A Girl and Her Wolf (Howl, #7) Read online

  So, why didn’t you join one of their packs? Emma pressed.

  Because I prefer to be alone, Gary replied, but he didn’t sound too convincing.

  You can’t be that happy being alone, Emma replied, shaking her head. She knew her stepdad. He’d always been extremely social. He’d been the life of all her parents’ parties, and he’d been a bigwig business guy. There was no way he could be content with what his life had become.

  He didn’t say anything in response, which only confirmed her suspicions.

  Just be honest with me, Gary. Do you miss her? Emma asked.

  Her stepdad stared back at her with a sad look in his eyes. Of course I miss her, Emma. We were married for thirteen years. It’s not that easy to fall out of love.

  A feeling of hope washed through her. Maybe there was still hope that she and her mom could reconcile, after all. Then why don’t you tell her?

  Because it doesn’t seem fair to her, Gary replied. Your mother married a human . . . not a werewolf. And there’s always a chance that I could end up hurting her if we were to stay together. Humans are much more fragile than werewolves, you know.

  Yeah, I know, Emma replied, trying to understand his point of view. She couldn’t help but think that there had to be another option—a way that the two of them could be together without there being any risks to her mother. A light bulb went off in her head and she turned to Gary. What would you say if I told you there was a way the two of you could be together without you needing to worry?

  What is it? Gary asked.

  Bite my mom, she replied. Turn her into a werewolf, too. That way, you can’t hurt her, and she can’t be mad that you’re a werewolf when she’s one, too. Plus, then, there’s a chance that neither of us will outlive her. She’ll become an immortal, too.

  I don’t know, her stepdad hesitated. It doesn’t seem fair to her. She shouldn’t have to turn into a werewolf against her own will.

  I guess you’re right, Emma replied. This whole idea suddenly hit too close to home, which made her feel guilty for even letting the idea cross her mind, let alone suggesting it. Troy hadn’t given her the option to change into a werewolf; it had been completely against her will. It had taken her a long time to get past it and, even though her best friend had good intentions, it hadn’t been her stepdad’s choice to become a werewolf, either.

  After a few moments, Emma came up with a second idea. Why don’t you give Mom the choice to become a werewolf, then?

  Gary hesitated. She would never say yes to that.

  We won’t know that for sure until we try. Please? Emma asked, giving him puppy eyes. It’d always worked on him when she was in her human form, so why not now?

  Gary let out a little sigh. Fine. Meet me at her house tomorrow at six o’clock . . . okay?

  Perfect, Emma replied. She felt so pleased with him giving in that she didn’t even think to ask how he would know what time it was.

  *

  When she got back to the house, Colby was standing in front of the oven wearing his apron that said “Kiss the Chef.”

  “I’m back from my walk,” Emma told him with a small smile.

  “I see that,” Colby replied, as he pulled a pan out of the oven. He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Are you still mad at me?”

  “I’m not mad at you,” Emma told him, feeling guilty about how she’d acted earlier. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving.”

  He grinned. “You better be. I made your favorite—chicken Alfredo and garlic bread. I also made some salad.”

  That was probably a good thing. Emma knew that protein was most important for growing werewolf babies, but it couldn’t hurt to add more vegetables to her diet, too. She figured that the more nutrients she took in, the better.

  Colby set the food on the table and took off his apron. He pulled a chair out for her.

  Her stomach growled loudly as she sat down. She glanced around the room, noticing how quiet it was for the first time. “Where’s Daven?” she asked.

  “He’s sleeping. Surprisingly early, too,” Colby replied as he sat down in a chair next to her.

  “He’s been sleeping a lot lately,” Emma noted as she bit into a piece of garlic bread. “Much more than he does when we usually babysit, I mean.”

  “It is sort of odd,” Colby agreed with a nod. “He seems to be okay, though, and I can’t say that I really mind.” He glanced over at her. “I’m glad we both decided to take the week off from work. It’s a nice start to our summer. We might not be on a real vacation like the rest of our pack, but it’s still nice to be able to spend some time alone with you . . . aside from Daven, of course. Not that I mind having him around, but we don’t get enough time with each other.”

