by Olivia Myers
“It can be, if you want.”
The biggest smile spread across my face, and my heart lightened. “I do.”
The words were simple, but they meant a lot to both of us. We glanced at each other from across the couch, neither of us particularly used to big declarations of love.
She smiled back at me. “Well, that’s that then.”
***
And that was that, for a while. It took Lindsay a long while to get used to her “time of the month,” as she insisted on referring to it. She didn’t want to tell her father, but she needed someone to guide her through the etiquette of how to be a shifter without blowing the whole community wide open. That was one reason packs existed—to help induct newbies into the art of shifting. She couldn’t join a pack because her father knew all the local pack leaders, and she didn’t want to get found out. All in good time, as she kept telling me.
So we would go out together, spend time figuring out her form, and how she could shift in a way that was comfortable for her, and where she should stash her clothes when she shifted. It was far from the first time that I’d shifted with somebody else, but with Lindsay it felt different. There was an easy, open intimacy that I didn’t have with anyone else, that with her felt as natural as day and night. I was able to relax, to run and howl and actually enjoy shifting for the first time in a long time. We often fucked after we finished shifting back to our human forms. There were always major hormone glitches involved in a shift, and it felt good to be able to work them out with a girl as hot as Lindsay at home. Or sometimes on the hood of my car in the woods. Or pulled over on the roadside. Wherever we did it, it was seriously good stuff, and it worked for us.
Our relationship flourished, even though we still had to keep it a secret. She had sworn she would tell her father about it when the time was right, but she didn’t want to drop the bomb of her new boyfriend and her new skill at the same time. I couldn’t say I blamed her. Mark was a good alpha, insofar as he was authoritarian and took rule-breaking seriously. I wasn’t looking forward to the day when I had to be the guy who admitted to fucking his daughter, but that was a mixture of the fatherly instinct and the alpha instinct mixed into one confusing mess.
Sneaking around like errant teenagers also worked out pretty well for our libidos, so who was complaining?
It had been six weeks or so since Lindsay had turned up at my apartment and fucked my brains out, when the bomb finally dropped. I was just cleaning some dishes and listening to the radio when the phone call came.
My cell starting buzzing on the countertop, and I picked it up.
“Hey Linds.”
“Kellan, he knows.” Her voice was quiet.
My heart lurched. I didn’t need it explained any more than that. “How much does he know?”
“Everything.”
Oh, shit. This wasn’t good.
“How did he find out?”
“He had just come back from a shift and the smell triggered me. And he demanded to know who had done it. I’m sorry, I tried to wait until the time was right.” Her voice was genuinely apologetic, and also a little relieved. I couldn’t blame her for either.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Look, is he around? Maybe I can talk to him.”
“Um, yes, he is actually. We’re…parked outside your house right now. Can we come up?”
I took a deep breath. “Sure, come on up.”
It was hardly the way I saw this going down, but then, not having to hide my relationship with Lindsay any more would be a good thing. I buzzed the door open, and within seconds, Mark and Lindsay were standing in my doorway. I often forgot how threatening Mark could be when he was angry, and now he looked furious.
I opened the door. “Mark, hi.”
He pushed past me.
“So you’re the guy who turned my daughter?”
“Look, Mark, I know it sounds bad, but—”
“Sounds bad?” he snapped. “My daughter, who I have tried to protect from this life for as long as I’ve been living it, has been turned. And by none other than her boyfriend, who turned out to be the beta of my own damn pack! So not only do I look like a fool for not knowing what was going on in my family, but I had no clue what my second in command was up to!”
I tried to reason with him. “Look, Mark, I—”
Lindsay cut in. “Dad, I know it’s difficult, but it’s the same thing I’ve been telling you on the way over. I chose to do this. I made him do this. I wanted to be closer to this world; I’ve always understood it better that the real one.”
Mark closed his mouth and turned to his daughter. She continued.
