Shifting Michelle's Boundaries (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (7 page)

“Ally!” Michelle glanced around, her blush darkening. “Jeez, I can’t take you anywhere.”

“Someone who spent last night in a hotel room with a strange man can no longer play the innocent routine, Michelle.” Alison winked. “Now e-mail him and see if he has a friend.”

* * * *

Craig stared at his e-mail inbox for a whole ten minutes before finally starting to type.

Hey, Michelle, it’s Craig. Fancy another night of hard sex?

He smirked and deleted the words. “Something a little less upfront.”

Michelle, it’s Craig. Coffee sometime?

Delete. “Too abrupt.”

Hey, Michelle, it’s that guy from last night. How about we go somewhere, or do something, or go back in time and kill Hitler?

“You really suck at this, don’t you?” Jack said from across the room.

Damn shifter eyesight. Craig hastily deleted again. “Tell me about it. I mean, I know nothing about her other than she likes wine and occasionally sleeping with strangers.”

“Heh, that could describe me, too. I take your point.” Jack rose from his recliner and padded across the lounge to where Craig was sitting on the couch. “Just make it simple and friendly, with no pressure. You had a good time, you want to meet again and see a movie or something, but it’s no big deal if she doesn’t want to. Something like that.”

“I guess.” Craig tapped his nails on the plastic of the laptop. “Okay, how about this. ‘Hey Michelle, it’s Craig. I had a great time last night and would like the chance to get to know you better. How about a movie some time?’”

“It’d work for me.” Jack batted his eyelashes. “I’d be putty in your manly wanly arms, you stwong man, you.”

“Don’t make me get the spray bottle, cat.”

Jack laughed and wandered off to the kitchen. “Drink?”

“Water, thanks.”

Craig hit send on the e-mail and stared at the empty inbox. Would she reply? If she did, what would she say? He growled out of frustration and stood. He was not built for angst. If she replied, great. If not, he’d move on.

Jack was standing by the back window when Craig walked in, and nodded to a glass on the table before turning back to the view.

“How’s the weather?” Craig asked.

Jack turned, an eyebrow raised. “You can’t smell it? Dogs are lousier than I thought.”

“I’m making conversation, dumb ass.”

He laughed. “Oh. In that case, the weather is terrible. Pouring down.”

“Yeah, right.” Craig could smell the air. Dry, breezy, warm. “So, about this promotion.”

“What about it?”

“Would you take it?”

Jack shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m not one for added responsibility, but I’d make the effort. Why?”

“Well, it’s a two-person thing. If you weren’t interested, I wouldn’t be either.”

“I’m touched.” Jack smirked as he headed to the table and grabbed his coffee. “What about you?”

“Hell yeah I’d take it.” Craig grinned back. “The pack is our family. Any opportunity to help it is one I’ll take.”

Tate had taken him in shortly after Craig had been turned, and Craig had never looked back. The pack was a huge part of his life. He lived and breathed it, and would do anything to further its cause. Jack viewed things a little more casually and would never admit to the same level of zeal that Craig did, but Craig knew how well he and Tate got on together. Jack was the only guy in the pack that had seen Tate outside of the pack.

Jack sipped at his coffee. “So the e-mail’s sent?”

“Yup. Ball’s in her court, I guess.”

Jack nodded slowly. “Best of luck, dude.”

“Thanks.” Craig blew out a long breath. “Feel like going for a run?”

“That depends. Am I going to need my running shoes or not?”

“I’m thinking not.”

“Then yes.” Jack stood and stretched. “This walking stuff gets dull. I need to get my paws in the dirt.”

* * * *

The wind whipped at Jack’s short hair as he stepped naked into the back yard. Their place was a little way out of town and wasn’t overlooked thanks to some high fences, so they didn’t need to worry about peeping toms. Not that Jack gave a damn anyway.

Craig stepped out behind him and slid the door shut. He locked it and hid the key under a loose stone, then moved further away from Jack.

“Ready?”

Jack nodded. “Race you to fur.”

“Three.” Craig shook his limbs, limbering up.

“Two.” Jack cracked his neck to one side.

“One.”

Jack dropped to all fours and let the change take him over, focusing on beating Craig to a full shift. They often raced, as it took their minds off the pain involved in the process. It was a fair race, too. Jack was quicker to start the shift, as his primal side was very close to the surface, but Craig’s transformation was faster. Wolves were lucky there.

Despite his concentration on speed, the pain thudded in every bone as they cracked and reformed into those of a large black panther. It was always worse when he shifted for leisure rather than need. When his primal urges were strong, or he was faced with a need to fight, adrenaline helped dull the pain of the shift. Still, the benefits outweighed the pain. He couldn’t even remember the time before he was turned. Being stuck in one form seemed alien.

The whole process took only seconds, but this time Craig was faster, barking as his change completed. Jack hissed in frustration at losing, but the first current of air passing by his feline nose soon distracted him. There was game nearby, a deer.

Craig had smelled it, too, and turned his head side to side as he gauged the direction, then set off toward the tree line. Jack followed, keeping his steps slow so he didn’t overtake the smaller wolf. The race was over with, after all.

They had both already eaten, so hunt was more for fun than food. They wouldn’t kill the deer, they’d only try and get close without spooking it, then let it leave. If they killed every animal that wandered through their territory, they’d soon be left with nothing to hunt.

It also made for good practice. More than once they’d had to hunt rogue shifters, and it was safer to hone the necessary skills against something that couldn’t fight back.

Especially when Jack was distracted. Even in cat form, when his instincts fought for control over his rational side, he couldn’t get the meeting from last night out of his mind. This new threat worried him, and he was rarely worried by anything. Once he’d had time to sleep and think about the talk with Tate, he’d been left with a few questions that only the alpha could answer. Questions that Tate probably wouldn’t want to answer.

