Chapter 8

Megan

"Rev, what are you doing here, of all places?" I demanded as he led me upstairs to a bedroom that I briefly processed as Sam's.

"There's a lot of things you don't know, Meggie-Girl," he replied slowly. I scowled at the use of my grandpa's nickname for me.

"Are you one of them?" I had to clench my teeth to keep from snarling the words as betrayal churned in my belly.

He ran a dark hand through his frizzy gray hair.

"Yes."

The bluntness of his words shocked me more than his admission.

I sagged onto the bed as raised voices carried up from downstairs.

"If you think you'll be all right alone for a few minutes, I should go back to…mediate."

What if I shifted again? I cringed at the sinew-snapping thought. But the overwhelming desire to have a moment alone in the middle of this crazy had me waving my arm stiffly at him to go.

His deep brown eyes locked onto mine. "You're sure you're okay? I'll stay if you'd rather."

I shook my head. The sudden desire to be alone was tremendous. I nodded. "I'll be fine," I squeaked.

Rev's eyes took me all in again and then left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

I wilted to the floor the minute the door was shut. I took a few shuddering breaths and glanced around the room, a little bewildered. What was I supposed to do now? There were a surprising number of books on a floor-to-ceiling shelf against the far wall—a lot of sci-fi and histories, I noted absently. It was next to the window, but I was on the second story, so escape seemed unlikely. Besides. Where would I go and what would I do? I was stuck here. I would shift again, according to Sam, and right now, his word was all I had.

Plucking absently at the beige carpet beneath me, I desperately wanted my grandpa to tell me everything was going to be okay and have him wrap me in a hug. He had always been my rock—my fortress against the world. But I could hardly call him and tell him what had happened. The shock of it all might kill him! Crap. My phone was still in Sam's car. I felt tears threatening. This whole situation was so completely impossible.

More shouting sounded from downstairs. I wondered what kind of trouble Sam was in. And what kind of trouble I was in. Wrapping Sam's jacket tighter around me, I almost jumped in excitement when I felt something heavy shift in the pocket. Nearly yanking the pocket from the jacket, I snatched the phone out.

Please don't have a passcode, please don't have a passcode, please don't have a passcode, I thought as I powered it on.

It opened to the main menu screen!

I couldn't call my grandpa, and there was only one other person on the planet that I trusted with my life. I dialed Rachel's number with shaking fingers.

She picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Rachel," I choked.

"Meg? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

I cleared my throat. "Rachel, listen to me. I swear on Grandma Elsie's grave what I am about to tell you is true."

"Okay—Are you hurt?"

"Yes—no—Sam is a werewolf, and he turned me into one, too!" I whispered fiercely into the phone.

"Did he slip you something?" Anger laced her voice. "Where are you? I'm coming right now." There was clanging, and I knew she was literally getting her keys out to come get me.

"Rach, don't. No, he didn't slip me anything, he didn't even mean to—the game—we collided. His teeth and I—changed." Tears slipped down my cheeks. "Fur and claws." I had to stop talking so I didn't completely sob into the phone.

"What can I do?"

Just like that, Rachel accepted what I'd told her was the truth. I could hear it in her voice. She believed me. I breathed a little easier.

"I don't know. But I…I just needed someone to know."

Sam's door slammed open, nearly coming off its hinges. There stood Mr. Wolfe, red faced, quivering with silent rage—and maybe terror—at the phone in my hand.

With two steps and a cry of animalistic fury, he stormed the room and yanked me to my feet, dragging the phone from my fingers, nearly crushing both the phone and my hand in the process.

"Meg?" Rachel was still on the line. Mr. Wolfe turned murderous eyes on me.

Before I even had time to cower, Sam, faster than humanly possible, darted through the door and around his father and planted himself right in front of me. I'd never been so grateful for anything in my life as I was for Sam standing between me and his dad in that moment.

"Who did you tell?" Mr. Wolfe ground out. His eyes bugged out from his head.

More moisture could be found in the Sahara than in my mouth while my heart beat out a rhythm far faster than was healthy. The pounding in my chest grew and the tingling started. Crap, crap, crap! I was petrified I was going to shift—leaving me more vulnerable than ever, right in front of this man I was certain wanted to kill me! I was losing it. In every possible way.

I felt bones creak, and then, through the haze of red covering my vision, Sam turned to me. He kissed me. Hard. His hand firmly held the back of my head as his lips locked on mine, shocking me to my core. So momentarily stunned, I didn't even register that my bones stopped creaking, that my digits quit tingling. The shift stopped leaving me panting, cold, and sweating, but still human.

He broke away without making eye contact and angled his body in front of mine again, taking hold of my hand.

Mr. Wolfe still shook, the veins in his neck and forehead still visible. He clenched his fists but said nothing.

"Dominic, it's done," Mrs. Wolfe said softly from the hallway. I glanced over. She and Rev stood right outside the bedroom door.

"Sam, pack up. Take her to the cabin while I figure out a way to clean up your mess." He dragged a hand through his dark hair before pointing accusingly at Sam. "You take care of that phone call. Any means necessary."

The door slammed so hard the wall rattled. Sam and I were alone in the room. Tremors shook my body from head to toe, and this time when Sam offered, I let him touch me. He held his arms out, an invitation without pressure, and I willingly fell into them. He'd suddenly become a safe haven.

I had no idea what my future held, but at that moment, regardless of what else happened, I knew Sam was on my side.

"Are you all right?" he whispered. One arm was wrapped tightly around my shoulders; the other hand softly brushed down the length of my hair.

I shook my head. I was definitely not all right. The trembling slowly started to fade as Sam held me.

"I'm sorry, Meg," he whispered against my hair. I sniffed and belatedly realized my face was pressed up against his still bare, and rather nicely sculpted, chest. Despite the fact that I had turned into a wolf, Sam's dad was on the warpath after me, and that my entire life had been radically altered, my face heated at my nearness to Sam's chest. I could feel the heat blooming across my cheeks, and I quickly struggled to put some distance between me and Sam's skin. My eyes blinked rapidly a few times. Embarrassment, anger, regret, and exhaustion all battled for prominence. Anger was the easiest of the emotions to deal with, but Sam's dad in Alpha-action had sucked the energy to be angry right out of me. It left me bone-weary tired.

"Yeah," was all I could manage in reply.

"Okay. Let me grab a few things, and we'll get out of here and to the cabin before you need to shift again."

Shifting again terrified me. Adrenaline and panic suddenly replaced the fatigue. My hands gripped Sam's forearms.

"Will…will you stay with me?" My voice was tiny in the stillness of the room. I didn't know if I could handle shifting on my own after everything I'd just survived, even though it hadn't seemed so bad only moments earlier.

Sam's blue eyes warmed even as his brows drew together. His hands lightly cupped my face and some of my fears stilled.

"Megan, I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

The pads of his thumbs brushed over my cheeks, and the intimacy of it both kindled something in my belly and made me uncomfortable. There was a restlessness in me that quieted at his touch, basking in the attention, while another part of me wanted to jerk away.

Before I could decide how to respond, he spoke.

"I'm going to throw a few things in a bag, and then we'll go."