“I’m good at this, Dad. I like this. This feels normal to me, and it’s what I wanted. I knew you’d never turn me, so I found someone who would. And now I feel like there are people who understand me, and that’s amazing.”
Mark finally spoke. “So, was this whole thing with you and Kellan just about shifting?”
My stomach dropped. I hadn’t even considered that possibility.
“No, it’s not.” Lindsay said firmly. “I never came into this relationship just wanting to change. I would be with Kellan now no matter what he was.” Her voice was steady and serious, and I felt my heart swell knowing that she felt the same way I did.
“I really like him, Dad. He’s a good beta to you, and I know that I’ll make a good part of the pack, too.”
There was a silence as Mark and Lindsay stared each other down.
“So, you actually want this?” Mark asked, incredulous.
“Yes. I want him, and I want this lifestyle.”
It was a wonderful thing to hear.
“And you’re certain?”
“Yes.”
Mark nodded to himself, thinking hard.
“Well, then it makes sense for you to step into my shoes, then, doesn’t it?”
I stepped forward, as his beta, and spoke. “Mark, I don’t want you to think that I did this to try to usurp you or get in your way. I just really love your daughter, and—”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Kellan,” Mark interrupted with a smile on his face.
Lindsay’s jaw dropped. “Me? But I haven’t even spent time with them as wolves yet. I don’t know the first thing about leading a pack!”
Mark turned to his daughter. “Look, Lindsay, you’re older than I was when I first took on the pack. I’ve been looking to step down for a long time now, and I like to keep these things in the family. I’ve worked hard to keep this pack together, and I want it to go to someone I trust. Someone like you.”
Like Lindsay, Mark didn’t mess around. I knew he was serious. And so did she.
“Oh, Dad, of course I will!” Lindsay said, a smile practically splitting her face in two. She stepped into his arms. “I’ll do you so proud, I promise.”
“I know you will,” he replied. “And you’ll have to promise to keep this beta of mine in check. He’s known for his tendency to hook up with the wrong people.” Mark shot a warm glance at me over Lindsay’s shoulder, and I smiled back. Of all the things I expected to happen, this was the last one. It had gone better than I could have possibly dreamed.
Stepping out of her father’s embrace, Lindsay turned to me.
“So, what are you waiting for? You’ve got to get me introduced to the rest of the pack!”
***
It was months after Lindsay had been given leadership of the pack, and things were going well. It took a while for the guys to get used to being led by a headstrong young woman like Lindsay, but she was enthusiastic and busy and always organizing runs that kept everyone happy. She had grown popular, and was already attracting new pack members, as well as training up her own beta, another girl called Millie. She had decided that keeping me in the position might have looked too much like favoritism. I didn’t mind; I was the one who got to go home with her after all.
We had been out for a run by ourselves one night, and, just after we shifted back, Lindsay put her hand on my chest.
<
br /> “Don’t get dressed yet.”
Dropping my jeans onto the forest floor, I smiled. “And why would that be?”
“Oh, shut up, Kellan,” she laughed, pushing me over so I fell on my back, letting out an “oof!” as I landed. Reaching into my pants pocket, she pulled out a condom and sheathed my already-hardening cock. I squirmed as her hands touched me. Yes, this was going to be good.
Climbing on top of me, she wasted no time in sliding my cock inside of her, circling her hips in the most enticing fashion. I went to put my hands on her thighs, but she brushed me away.
“Not yet.”
She had placed a hand over her pussy, making me watch her play with herself in the most tantalizing way, and her face was soon lost to ecstasy. Her body rolled with ease, long and lean from all those nights out running. Her pussy felt amazing round my dick as she worked her hips up and down, her pussy slowly getting tighter as her orgasm approached.
