She slowly undressed after her mother left and climbed into the cool water. She felt her temperature lower and turned the cold water off and the hot water on with her toes.

Relaxing into the water as it gradually began to warm, she smiled at her triumph and couldn't wait to tell Tiberius.

Where was he anyway?

Soon, the tub was a comfortable warm temperature and she turned the water off. Closing her eyes, she allowed her thoughts to roam to her dream with Tiberius. The way he cupped her face in his palms and gazed at her like she was the most important thing in the world.

She closed her eyes and cupped her cheeks in her palms, picturing him in her mind. Pressed her thumb on her bottom lip the way he had and tried to imagine the feel of his lips on hers.

'Goddess, what you do to me...'

She remembered how good it felt when he licked the place he would mark her. The way his teeth teased her flesh. Remembered the fire that surged forth when he rubbed himself between her legs.

Her hands trailed down over her breasts, picturing his human hands caressing her, and imagining the way it would feel to be touched in that way.

When? When could he touch her like this?

Her hands explored her body as she imagined Tiberius, flesh on flesh, taking his mate as any male would, and leaving her panting and her body alight in the pool of warmth.

She lay there, staring at the wall as her heart and breathing slowed and the jello-feeling of her muscles hardened.

The warm water grew cold before she climbed out of the tub. She felt stronger. Still not back to normal, but strong enough to stand, dry herself off, dress, and carefully walk from the bathroom to the kitchen.

She collapsed in a chair at the table, tired, but satisfied with everything she had accomplished on her own. Slightly out of breath, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was quarter to noon.

Her memory kicked in.

"Oh shit," she exclaimed. "We still have to meet the witch at noon."

"No, you don't," her mother said as she entered the kitchen with a folder and checkbook.

Crystal gave her mother a puzzled look as she took a seat across from her at the table and laid out her papers.

"The raven came again this morning and we postponed your meeting with her."

"Oh." That was a relief.

"And she will be meeting us in the pack land since it will be a little hard for Tiberius to go anywhere in broad daylight outside and not be seen by the humans."

"True," Crystal mumbled, her eyes scanning across the room to the pantry. Her stomach growled.

Her mother rose from her chair. "Hungry? What can I get for you?"

She shook her head. "Nah, Ma, I got it."

Her mother put her hands on her hips. "Cris, while I can appreciate your new-found drive and determination, you're still out of breath. Don't over-exert yourself. What do you want?"

She hung her head at her mother's scolding.

As her mother made her a grilled cheese and ham sandwich, she looked out the sliding back door to the backyard, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tiberius, but couldn't see him.

"Where's Tiberius?"

Ma sighed as she hovered over the stove, her back to Crystal, and didn't immediately respond. When Crystal was about to ask again, her mother said, "He asked for our help."

Crystal's brows furrowed. Her mother was evading the question, and she knew it. "Meaning?"

Another sigh. "You know he's fighting the moon. He needs this."

"Ma. Where is he?" Authority found itself in her voice, drawing her mother's attention with a raised brow.

Crystal stared her mother down as she raked her nails over the table and curled her fingers into fists.

Her mother's eyes narrowed as Crystal straightened her back and raised her chin, studying her over the faint sizzle of the frying pan.

"He's in the holding cells," Ma finally answered.

Crystal shot up from her seat and immediately keeled over and hit the kitchen floor.

"Cris!"

Her mother was at her side in an instant as Crystal tried to pull herself up. She took her arm and helped her up to her chair and Crystal immediately jerked her arm out of her mother's grasp.

She glared up at her. "How could you put him in the holding cells?"

Ma put her hands on her hips. "He asked us to."

A growl rumbled up Crystal's throat as she clenched her hands together on her lap and looked away. She squeezed her eyes shut as she clenched and unclenched her jaw. She pictured him behind bars, holding himself in the darkness. Anger surfaced, bubbling up under her skin and spreading through her veins.

Her mother's hand rested on Crystal's shoulder. "Cris, relax. The moon is affecting you too."

"I want to see him," Crystal asserted.

Her mother gave her shoulder a squeeze. "After you eat your sandwich."

Crystal inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Her mother pulled away and went back to tending to her sandwich before putting it before Crystal on a plate.

One side was slightly burnt but she thanked her mother and ate it without complaint. It was her fault it burned in the first place.

After wolfing the sandwich down, she looked up at her mother sitting across from her with her checkbook and asked, "Can we go now?"

"Are you strong enough to go out to the cells?" Ma asked without looking up and continued to plug numbers into her calculator.

"Um..." Crystal tapped her toes, knowing that she probably wasn't. There were lots of stairs to go down and back up.

Ma jotted down numbers. "There's no rush, Cris. He won't be going anywhere."

Heaving an exasperated sigh, she muttered, "Fine," and eased up from her chair and ambled back to her room, where she pulled out her drawing supplies, propped a pillow up against the wall on her bed, and started sketching.

After an hour, she got up, stretched, and walked around her room. Stronger than before but still not one hundred percent, she went into the bathroom to blow-dry and comb her hair. She pulled it back in a ponytail, brushed her teeth, and put some black eyeliner on. She used to wear dark, heavy eye-makeup in high school and toned it down to just eyeliner when she graduated. Looking down at her eye-makeup pallet, she considered applying other shades of eyeshadow. Maybe burgundy, or dark green? What would Tiberius like?

He wouldn't care, she told herself with a smile and put the makeup away.

She examined the hickey Tiberius gave her, the bruising nearly gone, but it still felt sensitive to touch.

She went back to her room, stretched, and worked on her art for another half hour before she couldn't wait any longer. She marched out into the kitchen, grabbed a drink of water, and caught her mother out in the backyard with the dogs.

