The Gift of Love

by Lori Foster

She wore her oak brown hair in a neat bun at the crown of her head. When Luke led me toward her, I heard her heartbeat skip, smelled the light sheen of sweat, her eyes darkening as she stared at Luke. So it wasn’t that she wanted to be turned so much as she wanted to be turned by Luke. I suddenly felt like the dumb dog in the room.

  “This is Ella,” Luke said, handing Linda my leash when she reached for it as we passed. She closed the door to the waiting room behind us, and it was just the three of us in the hall. “She’s new. But there seems to be a problem. It’s been more than twelve hours, and she hasn’t shifted back yet.”

  Linda’s face pulled with concern. She reached down and stroked my neck. “Well, she’s absolutely beautiful. I love your coat color. Not many natural redheads in the pack. Who was she turned for?”

  “No one.” Luke led the way down the hall to the open exam room at the end. “It was an accident.”

  “Accident?” Linda laughed. “Right. There’s no such thing when it comes to turning someone. Who’s in denial?”

  Luke stepped to the side once we were all in the small exam room. The muscles along his jaw flexed with his clenched teeth, face dark with reined anger.

  After a few seconds, Linda glanced at him, seemed to study his face. She had her answer. “You?”

  “It. Was. An. Accident.” The more he said it, the more I started to wonder.

  Linda’s gaze shifted back to me, and the look in her eyes was decidedly cooler. “Well … I guess anything’s possible.” She tapped the metal table with her open hand. “C’mon, Ella. Hop up.”

  She jerked my leash, not enough I’d gag but enough to bug me. I think that was the point. A quiet growl rumbled out of me on reflex and drew Luke’s attention.

  “Is that necessary?” he said.

  Linda’s gaze swung to his, eyes wide and innocent. “Maybe you’re right. She’s a little … plump. Maybe it was her wonderful feminine curves that made you accidentally bite her.”

  I got the feeling she wasn’t buying Luke’s claim.

  “That’ll be all, Linda,” a male voice said. I turned to see a lean man with peppery black hair, thin matching beard, and golden brown eyes wearing a white doctor’s smock turn to hold the exam room open for his assistant.

  She shoved my leash at Luke. On her way out she said, “If I’d known big breasts were your kink, I wouldn’t have wasted my time waiting for you to ask me out.”

  “I think she likes me, ” I said.

  A smile flickered across Luke’s lips at my sarcasm, and then he shut it down and focused on Doctor Carter. Luke offered his hand. “Richard, sorry for the unplanned visit, but it’s an emergency.”

  The doctor shook Luke’s hand, but his golden eyes were on me. “So I see. Who’s this?”

  Luke didn’t answer, and after the silence had turned awkward, I glanced at him.

  “Richard’s a werewolf, Ella,” Luke said. “Remember? He can hear your thoughts.”

  “Oh. I’m Ella Blackwood. I don’t normally look like this… ” I felt I had to mention it. He probably already knew. But still.

  “She was turned more than twelve hours ago after a car accident. She hasn’t shifted back.” Luke reached down and slipped the leash from my neck.

  The doctor crossed an arm over his belly and propped his elbow on it to toy with the small graying tuft of hair beneath his bottom lip. He looked pensive. “Are you in any pain, Ms. Blackwood?”

  I meant to shake my head, but it didn’t feel the same with my wolf body. “No. I feel fine. I mean, I hit my head in the accident, and my side was a little sore, but I’m feeling pretty good considering. ”

  Doctor Carter leaned over me, his fingers palpating up both of my back legs, rotating joints, feeling along my spine, down around my belly and chest, then over both front legs. I flinched at the occasional pinch of pain.

  After feeling my neck, and under my jaw, the doctor stood, brow creased with thought. “Any broken bones have healed. Still some bruising. Could be a concussion, but the virus should’ve healed that. Might be internal injuries, still mending.”

  “Is that enough to stop her from shifting back?” Luke said.

  Doctor Carter’s brows drifted to his hairline. He looked from me to Luke and back again. “Possibly. However, Linda had a point. You’re a beautiful wolf, Ella, and I’m sure you’re just as lovely a woman, but there is a weight issue. Wolves are lean-bodied animals. As a human, your curves are a feminine asset. But your wolf half feels no need for the, uh, voluptuous padding.”

