Chapter Eleven

Skinny-dipping.

I hadn't exactly packed for a hike to a waterfall. Or at least, what that might mean. Since I'd never learned to swim in human form, I didn't own trunks. My wolf could paddle across a stream or any other body of water we came across, but the summer camp my fathers sent me to were more focused on advanced mathematics than swimming and diving or singing songs around the campfire. For fun, we played chess while the counselors explained the similarities of the logic of the game to success in business. It wasn't even in the country but on the seventh floor of an office building, convenient for field trips to places like the stock market and a bank. We did have pack trips though.

There were no high-rises, stock markets, or banks anywhere around here, just a lot of trees and plants and a trail that led to the beautiful falls with the pond beneath it where we currently sat. And a major quandary. He wanted to swim and "relax together." While I laughed and tried to act as if it sounded fun, my mind was racing in search of a reason why we couldn't get in that pond. The water felt great on my weary toes and heels, but I couldn't tell how deep it was in there and whether I would be able to touch in the middle.

He was going to think I was a real dumbass or maybe a coward. Who didn't learn to swim at some point growing up? And why, if my wolf could swim, couldn't I figure it out? Growing up, if there was a reason to get in the water somewhere, I just tried to keep near the edge or the shallow end. And, since most of those occasions were pack events, if privacy permitted, I'd just shift and let my wolf take over.

"Maybe we should eat first?" I blurted out.

"Before swimming?" He looked at me as if I was speaking Martian. "If you're hungry, we should eat right away, but then we'll have to rest a bit before going in. My alpha father always said it was a good way to get a cramp and drown."

"Didn't I hear that had been debunked?" I thought I had anyway.

"Oh, maybe. I don't hear a lot of news, and I've never been sure how much that gets out there relates to us as shifters anyway. But what I don't want is for you to be hungry for even a minute." He reached for the backpack, but I put my hand on top of his.

"Wait."

One brow rose. "Not hungry anymore?"

This was getting ridiculous and he'd definitely decide I was a fool or a liar. But I had to come clean. "I've never been hungry. I mean…not right now."

"Then why did you ask to eat?" He sat up straight and brushed his hair back with his free hand. "I'm confused."

"I cannot blame you." And confused was not the worst it could be. "I-I need to tell you something." Something that had been an embarrassment since I was a small boy.

"Omega, what's wrong? How can I help?"

Instead of judging me, thinking the worst, he wanted to fix what was bothering me. "You can't. Not really. I can't skinny-dip with you." There. I said it. Now he'd understand and we can move on with our day.

"We could swim in our undershorts if you're uncomfortable skinny-dipping."

"No. That isn't it at all." Hell, I said it all wrong. Now he thought I didn't want to see him naked, when I very much wanted that sight! And maybe even more.

He turned his hand over, the one with mine on top, so we were palm to palm, linked our fingers. "Is that all?"

"All?" It was everything. It was the reason I got made fun of at pack events once they figured out my secret. Why I avoided as many of them as possible if it involved water activities. "Most wolf shifters, at least the ones I know, seem to come by it naturally. Did you know wolves have webbing between their toes and are known to be able to swim for miles?"

"Your wolf also doesn't swim, then?"

"No, he does. But somehow it doesn't translate to me." I swallowed over the lump in my throat. "My friends could shift back and forth and swim like fish. "So, that's why I can't skinny-dip with you."

"I think that's a good reason why you should." He stood, bringing me with him via our linked hands. "How else are you going to learn if you never have a lesson?"

I gaped. "You don't think it's terrible that I can't swim already?"

"I think it's an honor to be able to help you gain the skills. It's a necessary safety skill. If you fell into a swimming pool or off a boat and couldn't shift fast enough? You could drown."

"It's why I try to avoid those situations," I muttered. "I can't drown if there's nothing deeper than a bathtub around."

"It's hard to get past something so deep, isn't it? Something that has been a worry for so many years?" He gave my hand a squeeze. "But I think, especially since your wolf is comfortable in the water, that you can be too. Will you trust me to help you?"

"Yes." The word came out as a whisper. "If you're sure it's not too much trouble?"

"Oh, omega, if you think that, you don't know how adorable you are."

"Will you teach me?"

"Anything you want to learn."