Chapter 33: Big Bad Wolf
The moment we crossed the treeline, Leah stopped walking and turned toward me with this fire-in-her-eyes look that made my pulse jump to critical levels. I raised an eyebrow, pretending to be confused even though I absolutely knew what she wanted.
"What?" I asked. "Just how eager are you to see me naked?"
I was expecting teasing. I was expecting sarcasm. I was not expecting her to answer without hesitation: "Very much. Now off with those clothes."
I blinked in surprise. My brain did a full reboot while she just stood there, arms crossed, looking like a very bossy, very beautiful general issuing orders.
"Uh, yeah, just… let me go behind a tree."
"Nope." She stepped closer, smirking. "Come on, what are you ashamed of?"
"What am I? Leah, Jesus." I dragged a hand down my face, then took a deep steadying breath. "You're right. I have nothing to be ashamed of."
Then I pointed at her. "Now would you please turn around?"
But she didn't. Not even a twitch.
Just one eyebrow raised. A silent dare.
I deflated. "Well… I tried."
I turned my back to her and pulled off my T-shirt, and right on cue, she complained.
"Oh come on, seriously? You turn around?"
I looked back over my shoulder. "You did the same thing earlier!"
"That's different," she said, hands on her hips.
"How?" I demanded.
"Because I said so."
I groaned loudly and kicked off my sneakers. Then, after stalling as long as I possibly could, I pushed my shorts and boxers down in one go and stepped out of them, now officially in the most vulnerable position a guy could possibly be in while standing in the woods with his insanely hot girlfriend staring holes into his spine.
"Okay," I said, voice embarrassingly squeaky. "All done."
"Turn around."
"Nope, not happening."
"Mike," she said sweetly. Too sweetly. "If you turn around, I'll pay you back next time."
My shame didn't stand a chance. Horniness steamrolled it instantly.
I spun so fast I probably looked like a faulty ceiling fan. "You'd better pay up."
Her eyes dropped, traveling slowly down my body and back up again. The approval in her expression hit me like a physical shove. She looked like she was trying very hard not to drool.
I couldn't help it and preened. Full on peacock mode.
"Like what you see?"
"Mommy likes," she said, completely unashamed, her voice low and appreciative.
I felt my soul leave my body for a moment.
"Well," I said, trying and failing to sound smooth, "I'm gonna shift now. So maybe take a few steps back."
"Five more minutes," she said instantly.
I snorted. "Yeah, that's not happening."
When she still didn't move, I sighed dramatically, took about ten steps backward myself, and closed my eyes. The shift came instantly, fire roaring up my spine, bones stretching, muscles expanding, the world sharpening into something bright and wild. When I opened my eyes again, everything seemed smaller.
Especially Leah.
She stood frozen, head tilted back, staring up at me like she'd just discovered a new species of dinosaur.
"Holy…" Her jaw dropped. "Mike, when you said big wolf, I thought you meant like… I don't know, the size of a pony. Not a damn house!"
I chuffed in amusement, stepping closer to her, but the moment I did, she took a reflexive step back, making me freeze mid-stride.
Then, unable to help myself, I released a soft, high whine and lowered my ears. I probably looked like a giant, depressed Samoyed.
Leah blinked… then broke into a laugh. "Oh my God, come here, you big lug."
Relief washed through me. I padded forward, slow and careful, then lowered myself onto my stomach, stretching my front legs out so she could reach my head.
The second her hand touched my fur in a warm, gentle way, threading through the thick ruff around my ears, I melted. Fully, and completely melted. Tail wagging so hard leaves kicked up behind me.
She let out a breathy laugh. "I can't believe this. You're enormous… and completely adorable."
I pressed my huge head into her stomach, rumbling happily.
If wolves could blush, I was definitely doing it.
And if I'd ever doubted whether she'd accept this part of me…
Well, her smile as she scratched behind my ears answered that loud and clear.
…
After a good five minutes of melting under Leah's hands, honestly, I'd decided right then that I was definitely dying first in our relationship, because there's no way I could live without those rubs and scratches. I let out an involuntary whine the moment her fingers stopped. She chuckled, and somehow that sound stabbed me right through my fluffy, oversized heart.
"I want to ride you now," she announced.
If I'd been a normal sized wolf, I probably would've perked up. As it was, I practically levitated. My tail went berserk, whipping back and forth so fast it probably created a small weather event.
I lumbered up, presenting my back like a very enthusiastic, overgrown horse. Leah climbed up with a little grunt and some shuffling, because again, I was stupidly large even while lying down, and I twisted my head around to check if she was stable. She found a handful of thick white fur, nodded, and I rose to my full height.
"Onwards, my steed!" she declared, pointing into the trees like she was leading a cavalry charge.