  “It is really nice,” Emma admitted.

  “What do you say we forget about the food for a bit and take advantage of his nap time?” Colby asked.

  Emma didn’t even need to think twice about it. Maybe it was early pregnancy hormones, or maybe it was because of how stressed out she’d been ever since her doctor’s appointment. But either way, she moved over to his chair, leaned down, and kissed him hard.

  He kissed her back, rising to his feet, and they made their way over to the kitchen island where Colby pulled off the tank top she was wearing. Through ragged breaths, she unbuttoned his shirt.

  Colby pushed her against the island, meeting her lips again.

  As she tugged at his curly blonde hair, Emma opened her eyes and yelped when she noticed Bennett standing there behind Colby. She kept her body hidden behind Colby.

  When Bennett had both of their attention, he said, “I was going to wait until you were done, but since I’ve gotten your attention, you might want to know that Master Davenport has crawled out of his crib.”

  “Oh.” Emma covered as much of herself as she could as she picked up her shirt from the floor. She slid it back on and headed off to their bedroom to check on Daven.

  Chapter 11: Colby

  When Emma hurried off to their bedroom to take care of Davenport, Colby turned to Bennett. “You really had to interrupt that?”

  “Well, I didn’t think you would want the baby to crawl all around the house,” the spirit replied.

  “No, it’s just . . . What happened to you babysitting?” Colby questioned. “You couldn’t watch the baby for just a little bit?”

  Bennett shrugged. “I was told you didn’t want me to babysit. Had I realized that it was okay, perhaps I would have.” He smirked. “You’re not suggesting that I interrupted your mating session intentionally, are you, Colby?”

  “I don’t know,” Colby replied, his thoughts drifting back to the first time Bennett had ever interrupted him and Emma . . .

  *

  “Colby Jack?” Emma asked from her place on the couch next to him.

  “Yeah?” he asked, focusing on the movie they were watching. It was Forrest Gump, which was one of his all-time favorites. He always got a little teary-eyed whenever he watched it. He couldn’t help it; it was just so sad when Bubba died.

  “Well, it’s just that I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and we haven’t even. . .” Emma trailed off.

  Now that she had his attention, Colby glanced over at her. He noticed that she was biting down on her lip nervously. “We haven’t even what?” he asked with raised eyebrows. He got the feeling that whatever she was about to say next was way more interesting than the movie they were watching.

  “Explored each other,” she whispered.

  His eyes widened. “What do you mean, exactly? We always explore each other, every day. I’ve learned so much about you in the past few weeks, just by listening in on your thoughts.”

  “I know. And I’ve learned a lot about you, too,” she admitted. “But, well, we haven’t exactly explored each other’s bodies yet.”

  “You want to explore me?” Colby asked, trying to conceal his grin. The idea was oddly exciting, even though he still wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at. Did she just want to l
ook at his tattoos . . . or did she want to explore him even further than that?

  “Well, we have to see each other naked eventually,” Emma replied with a sigh. “Now is just as good a time as any, right?”

  “You want to see me naked?” he questioned with wide eyes as she stared back at him expectantly, waiting to hear his answer.

  “Duh.” She rolled her eyes at him.

  When she glanced over at him, her eyes sparkling, he knew that he couldn’t exactly tell her “no”. There was only one problem, though.

  Colby smelled.

  It sounded really gross, but he’d had gym earlier that day and the only empty shower stall had been out of order. By the time he got home from school, he was itching for a shower, but Emma had been really hungry so he cooked her dinner and then they’d started watching the movie together. So, he’d never actually gotten the chance to shower yet.

  “I have an idea,” he spoke up after a few moments—long enough to devise a plan. “Why don’t we play a game?”

