Small Town Love

Chapter 4

What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

Helen Keller

He threw his backpack on the table in his house and managed to get out of clothing before he let the change overcome him. He hadn't had a problem with shifting against his will in years at that point.

At that moment though he had known that he wouldn't be able to stop the shift from happening for any longer.

He hit the ground on four paws, every inch of his body shuddering with just so suppressed instincts and he forced himself to run in exactly the opposite direction that everything was yearning inside him to go.

Luke ran, darting inside the forest and then keeping a directory north, perpendicular to the shore and away from Fairbury. Away from his pack, away from everybody. He needed...He needed privacy. Somewhere quiet to order his thoughts, somewhere...somewhere he could have his freakout about this without anybody finding out.

Finally, he turned left and carefully jumped down towards the beach to the small beach cove that was there. There was also a small cave there that Luke was pretty sure he was one of the few people that actually knew about, but that day, he went to the edge of the water, pacing.

If anybody saw the huge black wolf walking along the beach, they would have been able to see the shuddering running through every muscle, the way it even now started to listen to hear anything out of the ordinary, anything that wasn't safe.

Luke could feel the displeasure of his wolf, who had wanted to go see Daphne again, run through him.

He couldn't. Not like this. The displeasure just heightened and he howled angrily in response. It wasn't like Luke himself didn't want to. He just somehow doubted that it was a good idea for a big black wolf to show up to Daphne and lay down in front of her bed.

Mates.

He was well and truly fucked. Oliver would probably want to rip off his head for that. Daphne was in no damn way prepared what was coming for her.

She was a human, she had no idea werewolves even existed. She wasn't a werewolf herself.

Of course, he could bite her if she wanted it, but only after they both had turned 18. Being mated to a human could get...difficult. Humans were so easily breakable.

Especially her. She looked so fragile.

A car accident could kill her easily, a shot, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Luke could snap her in two pieces. She was no match for his strength. Alone the thought of that resulting in an upset howl escaping his muzzle. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't.

At least his instincts agreed with that. He was her mate, he was supposed to protect her, he...couldn't hurt her.

His instincts were calling for him to bite her and change her.

They wanted him to mount her, claim her and bite her again, make her submit to her alpha.

They wanted to make her his in every possible way. He shuddered at that.

He couldn't. He couldn't. Not like that. Not yet.

He had always been careful with every girl he had been with, fully well knowing that he could easily hurt them. But with her...with her there was the added fear that he was going to lose his grip on his instincts and give in to them, do to her what his instincts called out to him to do.