Kash sank the sword into the ground and knelt by his mate, helping her strip as her shift came over her. By the time he’d helped her wrangle her jeans off, her body was covered with fur, her nails dark with claws. She let out an anguished cry which morphed into a triumphant howl as her body changed entirely to wolf.

She promptly fell over.

He chuckled and lifted her gently to her paws. She whined and licked his jaw. He scratched behind her ears and ran his fingers down her soft fur. She was all browns and grays, with a white underbelly and bright amber eyes.

“Holy crap you’re gorgeous.”

She lifted her muzzle and sniffed the air, then nuzzled him, giving a lick to his neck which sent a shiver down his spine.

If she was supposed to have been able to shift at sixteen, then she hadn’t been able to claim her wolf for the last eight years.

“It must have been hell for you, cheril,” he said. “But you’ve got your wolf now. Want to run?”

She yipped and hopped a few feet away, then ran back to him and nearly took him off his feet when she crashed against him.

He lifted the sword from the ground and stood. “Sounds like a yes to me. You lead the way, I’m right by your side.”

With a happy bark, she raced away. He was thankful he was part wolf, because it meant he was fast enough to stay close to her. She dodged trees and skidded to a halt a few times, stopping to sniff the air before changing direction. She scared some rabbits and chased after them, missing their furry butts by mere inches.

He loved hearing her wolfy laugh as she darted among the trees, peeking at him around the trunks, her tongue lolling from her mouth.

She didn’t run the whole time, thank freaking goodness, slowing to a walk and bumping against him as they moved together, as if she couldn’t stop touching him. He genuinely hadn’t minded not being able to shift before, but now he wished he could so they could run together. It was pretty dang sweet anyway, though, because he got to share her first shift with her.

Whatever had happened when they met, whether it was being with her truemate that unlocked that part of her, or her wolf finally feeling safe that allowed her to shift, he didn’t care, he was just damn glad he’d been there for it.

The moon had slipped from high in the sky by the time they made it back to the alphas’ house after stopping by the fallen tree for her clothes. It took her a little while to shift back to human, but when she did, she leaped into his arms and cried. He held her close, pulling his wings around her to shield her nakedness just in case anyone happened by.

“It’s you,” she whispered hoarsely, her throat raw from crying.

“It’s me, what?” he asked, brushing tears from her cheeks.

“My safe place. You’re my safe place, Kash.”

When he lifted his brows in question, she explained, “My Grandpa Jake always said that my wolf would come out when she’d found her safe place, that the fear that kept her locked away just needed a place to feel protected. I can’t explain why it happened so fast with you, except that you’re my truemate and my wolf wanted to be with you.”

“I’m glad I could be here for you.”

She stared up at him, her face streaked with tears and her eyes shining brightly with emotion.

“Cheril?”

“Yes?”

“I want you to come stay with me. I don’t want the night to end.” He ran his thumb gently over her bottom lip. “If all we do is talk or sleep, I just want to be with you. But if you want me to take you to Kinley’s, I’ll do that too.”

She leaned back a little, her bare back rubbing against his feathers. “I want to come home with you. I don’t want the night to end either.”

He kissed her forehead, breathing in her scent that was a mixture of the woods and sweet female. He pulled his wings away and she shivered in the chilly night air. While she dressed, he pulled his wings into his back and put his shirt on, then returned the sword to the other realm where he’d manifested it from.

“Is that sword thing part of your power?” she asked, taking his hand as they walked in the direction of the alphas’ house.

“Yeah, it’s called manifesting. The sword is in the Fae Realm, and I basically call it to myself.”

“Can you manifest anything else?”

“Pretty much, I mean not a person or an animal, but any object that I know where it is, I could make it appear. I was trained as a kid with a sword, so even though I can fight hand-to-hand, I like the sword.”

“It’s pretty impressive.”

He stopped and she turned to face him. “You’re pretty impressive.”

