Hidden in Plain Sight. Amy Lee Burgess

      “Murphy, I don’t want to shift. I’m afraid to shift in front of a whole pack of people. Especially if it’s raining. My wolf doesn’t know the word for rain. It’s never rained since we’ve started shifting together and she doesn’t know the word. All she’s going to do is sit there and let it pound down onto her until she knows the word for it.” I buried my face in his neck. I didn’t know if he could even understand me because my voice was muffled and choked with fearful sobs.

      “So she sits there for a few minutes and thinks of the word. Then she can move on.” Murphy combed my hair with his fingers and, despite my agitation, I was soothed a little.

      “She won’t know what to do.” I shook my head in denial. Memories of Regional Gatherings in the past pecked at me. Derisive comments about my wolf. The condescending laughter. Worse, the looks of pity.

      Murphy kissed the top of my head. “I’ll tell you what to do and you’ll tell her. The same as it’s been since we started shifting together, Stanzie. All that’s going to happen is we’re going to gather in whatever place they use and we’ll all shift together. We’ll...”

      “Will it be like a Great Hunt? Will we all have sex first? In the same room?” I interrupted because I wanted to know every detail.

      “Yes,” he told me. “You know that’s part of the Great Hunt, the group sex part. It bonds us all through scent and pheromones. You and I will be together the whole time, I won’t leave you. After we’re shifted, we’ll familiarize ourselves with her scent. There’ll be some of her clothes, probably the sheets from her bed, things with her scent on it. The Alphas will lead, we’ll cover the woods and if she’s there, we’ll find her.”

      “Someone has to watch the baby. I can do that,” I said and he sighed in my ear.

      “You represent the Great Council. How are you going to do that staying here and watching the Alphas’ baby? One of the teenagers in the pack will watch the children.”

      I hated the Great Council for a moment, resented being a fucking Advisor and despised having to be in the spotlight. I loathed the idea that if I didn’t shift, I would make Councilor Allerton look bad because I was damned if I would do that. Not after everything he’d done for me.

      “Is Vaughn going to shift?” I asked. Murphy kissed my ear lightly.

      “I think he’s planning on it. He can be with us if you want him to. After we shift and before if you like. He knows your wolf. Your wolf knows him. Would that make it better?”

      He meant a threesome with Vaughn. He would do that for me. By Pack standards that wasn’t a big deal, it was done a lot. But by Murphy standards that offered something he probably didn’t really want to do.

      “Maybe after we shift,” I said and he kissed my ear again, this time gratefully.