01 Taming the Wolf - Anna Avery Read Online Free Page A

he should have, and had he been successful in breaking me, I would’ve willingly slept with him. It was the way of the wolf.
    “Let’s hope your game is better for the second,” I told him.
    *
    After everyone patted me on the back for giving Sawyer a run for his money, I snuck off. I liked hanging out with them, but I liked being by myself and come tomorrow morning I’d be busy with more chores.
    Shifting into my wolf, which became less painful the more I did it, I headed for the tree line. The first month was torture as my body shifted and contorted into something unnatural and foreign. Adam made me transform over and over so I built up a tolerance to the pain. Now, the only discomfort was sore muscles. As a wolf not only had my strength and metabolism increased, I now had the ability to heal a lot quicker.
    My wolf was as white as the snow capping the mountains and the only one in the pack. Some people thought it was a sign I would do great things, but after three months of screwing up, they’d given up on that theory. I didn’t know why I was the singular white wolf amongst my pack, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with my destiny.
    Cutting across a meadow, I ran like the wind to where a small stream bubbled through the mountains, a place called Crazy Woman Canyon. The moon was bright in the night sky as it cast a silvery glow on the earth. We didn’t need a full moon to change, but we couldn’t refuse changing during one. During those times of month the pack came together and hunted, taking down moose and elk as a team.
    Once I came to the stream I often visited, I took a long drink. Trout swam through the water, my eyes watching them as they scurried away from my hungry stare. With a quick precise movement, my jaws snapped around one. It wiggled and fought to free itself from my sharp teeth, not knowing it didn’t stand a chance. Lying down with my paws outstretched, I bit a chuck out of the fish. The breeze stirred, crickets chirped, and the sky was filled with twinkling diamonds—I loved the peacefulness of the night.
    As I was about to take another bite, a jet black wolf stepped through the trees. Its eyes were the color of citrines and stood out against its ebony fur. This wolf demanded my respect and servitude, and my inner beast cowered in its presence. Forgetting about my dinner, I rolled onto my back to expose my belly and throat—the two most fragile parts on a wolf.
    The black wolf sauntered over to where I lay submissive and sniffed my belly. My wolf whimpered. The black wolf moved its mouth to my throat and clasped my jugular between its teeth, but the pressure I expected didn’t come. The black wolf removed its mouth from my esophagus and licked the side of my jaw. The action caused confusion and relief in my wolf—and a bit of excitement. This was her alpha, my alpha, and he’d shown affection towards her, towards me. Adam barely spoke to me unless he was lecturing on the ways of the wolf. It was against the pack rules to wander off by myself, but I did anyway. Adam should’ve punished me, not licked me.
    Rolling over, I nudged the fish with my nose, an offering to my alpha. Adam eyed the half eaten fish, turned towards the stream, and grabbed his own. We ate side by side for the next ten minutes like equals.
    “ Shift ,” his voice penetrated my mind. It freaked me out the first time he’d spoken to me through telepathy. Only the alpha could speak to us that way though, so at least I didn’t have the entire pack inside my head.
    My skin itched and the hair on my back prickled and thinned as I obeyed his order. When the sensation subsided, I lay on the dewy grass fully human again and naked. I stashed my clothes at the entrance to the tree line and hadn’t expected to change forms until I returned home.
    Adam transformed as well and stood in front of me as nude as the day he was born. Nudity was another insecurity the pack didn’t share with humans. For all intents and