Chapter Nine

~ Vanya ~

I had to do something. I could hear the fear in Remy"s voice and I didn"t like it. It felt as if a knife was stabbing me in the heart with each tear that fell down his pale cheeks.

It wasn"t right.

I whimpered. I wanted to change back so I could reassure Remy that I wouldn"t hurt him. I just didn"t know how.

I was amazed—shocked really—by the fact that I knew I was different right now. I knew I was a wolf. I didn"t know how it had happened, but I knew I was one.

I didn"t know how to not be one.

The other amazing part was that I retained myself even if I was in wolf form. I knew who I was, what I was doing, and who I was with.

I also knew I was a wolf with all the wolf instincts, and those instincts were telling me that this man was very important to me. They were telling me to protect him at all costs, even if it meant my life.

I lifted my head and licked at the tears trailing down his face. I wanted them gone. I wanted that smirky smile he usually wore back. He should never be this sad.

"Eewww, dog slobber."

I huffed, which seemed to amuse Remy as he chuckled.

"Okay, wolf slobber."

That was better.

Remy grabbed both sides of my face and looked into my eyes. "Are you in there, Vanya?"

At least he realized I was the wolf.

I nodded my head.

Remy"s eyes rounded. "Oh, my god, Can you understand me?"

I nodded my head again.

Remy stared at me for a moment before his eyes narrowed. "How do I know you"re not just nodding your head?"

I huffed again.

"Right. I need to ask you something else." A furrow appeared between Remy"s eyebrows. "Um...Oh, I know. Is your brother"s name Bob?"

I shook my head.

"Is it Yeri?"

I nodded.

Remy blew out a breath before hugging my head to his chest, which was actually a really nice place to be. I just wished I could be snuggled up to Remy like this in my human form.

And then suddenly, I was.

Remy squeaked and leaned back.

I laughed awkwardly. "Uh, hi."

Eyes as large as saucers, Remy blinked at me. "Hi."

"So, I guess we need to talk." I wasn"t referring to the fact that we"d had sex, even though we needed to talk about that, too. And maybe the fact that I"d really like to do it again. "You smell like fresh baked bread."

Remy"s eyebrows shot up. "I smell like fresh baked bread?"

I smiled as I sniffed deeper. "Fresh baked bread, chocolate, and..." I frowned. "Lavender?"

"That"s an interesting combination of scents."

"Smells good," I quickly reassured him. "My favorite scents." Which was really strange. Remy smelled like everything I loved. Home and comfort. Relaxation after a hard day.

I wasn"t about to tell him I wanted to lick him.

Remy gave me a little smile back. "You smell like the forest after the first rain of the season."

"I do?"

Remy nodded.

"Is that a good thing?"

A soft flushed filled his face.

"Remy?"

"Makes me want to curl up in front of a warm fire with a good book, some hot chocolate, and a throw blanket."

Home and comfort.

Huh...there had to be a connection there.

"All of those scents remind me of home and comfort," I said to him, because it was really confusing me. "Do you think there is a connection?"

Remy swallowed tightly. "There has to be."

He was right.

"That green glow," Remy continued. "I think it did something to you."

"To us," I corrected. I was positive I wasn"t the only one that had changed. I didn"t remember Remy smelling like this before. Or looking so soft and luscious.

Granted, he had always been stunning, but this was different. There was something more alluring about him, more desirous. His skin was silky soft and had a faint glow to it that drew me in and made me want to caress every inch of his body.

His hair was just as silky soft, but it also had a sheen to it that made it seem fuller, healthier.

And god, his body. I had looked at him a few times here and there simply because I couldn"t help myself, but this was different. I doubted I could pull my eyes away now, and I didn"t want to.

I could easily watch him until the day I died.

"I don"t think I am the only one that has changed."

Remy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I distinctly remember having sex with a white wolf."

Remy"s jaw dropped. "That wasn"t a dream?"

I shook my head. I didn"t know how I knew it wasn"t a dream. It had certainly felt like one. A fantasy really.

"I wonder if Yeri was changed as well."

"Yeri?"

"Yeah, he"s in the cabin next to this one. I told you that earlier. How do you think we all got up here?"

"All?" I knew he had mentioned something about that, but it escaped me at the moment. My worry was about my little brother.

"Our friends from the university are in the other cabins."

"Fuck!" I jumped up and started for the door at a very fast pace. I needed to check on Yeri and make sure he was okay. If anything happened to him, it would break our father.

