Healing Her Wolf: Paranormal Werewolf Romance (3 page)

He watched her walk over to her bed, and she grabbed a pair of black shorts and a faded gray t-shirt from under the pillow. She had no idea he wasn’t a real wolf, and there was no way he could explain things to her. Not now. He tried to ignore the stab of guilt at having ogled her just then. Damn, he should’ve turned away or covered his eyes with a paw. He lay down on the rug at the foot of her bed, listening to his mate get comfortable under the sheets. He would do better in the morning, he told himself. He would explain things to her calmly and reasonably, and then he would leave and give her her space, and she would agree to date him and they could take things slow, but not too slow.

Falling asleep was hard. He rarely slept as a wolf, preferring to sleep in his bed and he usually took care to avoid transforming during the full moon. He drifted off eventually, dreaming of running through the woods with his mate, and of making love to her on the grass.

He was woken from his dreams by the stabbing pain that accompanied every transformation back into a human, made all the worse for it happening involuntarily. Just as the full moon forced him to stay a wolf if he chose to transform during it, the morning after forced him to shift back into a human. He hissed and snarled at the pain spreading through his body, at the rippling of his skin as fur was replaced by bare flesh.

Konrad cried out in pain when he felt something heavy hit the back of his head. “Hey!” he shouted, flailing with one arm to ward off whatever it was that tried to attack him.

“Get the hell out of my house, you freak!”

He was still breathing through the remnants of the pain, and it took Konrad a few seconds to realize why he was lying on a rug and why someone was yelling at him. And throwing things at him. “I can explain,” he said, curling up into a ball in case she wanted to throw more things at him.

“How did you even get in? I locked up everything! And where are your clothes?”

Those were miles away. Konrad took the risk of sitting up to look at his mate. In the morning light, sitting upright in bed with her hair tousled from sleeping, she looked as perfect as last night, and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. “Hi,” he said, beaming contently at her.

Her mouth dropped, she huffed with indignation and then grabbed a paperback from her nightstand to throw at him.

He ducked out of the way, cursing himself for being an idiot. “Look, like I said, I can explain.”

“Can you?” she asked, grabbing her phone. “I’m gonna call the police on you.”

“Aren’t you wondering what happened to the wolf?” he said, before she could press a single button.

Her fingers froze, hovering above her screen. Slowly, she turned to look at him again. “How do you know about the wolf?”

She probably assumed the animal had fled when he had broken in. Konrad shifted on the rug, moving his legs to keep his decency somewhat intact, and wished he had the time to explain things differently, but he couldn’t. “Because I am the wolf.” He looked at her, hoping she didn’t decide to call for a doctor instead. Please, she was his mate; she had to give him the benefit of the doubt.

She let out a nervous laugh. “You are the wolf.”

He nodded. “Please. I can prove it.”

“You can — you can prove it.” She threw the sheets aside, and got out of bed. She was still holding the phone, and he couldn’t help but notice her hand was trembling slightly. “Go on.”

He could tell she was ready to bolt if he made the wrong move. “This is going to look weird, and painful,” he warned her. It would be very painful for him; he was still feeling sore after transforming only a few minutes ago. It would hurt like hell to shift now, but it was the only way he could prove to his mate he wasn’t a creep.

He moved away from her, and closed his eyes. He focused on what it felt like to be a wolf, to feel the wind through your fur and the solid ground under your paws, to run on all fours effortlessly. His wolf was there, within reach, and he let himself flow into it.

As he had warned his mate, it did hurt like hell. His muscles were cramping up, his body wasn’t made to shift this often, and his scream turned into a howl as his vocal chords changed. It took longer than usual, he noticed, panicking slightly. Eventually, though, the worst of the pain subsided, and he inspected himself to make sure the transformation had gone fine. Finally, he turned to look up at his mate.

She hadn’t run from the room, but was pressed against the wall furthest away from him, her phone dropped on the floor a few feet away. “What the…how?” she managed, her blue eyes wide with fear. “This isn’t real, please; let this not be real.” She started muttering under her breath, not even looking at him, and Konrad couldn’t take it anymore

He padded over to her and pressed his nose against her knee. The cold, wet feeling jerked her out of her initial panic, and he jumped out of the way to avoid her flailing at him. He sat down in front of her, three feet between them, and simply looked at her. This was it, she knew he was a shifter, and he could only hope he hadn’t ruined everything.

