Loner (Norseton Wolves #2) Read Online Free PDF

going to forget.”
    “Forget what? I’m not going to forget you.” How could I possibly forget that face? She gritted her teeth and dug her claws into his sinewy flesh as her hips and spine morphed painfully inside her, lengthening in some places, compressing in others.
    Pain, pain, pain .
    “Your wolf will forget, at first. Look at my face, and don’t stop looking. I’ll shift with you. Learn my wolf’s face before you run.”
    Her brain was a fog of uncertainty and terror, but she gave her head a hard nod, anyway. There was no turning back. “I never forget.”
    She felt something spring forth from her chest then, and her legs seemed to vanish.
    And that was it.
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    Stephanie was reasonably sure she was still alive, but the last time she made an assumption about something, she’d ended up driving the wrong way and onto a highway exit ramp.
    The last things she remembered were a fuckload of searing pain, and that dark, dark gaze locked onto her. Her mate’s gaze.
    Did I shift?
    She was on her side now, curled into a ball on a soft surface. She gave her fingers experimental wiggles, and then her toes. They felt normal enough— human enough. She opened first one eye, then the other, and her gaze focused on the masculine lump on the bed beside her. He lay back against the headboard, a knee propped up as he stared at the muted television on the dresser.
    “What time is it?” Her voice was hoarse, but recognizable. She sounded like Stephanie, and not a wolf. Words, not woofs .
    He reached for the remote, but she grabbed his wrist.
    “Leave it on for the light,” she said.
    “Okay. It’s around four.”
    “How long have we been in here?” In his bedroom. She rolled onto her back and scanned what she could of it from her supine position. There wasn’t much to see beyond the bed and dresser. He was probably still getting around to buying stuff, just like in the living room. The emptiness actually soothed her confused inner wolf. She could put her mark on the house—her new den. It was home now, a place of belonging, if she dared let it be. A silver lining .
    “About an hour,” he said.
    Closing her eyes, she swatted her hair back from her face. “Why is my hair still wet?”
    “Washed it again. I put you in the shower when we got back.”
    “I don’t remember that.”
    “Memory’ll get better.”
    “I hope so.” She rolled onto her side and, suddenly cold, realized her nakedness. She took a moment to get under the covers. Decent sheets, surprisingly. Soft.
    “You cold?”
    “No,” she said. “I’m actually quite hot.”
    He furrowed his brow. “Covers won’t help that.”
    Don’t get distracted. Before she’d started shifting, she’d intended to talk to him. Or talk at him, rather, given his unwillingness to speak. “I think we need to set some ground rules.”
    “About what?”
    “For one thing, about how we’re going to run day-to-day stuff in the household.”
    His brow wrinkled even more. “Okay. Like what?”
    “For one thing, I’m not your cook, or your maid.”
    “I’ve been doing fine without either.”
    “I had to say it. I grew up outside of a pack, mostly. My sense of fairness is probably calibrated differently from most wolves.” She waited for the rebuttal, but none came. His gaze fell to his hands. Strong and busy. They always seemed to be moving. Is he nervous? She’d never known a nervous wolf.
    What does that mean? She compartmentalized the question to ponder later.
    “Um, second, keep work discussions outside.” Wherever male wolves gathered, bad behavior tended to follow, and that included taunting, leering, and criticizing.
    He turned slowly back to the television screen, and she finally took a look at what he was watching. It was some documentary about a museum tracing the provenance of a piece of art. She’d seen it before. It wasn’t entertaining, per se, but interesting. At least, in her opinion.
    “I keep missing the tail end of it,”