"I'm ready, let's go!" she called as she closed the sliding door.

"You sure?" Ma asked as she tossed a tennis ball for the retriever to fetch. Four fluffy five-week-old pups played amongst themselves and some toys nearby while a fifth watched its mother run out, catch the ball, and bring it back.

"Yeah." Crystal asserted as she jogged down the steps of the deck to her mother's side. "Let's go."

Ma sighed, glancing at Crystal and giving her a once over in her T-shirt and shorts before the gold retriever returned with the ball in her mouth, tail wagging. "Alright." She whistled and called the dogs to follow her back to the Nursery, picking up the two pups who ignored her in the process.

Crystal gathered the toys in her arms and followed her mother and the dogs into the kennel.

Once the animals were settled, Crystal and her mother locked up and hopped in the car to go to the community center, where the cells were located underground. On a good day, they would have walked to the community center since it was only a four-minute walk from the house, but Crystal's mother knew she'd be tired later.

Crystal jumped out before her mother could even turn the car off when they arrived and hurried to the entrance of the building, where her father stood waiting.

"Ease up there, Cricket," her father chuckled, standing in her way.

"I'm fine, Dad," she said, pushing past him and pulling one of the double doors open.

"I'm sure you are," he replied, following closely behind her as she marched down the hallway to the staircase, her mother trailing after them. "Just remember that he's in a different state of mind right now."

"I know," she said, adding to herself, And so am I.

She couldn't wait to see him. To touch him. Run her fingers through his thick fur and scratch him behind the ears. Feel his strong arms around her and hold her close. Look into his eyes and feel... everything.

She paused at the top of the stairs and gathered air into her lungs. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the way he held her face in his palms in their dream and kissed her.

Her heart beat harder as she exhaled and opened her eyes before going down the stairs.

'We'll be breaking the curse soon.'

Goddess, I hope so, she thought as she remembered what he had said before he kissed her. She was feeling things she shouldn't feel toward a big hairy beast and if it weren't for the fact that he was her soulmate, she'd cringe. She wished she could turn off the moon's effect on her as well, but she couldn't deny the fact that she missed him and was worried about him.

The community center was the hub of the pack. A large multi-faceted gym occupied the main level while meeting rooms for the higher-ups were on the second floor. A kitchen and communal eating area was the first floor under the gym, followed by a floor of safe rooms for the young, elderly, and pregnant to go during attacks, and below that was the floor with the armory and holding cells for prisoners.

Crystal had never been to the lowest floor before. Only higher-ranking wolves and warriors were allowed down there. She didn't know what to expect when she got there but trusted that Tiberius would be safe, even if it wasn't glamorous.

The temperature dropped a few degrees as she reached the last step. The air was dense with moisture, the concrete walls, floor, and ceiling stretching the length of the level. The hallway opened up to two sets of cells—a wall on the left with completely enclosed cells and the wall on the right lined with bars.

She barely even took a step forward before Tiberius' large body slammed against the bars in the middle of the long hallway. His arm shot out with his claws extended, grasping air, reaching for her. His nostrils flared, teeth bared, a predator on the edge.

Pausing in her tracks, her breath caught as her eyes met his—fully dilated.

His face was cast in shadows as a growl reverberated the stillness and down to the marrow of her bones.

The hairs on her nape stood on end as her heart palpitated.

Her father's hand touched her shoulder. She brushed it off and slowly approached her mate. Her breathing grew shallower as his eyes lured her down the hallway to his cell and out-stretched paw. As she neared, his pupils began to recede from his gray irises and the flaring of his nostrils lessened. He visibly relaxed and stopped growling, but his paw still stretched out for her.

She paused outside of reach, her eyes never leaving his, drawing a whine that squeezed her heart.

She stepped forward into his outstretched paw and he cupped her cheek. Sighing, she closed her eyes and reached up to put her small hand on the back of his larger paw.

"I missed you," she whispered as she closed the distance between them and leaned against the cell bars.

He slipped his arms out and looped them around her as he bent forward to touch his forehead against hers. His throat rumbled as she reached up through the bars with both hands and brushed her fingers through his fur, from his head and down his neck.

She heard her parents whispering behind her, but couldn't make out the words. She didn't care what they said. She felt better in Tiberius' arms, even if there were bars between them. His musk was worse in the heavy damp air, but she breathed through her mouth and focused her attention on the swelling of emotions in her heart.

She never felt this way about anyone and prayed that it wasn't because of the new moon playing games with the dormant part of her. Wolf or not, she wanted this male, needed this male—maybe even loved this male.

His throat rumbled and purred as he nuzzled her and lick her shoulder, neck, and cheek. His affections warmed her, stirring the emotions that bubbled and swirled within. She couldn't stop running her fingers through his fur, petting and stroking him as she spoke softly.

She told him about her morning, the refusal of help and struggle against the female she used to be.

"I can't wait for the new moon to pass," she whispered. She glanced over her shoulder at her father sitting at the foot of the stairs, her mother gone, and turned her attention back to him. She traced her fingers over the scars on his face. "I hate seeing you here. I know you just want to protect me, but I really hate this."

She wanted to go back to the way things were. To the way he held her, gave her his full attention, showered her with affection, and encouraged her to be more than she was.

Or did she?

Things had been changing in the days to pass since meeting him. Her feelings changed. Her needs and wants changed.

She wanted more than that.

She wanted to be free. To break the curse. To be able to touch, hold, and kiss him in human form.

Why lie? she asked herself. I want you, need you, the way a female wants and needs her mate.

She took his head in her hands and kissed the top of his head.

My mate.

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*Copyright Jo Lee Hunt (Joflower) 2018*