“Okay,” I say and sit on one of the sun loungers. I eye him up dressed in sweats and a tight-fitting vest. Oh, my. He pours us both a Scotch and comes to sit next to me, handing me a glass. He takes a long sip of his and turns to me. He takes my face in his hand, I swallow. This isn’t going to be good.
“Liv, I said I wouldn’t ask anything of you, but I wasn’t being honest,” he starts. He shushes me as I open my mouth. “Wait,” he says. “I do need something from you. It’s not sexual and it’s not any more of your attention than you can give, but… I need you… I need you to be more of an…Alpha to me.”
“How so?” I ask, not offended, just curious, as he has never told me anything that he wants from me in this regard and, personally, I have no clue.
He looks relieved that I’m not about to take his head off and smiles. “It’s one thing to have you as my Alpha mate but we need to start acting like it.” He pauses.
“Is this something to do with the ‘will you’ question you had for me?”
“Yes. But I will get to that in a minute. First thing, I need to feel a proper connection with you. I mean, I know I can read your thoughts when your blocks are down, and you can call me and vice versa but can you read me? Have you tried?”
I shake my head. “No. I haven’t tried.”
“Then try,” he says firmly, taking my glass from me and putting it next to his on the floor.
“How?”
He shrugs. “Drop your blocks, I guess and just try.”
Learn by doing…again. I sigh inwardly but turn fully toward him. I get on my knees and place my hand over his heart, mostly to feel his heartbeat but also so that I can feel his rock-hard muscles under my hand. He grins at my action as he knows my mind and places his own hand over mine.
“Close your eyes,” he whispers. “What am I thinking?”
I close my eyes and concentrate. They pop open again and I say, scandalized, “Linc!” to which he chuckles deeply.
“I guess you got that accurately,” he says wryly.
“Can I do that? I mean the Shift?”
“I don’t see why not. You can Shift into everything else, why not a Wolf? Try.”
I look up at the third quarter moon. “Now? Don’t I need a full one?”
“I’m sure that it won’t stop you. Just try.”
I climb off the sun lounger and disrobe. He is staring at me now not in desire, but with interest. To see if I can do what he asks.
“How will I know what to Shift to? I don’t know what I will look like,” I say, suddenly worried.
“Use the same principle as when you Shifted to ValamAtrux. Just think ‘Wolf’ and do it.”
I nod firmly, determined to succeed first time at this. I feel myself change and then I’m on all fours. He is on his knees in front of me, crooning to me and stroking me. My first thought is that I actually have coherent thoughts. I may be in the form of an animal and unable to speak but there is nothing different about the way my brain functions.
Lincoln is speaking to me in delight, scratching behind my ears and rubbing me under my chin.
“You are beautiful, just perfect,” he says over and over. I cast a quick look down and note my fur is a golden color. I suppose that makes sense, as Lincoln in Wolf form is black just as his hair is black and his eyes are green like his human ones. “I love you,” he murmurs. “Next time at the full moon, I’m taking you out with me. I don’t care who you are supposed to be with, you will be with me. With me,” he whispers, and I lick his nose to his delight. I Shift back. I fling myself naked into Lincoln’s arms. He, being the perfect gentleman, though, pulls my robe back over me and I tie it. I smile shyly up at him and he beams at me adoringly.
“Thank you,” he whispers as he brushes his lips lightly across mine before he steps back.
I grab his hand and chew on my lip.
He chuckles at me and says, “Don’t worry, I will do all the work.” I look away embarrassed that he caught on to my worry of what is required of me during mating.
“Hey, don’t be shy,” he says quietly. “Think of it just the same as when you Shift to have Vamp sex, or Demon sex, or whatever.”
I nod, still not comfortable as it will be completely different, but he takes me in his strong arms and I immediately feel comforted. “Why did you wait so long to ask?”
“Why did it never occur to you sooner that I wanted you to?” he asks back in all seriousness.