P.S I'm a WOLF! (Paranormal Shifter Romance Book 1) Read online

  Kip paused then as he looked at her, and he stopped walking. She stopped beside him and looked up at him. He reached toward her coat and picked a thin white hair off of it, bringing it to his nose and sniffing at it lightly before letting it go. “Cat?”

  Janine laughed. “Yes, it’s a cat. I’m a cat person.”

  A groan sounded from deep within Kip, and he rolled his eyes. “Of course you are.”

  She gave him a challenging look. “Are you opposed to cats?”

  He scrunched his nose a little. “I’m really more of a dog person.”

  “Well I love dogs, too!” She laughed softly. “I just don’t have one because I’m gone so much. Cats are easier to take care of. They’re really more self-sufficient.”

  Kip eyed her keenly. “So, you don’t have a dog because you’re gone so much. Does that mean that you live alone?”

  “Yes, except for the cat.” She thought it was so unusual that she was telling a perfect stranger something so personal about herself, but at the same time, she felt an innate sense of trust about him, as if there was absolutely no threat from him to her. Far from fear, what she felt most was an intense attraction to him, more than she had ever felt for any other man, indescribable, undefinable, and the longer she was with him, the stronger it got.

  Kip was torn between knowing that he had no business talking to her or spending time with her and being drawn to her with a magnetism that he could not deny, and more than that, that he didn’t want to deny. She was like a spring blossom that he had breathed in, making him drugged and heady with the scent, and he wanted to hold his breath and not let it go.

  “Are you seeing anyone?” he asked in a quiet voice, his eyes searching hers as his every sense tuned into her, and many more of his questions were being answered unbeknownst to her.

  She shook her head as she gazed back at him, taken in by his dark eyes. “No…” she began and trailed off, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly as her breath grew shallow.

  His heart jumped at her answer, but his mind was sharp with more questions, and he furrowed his brow slightly. “Why?” He struggled to keep the intense draw toward her from affecting him so much.

  Janine lifted one shoulder slightly in a shy way and glanced downward for a moment. “I guess there aren’t that many guys that I like.” She hesitated a moment and then made herself ask the question she wanted most to know just then. “Are you? Uh… seeing anyone?”

  He gave her a half smile and shook his head, his eyes steady on hers. “No, I’m not.”

  It was her turn then, and she smiled wider at him. “Why not?”

  Kip had an immediate and honest answer. “No one has turned my head.”

  Janine lifted her chin confidently and spoke in a soft voice. “I do.”

  Kip had to look away. He was never vulnerable, and looking at her, listening to her as she told him a truth that he had barely admitted to himself, was evidence to him that he was indeed vulnerable to someone he never should have been vulnerable to for so many reasons.

  She lifted her hand and touched her fingertips gently to his cheek, turning his face to look back at her again. “I turn your head, don’t I?”

  His body had already been heated with a craving for her, but at her touch, his yearning only grew stronger and the fires inside him leapt, burning him. “Yes, you do,” he answered in a low voice. “But you shouldn’t.”

  Janine frowned slightly. “Why shouldn’t I?”

  Kip grudgingly forced himself to think of reality and practicality and every other reason he could come up with why it was the worst possible idea to want her so much and, more than that, for her to want him in return, as he was well aware that she did.

  “I’m not good for you. You’re on a good road. You have a good life plan ahead. I’m…” he trailed off and looked away from her for a moment before returning his dark gaze. “I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”

  Janine looked at him seriously, and it felt to him like the magnetism between them was pulling him even stronger. “I’ve spent my whole life around people who are trouble. I know trouble when I see it, and you are not trouble. You are good, and I really like that. I really like you.”

  Kip groaned inwardly. She looked so beautiful standing there before him, her big brown eyes, innocent of so much, taking him in, drawing him in, and all he wanted to do was kiss her right then and there. “No, I’m not. I’m really not,” he admitted regrettably.

  “Let me be the judge of that,” she replied gently, and then she leaned up on her toes and curled her hands around the lapels of his leather coat as she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his.

  He had been in no way prepared for her kiss or for his reaction to it. The flames of desire that had been rising in him erupted, and all of his body began to burn deeply for her. His breath caught in his chest, and all of his senses went wild, exploding with the overwhelming sensations that flooded through him.

  She slid her hands upward from his coat lapels, around his neck, letting her fingers slip into his hair as she parted her lips, her tongue tentatively touching his for a long moment before their kiss grew deeper.

  Kip closed his arms around her, drawing her up against him firmly as his tongue twisted around hers, and the longing for her intensified tremendously. He felt himself begin to grow hard for her, and he groaned as the ache burned through his body.

  At the sound of his groan in his own ears, reality hit him like a brick wall, and he let her go suddenly, taking a few steps back away from her. Both of them were breathless, panting as they stared at each other in surprise.