  “A game?” Emma’s eyes lit up at the idea. “You mean, like Naked Twister? Or, no, wait. Let me guess. Strip poker!”

  “Well, no . . . I was thinking that we could just play Hide and Seek,” Colby replied hesitantly.

  “Hide and Seek?” Emma gawked at him. “Really?”

  He knew that she thought the idea was lame, and he was even willing to admit that it was. But it was the only thing that he could think of to let her see him naked without letting her know how much he stunk, too.

  He nodded. “Yeah, except . . . when you find me, I’ll be naked. Oh, and you should be naked, too. That’s part of the game.”

  Emma seemed to consider the idea for a moment before giving in. “Okay. Naked Hide and Seek sounds like it could maybe be a fun game, actually.”

  “Good.” He grinned. “Now, close your eyes and count to forty before you come looking for me.”

  “Okay,” Emma agreed. She squeezed her eyes shut and began counting aloud. “One . . . two . . .”

  Knowing that his time was limited, he darted down the hallway. He snuck into the bathroom and, keeping the light turned off, peeled off his clothes, hiding them in the hamper so they wouldn’t be a dead giveaway as to where he was. He climbed into the shower and closed the curtain behind him.

  He was tempted to run the water, but he knew that would be another giveaway as to where he was hiding, so instead, he settled on slathering some liquid body soap all over his body. He poured some shampoo on his hair, too—couldn’t forget the hair, since it smelled just as sweaty as the rest of him.

  Standing in the tub in the dark, he waited for Emma to find him. He noticed that the bathroom felt sort of cold, which was unusual. He was never cold. Of all times to be cold, why did it have to be right then and there? He wasn’t sure how far she wanted the two of them to go that night, but he didn’t want his manhood to crawl up like a turtle in its shell just because he was cold.

  “Okay, Colby! I’m coming to find you!” Emma called from the living room, and a sense of nervousness swept over him.

  He was afraid to know what Emma would think of his manhood (or should he have called it his were-hood, since he technically wasn’t a man?). He knew that she’d seen plenty of other guys naked before (a thought that provoked a low growl from him as he stood there in the bathtub), and he just hoped that he would be able to compare to them. How bad would it be if her mate couldn’t—um—satisfy her?

  He tried not to think about it too much as he waited for her to find him. After what felt like forever, the bathroom door was finally pushed open and Emma stepped inside. “Colby Jack. Are you in here?” she called in a singsong voice, her voice echoing throughout the room.

  He remained quiet, careful to try to control his breathing so that she wouldn’t hear him, but she flicked the light switch on. He inched forward, closer to the faucet, as she moved across the large bathroom. “Hmm, you’re not in the hamper, but your clothes are,” Emma announced loudly. “And you’re not behind the toilet, either. But are you in the shower?”

  Colby’s heart thumped a little, knowing that was it. She was going to see him naked for the very first time—and there he was, with soap and shampoo all over him. He suddenly felt embarrassed. Why had he thought it was a good idea? Emma was going to think he was a weirdo standing in the shower covered in coconut-scented products.

  Without even thinking about what he was doing, Colby pulled a shower cap over his head and twisted the faucet to the right. Hot water sprayed all over him, just as the shower curtain was pushed back.

  “What are doing?” Emma asked. She blinked as the water hit against her face. She rubbed her eyes and pulled the shower curtain against her, shielding her naked body from him.

  “I, uh . . .” Colby stammered. “Taking a shower?”

  “I thought we were playing Naked Hide and Seek,” Emma complained, letting go of the shower curtain and putting her hands on her hips.

  Colby tried not to stare at her too hard, but he couldn’t help himself. Some of her boobage wasn’t exactly covered by the shower curtain—and it was just as perfect as he’d always pictured it in his dreams.

  “We were,” he agreed. “I hid and you seeked me.”

  “Well, you need to let me in the shower with you,” Emma replied. “It’s part of the deal. This whole game was supposed to be for us to explore each other, remember?”

  “Okay. You’re welcome to shower with me.”

