by Mandy Rosko
Trisha didn't want to argue with Warren about it. Was she jumping to conclusions? What did she really know about being a shifter? Other than the need to take things that didn't belong to her and to sift around in people's trash? She didn't know enough about the subject aside from she really didn't like the idea of it, and that wasn't enough to win any arguments on anything. She knew well enough to know that not liking something wasn't the same as having a rational, thought-out opinion on it.
"FUC isn't just…well, they're not just going to let the shifter world accept this, right?"
Warren's eyes widened slightly. "No. They're busting up labs where they can and taking the proper actions when labs are more in line with the laws, but in general, it's left to the council. But FUC will always fight for what's best for shifters everywhere."
Trisha felt another one of those warm swells that Warren could stir up in her with the right look or turn of phrase.
Shit. If she was warming up, that meant he would be able to sense it.
No way. She didn't need that right now.
"Aren't we supposed to go running or something? I thought I saw—"
Suddenly, Warren's head snapped to the side, his eyes dilating and glowing before he took off.
Trisha jumped a little. He was just...gone.
Well, not really. He wasn't the Flash, but it was damn fast.
"Hey!" Without knowing why, Trisha chased after him. She didn't have to go very far. When she really looked, she could see him through the trees, his wolf shape chasing a squirrel into a tree.
9
The little teasing bastard was so close. He snapped his teeth a half a second too late before he could snatch its tail and give the little chittering fuck the shaking it deserved.
The miserable rodent scrambled up the tree, squeaking at him the whole time, but even as Warren's mouth watered, as he jumped and snarled for it to come down, he knew it wouldn't.
The little pest twitched its tail at him, teasing him for its victory over him.
Knowing that infuriated him even more.
"Uh, Warren?"
Trisha's voice was like an ice pick breaking through the fog of instinct. Warren blinked.
He'd been standing upright, paws on the base of the tree, even though he had no hope of climbing it. Warren got back down to four legs and looked back at Trisha.
Oh shit. Did he really just do that?
Trisha looked at him, a single brow raised, her horn glowing under the light of the barely-there moon.
"Sorry you had to see that," he said, after shifting back into human form. He folded his hands in front of himself, trying to be casual with hiding his dick. Of course, she'd already seen it, and he detected a hint of approval in her eyes that made him stupidly proud regardless of the fucked-up situation he'd put them in.
A little preview for something he wanted to give to her.
Later.
When she wasn't a guest of FUC or recovering from a traumatic experience.
Trisha slowly smiled at him, showing off the whites of her teeth. "Did you...really just chase a squirrel up a tree?"
He would almost rather she come on to him and make him suffer with what he could not have than point that out. "I did. The little buggers like to come around here, sticking their noses in where they don't belong."
She wouldn't stop smiling. His embarrassment might actually be worth it to see a look like that on her face. "I didn't know wolves did that."
"Part wolf."
"Part wolf?"
"My mother shifted into a German shepherd."
Trisha blinked wildly. "There...really is every kind of shifter out there, isn’t there?"
He grinned. "Yes." He started walking. "So when I, and the instructors here, tell you that it's perfectly normal to feel sudden urges, we know what we're talking about. Normally, I can fight against it. I wouldn't be working here if every squirrel I saw sent me into a bloodlust."
"So, what was different?"
"I was...relaxed." He regretted the words as soon as he said them.
Trisha walked right up to him and poked him in the chest. "Relaxed, were you? You like being around me?"
Fuck. She could be direct.
He tried keeping his eyes glued to hers, though he could hardly control himself from sneaking peeks at her perky breasts, which were so close to him right then…
What he wouldn't give to get down on his knees, push her up against a tree, and taste her sweetness right then and there.
He might as well be honest. "Yes. I do."
She didn't say anything after that. The smile melted from her face.
And he could hear the sudden pulsing of her heart. Her cheeks flushed. Warmth radiated from her body.
He could also smell the wetness that pooled between her legs.
Every inch of her called to him.
Warren gritted his teeth. "We should head back." He turned so she wouldn't see what was happening to his cock. It might be dark, but there was no hiding that thing in that moment.
He'd kissed her already, and this was the second time he was sneaking out with her in the night to do...whatever it was they were doing. A man would have to be blind to not realize there was something going on, but at the same time, he couldn't just ignore his duties.
But he couldn't seem to stop himself either.
They made it back to the start of their run, where they'd left their clothes. It was the site of Trisha's match with the tree, where he'd run up to her, bringing her clothes with him, expecting she'd want to go back.
In the short sprint to her, he'd gotten too much of a view of her naked body sprawled out on the ground. He'd tried to justify that he had to look her over to make sure she wasn't hurt, but it took everything inside of him to keep it professional then.
Just like it was now, with his cock throbbing as he zipped up his pants and put his shirt on. He was glad to see she'd finished dressing when he turned around.
"Are any of these urges... I mean these rare times when we struggle for control... Can that affect other people, too?"
