for Sadey before.”
“I’m aware, dipshit, that’s why I’m askin’ you.”
“Call me something nicer, and I’ll tell you.”
In the background, Bryson called out, “I could use a little help, Hunter!”
“Hurry up and call me nice stuff. Bryson just got kicked in the ball sack by Marshmallow.”
A growl rattled Wes’s throat. Through gritted teeth, he ground out, “I’m aware, Shit Biscuit, that’s why I’m askin’.”
“I know you triiiiied,” Hunter drawled out, “but that’s not any nicer.”
“What do I get a girl!” Wes barked out.
“T-shirt, tank top, bra, panties—do the cute colors, she’ll appreciate the effort—flip-flops, nail polish, shorts, jeans, deodorant, shaving cream, razor because, for some reason, girls like to be smooth like hairless little mole-rats. I have to admit, it’s a nice feelin’ on Sadey’s legs and cootchie when she shaves, and some girls even shave their tooter ports—”
“Hunter.”
“Right. Toothbrush, toothpaste, makeup, and if you don’t have a big hoodie to give her, get her one of those, too. And flowers. And chocolate if she’s on her period. And Butterfingers, lots of them, and if she doesn’t like Butterfingers or can’t eat that many, that’s okay. You just eat the leftover ones.”
“Okay, thanks, man.”
“Don’t forget to feed her.”
“Okaaaay,” Wes gritted out.
“And tell her she’s pretty! Even if she’s not on her peri—”
Click. Wes disconnected the call.
A picture text came through from Hunter almost immediately. It was of Bryson hunched over, holding his dick, while Marshmallow pulled against a rope she was tied to the fence with. Ha ha. Bryson’s pained face looked so dumb.
Wes hopped in his truck and took off for the grocery store down the road. One hour was how long it took to gather the stuff Hunter had suggested, and even then, he wasn’t sure on the sizing for anything. The makeup thing was beyond him so he grabbed about six solid pounds of glittery shit from the cosmetic aisles and hoped she could use some of it. Spent way too much money, but that was okay. He’d buy her a fuckin’ Ferrari if it eased her hatred of him, and nope, he didn’t care what that said about him.
Guilt made him insane, apparently.
Chapter Six
A plume of steam escaped the bathroom when she opened the door, but the hotel room was dark. She’d spent every last drop of hot water there was, thinking about what had happened today with Wes. What was happening to her heart. She didn’t feel so angry anymore. Not now that he owned what he’d done. That had been the worst part of everything, the feeling that he’d been able to leave her so easily. That he didn’t care. He’d been wrong to do that to her, but she’d also been wrong in assuming his reasons. In assuming she didn’t have value or wasn’t enough.
Something strange had happened in the shower. The wolf had quieted. She’d stopped growling for a little while, and for the first time in years, she could inhale deeply.
This was the breakthrough her therapist had wanted for her. The pause in the growling. The proof that the wolf could improve.
And she felt it swirling inside of her chest, fogging up her mind—hope.
“Wes?” she asked. Maybe he was asleep on the bed, but when she opened up her senses, she couldn’t smell him and couldn’t feel the bond.
The growl was back. No, no, no, everything was fine. He probably just went to the vending machine.
Summer wrapped the towel tighter around her and padded across the thin hotel carpet to the window. The parking spot Wes had left the truck in was empty, highlighted by blue moonlight, and a frantic glance around said he’d really left. His truck wasn’t anywhere in the parking lot.
The snarl got bigger.
He left us again.
“No,” she grunted, the end of the word morphing to a snarl as she fell to her knees.
“He left us again,” she growled out in a voice that didn’t belong to Summer. It belonged to the wolf.
Fire crackled through her veins as she fought the Change. It always felt like dying when she fought it. She’d stopped fighting it, but this wasn’t a good place to Change. It wasn’t a safe place. She wasn’t in the wilderness or she wasn’t locked up to keep the world safe from her fury.
Her spine always broke first and elongated for her tail. Her face shattered and reshaped to a long snout, and her teeth changed from the blunt enamel of a human to the razor-sharp weapons of her animal. Nails turned to claws, and smooth skin