She never looked more beautiful to me than in the moments before she came, because it was the time she became the most free, the most wild. And there it was now, her head thrown back, her body tensing, her hand moving quickly over her slippery clit. It was explosive, the way her pussy clenched around me, hearing her wild cries as they echoed off into the forest night. I couldn’t resist any more, and wrapped my arms around her, reaching for my own release. It didn’t take long as I pounded into her, making her body go limp with pleasure. I came seconds later, my face in her long hair. We slowly pulled apart, buoyed by the freshly-shifted euphoria and the post-orgasmic glow.
Climbing off me, she reached for my jeans and threw them to me, flicking her matted hair back from her face. God, she was beautiful.
“Get these on, buddy. Because we’ve got to get home and do that all night long.”
Picking up my pants, I pulled them on and grinned. This was going to be a good evening. In fact, now that I thought about it, they all were.
The End
Memories of Passion
Opening her eyes a little, she saw tall palm trees blurring past a bright blue sky. Heat rose up to her face and she felt the urge to vomit out of the car window. If she had known the man sitting next to her driving the vehicle, she might have felt comfortable asking him to pull over or at least to take it easy on the turns. On the other hand, he was her husband...supposedly. Shouldn’t she be able to ask him that kind of thing?
Closing her eyes again, she focused on breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. She peeked through one eye to examine the stranger. Her husband. Cory.
He had sandy brown hair and pale blue eyes that almost seemed translucent in the sunlight. He looked tan. Maybe he was a surfer or possibly a golfer, a thought which brought on more revulsion as Cory whipped the car around another corner. He had the body of a swimmer though, very lean and muscular. He noticed her peeking at him and grinned at her.
She squeezed her eyes shut and started her deep breathing again. Then she felt something on her thigh. She jerked away from Cory’s hand before even realizing it. Slowly looking up at him, she saw his pained expression which quickly changed to concern as he asked, “You okay, babe?”
She nodded and closed her eyes again.
It’s Gabrielle or Gabby. Not babe! The thought echoed in her head.
“I know it must be scary to be in a car again, but we’re almost there. Do you recognize anything yet?”
Gabby didn’t bother opening her eyes before shaking her head. Nothing seemed familiar. Nothing had been familiar in the hospital. When she woke up with Cory asleep in her room, she started screaming, and the nurses had to sedate her. After that, Cory tried bringing in photo albums, none of which sparked any memory of her life before the accident. It was all dark.
The car started to slow as they turned into a driveway with a large iron gate. Cory leaned out the driver’s window and punched in a code. The gate led to a longer driveway that circled around a fountain in front of the house. Three cars were parked outside; one was definitely a BMW, but Gabby didn’t know what the other two cars were.
“Who’s here?” Gabby asked.
“What? Oh.” Cory chuckled a little, “No. Those are our cars, baby.”
Gabby winced at “baby” again.
“That Lexus IS C is yours. After the accident, I replaced your old one with this current model.”
“Um, which one is that?”
“The convertible in the middle.” Cory started to reach out to her leg again but then pulled his hand back to the steering wheel.
Cory parked the car next to the other three and turned off the engine. “Home sweet home, right?”
Before waiting for a response, Cory leaped out and jogged around to open Gabby’s door. She gawked at the monstrous house before her and was suddenly blinded as Cory opened the door.
Gabby tried to get out of the car, but realized she was still buckled in. One thing she did know about herself was how clumsy she could be. She blushed as she struggled with the buckle.
“That’s all right. Let me get that,” Cory said.
Gabby was mortified at her ineptitude, but that quickly morphed into panic as Cory leaned over her to unbuckle the seatbelt. She flattened herself as much as she could against the seat, trying not to breathe.
Once she was free, Cory offered his hand to Gabby. She couldn’t move.
“What’s the matter, baby?”
“Uh, nothing. I’m fine. Sorry.” Gabby could feel her pulse in her ears.
She got out of the car and stared at her gargantuan house. It seemed to be only two stories, but the length of the house was impressive. It gave off a golden glow with the interior lights illuminating the grounds in the late afternoon light. Windmill palms led up to the giant pillars framing the entryway. As Cory took Gabby’s hand and led her into the house, Gabby noticed the subtle fragrance of several potted flowers along the walkway.
