“Seriously?” That was great news. “I see a shopping spree in my future.”
My first morph. I’d done it. I inched forward to sit on the arm of the recliner that was nearest to Zack. “What else should I know about us?”
“There’s not much more.” He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. “Except that werewolves aren’t very nice. According to one of my books that documented various crimes throughout history, all the really violent periods, werewolves were responsible. Like the Spanish Inquisition and Hitler, Charles Manson — they were all werewolves. The very worst of mankind weren’t really men at all. They were monsters.”
“But there are good ones, too.” Zack was proof of that. “Like you.”
“Sometimes I’m not good.” He looked at me, his eyes intense. Hungry.
I swallowed hard, staring at him.
He let his head fall back against the couch and closed his eyes. When he focused on me again, his eyes were clear.
“Of course you’re good. You always try to do right by me.”
“Which isn’t easy,” Zack said. “You’re like fast food.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms. “How’s that?”
“You know it’s not a good idea, but you keep coming back for more anyway.”
I wanted to get mad at Zack, be offended. But if he was compelled to spend time with me and even wanted to kiss me, how could that be a bad thing?
“I see why Daniel won’t go away.”
Now he’d gone and ruined my good mood by bringing him up.
Zack groaned. “Totally off the subject, but I just remembered I still have homework to do.”
“I did it while you were at work.”
Zack beamed. “You did my homework for me?”
Nodding, I returned his smile.
“Wow,” he said. “Thanks.”
Zack was openly staring and the longer he did, the more I wanted to kiss him. I pretended there were bars between us that were impossible to squeeze through. I would not invite him in, because if I did, surely we’d make out and I’d get my heart crushed all over again.
He rose from the couch, but when I sidestepped off the arm of the recliner to avoid him, he paused and seemed to shake it off. “Let’s go for a run,” he said. “I’m thinking of a spot more private, but we need a car. Mind if I drive?”
“Sure.” I dashed upstairs to change, wondering where he’d pick. And wishing I wasn’t so excited to be going into the woods with him.
† † †
We drove with the top down, so I gathered my hair in a ponytail and enjoyed the night air infused with the scent of pine.
“The scouts can’t catch us together as werewolf and shifter,” Zack said, eyes trained on the road.
“Right,” I said, admiring his exquisite profile. “They’ll want to enslave me.”
“It’s not just that. Shape-shifters and werewolves do not socialize with each other. At all. You guys are slaves and not worthy of us.”
“Really?” I asked, an edge to my voice. Maybe that was the real reason he didn’t want to be with me.
He spared me a glance. “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. If I felt that way, I wouldn’t be here.”
I believed him. “Right. Sorry.”
“Forget it.”
We’d driven around winding roads and now cruised through a deserted area, one side a cliff and the other a mountain. Zack slowed and glided the car into a lookout spot, then grinned at me. “I can’t wait to see what else you can do. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
We reached a dense part of the forest and could no longer see the car, the sky barely visible through the thick clumps of branches and leaves. I could smell moss growing on the ground and boulders where massive trees provided protection from the sun.
Zack stood, his arms folded. “What do you most want to be?”
I thought about it a moment, then closed my eyes and the vibrating began. Except this time, it was more like a shimmer, then the floating sensation enveloped me. A moment later, I roared.
Zack chuckled. “A tiger, of course. I should’ve known. Cream, not white or striped. You had to be different, didn’t you?” His eyes traveled down my form and landed on my shoes at my feet. “You thought ahead. That’s too bad, because your wardrobe malfunction earlier was rather illuminating. I’ll have to sneak into your room and steal all your natural fiber clothes, so they don’t morph with you.”
I snarled at him and bared my fangs.
He laughed and morphed, then bolted off into the trees.
When we’d run enough to soothe the animal in us, we returned to the spot where we’d left Zack’s clothes and my sneakers. I easily shifted to human.