The Wolf in Sheep's Skin

Chapter 26

I nodded; my tongue too swollen to say words. He turned and walked away, and I followed, stepping over crumbled bits of drywall. What if he tells people? What if the pack finds out?

I’d heard stories about what happens to people with strong wolves they can’t control. They were considered too dangerous to be around people. Packs worried they’d reveal werewolves to humans or attack people.

He led me to a nearby bathroom. It was bright white with more marble and a large, spacious shower. I glanced at myself in the mirror. My hair was a tangled mess, and my dress was wrinkled.

He flicked on the tap, and water poured out. Then he went to the big shower and turned on the multiple shower head.

Is he going to waterboard me or something?

My heart hammered against my chest, and everything told me to flee. He went to the light switch, and I debated on running past him, shoving him out of the way. He flicked on a switch and the bathroom fan turned on.

“There. Now we have some privacy. And I’m not tripping over shoes.” He gave me a coy smile, and it clicked. I couldn’t hear what was happening outside the room with all the loud noise. Which meant no one could hear us talking.

“I guess I should’ve thought about that.” My cheeks warmed.

“What, with that big family of yours, you don’t have secret meetings in the bathroom?” He asked, his back turned to me as he rummaged through a cabinet that had a big red plus sign on it. I hopped onto the bathroom counter.

“If I locked the bathroom door, it’d be broken down in minutes.” I snorted, thinking about the lack of privacy in that house. I smiled, but quickly dropped it.

I stared at the floor and put my hands in my lap, twirling my thumbs. Is he going to tell people? He didn’t promise not to. What if he does?

My dad's words played through my mind from when I was younger. “No one can know, Gwen. You can’t let them find out. Children aren’t meant to shift.”

Fear had been in his eyes as he’d gripped both my shoulders, looking me in the eye, making sure I understood.

I sighed and pulled my hands closer, hunching over. I crossed my feet and stared at the floor. Packaging crinkled and Jay came to the counter with a big first aid kit.

“What happened? Why do you look like that?” He asked and set the kit on the counter next to me.

I shrugged, kept my eyes on the floor. He made a rumbling sound in his throat and sighed.

“You know, I think I prefer it when you’re yelling at me.”

I kept my mouth sealed shut and hunched over, looking away from him.

My blood ran cold as I thought about having to move again. Or if I’d have to flee. They can’t know. He can’t tell them.

“I’m sorry. For what happened in the closet, you know…” His sentence trailed off and glanced around nervously. I frowned and pulled my hands closer to me.

“Are you going to tell people?” I whispered, my dad’s words echoing in my mind. You have to control your wolf, Gwen. They don’t allow wolves who can’t.

“Of course not. It’s not my business to tell. I can’t imagine why you’d want to hide it, though. I couldn’t stand there and take sh*t from Olivia like that. Not if I had the power to tell her off.” He eyed me with a worried look. “But you must be very dominant to be able to control your wolf enough to hide it so well.”

He met my eyes, and I almost spilled everything. About my wolf. About Olivia, about pretending, about how painful it was. How much I craved to hurt her, make her pay, to see her bleed for her hurtful words. But I bit my tongue, remembering all my dad’s warnings.

“Do you promise not to tell anyone?” My stomach was in my throat as I waited for his answer.

He pulled his lips tight and scowled.

“You don’t want my promise. I only give them to people when I’m making threats.”

“So I’m just supposed to trust you?” I frowned and clenched my teeth together. I barely know him. Only my parents, Maeve, and Erik, know about my wolf.

“How about a trade? A secret for a secret?” He raised a brow.

“One of your secrets?”

“Yes. One of equal value. This one seems awfully important to you. I don’t understand why, but that isn’t the point. Consider it insurance. If I tell yours, you can tell mine.” He tilted his head, giving me a serious look.

“How do I know it’s equal value?” Curiosity bubbled in my chest, making my voice too high pitch, giving away my interest. He chuckled, and I frowned.

His eyes sparkled and a mischievous smile tugged at his lips.

“I don’t want a dirty secret; I want a real secret.”

“That’s no fun.” He whined, and feigned a look of disappointment, then gave me a toothy grin. “Fine. A real secret. And that’s the difficult part of the trade. It requires trust. Your secret seems to be important to you, so I have to guess what to tell you that would be equal.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Then you can go tell people my secret, but I get to tell yours.”

I chewed my bottom lip. What is there to lose? He already knows mine. He’s just making an offering; it would be silly to say no.

“Alright.” I imagined all kinds of secrets he could have. He was an old wolf, born before the packs in America had been joined. He has to know all kinds of stuff.

He fumbled with the top button of his shirt with his good hand, scowling.

“What’re you doing?” I asked in a high pitch voice. Why is he undressing? He isn’t going to blackmail me for s*x, is he?

“Stop panicking; I need my shirt off so I can bandage my arm. I’d rather not bleed everywhere.” He scowled at his chest, and I sighed in relief. He got a few buttons done with great effort, and I was about to offer help.

But he growled and grabbed the fabric with a fist and ripped it off himself with no effort. It fell off in strips, and he tore at it, dropped it to the floor. I watched with wide eyes as removed the last few pieces of fabric that stuck to him.

His chest was defined, with groves at his hips, going down below his pant line.

My face burned, and I would’ve looked away if it wasn’t for his mess of an arm. Long cuts went down his forearm, towards his wrist. Like he’d sliced it open with the nails in the wall.

“It looked like someone took chunks out of your arm!” I hopped off the counter and grabbed a towel, quickly running it under water.

“It’s not that bad. Hurts, but not unbearable.” He shrugged and twisted his arm around, staring at it.

How can he be so nonchalant about it? My stomach did flips, knowing how much it had to hurt. But he looked unfazed, maybe a little bored.

I went to him and grabbed his hand, pulling his arm to me. I dabbed the blood off so I could see better.

“You need stitches. We have to get the pack doctor.” I inspected his arm, and some of the cuts were deep.

Jay

“I’m not doing that.” I said, staring at my arm. She was glaring at my arm, wiping the blood away. The cuts hurt, but I could barely feel it. She’s touching me. Willingly.

“These are deep.” She scowled at me. Her eyes were filled with worry, and her lips were pulled tight. My heart skipped a beat. She actually cares. She must not hate me.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“They won’t heal right.” She rummaged through the bag and dumped a few things on the counter. A suture kit was one of them, along with gauze and a bandage wrap. I don’t need that. It’s pointless.

But I kept my mouth shut. There was no way I was going to stop her from taking care of me.

“Sit down.” She pointed to the toilet, which had the lid closed. I did as she ordered, holding out my arm. She threaded the suture string on a needle and came back to me.

“You’ve done this before?” I asked in a soft tone, leaning in to look at what she was doing.

“I have sixteen younger siblings, and an older brother who liked to get in trouble. Going to the doctor every time someone had a cut seemed like a waste of time.” She said confidently.

She started the first stitch, glancing at me like she expected me to howl with pain. But it was barely a pinch.