Once inside the house, Gabby was mesmerized. Everything looked so beautiful. The foyer was spacious, with a mosaic floor depicting a field of wildflowers. On Gabby’s right, Cory opened the doors into his study and put his suitcase and keys away. Gabby walked into the living room on her left and dragged her fingertips over the microfiber cream couches.
The living room flowed into a brightly-lit kitchen, which had a little breakfast nook overlooking the backyard.
Outside on the patio, chairs and couches all faced a large square fire pit. Potted wildflowers were everywhere out here too. Right next to the house, potted flowers, mostly tulips, framed a pool and a jacuzzi.
Gabby stood at the patio window, and something seemed to stir her memory, nothing very clear, but this place definitely felt familiar, as if she had stood in this exact spot countless times before. She was about to go outside when Cory bounded into the kitchen.
“So, are you hungry? I can make you my famous egg BLT.”
“I’m not quite hungry yet, but thank you,” she responded.
“Okay. Well, we could go for a swim--it’s a bit warm to sit in the hot tub. Or we could just sit outside on the patio. Oh! I could take you into town for a fancy dinner. What do you think?”
“I...um...I’m not sure. What do we normally do right now?”
“Well, I’m usually at work until pretty late in the evenings, and you stay home. I mean, you don’t stay home all of the time, but you pretty much do what you want. You usually have a fitness instructor come in the morning. Then, you’ll either have lunch with friends or go out shopping.”
“Oh. I see. Well, since you’re here, what do we typically do together?”
Cory’s cell phone started ringing. “Just one second, babe.” He walked out of the kitchen and into his study. Gabby followed him into the living room, watching him practically sprint off to privacy. Cory gave her a brief smile before shutting the door.
Gabby decided that she might as well take a tour of the rest of the house. Upstairs, Gabby found the rather large master bedroom, replete with a king size bed, an overstuffed armchair and
more oak furniture. She pulled down the covers of the bed and felt the exquisite Egyptian cotton sheets. On one nightstand there were several books about creating your own business next to a wedding picture of her and Cory. Gabby picked up the picture and tried to rekindle her memory of that day. She and Cory looked very elegant, though neither one of them were smiling. Rather, they looked like they were in a glamour photoshoot of some kind, with cocky postures and a soft filter on the photograph. She was exposing far too much cleavage for her wedding day. Gabby examined her face in the picture more closely and thought she saw sadness and maybe even a hint of fear.
She walked to the other side of the bed to look at what she assumed was her nightstand. There were a few fashion magazines piled up next to a box of tissues and an alarm clock. In the drawer, however, there was an eclectic collection of books, from Jane Austen to Malcolm Gladwell to Kafka.
Gabby decided to look around more and happened upon an enormous walk-in closet. To the right, men’s clothing hung on the racks, mostly suits, but to the right, Gabby found her clothing. There were dresses and pantsuits. Chanel and Gucci. She had an entire shelf dedicated to holding her purses, and the best part of it all was the back wall, which was stacked full of shoes.
Gabby slipped off her flip flops and tried on at least 20 different pairs of shoes. Some heels were quite high, and she had no idea how she had ever walked more than a few steps in them. But they were gorgeous. She noticed that she had several Louboutins and squealed with delight.
Gabby walked barefoot out of the closet to find the master bathroom. She stepped onto the tile and almost jumped off. The tile was warm. Gabby took a few more steps, and all of the tiles were warm. She had heated tiles and a large jetted tub in her bathroom.
Suddenly, Cory appeared in the doorway.
“Jeez! You frightened me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you. I see you’ve found your closet. Did you like it?”
“Yes, I can’t believe I have so many clothes!”
“Well, you should wash up and pick out something to wear. I’m going to make us dinner tonight.”