She smiled so wide that her cheeks had to hurt. “I can’t believe I actually shifted. My parents are…oh hell.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t tell them I was coming here.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“My dad doesn’t like this town. My pack used to live here and share the town, but there was a battle between alpha Jason and my uncle who was killed. Our pack moved away.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I haven’t joined my pack on the full moon in a while and I knew my parents wouldn’t want me to come here, so I figured I’d just come up anyway, and if anything exciting happened, then I’d apologize later.”

He chuckled. “The old apologize later instead of asking permission first?”

“Yep.” She rocked on her heels. “I never would have guessed that I’d find my truemate and shift for the first time too.”

He mused on what she’d said. Something poked at the back of his mind about the pack who used to share Allen. That was well before his time, of course, but it had been put into the pack history records that right after Jason and Cades mated, there was a battle and Jason killed the wolf who tried to take Cades.

There were some things wolves didn’t do, and one of them was fuck with a mating.

“You probably think I’m some kind of cold-hearted robot for not caring that my uncle died here, but I didn’t know him. He died before I was born, and my dad and grandpa don’t talk about him. It’s like he’s a ghost, hanging around in the periphery but no one will discuss him.”

“I don’t think you’re cold, we won’t always have emotional connections to people in our family that we never knew. I’m sure your family was hurt no matter the circumstances, but that doesn’t change the fact that you came here and you’re my truemate.”

“It changes some things.”

She blinked those beautiful blue eyes up at him and he frowned again. “What things?”

“My pack is wolf only. You’re not a wolf.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” She smiled and her eyes crinkled at the corners. “It’s okay, though. When I couldn’t shift and I was desperate for inclusion in the pack, I dreamed of the day that I’d be accepted. Now that I shifted, I could be included but you wouldn’t be. If I mate you, if I pick you, then I’m out, period.”

“I don’t want you to lose your pack.”

“You’re not planning to walk away, are you? Because a part of me always worries about being accepted by people because I spent so many years as a non-shifting freak of nature.”

“Hell no,” he said, vehemently. “You’re well and truly stuck with me, but I’ll still be bummed you can’t have me and your pack.”

“I’d say my dad would make an exception and change the laws, but that’ll never happen. Even if you weren’t from the Tressel Pack, he’d still say no.” She blew out a breath and looked up at him expectantly.

“I want to talk to Alpha Jason, but I also want to take you home.” He pulled her close by wrapping an arm around her waist. She bumped against him, her soft curves to his hard muscles, and everything in him focused wholly on her.

She fit perfectly against him like they were made for each other.

She was by far the sexiest female he’d ever seen in his life. Petite and curved for days, she had the most intriguing blue eyes, and the most kissable lips.

His senses were inflamed, his gums tingling with the need to bite and mark her. The protective male in him was determined to hunt down anyone who made her feel like a freak. And the romantic part of him wanted to romance her to the best of his abilities so she never doubted for a moment that he cared about her…because he did. It had only been a few hours, but it might as well have been a hundred years. He was already falling for her. He couldn’t imagine how strong their bond would be as they got to know each other and fell in love fully.

He lowered his head and kissed her.

It was a gentle press of lips at first and then both their wolves responded with soft growls that rumbled in their chests. His wolf was never very vocal since he took more after his fae nature, but he sure as hell was feeling like a wolf now.

She parted her lips on a soft sigh and their tongues touched, slipping together as the kiss deepened. He pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her and holding her tightly. She gripped his shoulders and tilted her pelvis to brush against his, sending a riot of shivers down his spine.

She tasted like dark chocolate and wine, and she felt like heaven in his arms.

He wanted to keep kissing her forever, but then she shivered in his arms, and he realized she might be cold with only a shirt and jeans on.

Breaking the sweet, deep kiss, he nibbled her bottom lip for a moment and then smiled at the dazed look on her face.

“No one is looking for me tonight.”

“What?” he asked with a chuckle.

She smiled. “I mean that we don’t have to talk to your alpha tonight, we can save that for tomorrow. Let’s go to your home.”

“It’ll be yours too,” he said. “If you want it to be.”

“Take me home, Kash.”