“Right,” she said, running her hands through her blonde hair. “Right. Okay. You’re a — you’re a werewolf. Werewolves exist. Right. That is — that is a thing now.”

Konrad let out a huff, trying not to feel too impatient. He’d have to explain that while werewolf legends certainly originated with the shifters, it was a bit more complicated than that.

“What’s next?” she asked, then laughed to herself. “Vampires?” She met his eyes finally for a few brief seconds. “Are there gonna be vampires next, huh? Zombies? This is ridiculous.” She hung her head, then took a deep breath and looked back at him. “Okay, you were the wolf. I believe you. Can you, er, can you turn back now?”

He barked, and moved away from her before focusing on what it felt like to be human. He really hoped this was the last time he would have to shift today, because he wasn’t sure if he could stand the pain of doing it again. He lay on the floor on his stomach, panting as his fingers curled into the rug, not even caring what it had to look like to her. The cramp and the pain were still there, but at least he was human again.

He jerked when he felt something soft on his back, and realized his mate was trying to cover him with her bed sheets. “Thanks,” he managed, and when he moved to sit up, she was already standing by the door again. He wrapped the sheets around him, glad she had provided him with that. “Look, I — I’m not going to hurt you.” His throat hurt, making his voice raspy and more threatening than he wanted.

She eyed him and remained quiet for a moment. “I guess if you had wanted to do that, you would’ve done so while I was asleep. So why are you here?”

He let out a brief laugh. “You were the one who brought me here, remember? In the back of the truck?”

“I know that! I just — I mean —” She gestured at him. “Why are you here in this town? How did you get hurt? How did —” Her eyes widened. “Oh God, how are your wounds?”

He was about to reassure her that his wounds were fine, but his mate was kneeling down beside him on the rug. Having her so close all of a sudden threw him for a loop. “My wounds?” This close, her eyes were even prettier, a wonderful shade that reminded him of the sky.

“The wounds you had last night,” she insisted. “When you were — you know. They weren’t that severe, but then I didn’t know what I was dealing with.” Her eyes met his for a moment, then she looked away, glancing at the rest of him, now covered by the sheet, and then at the open door.

The fact that she was this worried about him, even though she was confused and close to panicking made him love her even more. “Hey, I’m fine,” he told her quietly, reaching out slowly to take her hand. “Do you need to see for yourself to make sure?”

She looked down at their entangled hands, then nodded. “Yes. We have a first-aid kit in the bathroom, I can go get it.”

She clearly needed a moment to herself, which was understandable. “Sure, to be on the safe side.” He released her hand, and watched her go.

*

She stood in the bathroom, clutching the edges of the sink and staring at herself in the mirror. “There is a werewolf in your bedroom.” No, saying it out loud definitely didn’t make it sound any saner. Somehow, she would’ve preferred it if he had been a creepy burglar instead. Had she lost it? Had she somehow done drugs and not known about it? Was this a really weird dream?

She opened the tap and splashed some water on her face. Okay, there was a werewolf in her bedroom, and he might be injured. She had brought him here, so she should make sure he really was fine. She briefly imagined the Williamses finding a naked man in their shed this morning, and briefly giggled despite herself.

“Come on, Maddy, get a grip. Stranger things have happened, right?” she muttered, opening the cupboard under the sink to grab the first-aid kit, along with a damp washcloth and a towel. She just couldn’t think of anything stranger than
werewolves existing
at the moment. What else existed? Where did this guy come from? What was even his
name
? Were there more werewolves? A million and one questions swirled through her head when she returned to her room.

The werewolf smiled, his hazel eyes warm when he looked at her. “Hi.”

She found herself smiling back automatically, because despite everything that had happened, he did seem like a genuinely nice guy. He hadn’t tried anything, and as a wolf he had been one of the friendliest animals she had ever met. “Hey. Uhm, I don’t think I ever actually introduced myself. I’m Maddy Petersen, what’s your name?”

