"I feel so stupid," Sunny groans. "I kept seeing wolves and the whole time I thought they were spirit animals. Like the guys in motorcycle clubs share a similar spirit animal and that's what drives them together."
"Not stupid." I kiss her some more. "Incredibly intuitive. You saw what we try to hide."
She gasps and pushes me back so she can look at me. "Foxfire?"
I nod. "Half fox. It didn't manifest until she met Tank."
She covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh goddess! How could I not know this about my own child?"
"Not know?" Disbelief tinges my words. "You named her Foxfire. You definitely knew on some level. It just didn't fit into this reality so you didn't know how to categorize it."
Her eyes brighten with a sheen of tears and I stroke my thumb over her cheek, kiss her forehead. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, sunshine. It's forbidden."
She nods and gulps. "I see. Yes. I understand." She blinks and I can practically see her mind whirring over everything that passed tonight. "And those other wolves tonight?"
My shoulders tense. "Shifters. I caught their scent earlier so I came back to sniff around in wolf form. There was a whole pack of them running around. My wolf went wild with the need to protect you."
Her eyes soften and the corners of her mouth lift for a moment before they drop again. "Do you think they meant me harm?"
I roll to my side, pulling her soft body against mine. Spartacus springs to attention like he's preparing for the Olympics. Down, boy. "No. I thought they did, but as soon as they saw I was protecting you, they backed off. And they definitely could've taken me. It was four to one and they had youth and alpha command on their side."
"You don't know them?"
I shake my head. "There hasn't been a pack in these parts of New Mexico in twenty years. I know of one lone wolf in the area and I've been trying to scout him out. For whatever reason, the pack we just met is not public."
"So, what-there's like a public registry of packs or something?"
I can't stop the chuckle that bubbles up. It seems to be a recurring event since I marked Sunny. Like my wolf can calm down and enjoy himself now.
Dumb fuck doesn't even know we're long past mating age and he just marked a human, not a wolf.
"No, but the community is small. Packs convene with others in their region and hold annual runs to promote breeding. If we didn't, our species wouldn't survive. There simply aren't enough of us. So finding out there's some off-the-radar pack up here is suspicious."
Sunny touches the place I marked her and winces.
"I'm sorry for that. It won't happen again, I promise."
"Was it the full moon?" She blinks those wide, starry eyes at me.
I force a smile. "Yeah. A full moon thing." It's only a half lie. The full moon definitely contributed to me losing control of my wolf. I just don't need to tell her what the bite meant.
But that's stupid. If she mentions it to Foxfire, her daughter will be sure to explain. The mating bite embedded my scent into her skin. Permanently. She's marked as mine, and once a female is marked, her mate will follow her to the ends of Earth to be near her. To protect and provide for her. Whether she wants him to or not.
And in Sunny's case, I already know that's a not.
Plus, she's not a wolf, and I didn't have permission from my alpha to mate a human. The best thing I can do is pretend it didn't happen. Sunny would never want to be bound-she's far too independent for that. And mating her is a violation of pack code.
So if Sunny finds out what it means, she and I can discuss it then. But I'm not going to bring it up sooner.
"Titus?"
"Yeah?" I brush her hair back from her face. Her skin glows pale in the moonlight shining through the window.
She's like some kind of moon goddess. Lovely, delicate, ethereal. Not really of this world.
"Will you show me the wolf again? Please?"
I smile at the excitement in her voice. It's impossible to deny her this.
Still, I have to explain the laws. "You're not supposed to know, sunshine. It's forbidden to shift in front of humans."
"Please? Just one more time? He's so beautiful. I want to see the magic in motion."
I climb off the bed, shaking my head. "It's not magic. Just a different biology." I crack my neck and shift, dropping to all fours.
Her gasp does something to my pleasure centers. My wolf preens.
She sits up, her nudity glorious. My scent all over her, glorious. "Titus," she breathes. I put my paws up on the bed and lay my chin on her thigh.
"Oh goddess, you're beautiful." She strokes my ears, rubs my scruff. "Incredible."
I shift back and flop on the bed beside her. "Now you've seen. You must swear to never speak of it with another human."
"I swear," she breathes.
"Do you think you can refrain from letting on with the pack that you know? Even with Foxfire?"
"Oh!" She doesn't like that. I'm sure she wants to call Foxfire up right away to discuss it. "Well, of course I don't want you to get into trouble. I'll wait until she reveals it to me herself, then. I won't ever tell that I saw you shift. Pinky promise." She wiggles her pinky.
I chuckle and nip her finger instead of linking mine with it. "How's that broken arm of yours? I didn't hurt you during sex, did I?"
"Nope." She loops the casted arm around my neck and pulls me down onto her. My mouth mates with hers and I sink once more into pleasure.