"Uh, Vanya, you might want to consider putting some clothes on before you go outside."

Clothes. Right. That would be good.

I hurried into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of jogging pants, pulling them quickly up my legs. I didn"t bother with a shirt or shoes. I needed to get to my brother. Besides, if I transformed again, it would be easy to replace the jogging pants. Not so easy to replace everything else.

As soon as they were past my hips, I hurried back out into the other room. Remy was waiting for me by the door.

"I"m going with you," he said firmly.

I nodded before reaching for his hand. "Stay close to me."

Remy"s face flushed.

I smirked as I opened the door and headed out. The cabin next to mine was just a few feet away after we got off the porch. That was the way my great-great-grandfather had set them up. He wanted his family to have their privacy, but still be close together.

When I reached the cabin next to mine, I hurried up the stairs and knocked on the door. My patience started to run thin when no one answered. I grabbed the door handle and turned it until I heard a click just like when I had entered my cabin.

"Stay behind me," I warned Remy as I opened the door and stepped inside. The room was empty. I was amazed that I could tell that. The curtains were drawn and every light in the room was off. I could see if it was broad daylight. "How"s your eyesight?"

"Fine," Remy replied. "Why?"

"It shouldn"t be."

Remy sighed. "So, transforming into a wolf gives us better eyesight?"

"Looks that way."

Made me wonder what else it had given us.

"Yeri must be sleeping," Remy stated.

Even if he was, I still had to check.

The bedroom door opened just as I reached for the door handle. Before I could ask Hudson where my baby brother was, he growled at me.

My eyebrows snapped together and I growled right back, my hackles rising. My instincts were telling me to make Hudson submit to me, that I was the more powerful wolf.

I stared Hudson down until he tilted his neck, showing his submission. "Where"s my brother?"

Hudson whimpered.

I growled again, deeper, more menacing, letting him know if he didn"t answer my question I would tear him apart.

I could see the reluctance in Hudson as he stepped aside. I stepped into the room and gave it a quick scan, my eyes stopping on the small white wolf curled up on the bed.

My heart sank. "Oh, Yeri."

He had been transformed as well.

"How long has he been like this, Hudson?"

"Since last night."

I glanced at the man when I heard the pure wonder in his voice. "Have you transformed as well?"

Hudson"s eyes snapped to me and he gave me a nod. "I think I transformed last night. I have...memories, I guess, of something happening after that green glowy thing exploded in the night sky."

Yeah, I suspected that green glowy thing changed all of us. I just had no idea what it was or what it had done to us.

I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. I slowly reached out to pet the white wolf behind the ears. "Do you remember me, baby bro?"

I wasn"t sure where he was in his transformation. I knew I hadn"t been aware of the world when I shifted for the first time, and barely aware the second. If he wasn"t aware of who I was, I could lose a limb.

My eyebrows shot up when Yeri rolled over and showed me his tummy. I reached down and gave him a good scratch and received a small lick for my gesture. Even if he didn"t know what was going on, he seemed to know who I was.

That was a good thing.

"I need you to change back, Yeri. We need to talk about what happened here."

Yeri whimpered much like Hudson had.

"I know, bro." I scratched behind his ears again. "Just think about what it is like to walk on two legs, to have skin instead of fur. I know you want to speak to me, but you can"t do that if you don"t change back."

Yeri"s transformation was quicker than I had imagined it would be, but slower than mine. I winced when he whimpered, his muscles stretching beyond limit and his bones crackling as they shifted and changed.

By the time he was human again, Yeri was panting, beads of sweat trickling down his temple. It was obvious that the shift had been hard for him.

I glanced over my shoulder to Remy, worried it had been hard for him as well. I remember that the first time had been excruciating, the second time almost as bad, but the third time I had shifted had been easier. Kind of made me wonder if they would get easier each time.

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked Yeri after looking back to him. "Are you hurting anywhere?"

Yeri shook his head, but his eyes darted toward Hudson. I glanced between the two, my eyes narrowing as a harrowing thought filled my head. I knew I was a hypocrite of the highest magnitude, but if Hudson did to my baby brother what I had done to Remy, I"d kill him.

"Hudson."

"Stop." Remy caught me by the arms when I stood, intent on pounding Hudson into dust. "We"re dealing with something here that we have no idea about. Don"t do something you can"t take back. Not until we have all the information."

I hated that Remy sounded reasonable.

"Maybe Hudson and Yeri have some insight into what is going on," Remy continued. "Their experiences could be different than ours."

They"d better be.