“Maddy,” he said, nodding to himself, still smiling. “I like it. I’m Konrad Stone.”

“Unusual name,” she replied, sitting down next to him. She was grateful she had thrown him the bed sheets to cover himself with. Strange, naked men weren’t exactly her area of expertise. She had had two boyfriends in her life, one in high school and one in college, but hadn’t been on many dates besides them. Most guys had been turned off by her dedication to her studies, and the practical way she dressed. Then again, what had they expected? A vet could hardly wear short dresses and high heels, not around animals. Jeans and baggy t-shirts were easier to wash, too.

And why the hell was she thinking about herself when she should be thinking about how to deal with Konrad? She opened the first-aid kit instead.

“I’m an unusual guy,” he replied.

She had to smile at that. “True.” She nodded at the sheets he had wrapped around his shoulders. “I don’t see any blood on there, but we should take a closer look.”

“Sure,” Konrad replied, shrugging the sheets off.

Maddy had seen him naked before, but had been too panicked and busy throwing books at him to really look. And now she looked. From his broad shoulders to his muscular biceps, and the dark hairs across his chest, a trail leading down to his abs until the trail stopped at the sheets still covering his groin. “Uhm,” she said, tearing her eyes away from him to look at her first-aid kit again. She could feel her cheeks flush. Damn, he was one of the hottest guys she’d ever seen, not just a handsome face but a body to match.

Come on, she told herself, you’re supposed to check if he’s wounded. She looked up at Konrad again, and judging by the slight smile on his face, he knew she liked what she was seeing. “Well, your, er, demonstration earlier doesn’t seem to have re-opened the wounds, so that’s good. It was your left arm, right, that was wounded?”

“And my right leg, yes,” he agreed, turning so she could take a closer look at his left arm. “It’s sore, but that’s normal.”

“After transforming?” she asked. There was a patch of dried-up blood, and she ran the washcloth across it. There was nothing but clean skin underneath.

He nodded again, glancing at the washcloth. “Especially since I had to do it three times in a short time. Once is okay, it just leaves you feeling sore. It’ll pass.”

“You’ve healed completely,” she said, running her fingers across the patch of warm skin where the wound had been. “Is that normal for werewolves?”

“Wolf shifters,” he corrected her. “And yes.”

She sat back, slightly confused. “What’s the difference?”

“Between wolf shifters and werewolves?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Well, it’s… I guess werewolves don’t really exist. All the folk stories stem from us. You don’t need a silver bullet to kill us, we don’t turn into complete monsters, and we don’t have to transform during the full moon, but when we do, we are stuck until sunrise.”

That explained a lot. “So that’s why you didn’t transform in my truck or in the Williamses’ shed.” It would’ve cleared things up way sooner.

“Pretty much, yeah. I was terrified you were going to castrate me or something!” he said, smiling.

She had to laugh at his concern. “No, that’s a pretty time-intensive operation to be doing that late at night. My plan was to just call the local ranger station, and have them pick you up.”

“Good thing you didn’t do that last night,” he said, his eyes glancing down to where she was still touching him, then meeting her eyes again. “You’re far better company. Prettier, too.”

Her stomach squirmed with nerves. Was he seriously flirting with her? “Hey, Tyler and his crew clean up nicely if you give them the chance. And they wear uniforms.” Oh no, did he now think she wasn’t interested in him? Because she was. Which was weird, because she didn’t usually feel this attracted to a guy she had just met. For some reason she felt like she could trust him.

“Oh, well, if they have uniforms,” he replied, his tone mock-serious, “I should head over there right now.”

They both laughed, and Maddy realized she was still holding the damp washcloth. And had her hand on his arm, which she quickly pulled back. “So, er, what about that other wound?”

“On my right thigh?” Konrad asked, pulling the sheet out of the way and moving it to his lap instead. “Yeah, that’s healed too, but if you want to check and make sure, I’m not going to stop you.”

She glanced away from the heat in his eyes. She wasn’t used to hot guys flirting with her and was unsure how to respond. She liked him, despite all the questions she had that still weren’t answered, and the sheer weirdness of him being a werewolf — no, wolf shifter. She started when she felt his hand on her shoulder.