Arielle and the Three Wolves (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Dani April Read Free Book Online Page B

with the discarded T-shirt from last night.
    “Arielle, you know me. You aren’t going to shoot me. You love me, don’t you remember? We love each other.”
    Her hand shook so bad she thought the gun was about to drop from her hold. Her mind was confused, and she couldn’t concentrate on his words. “Who in the hell are you?”
    “I’m the wolf.”
    She backed up to the wall. Her naked rear hit it with a thud, but she kept the gun trained on him. “What are you talking about?” She looked down to the floor. When the man had gotten out of bed, the splint the wolf wore had fallen out from under the covers and uselessly down to the carpet. She had it tied very tight along the angle of the wolf’s hind leg. There was no way it could have fallen off on its own.
    “I’m the wolf,” he repeated and took another step to her across the bedroom carpet.
    “Get away from me,” she shouted at him. Tears still streamed down her cheeks.
    “I tried to warn you last night. Don’t you remember the dictionary? The word tonight . I tried to tell you I was about to shift back to a man.”
    “How did you know?” she asked the man. Had he looked in her window when the wolf took down the dictionary from her shelf? “How long have you been watching me?”
    “I’ve been with you for a month now ever since you hit me with your car.”
    “I hit a wolf with my car.”
    “You hit me with your car. I am the wolf.”
    He took another step toward her. He was almost right on top of her. Her finger tightened around the trigger and she took aim. “Please don’t make me shoot you.”
    He reached out to her. “Arielle, this gun’s not even loaded,” he said, and removed the pistol from her hand. He set it aside on top of the dresser. Then he ran a finger down her face and wiped at a tear. His finger was rough but gentle. She remembered his touch from the night.
    She was completely defenseless now. He had her backed against the wall. She was about to hyperventilate. She gripped the T-shirt in front of her chest as her last line of protection. But she didn’t know what good it would do.
    “Calm down,” he told her. “It’s all right. Everything is all right. I’m still here.”
    “What did you do to my wolf?”
    “I told you already. I am the wolf.”
    “How do you expect me to believe that?”
    “Because it’s the truth.” He still wiped tears off her face and tucked a loose strand of hair behind an ear.
    “Wolves don’t turn into men.”
    “I’m a man now, but I’m also the wolf you said you loved.” He was huge and hovered above her. She was forced to look up into his eyes. They were brown and intense. She recognized them. They had been the eyes of the wolf. Even his proud posture was the same.
    “It isn’t possible. I don’t believe you’re the wolf.”
    He knelt down before her. All the while he held her eyes. She was still too afraid to move. She waited for something to happen. After a few seconds his body contorted. It looked painful but was a quick process. His body became disjointed and indistinct. His eyes never left hers once. Suddenly the wolf was back and at her feet. Everything he told her was true.
    “Oh, my God!” She gasped. She felt nauseated and thought she would throw up.
    The wolf went through the same distortion the man had gone through. In less than a minute he was back. “Now you believe me, Arielle?”
    “How can this be?”
    He got up from his knee. There was a grimace of pain on his face. It had hurt him to make the change, but he had done it to convince her of the truth. He limped away from her and back across the room to the bed where he sat down on the edge. He lay back in the pillows, an arm over his head, and rested. There was now some space between them, but she no longer wanted to call the police. She didn’t know what she wanted to do.
    Suddenly she became aware of the fact that they were both naked. “Would you turn around, please?” she asked him.
    He only looked at her.