When the wolf’s massive teeth sank into the quarterback’s shoulder, that was the end of Todd’s football-throwing career.
Watching Bobby shift for the first time into his wolf shape had triggered something in Ash, Gavin, and Vann all at once. Earlier that morning, they may have bragged about being able to control their wolf selves, but now the truth was laid bare. None of them knew how to wield the power they had.
The three male wolves all surrounded the scene. Ash, Gavin, and Vann bared their fangs and stood there snarling, daring any of the other football players to come close to try to rescue Todd.
At some point, Bobby stopped clenching his jaws on Todd’s shoulder. He glanced up and saw Pen, watching him. She had not shifted. Human Pen was staring at him, her mouth open, her eyes wide in shock and terror.
In response to Pen’s reaction, Bobby let Todd go.
* * *
Bobby
He knew he should have stayed to make sure Todd was all right. But he left. He took off and ran out of the school and disappeared for days. Nobody could find him, including the police.
While Bobby was gone, the Boudreaux family swooped in and cleaned up the mess. Pen, Gavin, Vann, and Ash were all pulled out of school. Todd’s parents were paid off in a settlement out of court and agreed not to sue the school. The rest of the children who had witnessed the event became convinced that a hallucinogen had been slipped into everyone’s food that day. The person responsible had been dealt with; that was the official statement. Anybody whose family didn’t buy the hallucination story was paid off handsomely.
Pen eventually found Bobby hiding in the trees behind her house one night.
She had come outside when she had first felt the urge to shift. It had been a full moon. She had just been about to corner her first rabbit when Bobby, in wolf form, pounced first.
Bobby saw the look again from Pen. Horror, betrayal. Bobby nosed the little rabbit carcass over to Pen and felt so ashamed he shifted back to his human form right then and there.
But that had been the wrong move, apparently. After watching Bobby shift again and watching expectantly for her to eat the rabbit, Pen instead pulled a Bobby. She took off running, and he didn’t see her again until the following day.
They all gathered at Jimmy and Charlene’s estate to begin their homeschool education for the next few years. It took weeks before Pen and Bobby could look each other in the eye again.
Over time, things grew easier. They learned to hunt as a group and eventually came to enjoy the shift.
At the age of sixteen, Charlene hosted a cotillion at the Boudreauxs’ country estate, specifically for shifter kids. Pen’s father even showed up to present her to society. She was a real, authentic debutante.
At the dance that followed the presentation of all the sixteen-year-old girls, Bobby danced with Pen. He had wanted to kiss her so badly. He thought maybe she wanted him to kiss her, but every time he thought he might dive in, all he could see in his mind was the terrified thirteen-year-old Pen staring at him, the monster.
At seventeen, the wolf pack enrolled in public high school. Charlene and all the other parents agreed it was time to teach the children to mix with other kids to prepare them for the real world. Although they stuck together like glue, Pen did not go to prom with Bobby as her date. He wanted to ask, but he hadn’t. He still desperately hated himself and loved her. So, as he saw it, she deserved better. The violence she’d witnessed—the mess he had made of everything—would keep them apart. He knew she would only ever see a monster when she looked in his eyes.
Chapter Eleven
Pen
Bobby was heading down the stairs from his walk-up apartment, halfway buttoning up a fresh, clean shirt, when Pen found him. There was a large leather bag over his shoulder.
“Going somewhere?”
“Pen. I…”
“Save it,” she said. “Where are you going? Running away? Why?”
“You know why.”
The staircase was dark, but the light from the window on the landing slashed a streetlight beam across Bobby’s face. He looked tired and drawn.
“I have some money saved up. I’m leaving town. I was hoping to leave before you could try to talk me into staying. How’s your ear?”
“It’s fine. Nothing like the time we took down that gator. That animal nearly got my whole paw.”
Bobby chuckled. “I remember.”
“You didn’t run away that time,” she said.
He sighed and rubbed his face. “I can’t stop fucking up. I can’t be around you anymore. I’m just gonna drag you down. Every time I look at you, I want you in my bed.”
The admission—finally—nearly knocked Pen over. “What?”
“I know. I shouldn’t have said that,” he said.
Pen shook her head. “I disagree. You should have said it years ago.”
Bobby's jaw rippled as he spoke through his teeth. “But then I remember that kid from middle school, and it all comes flooding back, and I have to stop myself. I want you. I’m bonded to you, and I’m bound by Wolf Code to protect you.”
Pen’s lip trembled. “How long have you felt imprinted on me?”
Bobby pressed his thumb and forefinger into his closed eyes, willing himself not to cry. “As long as I can remember.”
Pen sighed. “Bobby.”
He raised his voice. “Stop being so goddamn understanding! I can’t be around you. It’s fucking torture.”
“So, your solution is to run away?” A tear fell down Pen’s cheek.
He growled, “What am I supposed to do? Make us both suffer?”
“No!” she choked. “You just have to let me in and let me help you through it. We can work on things. Together.”
He shook his head. “I wish that were true.”
“Sit down,” she said, sniffling. “I brought you something.”
That was not what Bobby expected. “What?”
“Just do it,” she ordered. Bobby finally listened