  As Emma stepped into the shower, Colby took in the rest of her. Her breasts weren’t the only thing that was perfect. Every inch of her body—which was slender, but curvy in all of the right places—was heavenly.

  Her eyes drifted down his body, too, lingering down there, and Colby took a step back nervously. His head hit against the bottles of shampoo that sat on the shower caddy. Before he knew it, both a shampoo and conditioner bottle clunked on to the shower floor.

  As he reached down to pick one of them up, a bar of soap fell, too, landing right in between his feet.

  Slipping on the soap that he’d already lathered all over himself, he tumbled down onto the shower floor, too—and he wasn’t the only one.

  Emma came crashing down on top of him, her slippery wet body falling into place on top of his. His hands instantly found their way around her hips as her fingertips grazed against his bare chest.

  “Oops,” Emma whispered. Colby knew that she was thinking the same thing as him, though; they really were getting to explore each other’s bodies, which were both now slick from the water that poured over them. Her soaked blonde hair clung to her neck and body in a way that Colby found incredibly sexy.

  She kissed him, slipping her tongue into his mouth.

  He kissed her back passionately. Maybe this would be the night. Maybe he would finally lose his virginity and make love to his mate for the very first time. It caused a mixture of both excitement and nervousness to wash over him.

  As their kiss became even more heated, the sound of laughter erupted from somewhere else in the room.

  Emma broke their kiss and then glanced up at him, a horrified look on her face. “Colby, is this some sort of joke?” she asked in a shrill tone of voice.

  “What? No! No way,” he insisted.

  “Then, who the hell is laughing?” Emma rose to her feet, turning the faucet off and wrapping the shower curtain around her to conceal her body again. She ducked her head out of the shower to see who was laughing at them. “Oh, god,” she mumbled when she saw who it was.

  “Now, now! Don’t be too surprised to see me!” a familiar voice said. “I do live here, after all.”

  Colby stood up and pushed the shower curtain back far enough to see that Bennett was standing on the other side of them with a big grin plastered on his face. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything, but it looks like I was. I’m terribly sorry. I do love a good game of Hide and Seek, though. I was very intrigued to see who would be the winner of this game. Of course, had I known that you were playi
ng while you were naked, I would have. . .”

  “You would have what?” Emma interrupted, her face turning bright red with anger.

  “Well, to be blunt, I would have grabbed a camera so that there would be proof of the two of you in such a compromising position. No one would ever believe me if I told them. It’s a shame I didn’t know. It would have been nice to have some photographic evidence,” Bennett chuckled before quickly dissolving into thin air to avoid her wrath.

  Emma turned back to Colby. “Ugh! He’s such a creep sometimes. I hate how he’s always trying to catch us in ‘compromising positions’, as he likes to call it.”

  “I know,” Colby replied. “Oh, well. Let’s just ignore him and go back to exploring each other.” He winked at her.

  “Um, definitely not! You can thank Bennett for that. He completely ruined the mood for me,” she replied with a huff before climbing out of the shower, leaving Colby standing there alone.

  Once she left the room, he let out a low growl. “Bennett! You’re going to pay for this,” he said grumpily.

  *

  “So, what do we do?” Emma asked as she stood next to the kitchen island, shaking Colby out of his memory.

  He met her gaze. “Easy. We just carry on with what we were going to do and don’t worry about Bennett. We pretend he isn’t even there,” Colby replied, bringing his lips down on Emma’s again, but she pulled away from him.

  “Don’t worry,” Bennett’s voice echoed throughout the room. “I’m leaving. No one wants to see your furry behinds.”

  Colby pulled her back into his arms. “See? He’s gone.”

  She seemed hesitant at first, but after a few moments, she gave into his kiss. She pulled her own tank top off again and unzipped his pants as he hoisted her onto the counter.

  Chapter 12: Emma

  The following evening, Emma stood in front of her mom’s house. Her mom’s car was parked in the driveway, so she was definitely home.