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Breathing Breathing would be good But I couldn’t seeall of ht There were no muffled voices from the other roo teeth, and strong fingers digging into ainst my mouth that I didn’t notice that somewhere between the door and the bed,it froainst the h bounce to send ht e to laugh into his bare chest, biting down gently on his Adahaway my jeans and bra My pulse jumped every time his hands brushed etting acquainted with the body that, well, let’s face it, I had been ogling for weeks His skin was so sroup na his arhs Deltoid, pectoralis major, external oblique, quadriceps fe as I ranlow as he worried my collarbone with his teeth Lips open and wet, he ran his mouth in one s one last kiss to the little bow on the waistline of ed the panties aside and plunged two fingers inside ainst the pal speed, but it had been a very long ti as I felt that first spasm of my climax I rode it out, wave after wave, until I eaty and still beneath hihs, peppering ned our bodies I hissed as parts of nored stretched and flexed around hiheat of his skin I’d never felt so shosted over my skin, I knew that I could trust hied hiat the same spot on oing to clai his sharp teeth overaway from the pain
The silence of the roo in ainstand hard He grinned down at ainstHeat seared fro waves of release ed on the wall and told us in very colorful language that they did not appreciatehohen he followed e
Caleb rolled onto his back, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled le, because I figured laughing at our neighbors’ protests would not iainst the crown of my head He looked indecently pleased with himself "Been a while, huh?"
"Four years, twothe sex I’ve been having with myself, which was actually better than the two-partynever o?"
"Oh, trust me, if I’d had my ould have christened every motel between here and Canada," he told me "But you were so jumpy before You let me touch you, but you tensed up so et closer" He nipped at ht played on his features,him look like the sullen canine he was "Please don’t run fros with one, Rabbit, I can’t tell you how that one I didn’t know if you were OK, if I was ever going to see you again I al about it His eyes bled gold into dark brown and glowed against the dark backdrop of the roo it meant he’d wolfed out and destroyed ourlike that? Did he have a credit card devoted specifically to tacky- his cheek, stroking it in what I hoped was a soothing, non-olf-freak-out-inducing manner
"Look, Caleb, I know you’re upset with me"
"That would be aabout it for right now?" He opened his ht to be pissed, especially with the whole las we need to talk about And we can yell and screaht now, for the next few hours, can we just not?"
He bit his lip and then bit ," he told , but definitely a lot of talking, because there are things we need to talk about Because you scaredto ain, because I ain would just start the whole losing-it, pissed-off, scared cycle all over again"
"I missed you, too" I craned my neck to press my lips to his and let my head drop to the pillow
10
A Furry, Friendly Wake-Up Call
Even if I did know about the existence of olves, it was still shocking as hell to wake up spooning with one
I was stillof a wide, war That’s different" I chuckled, pressing my face into the pillow I squinted into the seh Caleb’s hair It seemed coarser and thickerand there was a lot more of it In fact, it seemed to cover his entire body
"What the--?" I opened e gray wolf
I scra back over the carpet into the wall "Caleb!"
Our sonar-sensitive neighbor pounded on the bedroom wall, and I heard his muffled voice call, "Too da to sleep!"
Whining, the wolf shook his way up onto his haunches and stretched He looked over the edge of the bed at ure out why I was acting all weird OK, OK, this wasn’t a big deal I’d seen olves before Unless they phased out of anger or fear, they were usually pretty calm And Caleb wouldn’t hurt me It was just a shock to see him in his natural state The Caleb wolf shook his head, and that golden light spread over the gray fur, slowly fading away to skin
"Don’t be scared," he said, scra uard I looked up at my olf pararay hairs on the sheets And I burst out laughing It was just so ridiculous, hi hed until I fell over Until I realized I was touching nasty motel carpet and sat back up I wiped at uppy’s as he sta a bad dream Uh, yeah, that’s it, there was no wolf here"
I sht now? ’Cause you kind of suck at it"
He cleared his throat and folloith a weak "Maybe you hit your head?" His tone was uncertain and quiet, as if he didn’t want our neighbors to overhear He pulledaway and screa?"
I winced, biting ht, how to explain this"I kind of knew already"
"How?" he exclaimed I shushed him "How did you know?" He sat heavily on the bed, stared at ht I was shot Did I say so?"
I shook my head, but my continued silence seeether You’re not the first olf I’vedeal, really I don’t hurt anybody I don’t freak out under the light of the full enetic condition, you know, like color blindness or being born with an extra toe Just, you know, furrier"
I stared at him, suddenly blank-faced That was the saddest description of olf-dohed "Proethis ar"