Chapter 15: After the Shift

I shifted back in the car, under Lucan's coat, with my teeth chattering.

Hazel rode in the front seat with Tobias, bruised, furious and awake.

"Don't fuss," she said. "I've been dragged out of worse places than that by better men."

The hold's own healer put her in the warm room off the kitchen and gave her tea.

She waved me off.

"Go and wash," she said. "You smell like a quarry and a fight, and you are shaking like a leaf."

I was.

I stood under the hot water for a long time, and my skin would not settle.

Everything was too loud.

I heard the pipes in the walls, and a guard breathing on the stairs, and Lucan in the next room not moving at all.

I could smell the soap and the pine in the wood, and under it his scent, so strong I could taste it.

My wolf was awake and pacing under my ribs.

She wanted out.

She wanted him.

I came out in a towel with my hair dripping.

He was standing at the foot of the bed in his shirtsleeves, with his back to the door and his hands fisted at his sides.

"Hazel's asleep," he said without turning. "Tobias has the doors. You should rest."

"I can't."

"Then I'll sit outside."

"Lucan."

He stopped.

"Look at me," I said.

He turned.

His eyes were silver again, and his jaw was locked, and he stood like a man holding a door shut with his shoulder.

"I've never felt this," I said. "My skin hurts. I want to bite something."

"It's the shift. It passes."

"I don't want it to pass." I took one step. "I want you to touch me."

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