The Wolf Within

That's Intimate

** Lia’s POV ** 

I could feel my eyes grew slightly, surprised at how forward her request was. Apprehension grew within me. I had already shown her my wolf, but for her to ask me to shift in front of her. That was like asking me to have i*********e right here and now, shifting was such an intimate act. 

I took in the expression her eyes held, they were pleading me to acquiesce. “Alright.” I relented, I shook my head slightly to clear my thoughts. “There is one thing I have to ask of you first,” I began as I stood up. I gazed out of the window and focused, instead, on the horizon. The trees waved in the gentle summer breeze, a few birds flew by and a couple of pups were playing in the fields. 

Every part of Dakota’s expression and body posture convinced me that she had been one misstep away from running as far away from here as she can. What she just asked me to do would be the ultimate reason for her to give into that urge. Something inside of me clenched my heart and soul and forced me to look back to her, get down on one knee and grab her hands. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t bravery. No, this is desperation, I thought as I pleaded to her, “You have to promise me not to run away from here. I understand if you need to run away from me.” My intensity faltered as I acknowledged the possibility that she could view me as a monster. “But you have to promise me you won’t leave this area. Please,” I looked into her stormy eyes again, begging, “promise me.” 

“I promise.” She said, her expression now one of conviction. She looked ready to see what she deemed impossible. 

“Ok.” I nodded as I stood again. “Now, um,” again I faltered. Here I was, an Alpha regarded and looked up to by so many, and the thought of preparing for a shift I had done thousands of times made me blush and my hands shake. “I have to remove my clothes to do this.” I turned my gaze to the window again, only this time I stared into my reflection. “If I don’t, they’ll be ruined. Is that alright?” 

“Yes.” The word came out as a small whisper, thick with anticipation, fear and something new. 

I blushed furiously as I began to remove my clothes. I went in the usual order: top, bra, pants, sock then underwear. However, I felt my nerves grow increasingly worse as each article of clothing was removed. I had never undressed under such scrutiny, let alone the scrutiny of my mate. 

After I finished, I looked back to the glass, my tan reflection staring back at me. I watched as I shook out my arms and legs. I jumped up and down a few times and rolled my neck and head, loosening up my muscles to prepare for the shift. “Ready?” I asked. 

“Mhmm.” Was all I heard from Dakota. It sounded like a small whimper, filled with desire. My cheeks burned furiously again as I thought, Sounds like she likes what she sees.

“Ok. Now, don’t blink.” As I looked into my reflection, I stared into my own eyes, I could practically see my wolf staring back at me. It was so eager to come out and show itself proudly to its mate.

The shift began. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes as I felt the pops and cracks of my skeleton as it repositioned itself. The familiar burning sensation of around my nose and mouth grew to an unbearable heat and then lessened within a second. I was forced to arch my back forward, then backward, then forward one last time as each vertebra popped out of place, lengthened and then fell perfectly into place again. My hands and feet mimicked the rest of my body as each bone reformed and spread out to make room for their respective muscles to contort, elongate, grow and shrink; until I was back to staring at my eyes. 

This time, I could see the human in me staring back, eager to see if Dakota would accept us. In my wolf form, I was far less afraid of her rejection. Probably because my wolf knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our mate’s wolf wouldn’t let her. I looked back to Dakota, her mouth was open as she gawked at me. 

The only words to escape from her lips were, “It is you.” 

Yes. I replied, It's me. I took a step forward, slowly, to gauge her reaction. Instead of leaning away in fear, she seemed to be enthralled and reached a hand forward. Her fingers caressed the hair between my ears and she began to scratch and tickle me as I assumed she had done with dogs she found cute. However, her hand moved slower across my fur. 

I promise, I won’t ever hurt you. I told her. 

“I know.” She said. “Mine says you wont.” Waves of pressure rolled off of me as I took in what she had just said.

Thank the goddess. I wouldn’t know what to do if the woman I loved thought I would hurt her. I froze. Had I just said that out loud. I watched Dakota to see if she had heard that. Her expression was frozen save for the growing redness in her cheeks and ears. 

Well s**t. I thought to myself. 

** Dakota’s POV **

My cheeks got hot as the reality of what Lia had said sunk in, it was then that my brain turned back on.

UB: OOOOOOH YEAH! I knew it! I KNEW IT! Move in with her now! Tell her to shift back and let’s do this thing! Who needs to take things slow! There’s plenty of time to get to know each other after we marry!

WB: Agreed. We have waited for our mate longer than necessary. 

HB: WOAH! SLOW DOWN! I’ll admit, she’s grown on us over the past few hours, and that… well that strip tease thing that happened was really nice. BUT, we are not easy! 

AB: Yea! And what if she kills us?

HB: …

AB: What?

HB: Don’t you think she would have done that already? She’s literally sitting in front of us like a trained dog.

AB: Well, I guess, but it’s a dog with FANGS! 

HB: Why don’t you worry more about how we know nothing about the werewolf culture?

AB: Yeah, YEAH! You’re right! We would NEVER fit in here! We can’t do what Lia can! We might have wolf-brain but if we could shift, why didn’t it happen when our LIFE WAS IN DANGER?

HB: There ya go. 

Before my brain could continue it’s broken and very conflicting spiral, Lia nudged my arm with her nose. I guess I had been in the process of petting her when my brain failed, and my hand just sat on her soft neck. Lia’s voice popped back into my head. 

I know you must have a lot of questions. Would you be alright if I shifted back and we could go grab some food? I promise I’ll answer every one of them. She finished the sentence with another small nudge on my arm and then stepped back, though she waited for me to acknowledge what she had said before she did anything else.

“That sounds good.” I replied, a small smile played at the corners of my lips as my stomach realized it would finally get the food it had originally woken me up for. 

Still, Lia stood in her wolf form and after a moment of us staring at each other, she finally motioned for me to turn around with her cute little snout. I did as she wanted and turned away, though I glanced at the glass once, when I heard the sounds of her shift stop, to catch another glimpse of her beauty. I successfully caught a glimpse of her as she finished buttoning her pants. 

UB: So she gets dressed in reverse order. Good to know. 

AB: UB! STOP IT!

My cheeks burned again as I realized just how much I had invaded her privacy with that glance. 

UB: NO! What are you doing? Don’t look away!

HB: UB, too far. Too far. 

I looked down to my lap and waited patiently, however, I realized Silvy had walked away from us at some point. I looked up to see where she went and found her on the first floor playing with the mouse. It seemed they were in the midst of a casual game of tag. 

CB: Seriously, what is up with Silvy? 

I shook off the thought when Lia squeezed my shoulder gently. “You ready for some food?” She said, her face beamed as she looked down at me, in return my ears burned yet again. 

HB: UB! Stop giving away our excitement!

UB: I can’t! Lia NEEDS to know we LOVE her back!

She then took her hand from my shoulder and reached it out toward mine. I took it without hesitation and allowed her to help me up. “More than ready,” I said. I was happy to know that all my questions were about to be answered, but, to be honest… I was even happier to know my stomach would be filled. “Is it alright if Silvy stays here?” 

“Of course,” Lia said as we walked to the elevator, “actually, I’ll go ahead and tell Al if that’s alright. I’m not sure why but she really is obsessed with your cat.” She finished as she threw another beautiful smile my way.

HB: Who stopped our heart?!

UB: I did! We don’t need it anymore! We can share hers!

WB: Yeah, that’s not how this works. We still need that. 

I just nodded in reply as I rubbed my chest, as nonchalantly as I could. Lia had such a way about her that it took everything I had not to melt in her arms at everything she did.