  “My wolf is trying to heal my big boobs and round butt?”

  “I don’t believe it,” Luke said.

  The doc shrugged. “I’ll run some tests, get a few X-rays, a sonogram, but I’m fairly confident her wolf won’t allow her to shift back until she’s completely healthy.”

  “She is healthy,” Luke argued. “She’s a woman, and she looks like one.”

  “That doesn’t mean her body fat index isn’t higher than it should be and that it puts undue strain on her heart or other organs.”

  “Wait. ”I sat. Had to. I was feeling kind of woozy all of a sudden. “You’re saying that I’m stuck as a wolf until I lose some weight?”

  “Until your body becomes leaner, yes, I’m afraid so,” the doc said.

  I’d been trying to lose weight since I was fourteen. In nine years, my bra and jeans size had never changed. I was going to be an overweight wolf for the rest of my life. “Perfect.”

  five

  Dieting was surprisingly easy when a large part of the menu consisted of food I had to catch first.

  “You still have to eat. ” Luke wagged his tail, ears up and forward. He was such a cute wolf.

  “I don’t eat Thumper. Bring me a cheeseburger. I’ll eat that, ” I said. “I’m willing to wait forty-five minutes to get a seat at a good restaurant, but I draw the line at having to chase down my food If it’s got a pulse, forget it. ”

  “Trust me, you’ll feel differently once you get started Your wolf half will love it. ”

  “But my human half prefers her meals medium well… with a side of fries. ”I plopped my butt to the ground, like the period on the end of my statement.

  “Okay, never mind eating. ”He closed the distance between us, nuzzling his great-smelling head against my neck. I would never get tired of that. “The hunt is great exercise and it’s fun. You’ll see. ”

  I laughed. “Yeah. I bet. ” I may not be the sharpest claw on a wolf’s foot, but even I know when a person uses the words “exercise” and “fun” in the same sentence, their idea of one or the other is usually vastly different than mine.

  “You’re right. I don’t want to push. If you’re happy living the rest of your life in your wolf form, it’s none of my business. I’ll let the school know that your temporary leave of absence has become permanent. ”He looked away, oh, so coy. “I’m gonna miss that great smile of yours, though. And I can’t believe we’ll never get the chance to dance. ”

  Not fair. “Oh, so now you’d ask me out?”

  He looked back at me. “I’ve asked you out a hundred times. You always turn me down. ”

  “You asked if I’d join the group and watch all of you dance. Not the same thing. ”

  He sighed. “You’re right. I’m used to doing things in a group setting. I’ll be more specific next time … the second you have a hand to hold again. ”

  Had he just promised to take me on a date? My chest squeezed, pulse racing. Not that it mattered. The only way we could go dancing was if I traded in two of my legs for arms, and the only way I could do that was to lose weight—body fat. Unless there was some new Weight Watchers plan for wolves, the odds weren’t in my favor.

  “Besides, ”he said, “you’re half wolf now. It’s time you learn how to act like one. We do things as a pack, and that includes the hunt. Everyone is looking forward to you joining the group. But like anything, being a good hunter takes practice. I was hoping to give you a few tips before the rest of the
pack tags along. ”

  I pushed to my feet. “Fine. But can we start with something a little slower, like hunting a cow?” At least it’d give me an outside chance at that cheeseburger.

  six

  Turns out hunting was … well, okay, it was fun. A blast, actually. Orgasmic. Right. Not really orgasmic, but close. It was freeing in a way I’d never known. And not really the hunting part, but the running.

  Yeah, I dug the running.

  I still hadn’t gotten my cheeseburger, but Luke cooked a mean skinless chicken breast, and he had a way of making fish and vegetables that melted in my mouth.

  We’d been “practicing” every day for two weeks, and I still wasn’t tired of it. I’d gotten good at picking up the prey’s scent, whatever it was that day—rabbit, pheasant, deer. We’d chase the game for an hour or more before cornering it. Luke encouraged me to take that last step and pounce. I just couldn’t.

  “Dude, it’s Thumper, Bambi, and their buds. ”Luke didn’t hold it against me.