Tate had been a pack mate to the blond guy, and it had been pretty damn clear from Blondey’s attitude that he wasn’t a particularly nice guy. Most reputable packs would have taken one look at the guy and told him to get lost, which meant that any pack that
did
take him on would likely be at least a little shady.

And Tate was in that pack, too.

The guy had a short fuse at times, but Jack had never heard of him so much as raising a hand to anyone who didn’t deserve it. Why would he join a pack that contained Blondey, then?
Maybe it was his first, and he didn’t know until too late?

Jack drew his attention back to the matter at hand. Wondering about such things when he didn’t have all the facts was pointless. Next time he saw Tate he’d take him to one side and ask him.

Craig slowed and hunkered down as they reached a clearing in the grass, and Jack did the same, dropping low enough that his belly touched the floor. The grass in that area was long enough that when he was down it rose above him, hiding him entirely. The only problem with that was that it also meant he couldn’t see their “prey.” He breathed in slowly through his nose, twitching it a little as the grass tickled his whiskers. The deer was near. Maybe twenty feet away and stationary.

A rustle to his side told him that Craig was on the move. Jack glanced over to see the long grass shifting as a form moved behind a large tree. It appeared that Craig was headed around the back of the deer. A risky move, but it was one that could pay off.

As a distraction, Jack flicked his long tail out to one side, disturbing the grass and hopefully pulling the deer’s attention toward it instead of Craig. Slowly he moved forward until only a handful of grass lay between him and the start of the clearing. Inch by painstaking inch he pushed forward until the deer came into view.

Behind it Craig stood in the long grass, his tail low, his body hunched ready to pounce. He flicked his gaze toward Craig, then nodded. On a silent count to three, they both jumped forward and growled, and the deer bucked and fled further into the trees. The pair followed for a short time, then let the animal escape.

As Craig circled the area, scenting the air, Jack sat and listened. There was nothing else in the area worth chasing, other than each other. Luckily that was just as much fun, and meant the fun lasted much longer, too. He growled to get Craig’s attention, then tapped the ground with his left paw twice—their code for “chase.” Craig wagged his tail, then nodded once, and Jack stood and ran. A second later Craig was nipping at his tail.

Michelle stared at the e-mail she’d hoped would arrive and grinned like an idiot. Not only did Craig want to see her again, he wanted to go on a date. A date! He wasn’t just interested in what was in her pants!

Her fingers shook a little as she typed a reply.

Hi Craig,

Sounds good to me. I had fun last time, and I’d like to see what you’re like outside of the bedroom. Meet you at seven-ish at the theater on Parker Street, tomorrow night?

Michelle

As she was about to click send, she remembered that Alison had asked if he had a single friend, so she added the question to the bottom of the e-mail. She then hit send, folded her laptop shut, and spun in her desk chair. A movie, then maybe a trip to a local coffee spot for a chat…They were clearly sexually compatible and hopefully their interests would be, too.

She turned back to her desk and snatched up her phone and sent a text to Alison, giving her the news. She responded almost immediately with lurid suggestions for what to do after the movie. Michelle grinned and replied back with a few ideas of her own. As expected, the phone rang a few moments later.

“Where did you learn such things?” Alison said. “Such filth!”

“Oh, and your ideas were all chaste? Handcuffs?”

“Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”

Michelle smirked. “Who said I haven’t tried it? I even enjoyed it.”

“Michelle! Oh my god!”

“But that’s not for guys I only know the first names of,” she said, talking over Alison’s reply. “Still, down the road a little…”

“And I’m the bad one?” Alison laughed. “So, you’re meeting him at the theater?”

“Yup. I guess we’ll decide what to watch when we get there.”

“Ah, and thus begins the movie dilemma,” she said. “Too romantic and maybe he’ll think you’re hinting, not romantic enough and maybe he’ll think you’re only in it for a fling.”

“Oh, please.” Michelle stood and headed downstairs, the phone held between her shoulder and ear. “I’ll pick something we both like the sound of. Shouldn’t be hard. When it comes to movies I’m easy.”

“You realize how many jokes I could make right here?”

“Shut up, Ally.”

They talked for a little longer about Alison’s new job, then hung up. Michelle tucked her phone into the pocket of her sweatpants and headed into the spare room.

In the center of the room lay her treadmill. Her pride and joy. It had cost as much as her first car, and had lately developed a squeak she couldn’t locate, but it meant she didn’t have to brave the local gym to keep fit. And she could watch whatever she wanted on the TV at the same time, too.

She turned on the nearby floor-standing fan and aimed it roughly toward the treadmill. Directly in front of the treadmill was a large window that showed off her garden to its fullest. Beyond the neat little patch of green and plant pots lay the outskirts of the forest. She’d paid a premium to get a house in such a beautiful area, so she felt a little guilty as she slid the heavy curtains closed and turned on the ceiling-mounted TV. She wasn’t in the mood for nature tonight, though. Instead she tossed a favorite DVD in, a Bugs Bunny marathon, and hit play on the remote. She set the treadmill to a walking pace and climbed on.

She did all her best thinking while walking, she found. At least half her design ideas came while on the treadmill, or walking to the shops. Right now, though, her mind was on her upcoming date and how it would go.

All she knew about Craig was his name, a guess that he worked with his hands, and that he was great in bed. That was all well and wonderful, but a relationship would need a little more to keep it going. She had to admit that she was pretty easygoing, though. As long as he didn’t turn out to be a serial killer or a Republican, she could go along with it.