I gave her the wolf equivalent of a deadpan stare, but she obviously did not care as she kept urging me on with her legs.
So I huffed a long breath through my nose and obeyed, easing into a light trot. A very light trot, because if I did anything more than that, she'd go flying like a rider launched from a malfunctioning carnival ride. Even so, the ground blurred beneath us at around fifty miles per hour.
Leah whooped behind me, laughter trailing in the wind as she gripped my fur. The sound made something warm spread through my chest. I trotted deeper into the forest, curious, exploring. This side of the woods was new to me, and with Leah's excitement buzzing through our strange little bubble of silence, everything felt… better.
"I wish I could turn into a wolf too," she called over the wind. "Then we could run together."
Her words hit me harder than they should have. Because I knew that she's supposed to. Next year in fact, along with Seth. But I didn't know if my presence here messed with the timeline. And I wasn't sure which version of Leah Clearwater fate planned to follow.
Movie version? She phases after Harry dies of a heart attack caused by Victoria.
Book version? Her phasing triggers Harry's heart attack, and she blames herself for "killing her dad."
Either one?
Definitely not happening, not on my watch.
I kept moving, but a new smell tickled my nose; sharp, territorial, aggressively familiar. Someone had marked the area. And it definitely wasn't a wild animal. It was one of the other shifters.
The scent annoyed me instantly. I didn't even think about it, didn't analyze or second-guess. Wolf brain took the wheel.
I strutted right up to the marked tree, lifted a leg, and absolutely obliterated the scent with my own.
My territory now.
I felt very smug about it.
"Mike!" Leah's voice cracked with this perfect blend of exasperation, disbelief, and helpless amusement.
I let my leg drop and glanced back at her, tail giving one unapologetic wag.
What? He started it.
…
I kept trotting through the woods like the world's largest, fluffiest vandal, stopping every few miles to claim yet another tree. Leah just shook her head every time, half amused, half exasperated.
"You're unbelievable," she'd mutter, and yet, she never told me to stop. So obviously, I took that as permission.
But apparently someone disagreed.
I heard him long before I saw him, heavy paws pounding the dirt, breath huffing, heartbeat thundering. The scent drifting toward us was the same one I'd been happily overwriting since we entered this part of the forest.
One of my ears flicked up the moment he was within range. I stepped sideways, and a grey wolf shot past me, jaws snapping on empty air.
He landed, spun, and faced me, growling loud enough to make the birds scatter.
He was big, about the size of a small horse.
But compared to me?
Yeah. That was a yappy puppy who needed a nap.
If my memory of the pack was right, this had to be Paul. Sam was pitch-black and way more controlled, Jared was calmer, and he wasn't the charge-first-ask-later type. Paul fit the attitude like a glove.
And considering Leah was on my back when he launched that little ambush?
Yeah, I was definitely not thrilled.
I kept one eye on brat-wolf and turned my head toward Leah. But contrary to expectation, she wasn't scared at all, she was just pissed. Her fingers tightened in my fur.
"Beat his ass," she ordered. "Don't worry about me."
Paul must've thought I was distracted, because he lunged for my throat with everything he had.
Bad move.
I saw it coming a mile away, lifted one paw and swatted him.
It was gentle by my standards.
But by his?
He went airborne, crashed into a massive tree with a sound like a car wreck, and the whole thing toppled over on top of him in a spray of leaves and bark.
I winced internally.
…Okay, maybe that was a little more than a swat.
Paul crawled out from under the fallen tree, staggering, shaking off debris, looking furious and confused in equal measure.
Leah whooped from my back, raising one fist like she was cheering at a boxing match.
"That's my wolf!" she called, absolutely unbothered. And honestly? With her laughing behind me and Paul glaring at me like a chihuahua who just realized he tried to fight a polar bear…
I felt invincible.
Paul looked torn between trying again and running for the hills. His growling faltered, ears flicking back, and then suddenly he froze, stiffening like a pet dog who'd just been caught chewing on the couch cushion.
I smelled why before they appeared.
Two new wolf scents moved through the forest toward us, fast and purposeful. The first shape to break through the trees was a dark grey wolf with almost-black paws, just a bit leaner than Paul. This was definitely Jared.
Right behind him came a pitch-black wolf, larger than both by half a head. Sam Uley, their alpha.
They lined up in formation across from me: Sam in front, Jared at his right, Paul on the left but a half-step behind, clearly the lowest-ranked of the trio.
I thought for a moment, then tried something on instinct, pushing my thoughts outward, the way the Twilight wolves communicated.
But I got nothing, just silence bouncing back at me.
Yeah. Not part of their pack. I wasn't even on their network.