  I was getting faster. I knew Luke was holding back at first, shortening his stride, finding the path of least resistance through the forest for me to follow. Each run he gave a little more, ran a little faster, until I wasn’t running to keep up, but matching him stride for stride.

  Then last night everything changed. Last night was amazing. I led the hunt, zigzagging through the trees, the wind breezing through my fur, the scents of the forest seeping into my veins. I wasn’t just running through the forest, I was a part of it.

  The buck’s heartbeat had echoed through my head, my own heart matching its rhythm. I could smell its fear, knowing death shadowed its every stride. Propelled by a powerful will to survive, the deer had raced through the woods, smooth, graceful, like a boat through water. But it couldn’t escape me.

  Luke and I split, him swinging wide to the right, me to the left, corralling the panicked stag, driving it where we wanted.

  The smell of mud and moss and wet stone reached my nose twenty strides out. Without a spoken decision, Luke and I drove the buck straight for the stream. It would have to make a choice, stop and face death head on or leap into the unknown. As each long, hard stride ticked off the seconds, the deer had to know, like we did, what was coming.

  It reached the high bank of the stream … and leapt.

  I skidded to a stop at the edge, dirt raining down into the fast-moving water under my feet. Luke was beside me a second later, and together we watched the deer struggle, fighting the current until it reached the other side. Amazing.

  I could still feel the pulse of the stag thrumming through my veins. I could still feel the soft give of the forest floor beneath my pads.

  “Ella.”

  I could still taste the moist wooded air on my tongue, the sound of my howl on the wind.

  “Ella, you’re dreaming. Ella.”

  I opened my eyes to find Luke where I’d found him every morning, lying next to me with his arm draped over my chest. “Did I just howl?”

  “Yeah, and your feet were twitching. Chase dream, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  He shrugged. “Happens.”

  I stretched on the warm sheets and soft bed, my furry head snuggling deeper into the feather pillow. I may be of the canine species, but I’m no animal. After that first morning, I’d refused to sleep on the hard, cold floor when there was a perfectly good bed in the room. Luke hadn’t argued.

  He hadn’t left my side since the first day, worried and waiting to see when I’d shift back. Every morning I found him nestled next to me, his hand on me to wake him if the change started. I’d grown used to finding him there, inhaling the scents that were so uniquely him, feeling his muscled body against my … fur. Still. It was nice. I’d miss it if—when—I turned human again.

  Luke leaned into my back, his body molding against mine. He hugged me, digging his fingers into my fur. He whispered into my ear. “Tonight’s the night. The whole pack is coming over for the hunt and to meet you.”

  “Oh … uh, goodie?” I’d met Luke’s parents, Tomas and Sophia, a few nights earlier when they’d returned ahead of schedule from their European vacation.

  Turned out, Luke looked more like his mom than his dad. Tomas was stocky with light caramel hair. Luke’s mom’s jet-black hair would reach the small of her back if she took it down from the soft pile on her head. She was only as tall as me, five-five, but she was lean and strong, like her son.

  I liked them both instantly.

  Sophia assured me their unexpected arrival was strictly a coincidence, but the goofy grin she kept flashing at me and the way she hugged Luke every time he passed by made me start to wonder. Mama wolf seemed to have high romantic hopes for her little pup. No matter how hard I tried to explain, I don’t think she really believed we were just friends. I didn’t worry about it. She’d believe me once I shifted back to my real body.

  Luke laughed, hugging me tighter. “Don’t sound so worried. Everyone’s going to love you.”

  Not everyone.

  “MADISON, this is Ella,” Luke said, and I looked into wolf eyes the color of green pine needles. I’d seen her arrive about twenty minutes before I came out to the back deck at Luke’s urging. She’d been human then, petite with a gymnast’s body, powerful muscles, creamy peach skin, sunny blond hair, and a button nose.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ella. ”She circled me as she spoke, sizing me up and, I think … sniffing me. Weird. “I’ve heard so much about you. I must admit, I couldn’t wait to meet our dear Luke’s one enormous accident. ”

  I knew my infection, Luke’s bite, had been an accident. And despite the way everyone continued to say the word with suspension, I didn’t like the way Madison said it. The judgment and veiled disapproval in her tone touched the inner bitch in me. Maybe that’d been the point. Oh, well.

