My breath caught in my throat.
I blinked rapidly, willing away the burn in my eyes as I shivered.
Everything was blue here, in the middle of nowhere.
Gavin grunted as he rose from the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him walking toward me. He stopped in front of me, dropping the blanket in my lap. I glanced up at him. He wouldn’t look at me as I pulled the blanket over my shoulders. I ignored the scent of old-growth forest that enveloped me. I couldn’t get distracted.
“I’m fine,” I told him roughly. “Don’t worry about it. Eat. It’s going to get cold. You hate it when your food is cold.”
His eyes widened briefly before he went to the table. He nosed at the remaining rabbit, sniffing along the edges. And then he bit down on it, bones crunching as he chewed. His throat worked as he swallowed the thing almost whole. His tongue came out over his lips, chasing the taste.
Then, without so much as a look in my direction, he went to the door again. He hit the latch with his snout and pulled it open. Cold air swirled in, and I shivered. I didn’t know what he was doing or where he was going. I thought about following him, but I couldn’t make my legs work.
I closed my eyes when I heard the telltale grind of muscle and bone. He exhaled explosively.
I sat down on the bed and waited.
A moment later a man wearing nothing but a scowl appeared in the doorway, carrying pieces of wood from the stack next to the house. He hit the door with his foot, closing it behind him, the thin muscles on his hairy thighs flexing. He stomped over to the fireplace and dropped the wood next to it. He crouched down in front of the fire, feeding it with logs. The ridges of his spine stuck out, bumpy down his back to the top of his—
He said, “You’re staring.”
My face grew hot as I quickly looked away. “I am not. And you should put on clothes.” Not that I thought he had any. I’d looked through the cabin in his absence, and it was mostly empty. Nothing that could have told me anything about him or what the hell he was doing here. What his plan was. What I could do to convince him to leave.
“No.”
“Your dick is just… hanging out.” I stared furiously at the far wall. “That’s not cool, dude.”
“Don’t. Not dude.”
“I’ll make you a deal. I will absolutely try not to call you that if you just get dressed.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his shoulders hunch. “Don’t have clothes. Always wolf. Easier.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“How long have I been here?”
He scrunched up his face. “Two days.”
The full moon was Friday. Which meant it was Sunday. I ignored the pang in my chest. “Where did you go? What happened to the hunters? What happened to my truck? How far away from the house are we?”
“Talking,” he muttered. “Always talking.”
“Oh, am I bothering you? I’m so sorry. I feel just awful about it. I mean, sure, you’re probably not used to hearing another voice, seeing as how you decided to run to the ass end of nowhere and—”
“Stop.”
I didn’t. I couldn’t. “You broke my phone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Stop it. Stop asking questions. Always questions. No more. Enough.”
Jesus fucking Christ. I wanted to knock him through the goddamn window. “Yeah, not gonna happen. Sucks for you.”