He looked her right in the eye, glancing down at her lips. "Yeah, sometimes."
He heard her heart fluttering. He knew what she was going to do before she did it, and dammit, he let it happen.
She reached up for him, not moving quickly, as though scared she would poke him with the horn, but she angled her head carefully, making sure it was out of eye-poking range before pushing herself up to her toes and kissing him.
It was better than the first time. She moaned softly against his mouth, her tongue darting out and gently probing against the crease of his lips.
He let her inside, tasted her as she explored him.
Warren took in the warmth of her, cursed himself for not having the ability to hold back and cursed his stupid dick for throbbing so painfully against his jeans.
She pressed her body closer. He felt her breasts against his chest through his clothes and...
Oh fuck, he needed to touch her. Everywhere.
So he did. Trisha gasped a beautiful little noise as he lifted her off her feet, his hands on her ass, but she knew exactly how to go with the flow, as her legs swiftly curled around his waist, helping to hold herself up as he backed her into the nearest solid object he could find.
Which turned out to be a tree.
After a quick check to make sure he wasn't about to stab her in the back with a branch, of course.
Her hands moved to his hair. She kissed him fiercely, and God help him, he couldn't keep up with her.
That was a first.
Her hips arched in just the right way. The sudden friction against his cock from her sweet spot made him gasp.
"Wh-what?"
Trisha's confusion pulled him out of his lusty thoughts but only just barely. "I was thinking…" He stopped, and he really did start to think. He realized where they were, what he was doing, and how much of a fucking asshole he was for doing it.
"What's the matter?"
"Where else are we going to do it? I don't think Cindy will want to leave our room so you and I can use it." She got an excited look on her face. "We could go to your place! Are you staying far from here?"
"No, but we're not going there either."
He hated being responsible for the disappointment on her face.
"Right. You're worried about screwing a victim."
He closed his eyes. "Don't say it like that."
She looked angry, turning away from him, but she nodded. "Yeah, I know."
She didn't sound happy about it.
He wasn't either.
What the hell was wrong with him? He was supposed to have more control than this, yet he couldn't seem to keep away from her. It wasn't right. She was...not quite a patient, and definitely not a prisoner, so it wasn't as if it was that kind of dynamic, but he was certain if the higher-ups found out, he'd be out a job for fraternizing.
"Can I tell you a secret?" The quiet tone of her voice caught him off guard.
"So long as it's nothing that will make me want to ravish you again, then yes." She could tell him anything.
"Ravish?" she asked, smiling a little.
He was happy to make her smile, happy she wasn't entirely pissed off at him. "You know what I mean."
"You have to promise you're not going to tell anyone about this. Not even Cindy."
That was even more unexpected. "Why would I tell Cindy?"
Trisha rubbed at her arm. She looked disheveled and sexy as hell after their kissing. "I don't know. It's just something I don't really want her to know."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Warren promised, having a hard time imagining himself sharing gossip with Cindy. Then again, he never imagined he'd be having make-out sessions in the woods with Trisha either. "Just first tell me, does this have anything to do with your health?"
"What? No, I don't think it does."
"Is it something I should let a doctor or one of the psychiatrists know?"
"No, nothing....well, maybe. Why?"
"If it's nothing to do with your state of mind or health, then I promise you I won't tell anyone about it, but if this is something that would help with your recovery, then I would have to—"
"I've been digging around in the trash."
Now he was the one who was thrown for a loop. "You've what?"
Her cheeks were bright red. She refused to look him in the eye as she toed at the dirt and shrugged. "I've been...whenever no one is looking... Yeah, I've been going into the trash. I've been trying to keep it to the recycling. It seems less...dirty, but even in my room with Cindy, whenever she's asleep, sometimes just for the hell of it, I'll find myself on the floor going through that little bin we share to see what papers are in there." She paused. "I do wash my hands afterward, in case you were worried, you know."
She finally looked at him. Warren couldn't think of anything to say to her, and that seemed to make her distress so much worse, because she started talking, and she wouldn't stop. As she rambled, the light of the moon shone brightly on her, as though creating an extra spotlight.
"I mean I don't do it all the time."
"Trisha—"
"It's just that sometimes the urge just gets me and I get curious, you know?"
"Sure, but—"
"And I understand you were talking about following instinct and whatever, but it just occurred to me, and I do want you to know that I have never, ever actually eaten out of the trash or anything either. I mean, if that grosses you out and you don't want to kiss me anymore, I would get it."
"I would never not want to—"
"That's something I haven't—"
He grabbed her shoulders, pulling her close enough that she nearly stabbed him in the face with that horn of hers. "Will you shut up for two seconds?"
From the corner of his eyes, because he was only staring at the horn, he could see that he'd upset her. She glared and looked ready to start giving him hell over it, but luckily, she refrained.
Probably because he wouldn't stop looking at her horn.
Now he was driven by instinct, bringing two fingers up and touching the rough texture of the horn itself.