  “I’m sorry…” He gave his head a shake. “I can’t… we can’t.”

  A smile grew slowly over her face as she held her eyes on his. “See? A good man. You could have pushed that so much further and I would have let you, but you stopped. You’re a good man.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry you’ve known men who weren’t good. Why has there been trouble in your life?” He wanted to know that and so much more about her. He wanted to ask her a thousand questions about herself, and he wanted to stop himself from wanting to kiss her again. The best way to do that, he thought, would be to talk.

  Janine narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as she smiled at him. “You know what, that’s a good question for the next time you come out with me.”

  Kip blinked and looked up then, having lost track of time. He saw the sun sinking low in the sky, and his heart quickened. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

  Panic flashed over her face and in her eyes. “When will I see you again?” she asked, anxious that it could be soon.

  Kip looked away from her. “You probably won’t see me again.”

  It didn’t take even a thought from the moment the words left his mouth for her to come to him again. “Then I’d better kiss you goodbye now.” She closed her arms tightly around his neck and crushed her mouth to his, kissing him with all the desire and longing inside of her. In seconds, she was biting at his lips and tasting him once more, her tongue moving over and around his, driving them both crazy with need.

  He kissed her just as hungrily, his mouth moving over hers as he held her tightly to him, wishing with everything in him that he could have what he wanted so very much with her. The sensations in his body began to change, and he pushed her away again, looking once more up at the sky and then backing away down the footpath as he shook his head.

  She stared at him, her lips swollen from their kissing, her heart racing, her body aching for a man she barely knew. “When?” she called after him.

  He sighed and lifted his chin, calling back to her. “Tomorrow!” With that, he ran as fast as he could out of the park and back to his car. His body was scorched inside with need for her, and he marveled at it: desiring someone so much whom he hadn’t known long at all. He had seen her out on the street one day, walking into the coffee shop to go to work, and her look, her scent, everything about her had drawn him in. He had followed her, watching her from a
distance, all of his senses tuned in to her, and then he had made himself leave. Unable to stop thinking about her, he had gone back, pretending to go in for coffee, to be a customer, just to see her, to let himself feel that gravitational pull to her, to breathe in her scent and hear her heartbeat. In all his years, he had, as he had said to her, never had his attention truly drawn by any other woman until he had seen her, and he knew that it was as far from what he should be doing as possible, but he discovered that he couldn’t stay away, and he didn’t want to stay away.

  Kip flew down the road in his car, his body still burning for her, his mind a torrent of thoughts, part of them good, thinking of her, and part of them solemn and somber, thinking about the reality that he knew full well that he should be facing, a reality that she could never be part of in any way.

  As Kip sped along the roads, he glanced now and then at the sinking sun, knowing that he must be at his destination before it set or things would be much messier than they already were for him.

  Janine walked to her house on air, her mind swirling around nothing except the man named Kip who had come into the coffee shop so many times over the few weeks leading up to that day, not saying much to her, but always seeming to watch her. She had felt a strong attraction to him right away, and though she was sure that many women were attracted to him, she had noticed that he did not return their attentions, and his sole focus each time he came in seemed to be on her alone. It made her want to squeal and laugh; there was such joy in her that he had kissed her and talked with her, and she found herself wondering briefly where he had gone off to in such a rush.

  She reached her small house, a one-bedroom place with a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a closet pantry, and she let herself in. It was modest, but it was in a good spot, backed up against a wooded area that always made her feel as if she was living in a forest, rather than in the city of Seattle.

  The interior of her home was simple, and the décor was sparse. To her, it was a place to stay while she was in school, until she could get a job and find a real home where she could plant some roots. She liked it, and it served its purpose, at least as much as it needed to.

  Janine called out to her cat. “Snowball!” She sent a few noisy kisses into the air. “Snowball!”

  A medium-sized white cat came running to her and wrapped itself around her legs in greeting. She bent and picked it up, bringing it to her chest to snuggle it.

  “Hello, pretty girl! How was your-” Janine was cut off almost immediately. The cat sniffed at her and bolted from her arms, launching itself all the way to the floor and shooting into the far corner of the room.

  Janine was stunned. She walked toward the cat, crouching down some as she spoke kindly to it. “What’s wrong, baby? You’ve never run from me! What’s gotten into you? Come here!” She reached for the cat, but Snowball’s back vaulted up into an arch, and the cat hissed and spat at Janine violently, backing itself as far into the corner as possible. Janine tried to reach for her, and the cat clawed at her, striking as if defending its life.

  Janine stared at her fur baby, stunned and confused, wondering what on earth could be bothering the little feline so much. Doing her best to shrug it off, she went to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower, washing the day away as her thoughts returned to the beautiful man who had kissed her in the park.

  “Tomorrow.” She grinned as she wrapped herself in her robe and shuffled to the bedroom in her slippers. “I get to see him again tomorrow.”