Sam's eyes locked onto Leah sitting on my back, and he froze like I'd just sprouted a second head. I could practically feel his brain stalling. Then, as if remembering the situation, he trotted behind a tree and reappeared a moment later in just a pair of shorts.
I debated shifting back too, right up until I remembered I hadn't brought a single piece of clothing with me.
Yeah. Hard pass. Leah could handle the talking. Hell, she could handle pretty much anything.
Leah's breath hitched softly behind my ears, surprised, but not scared, to see her ex standing there in wolf form moments ago. And honestly, once she thought about it, I could see it click into place for her. Sam's sudden growth spurt, his disappearance, the way he'd come back different.
"Sam," she said in a neutral tone that made it very clear she didn't care about him anymore.
"Leah…" Sam's voice was complicated, tangled, maybe even guilty. Then he forced himself back to business. "Who is the wolf you're riding?"
"My boyfriend," Leah said simply.
Sam blinked.
Then he steadied himself. "So you're his imprint?"
"No," Leah said. "He imprinted on someone else."
Sam's jaw actually dropped. I didn't know alphas could look that stunned.
"But… then why are you with him?" he asked, as if she'd just confessed she enjoyed licking batteries for fun.
Leah rolled her eyes so hard I felt the air move. "Because we love each other. Duh."
Sam looked legitimately shaken. Like that one sentence had pulled the rug out from under years of beliefs. I could practically see the moment he questioned everything about the whole imprint-Emily-Leah disaster.
But he shoved it aside, clearing his throat. Focus mode activated.
He looked at me, towering and fluffy. "Can he shift back so we can talk?"
"Nope," Leah said before I even needed to. "He didn't bring clothes. So I'll speak for him."
I dipped my massive head as if to say, "what she said."
Sam composed himself again. "He's… not part of the pack. That's never happened before. Any wolf who phases automatically joins us."
Leah's brow furrowed. "Maybe because he's not fully Quileute? He has Quileute blood, but it's from his great-grandmother. And he lives in Forks. Maybe that matters?"
Sam mulled it over. "It might."
Then he nodded at the still-wobbling grey wolf behind him. "And I'm sorry about Paul's behavior."
Leah blinked. "That's Paul?" She looked him up and down. "Damn. I should've told Mike to hit him harder."
Paul growled angrily.
Sam opened his mouth, probably to scold him, but I beat him to it.
I let out a deep, thunderous growl, the kind that vibrated through the soil and rustled the leaves overhead. Paul shrank immediately, tail drooping. Even Jared and Sam flinched back a step before they caught themselves.
Good.
Let them understand the size difference.
Let them understand Leah was mine to protect.
…
Sam took a steadying breath, shoulders squaring in that classic "I'm-the-alpha-here" posture.
"This area is pack territory," he said, voice firm. "If he's not part of the pack, he needs to leave."
A growl stirred in my chest before I could stop it, but Leah beat me to speaking.
"So what?" she shot back, arms crossing. "This is my home too. I can invite whoever I want. You don't get to tell me who I can or can't bring."
Sam blinked, thrown off by how fast, and how fiercely, she countered him. "Leah… this is different. It's a wolf thing…"
"No," she cut in. "It's you trying to pull rank. And it's not working."
Damn, I loved her.
Sam hesitated, his jaw tightening. Then, realizing he wasn't going to win this head-on, he took a small step back and softened his tone.
"Alright," he said carefully. "He can stay. As long as he doesn't cause any trouble."
Leah raised a brow, unimpressed.
Sam exhaled. "…But please tell him to stop marking the territory as his."
Leah snorted, actually snorted, and looked down at me with an incredulous grin. "Hear that, Mike? You'll have to stop peeing in their backyard."
I turned my giant head toward her and let out the most dramatic, sorrowful wolf-whine I could muster.
"But I still have a lot more to pee," I tried to convey with every pathetic inch of my body.
She burst out laughing, nearly sliding off my back. Even Jared looked like he was fighting a smile. Paul, still sulking next to a fallen tree, did not.
Leah wiped a tear from her eye and turned back to Sam. "If that's all, we're going back."
Sam looked like he had something else burning a hole in his throat; questions, warnings, maybe guilt, but after a moment, he swallowed it down. Not the time. Not the place.
"…Let's go," he finally said to Jared and Paul.
He went to shift back and the three wolves turned and retreated into the trees, leaving me and Leah alone again in the quiet forest, her hand buried in my fur, my tail thumping the ground despite everything.
"That was so satisfying", she said happily.
Yeah.
I completely agree.
…
(Support with power stones, comments and stuff, you can make suggestions or whatever comes to your mind. This chapter took way longer to write than I thought... And I still have to write the chapter for my other fanfic 🥲. 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🎶🎶🎶)
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