Page 8 of The Price They Paid

Alice laughed. “Smells that good, huh?”

I nodded and buried my head into the crook of my arm.

“I’ll take you to meet him tomorrow. I have to get you fed and make sure that you’re well tonight, though.”

I sunk into the bed and began eating again.

“I need to get these pants on you, too.”

“No, thank you,” I said. The sweatshirt was warm, and I didn’t want to get hotter. My skin was sensitive for some reason, and I didn’t want to agitate it.

Alice picked up a shredded sheet from the floor and threw it into a corner before grabbing a blanket from a closet. She put it across the bed and covered my lower half.

“We don’t want you indecent in front of Maddox,” She said.

I went back to eating the bread and butter.

“All good now!” she shouted.

Maddox entered the room, and that’s when I froze. I looked around at my surroundings, Maddox wearing that same green shirt from my dream, and I looked over at the destroyed sheet in the corner. What in the world?

“It wasn’t a dream?” I blurted.

“What are you referring to exactly?” Maddox asked. I hate how he was assessing me.

“I’m not crazy!” I shouted.

“No, I’m just trying to figure out what dream you think you had?”

“That I was a red wolf. I growled at you.”

“You did.”

“You commanded me to shift.”

“I did.”

“What is going on here? Somebody needs to explain what in the hell is going on,” I demanded.

“Is that the first time that you’ve shifted?” Alice inquired.

“Shifted?”

“Into a wolf,” Maddox clarified.

He was really starting to annoy me. “And if it was?”

Maddox moved closer and I snarled. “Stand down.”

The command and his movement toward me only riled me further. “Don’t come any closer,” I warned.

I stared at him, and he returned the stare. He was challenging something inside, and it wanted to win badly. It threatened to push forward, but I held it at bay letting the power tingle along my skin.

“There she is,” Maddox said. Slowly he bared his neck and triumph soared through me.

I hadn’t realized that my chest was pumping wildly. I was excited and ready to hunt something, anything. Wolf. I felt it more than anything else. It wasn’t a dream. I had so many questions. I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it. Wolf.

“I have answers to the questions that you seek. If you’ll eat for me, I’ll explain,” Alice said.