Page 67 of Wanted

“What about it?”

“If what Dr. Drake and I suspect is going on with you is true, there’s a chance that come the next supermoon, you’ll have your first shift.”

I wrap my hand around his wrist in an attempt to pull away. But he only tightens his hand around the back of my neck. It’s not painful but it does stop me from moving.

“You can’t be alone for your first shift.”

I shake my head and best I can with his hand trapping me. “I’m not?—”

“You are,” he insists. “Your hunger, that restlessness you feel—have always felt, it’s growing, isn’t it?”

“How-how…”

“That twisting in the pit of your stomach like there’s another presence. You feel it. The pull you feel for…”

He clamps his mouth shut, but his eyes meet mine. They spark with that intenseness. While they’re not quite glowing like before, they might as well.

“Your wolf is fighting to get out. For you to discover it. I don’t know what the fuck those pills were that you’ve been taking for years, but they kept her trapped inside of you.”

I close my eyes because what he’s saying makes sense, but it’s too much to process right now.

“My mother gave me those pills,” I finally say as I slowly open my eyes.

He nods slowly. “Maybe the doctor she took you to was up to something. There was a doctor last year who…” He trails off.

“What did he do?”

He pushes out a breath. “He tried to harm my pack. There’s a chance he could’ve been working with the doctor who gave you those pills.”

“And my mother?” I shake my head. “She thought she was just giving me iron pills.”

“We’ll figure it out. But for now, you have to remain here,” he insists. “A shifter cannot be alone on their first shift.”

“Why?” I need to know.

“It’s not our way. We’re pack animals. More than ninety-nine percent of us live in pack communities. A solo first shift can be extremely dangerous.”

“A-are you saying I could die if I shift?” Fear starts to claw at my chest.

“I won’t let that happen.” He places his forehead against mine. “I swear by Mother Moon and the sky above that I’ll never let that become your fate.”

His hold around my neck loosens, and he slips his hand down my back to my waist, pulling me into him.

I collapse my head against his chest.

“I’ll stay,” I say in almost a whisper.

The tightening of his arms around me is his only response.

“Until the supermoon,” I add.

I don’t fully believe what Chance and Dr. Drake think is going on with me. They could be wrong about all of this. A few blood tests and some intense hunger aren’t enough to indicate that I’m an entirely different species than I’ve been led to believe my whole life.

“I’ll stay,” I repeat.

Chance pulls me impossibly tighter into his hard body as if silently conveying that he has no plans of letting me go.

Ever.