SHIFTER ROMANCE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Claimed By The Wolf (Older Man Younger Woman Mail Order Bride Pregnancy Romance) (New Adult Wolf Shifter Romance) Read Online Free Page B
her when they had sex, so carefully as to keep from actually hurting her when he could easily have overpowered her if he was any other man, and knew she trusted him.
“What is it?”
Rhys looked away, the collar of his shirt ruffled up his neck unevenly by the chilled wind rolling down from the mountains. “It might make you change your mind about me. It’s a secret I’ve had for a long time.”
There is no way he’s about to tell me what I think he’s about to tell me, she thought.
“It’s the reason I gave up on American girls. Everyone here is just so much the same as the next.”
“You wanted someone different.”
“Yes.” Rhys lowered his head, looking stoic and tragic. The sun sank down closer to the horizon, casting hazy golden rays over him. “From everything I know about you, I think you might be the only woman I’ve met who could understand. You’re so open with everything.” His shoulders shook. “I don’t want anything between us to change. I don’t want to lose you just because of who I am. I like you so, so much.”
Natalya blinked, taken aback. Until now, she hadn’t considered the depth of his feelings for her as being so expansive. He was always so stoic and perfectly polite, even after they warmed up to each other, that she simply shrugged and let it go so many times. After intense phone conversations, or intimate pictures of a different sort than sexual, showing the parts of themselves they dared not show anyone else, she felt a powerful surge of emotion which extended far beyond the realm of simply liking him. But she had not known until just now he felt the same way.
Stepping closer, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned against him. He did not hold onto her as he normally would, but leaned right back against her for comfort.
“No matter what,” she said quietly against his neck, “this won’t change how I feel.” Taking a deep breath and a leap of faith, she added, “I think I already know.”
His body stiffened. “You can’t.”
“Are you werewolf?”
And now Rhys jerked away from her and stared, eyes wide and chest heaving. Their eyes met and she knew now she’d been right all along. And she saw fear on his face, and astonishment, and knew from the way he held himself he now had no idea in what way to proceed from here.
So she said simply, “Show me.”
He continued to look at her for a long, long moment. After almost a minute, she started to wonder if he’d heard, or if he had frozen as he had in the airport when they first met in person. And then it happened.
Sunlight slashing across the mountain fell upon a patch of red on his arm which hadn’t been there before. As she watched, it began to lengthen and spread, gaining richness and an undertone of brown. The red swirled across his entire body like a hazy blood misty, and then he fell forward onto his hands and knees. Shadows obscured his body for a moment as a cloud passed over the sun, and then when the shadows finally lifted she saw him.
Rhys crouched before her as a wolf, russet and beautiful with distinguished features and ragged ears. The insides of his legs and the underside of his chest and stomach were swirled with white through the brown, and all of his toes were snowy-pure. But he crouched before her in supplication, those sweet ears laid back fearfully with his tail drawn forward between his rear legs. The fur on his hackles stood up in terrified spikes.
Natalya fell to her knees with the beauty of him, and finally she knew. He truly was a nomad wolf, searching all this time for someone to love him. And it only took forty years, and a crossed ocean.
“Come to me,” she whispered, and watched as her wolf rose to trembling paws and sidled towards her. Knowing it was dangerous, beyond caring, she reached out to hold his face in her hands, marveling at the stiffness of his whiskers, the wet nose, the fluffy fur, and pulled him in closer with a hand buried in his scruff. Rhys
“What is it?”
Rhys looked away, the collar of his shirt ruffled up his neck unevenly by the chilled wind rolling down from the mountains. “It might make you change your mind about me. It’s a secret I’ve had for a long time.”
There is no way he’s about to tell me what I think he’s about to tell me, she thought.
“It’s the reason I gave up on American girls. Everyone here is just so much the same as the next.”
“You wanted someone different.”
“Yes.” Rhys lowered his head, looking stoic and tragic. The sun sank down closer to the horizon, casting hazy golden rays over him. “From everything I know about you, I think you might be the only woman I’ve met who could understand. You’re so open with everything.” His shoulders shook. “I don’t want anything between us to change. I don’t want to lose you just because of who I am. I like you so, so much.”
Natalya blinked, taken aback. Until now, she hadn’t considered the depth of his feelings for her as being so expansive. He was always so stoic and perfectly polite, even after they warmed up to each other, that she simply shrugged and let it go so many times. After intense phone conversations, or intimate pictures of a different sort than sexual, showing the parts of themselves they dared not show anyone else, she felt a powerful surge of emotion which extended far beyond the realm of simply liking him. But she had not known until just now he felt the same way.
Stepping closer, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned against him. He did not hold onto her as he normally would, but leaned right back against her for comfort.
“No matter what,” she said quietly against his neck, “this won’t change how I feel.” Taking a deep breath and a leap of faith, she added, “I think I already know.”
His body stiffened. “You can’t.”
“Are you werewolf?”
And now Rhys jerked away from her and stared, eyes wide and chest heaving. Their eyes met and she knew now she’d been right all along. And she saw fear on his face, and astonishment, and knew from the way he held himself he now had no idea in what way to proceed from here.
So she said simply, “Show me.”
He continued to look at her for a long, long moment. After almost a minute, she started to wonder if he’d heard, or if he had frozen as he had in the airport when they first met in person. And then it happened.
Sunlight slashing across the mountain fell upon a patch of red on his arm which hadn’t been there before. As she watched, it began to lengthen and spread, gaining richness and an undertone of brown. The red swirled across his entire body like a hazy blood misty, and then he fell forward onto his hands and knees. Shadows obscured his body for a moment as a cloud passed over the sun, and then when the shadows finally lifted she saw him.
Rhys crouched before her as a wolf, russet and beautiful with distinguished features and ragged ears. The insides of his legs and the underside of his chest and stomach were swirled with white through the brown, and all of his toes were snowy-pure. But he crouched before her in supplication, those sweet ears laid back fearfully with his tail drawn forward between his rear legs. The fur on his hackles stood up in terrified spikes.
Natalya fell to her knees with the beauty of him, and finally she knew. He truly was a nomad wolf, searching all this time for someone to love him. And it only took forty years, and a crossed ocean.
“Come to me,” she whispered, and watched as her wolf rose to trembling paws and sidled towards her. Knowing it was dangerous, beyond caring, she reached out to hold his face in her hands, marveling at the stiffness of his whiskers, the wet nose, the fluffy fur, and pulled him in closer with a hand buried in his scruff. Rhys
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