  She slipped her nightgown on and slid into bed, getting comfortable. Just then, Snowball jumped up onto the covers and padded up to her slowly and carefully, sniffing all the way as she drew closer to Janine’s face.

  When the cat reached her, Janine was hesitant and let her pet sniff her hand. Snowball began to lick Janine’s hand and face, and then she purred, walking in a circle on Janine’s chest before curling up there and staring with wide eyes out of the bedroom window at the full moon that was just coming up.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kip whipped his car into a large circled driveway filled with other vehicles, in front of a mansion near the top of a mountain, overlooking a big valley below and other mountaintops nearby. He jetted from the car and went straight past the house, rounding it until he was behind it, where another building, a little larger than half of the size of the house stood. It was just as beautiful and well-built as the mansion, though it served an entirely different purpose. It was an exquisitely designed and functionally fashionable kennel, though there were no cages or bare concrete floors in it. The floors were made of pine wood, and it smelled like a forest inside.

  The building itself was two stories, tall and round, with a great door at the front of it, featuring thick rubber flaps that could be used as dog doors. Inside the building, there were several large and comfortable stalls lined along the curved walls on the ground level and then more up on a second level, reachable by specially designed staircases. The stalls were used as bedding areas and were appointed with cushioned beds and bowls of water fed by a unique piping system that kept fresh water running throughout the place. In the center of the wide-open hall, there was a great space, and at the back of that space, there was a platform where one might address a crowd that had come to meet in the round on the pine floor.

  Just as Kip was reaching the kennel building, the sun sank beneath the horizon, and a big, yellow, full moon rose up over the eastern horizon, shining brightly as it did so. Kip froze in place, staring at the moon, and his body grew taut as his form began to shift outside of his own control.

  Thick, glossy black fur began to form along the back of his neck and down his spine as a tail grew out from the back of him. His ears and his face shifted, transforming into the head of a wolf with a muzzle filled with razor sharp teeth, and big furry black ears, absorbing all of the sound around him. His hands and feet changed, and claws grew out of the ends of his fingers as his hands became paws.

  Moments later, he had fully taken the form of a wolf, a werewolf, standing on all fours as he gazed up at the perfect circle of the big moon, rising ever higher against the darkening sky. Kip was enormous, twice the size of a full-grown Siberian tiger, his fur thick and ebony, his tail just sweeping the ground. He pushed his head back and howled loudly, a deep, strong howl that rang out over the valley and echoed to the nearer mountains.

  With one last look at the moon, Kip went to the great door and pushed his nose through the thick rubber flaps there, entering the building and looking in surprise at the number of other wolves already gathered in the great circle, sitting quietly and waiting, at least until they all turned and saw him.

  As Kip stepped into the main circle of the room, all of the wolves lifted their heads and howled loudly, paying homage to him. There were easily fifty other wolves in the room, and there was plenty of space for them, though the sound of their howling was so loud that even Kip was surprised.

  The other wolves had formed a semi-circle, split in the middle with half of the wolves on one side and half of them on the other, leaving an aisle from the door up through the gathering to the platform at the other side of the room.

  Upon the platform was a wolf just a little bigger than Kip. He also had black fur, though much of it had turned gray. He had a wise look and a powerful inner strength about him. Kip walked up the aisle toward the big, old wolf, and when he reached him, he bowed his head low, and the older wolf nodded to him. Kip then padded to the right side of the old wolf, as he sat there, facing the gathering.

  The old wolf, king of their pack, looked to the half circle on the left side of the aisle in the gathering and spoke with a deep voice. “We are gathered on this special night as one pack, as a family, the Ardelean family.”

  The wolves he spoke to howled and cried out in response. The king continued, turning his head to gaze upon the wolves gathered on the right, “On this night, we greet our friends, our brothers and sisters from the neighboring region to the south of us. Welcome, pack Dalca of th
e west coast region, to the homelands of pack Ardelean of the Olympic region. We are honored you are here with us on this very special night. King Grigor, please join me.”

  Another wolf with a salt and pepper colored coat, slightly smaller than Kip, left the visiting pack and joined the old King and Kip on the platform.

  “Thank you, King Nicholai. We are honored to be among one of the greatest packs in the nation.”

  King Nicholai Ardelean addressed all of the wolves then. “Both of our packs are among the greatest in the nation, and it is for that reason that we are here tonight. Seventy-three years ago, under a full moon, King Grigor’s daughter was conceived, and on that same night, Prince Kipling was also conceived. Seventy-five days later, under another full moon, both the princess and the prince were born. We know how unique and special this, as most werewolves come into existence by being bitten, and only on the nights of the full moon are we able to conceive our own kind in a natural way. The natural born werewolves among us carry the human gene and may shift into humans at will, but they are more powerful than bitten werewolves, and hence they often become our royal leaders.”