Penny hadn’t even been in town a week when she had realized that she had made a grave mistake. Her Iowa farm had been home to her and her mother, the two of them practically alone for acres and acres. Chicago had been vastly different; bodies practically atop bodies and perhaps a few more vampires than she had ever wanted to deal with, but they never bothered her and she never bothered them. Chicago had also had Oliver.
Penny trudged through the wooded areas around the town, looking for a place to shift. Growing up, Penny’s mother had only ever told her to shift during the full moon — that shifting at will was far too dangerous — but that was exactly how Penny had wanted to live her life now. She knew Oliver wouldn’t find her any time soon, if ever. If there was one thing Penny had stressed during their relationship, it was that she valued snow far too much to ever want to move south.
And yet, here she was. 80 fucking degrees on a fall day and the town acted as though hell had froze over. Her jeans and scarves were furious with her, but in her angry, scared haze while packing and especially when picking a random flight, Penny had been wildly unprepared for everything.
Oxford smelled familiar, however; like an old friend. A place she was supposed to be, though she couldn’t really figure out why. Her motel room may or may not have had blood stains on the other side of the mattress and she worked with two extremely old ladies who appeared to be one smoker’s cough away from death. Finding a place to shift, at this point, was absolutely essential.
She stopped along a brush of bushes, removing her cardigan and folding it neatly before moving to the button of her shorts — when she stopped abruptly. That familiar smell seemed to be moving in closer; her ears practically tilting towards the noise and she remained deathly still. It was an animal, right? A vampire wouldn’t have been out during the day, and her brained wracked at the possibility of Sasquatch because maybe southerners weren’t all that crazy after all if they believed in Sasquatch when vampires and the like we’re clearly real as well, but then she saw it: a wolf. Penny’s eyes narrowed.
She hadn’t been expecting it to shift. Nor had she been expecting it to shift into… That.
She gasped — loudly — and clutched her cardigan to her chest, her eyes wide as saucers as they moved from his face, down south over the rest of his, ahem, parts, and then back up to his face. She sucked in a breath and held her hand out to cover his lower half from her gaze, not trusting her wandering eyes — which was when she then actually began to focus on his actual words.
She didn’t speak at first, mouth opening and closing not unlike a fish as she stared at him. He was a wolf. There were other wolves around here. He was so very naked. “I—” Penny gasped out finally, swallowing a lump in her throat as she dropped her hand and shut her eyes. “I’m sorry, I can’t — did you just say ‘wolves?’ Like more than one? More than — more than just you and me?”
Penny’s eyes opened, trying to remain on his face. “I looked down,” she blurted out quickly. “You just kind of sprung up on me. I mean snuck up, not sprung, nothing sprung,” she rambled, cheeks reddening. “I don’t — I can’t really focus. You’re super naked right now. Very… muscles and masculine and…” Penny slammed her eyes shut once more. “Do you have pants?” she asked stupidly, covering her face in her hands.
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