  “I’ve been here for a few weeks. Didn’t think you needed an invitation to visit the pack house. ”

  “Normally, no. But you’ve created a curiously unique circumstance. New rules, new… complications, ” she said, brushing her body along mine.

  For a human, it was an odd gesture, but for a wolf, it was borderline insulting. She was putting her scent on me, automatically placing me beneath her in pack hierarchy. Yeah, I know. I was the new girl, but like I said, I didn’t like her tone.

  I felt, more than saw, Luke shift forms off to my left. “Madison, it’s not Ella’s fault I asked the pack to stay away from the house for a few weeks. She needed time to adjust. ”

  Madison finished her circle to stand in front of me. “Really? None of the other turned members were given such focused attention. Especially from our future alpha.”

  Luke positioned himself between us. “The others knew what to expect. They’d been given time to prepare for their new lives. ”

  “Mmm … That’s true … Isn’t it?” She moved closer to Luke, nuzzling her nose into the midnight fur of his neck. “But after two weeks alone together, you still expect us to believe your bite was an accident?”

  “It wasn’t just the bite. ” He stepped away from her. “She still hasn’t shifted back. ”

  Madison’s green eyes swung to me, a fraction wider. “Still? I’d heard about her … problem. ”

  “Bite me. ”Admittedly, not really something you should say to a wolf. I hadn’t thought that retort all the way through.

  “She was gorgeous, ” Luke said before things got out of hand. “Still is. Doc just said she needed to get her body mass index down. Heal some wear and tear on her heart. ”

  Gorgeous? Did he mean that?

  Luke turned to me. “Of course I meant it. You’re the only one who didn’t like your curves, Ella. I’ve always been a fan. So are a lot of men. If you’d stop wanting to be something you’re not and accept the beauty you have, you’d have noticed.”

  Madison snorted. “Well, it doesn’t matter if you just look like you fit in. That pretty coat and shiny eyes will only get you so far. You want to be part of th
is pack, you’re going to have to prove you’ve got what it takes on the inside. ”

  “She’s got it, ” Luke said, still meeting my eyes. “She just needs to believe in herself.”

  “Hi, Ella! Ooo, pretty coat. ” Two voices echoed through my head in unison. I turned to see the identical wolves behind me, fidgeting, bobbing their heads, sniffing, and bumping into each other. They had to be teenagers.

  Luke turned, too. “Ella, these are my nieces, Chloe and Zoey. They’re fourteen.”

  “Twins? ” I asked.

  I heard giggles, but it was Luke who said, “Yeah. ”

  “Wow.”

  “C’mon, Auntie Ella,” one of them said, circling around behind me. The other flanked my opposite side. “We’ll introduce you to everybody and give you some tips on who’re the best trackers and hunters. ”

  Auntie? What was that about? I didn’t ask. I followed their lead as they introduced me to both humans and wolves.

  The large gathering was an even mix of Homo sapiens and Canis lupus. The wolves were big and muscled with shiny coats and bright eyes. The humans were exceptionally attractive, all with toned, healthy bodies. Did I really look like I fit in here?

  “You’re beautiful, Auntie Ella, ” Zoey said on my left. “Not that it matters. What counts is if you can be the alpha female Uncle Luke needs you to be. And that’s all about what’s in your heart, not what surrounds it. ”

  “Yeah, if being good-looking was all it took, Uncle Luke would’ve married Madison years ago, ” Chloe said. “Being leaner will make you healthier, but it won’t help you fit in. ”

  Did everyone know about my shifting problem? Perfect.

  I’d heard it a hundred times. Who hasn’t? What counts is the heart and soul of a person, not the outer shell. But I don’t think I’d ever really believed it. Now there was no getting around it. For a wolf, it was all about self-confidence, skill, and determination. Luke was right. I had those qualities … when it came to teaching.

  But now I had to learn to accept that my body type didn’t dictate whether or not I was attractive, or if I fit in. It was the way I saw myself that made the difference. And thanks to my wolf, I knew now, I had always had the soul of a kickass huntress.