It felt like wrinkled tree bark, but even the wrinkles had a smooth feel to them.
Trisha shivered. "Warren?"
The glow had dimmed when she got flustered over her confession of digging through the trash, but that was nothing compared to the light that pulsed from the horn now.
He'd thought the moonlight had been hitting her at just the right moments. But now he saw that it had never been the light of the moon. That light came from the horn itself.
"What's happening?" Trisha asked. "Is that light coming from me?"
"I think so." He couldn't stop himself from touching it. He was fixated on it. As though he were a moth shifter being led into the light.
Small bursts of color appeared in his peripheral vision. Something odd enough to make him blink and draw his attention away from the horn as quickly as if he'd caught the scent of another fat squirrel.
The flowers. He looked back, and sure enough, the trail they'd covered, every tree she touched, had flowers blooming. Various breeds. Some spring flowers, like lilacs, and others that only bloomed in the fall. They seemed to burst from the ground or the trees around her. Blooming and then dying as though going through their regular motions in hyper speed.
"What's happening?" Trisha's eyes were wide. She pressed herself closer to Warren's chest, and he couldn't even bring himself to enjoy the feel of having her body against his when so many things clicked into place.
The lighting that he'd assumed came from the moon, making her glow prettily in the darkness…
Every time he spotted flowers around her… It was all those times, too.
Of course, he'd never paid much attention to flowers, so whenever they bloomed around her, it hadn't occurred to him to look too deeply into the fact that he hadn't seen the flowers before. Or to look for them again afterward.
If he went back to that same shrub she'd been hiding in the day she tried to steal his wallet, he was positive now that he would find no flowers blooming there.
"Warren? Do you…" She pulled away from him just enough to reach out her hand, a finger gently probing one of the still blooming buds closest to her. Trisha yanked her hand back, looking up at him. "Is this normal? Like, a shifter thing?"
She looked so hopeful, so eager to be told this was just another day in the world of shifters, something he could explain away to her and be done with it all. Go back to what now passed for mundane and normal.
He hated to disappoint her.
"I have no idea what this is, but I think it looks really nice." It was the best he could do under the circumstances.
Luckily, that seemed to be all she needed.
Trisha looked back at the flowers, the daisies, the thistles, the lilacs, and even a few tulips. They rose up, bloomed, and many died. Some stuck around. The ones that were in season, most likely. He was going to have to learn more about flowers.
"I guess it is kind of pretty, isn't it?"
Her horn was glowing softly again. Not the overpowering light that had finally made him realize it was coming from her, but something softer. Something that really let him see how pretty her eyes were.
"Yeah, it is."
The sudden urge to kiss her came back to him, so he did. Trisha let him come to her, but he felt her smile against his lips while he held on to her hands.
It seemed like the right thing to do. A kiss under a soft blue glow that wasn't quite the moon while flowers bloomed all around them. It felt romantic, and he wanted to take advantage of that moment.
Might as well do it now before he had to go back to figuring out what was going on with her horn, what she really was.
And why that damned snake had been coming around to spy on h
er.
10
Trisha was dancing on clouds the entire way back to her room. She'd hoped Warren would have somewhere private to take her, somewhere they could finish the night off properly, but it seemed he wasn't willing to take her to bed until she was officially not a resident science experiment.
All the more reason to get out on her own as fast as possible.
But he was just such a good kisser, and that wall he'd tried to build up to stop himself from kissing her had apparently come down as though blown up with dynamite at a construction zone, because now that that ship had sailed, oh, boy, did she ever get to enjoy wrapping her arms around his neck and wide shoulders and letting him go to town.
Trisha felt bad for scratching his cheek with her horn when she got a little too excited and leaned in for her kiss a little too fast, but thankfully, it wasn't his eye.
"You just need more practice," he'd said, wiping away a drop of blood with his thumb before kissing her again and then escorting her back to her room.
And Trisha had been so pleased with the idea of more practice that she didn't care that he was taking her back or how young the night was. Even if she hadn't been a nocturnal creature, there was no way in hell she was going to be sleeping tonight.
"Will you come back and see me in the morning?"
Trisha felt like a teenager. She was back in her room, the door closed but for a crack so she could look out at Warren in the dark hall.
He smiled at her. "Yes, I think I will. Just give me a chance to get some sleep, and I'll grab an earlier shift or something. I just need to make a report. Gotta let the higher-ups know about the flowers and light from your horn."
"R-right, right."
"I have to."
"I know, I wasn't suggesting anything like that. I'm just...feeling really good, you know?"
In truth, she had been kind of hoping that it would be their little secret, but if she wanted to know what was going on with her horn, then she needed to let Warren do his job.
The people of FUC weren't the same as those lunatics who’d stuck her with all those needles.
They stood there, still smiling, the heat in Trisha's cheeks making her whole body warm, and the glow from her horn practically lit up the hallway she was peeking out in.