“You’re the first man I’ve known who hasn’t recoiled from me in absolute horror. I don’t know you, but for some reason I want to believe you and your unbelievable story. It’s a much nicer one than my own explanation, that God has cursed me. I’d prefer being part of a secret, yet ancient race. It’s much more romantic. Maybe it’s merely for my own self-preservation. God knows, I’ve wanted to die often enough over the past twenty-five years.”
“I don’t want you to die, Manda. I want to show you what life really can be like. You have no idea how wonderful it is to embrace that part of yourself you’ve probably hated all your life. You are wolf, Manda. You have the wild heart of a predator beating in your chest. I want you to learn to love the wolf as much as the woman.”
She stared at him for a long, heart-stopping moment. Then she nodded. “Fair enough. What do I have to do?”
Bay laughed and reached for his jacket. He pulled the pill bottle out of his pocket and opened the lid. The big brown capsules smelled like dried grass, and he put one in Amanda’s oddly shaped palm. “Just a minute. I’ll get you some water.”
He went into her kitchen, looked in a cupboard and saw a couple of glasses. He thought better of it, filled a bowl with water from the tap, and took it back to Manda. She sat on the couch, sniffing at the pill in her open hand. “It smells like grass, or maybe dry hay.”
“It’s a combination of dried grasses from the Himalayan steppes. We take one every day, though no one knows if we would revert without them, once the change occurs. I’m not sure how long it will take you to make the shift fully to either wolf or woman. If you take one of these a day, I imagine just a couple days should do it, especially since you’ve obviously already started.”
She popped the pill into her mouth without hesitation and then leaned forward and lapped water from the bowl Bay held in his hands. He’d guessed right, that drinking from a glass would be difficult for her. She raised her head and there were droplets of water glistening at her muzzle. He tried to imagine her as a woman with lips and cheekbones and smooth skin.
“Do we just wait, now?”
“No. Now I need to figure out how to smuggle you out of here without anyone seeing you. I want to take you to our cabin up in Maine. I want to have you far from town when you finally make the complete shift. You’re going to want to race through the forest and I don’t want anyone or anything to get in your way.”
“Can’t I just tuck down in the backseat of your car?”
Bay laughed. “Well, that would work. Unfortunately, all I’ve got is my motorcycle. There’s really no place at all for you to hide.”
He pulled her back into his lap. He was surprised but greatly pleased when she let him hold her close. As horrendous as she looked, Bay realized he was fascinated by her appearance as much as her resilience. Drawn to her addictive Chanku aroma, her feisty personality, her core of strength that nothing appeared to have shaken.
For better or worse, he held her against his chest and accepted the fact he was falling, fast and sure, under Manda’s spell.
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