—as a resident of his town. We might be out of his reach now, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t come looking for us the moment we got back to the Falls.
Tobias’ brow shot up. “Yes, I thought I smelled another wolf. Interesting.” He eyed us both, and I could see he wanted to ask more. “Well, why don’t I clean up here and give you some time to help her adjust. We can talk later.”
“Thanks.” I started to move then stopped. Better to get this out between us now. “Look, I know the consequences for killing a pack member. I’ll turn myself over as soon as Cat’s patched up. But I want her left out of this. None of this was her fault, it’s all on me.”
“What?” Cat demanded, stepping forward. “No way. I killed that asshole, and it was self-defense.”
I shot her a look which she promptly ignored.
Tobias held up a hand. “Hold on a moment.” He looked out at the woods washed in darkness. “This land is outside our boundary which means outside my jurisdiction.” He cocked his head at me. “My laws don’t apply here.”
I held out my hand. “Thank you.”
“Let’s talk tomorrow,” Tobias said. “Make some decisions. Put everything behind us.”
I glanced at Cat. “Sounds like a plan. I’ve got some decisions to make myself.”
21
Cat
I woke, groggy from the antibiotics Easton had insisted I take, “just in case,” and stiff, thanks to what I could only assume was the new DNA and bone structure my body was still adjusting to. But the moment my hand found the sculpted chest lying beside me in bed, I smiled, completely happy.
“Mmm,” I mumbled, scooting closer and resting my head against East’s shoulder.
His arm curled around me, and he rolled toward me, planting a kiss along my temple. “Good morning, gorgeous.”
“Don’t talk yet,” I mumbled. “I was having an amazingly hot dream.”
He laughed, his chest shaking. “I see. Hotter than your reality?”
I cracked an eye and found him attempting to glare at me.
My gaze drifted down to his bare chest and abs that looked carved from stone. “It’s hard to say,” I said and shrieked as his fingers dug into my sides, tickling.
I wriggled until my core began to pulse with need then stopped, struggling to catch my breath. Everything felt heightened today. My emotions, my physical sensations—my desire.
Perks of being a wolf, apparently.
A fact that still felt weird to say even in my own head. Weird but good. Like I’d finally discovered a missing part of myself. And not just because the change came complete with a soul mate.
“God, you’re heavy,” I joked, but East just grinned down at me from where he’d pinned me to the mattress. Another wolf perk: super strength. Easton’s weight felt like nothing at all.
“That’s because I’m huge.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Everywhere.”
I rolled my eyes, hiding the fact that my insides had just done a somersault at the words.
It didn’t matter how many times we’d made love over the past three days, I couldn’t seem to get enough. Neither could Easton, it seemed, and we’d spent the better part of seventy-two hours naked and in bed.
Today, though, we had to get up.
Easton’s mom was due home from the hospital—and Tobias had asked to meet with me. East assured me there was no pressure about joining the pack. According to him, wolves opted to remain packless all the time, but as a new wolf in Tobias’s territory, I needed to go and give him an answer.
“Keep that in mind when you’re standing in front of the entire wolf pack later,” East added with a devilish grin.
“You’re evil, you know that?”
“Just making sure you remember which animal you’re going home with.”
Dropping a quick kiss on the tip of my nose, East rolled away and helped me sit up. I looked around, surveying the damage. Clothes and dishes were strewn everywhere, thanks to us both spending so much time here the past few days, but I didn’t mind it. I had the hottest nurse on the planet.
“Hungry?” East asked.
“I could definitely eat.”
He leaned in, pressing kisses to my throat. “So could I,” he whispered, sending a shiver of pleasure through me.
“East.” I shoved him away, laughing. “We’ll be late.”
“Fine. But tonight, you’re the dessert.”
“I didn’t choose to become a wolf just so we could spend the rest of our lives in bed together, you know.”
“Of course not.” He held out a hand to help me up. “We should change it up once in a while, just to keep it interesting. Maybe have a quickie in the woods later.”
“You’re terrible. Besides, you’re the one who busted your leg up just so you could come back to town and see me.”
He grinned. “Best idea I ever had.”
I shook my head but didn’t answer.
We hadn’t directly addressed it yet, but the truth was his leg had healed itself the night I’d changed. I was too afraid of what that meant to ask much about the details. And East had been weirdly quiet about the whole thing, including how much longer he planned to stick around.
Something told me today would be different. Especially since Tobias wanted to talk to us both.
After breakfast with Rudy, who seemed to have put most of the pieces together despite the fact that neither
