Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley

CHAPTER 1

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I braced both hands on the bathroom counter and stared into the mirror. My eyes were no longer the dark, rich color they'd always been. I glanced down at my phone, then back to my reflection, trying to match the new color with the "shades of brown" image I'd pulled up. Caramel seemed to be closest, but it wasn't quite right.

Then I found it. Not on the brown scale, but as an orange. The color was called cider, and it was a little darker than amber. Just one shade more brown than Seth's pretty cognac-colored eyes - but I'd expected that. They'd explained that the more time we spent as a human, the less yellow our eyes were. It was also why Lane's were so golden, and the natural-born wolves weren't that far off.

I still liked it. I also liked how my skin felt a little softer, almost younger. The pair of creases that I'd been fretting about in my brow were now barely noticeable. Sadly, my grey hairs were still there, but I could handle that. My only issue with this whole new wolf body thing was how much I still hurt. One day was clearly not enough time to recover from what I'd done to myself.

"Elena?" Seth's voice was soft, considerate of my new super-hearing. "You ok in there?"

Reaching over, I opened the bathroom door to find him waiting on the other side. "Willing to give a second opinion?" I asked. "Cider or more caramel?" And I held up the color chart.

A grin took over his mouth, and he glanced away. "I'd call them tawny, but I'm not really a color expert." Then he stepped in behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "How do you feel?"

"Like my body was twisted up into a pretzel and left like that for a while." I leaned back against him. "The muscle relaxers help, though."

"So stay home?" he suggested before leaning in to kiss my neck. "Ashley doesn't need you in the office. We're all willing to help if it gets busy. Stay here one more day and recover, Elena. Even Gabby slept off her change for a few days."

"Yeah, but I can't get used to my new senses if I'm at home and all of you are talking softly and being so considerate." I turned to face him. "I ache, but I really am ok, Seth."

"I'm just..." He smiled again, struggling to hide it. "This is me being overly protective."

"And this is me thinking it's cute." I leaned in to brush a kiss across his lips. "But Gabby's quinceañera is a week away. Next Saturday, actually. My parents are coming into town, there's going to be a lot of music and people, and that is not the time or place for me to realize that I'm overwhelmed because I can now smell and hear everything."

He just palmed my cheek. "Ok." Then his thumb swiped across the side of my face. "But I'm telling Lane, and he'll talk to Ashley. If you can't take it, you'd better expect all of us to show up."

"I know," I assured him. "But I'll be sitting down all day, so that counts as resting, and I've already taken too much time off. So, I don't know, work on that stuff Ian was talking about with foxes and the other shifters?"

"We have been," he assured me, pausing for a moment.

The best part was that I heard it too. It now sounded like my kitchen was right beside me, and someone was clattering around for pans. I could hear male voices mumbling. I was pretty sure that was Lane and Ian. My eyes narrowed as I stared at Seth.

"That's cheating, you know."

He chuckled. "It's kinda not. How else did you think we always knew when someone else was here?"

"Uh, because they said they were coming over and you heard something? Not that clearly!" And then my heart stalled. "Oh, shit. Does this mean Gabby can hear... you know... us? At night?"

"She asked for earbuds for Christmas for a reason," he admitted. "We made sure she got a really good set for that exact same reason. Yes, she sleeps with them in. No, it won't ruin her ears. She also won't want to go to many concerts, so there's that. Dunno how to break it to you, Elena, but your nearly fifteen-year-old daughter understands that people have sex. She also has no interest in knowing when you do."

Oh my. Yes, my face was getting warmer,