Chapter 22

Megan

The bathroom was fast becoming my safe haven at the cabin.

You will not shift until I have my clothes off! I like these pajamas!I threatened the wolf. She was panting and trying her best to obey my command, but I knew a shift was imminent, and there wasn't going to be anything the wolf or I could do about it.

My shirt and pants fell to the floor in a wadded heap. Fur sprouted along my arms as I desperately lunged for the clasp on my bra. It dropped to the pile as Wolf whined, unable to control herself any longer.

Shreds of my turquoise bikini briefs littered the ground under my huge forepaws. My wolf nails definitely still had an opalescent shine.

The wolf shook herself out, and I allowed myself to join her. This was the first time I let myself really feel the wolf side of me. It was strange. Everything was sharper, louder, brighter. I glanced down at myself and raised a paw, marveling as the sinews and muscles contracted to obey my thoughts.

"Megan, do you need help?"

The wolf practically batted her eyes in Sam's direction.

Behave, I told her sternly. She pouted.

Together, we tentatively took a step in our wolf form. Another. We shook off the strip of silky underwear that had gotten hung up on our left hind paw. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, releasing my iron grip on my will. There was a melding of minds. The wolf conceded my dominance, and I grudgingly accepted the wolf as a part of me. I knew I couldn't escape it, and there in the quiet of the cabin, after one of the most emotional days of my life, I came to terms with it. For at least the next few weeks, the wolf and I were going to have to work together.

I poked my head out the door of the bathroom. Sam was standing in the kitchen, and when he saw my fur, his smile nearly stretched off his face.

"Everyone happy?"

I nodded.

"Come on out. The quarters are a little close, but I think you're ready to try out your new skin for a little bit."

I felt ridiculous, but it felt good to stretch my wolf limbs, and I made a few clumsy laps around the small room. The more we paced, the more in sync we became.

After a few minutes, I stretched my back, reaching my forepaws out as far as they would go, my hind legs bunching up. Coils of muscle and sinews waited to spring into action. It was a strange sensation to have heavily muscled limbs at my disposal, waiting to launch me into the air or pad silently across the floor.

"A full body stretch feels good, doesn't it?" Sam grinned at me. He'd given suggestions of how to move to maximize the wolf's abilities my human muscles didn't have. I nodded my shaggy wolf head.

I was suddenly struck with the thought that I had no idea what I looked like in this form. Or for that matter, I had no idea what Sam looked like as a wolf either.

Opening my mouth to ask him about it, a harsh bark came out. Sam cocked his head as I scowled, forgetting I couldn't talk to him. I sighed. I was ready to be back in my human skin anyway.

Trotting back to the bathroom, I couldn't be sure, but I think Sam was checking out my backside. Wolf tried to wiggle her hips, but I gave a quick yank on her will. She settled.

"You shifting back already?" Sam called as I entered the bathroom.

I yipped at him, irritated for no apparent reason. My emotions had been a rollercoaster the past three days. I was ready to be human and up to my elbows in flour. Emotionally, I was completely drained, but physically, with the moon in the sky, my wolf was too excited to let me sleep. Assuming I would have to just go until exhaustion took over like it had last night, I blew a breath out. It came out sounding like I'd blown a raspberry through the wolf's muzzle. My flopping tongue had gotten in the way. I rolled my eyes and commanded wolf to shift back.

It took a minute, but then I was standing on two legs again, totally naked, my legs needing a good shave once again. Exasperation must have leaked out into my sigh.

"Megan, you all right in there? Do you, um, need help?"

"No. Just figuring out these new…wolf things."

"Wolf things?"

"I'm fine." And then I realized I had no underwear. Gah.

Squeezing my eyes shut and pinching the bridge of my nose, I swallowed my pride.

"Sam, could you please drop the blue bag right outside the bathroom door?"

There was a plop a minute later, and I reached around, dragged it the rest of the way into the bathroom, and shut the door. This was going to be an embarrassing month.