I remained still for a moment, studying my parents’ house.My mom’s housenow.
“Jo?” Wes used that same tone he’d used outside the funeral home. Something uncertain.
“Mm?”
Somehow, his uncertainty made me apprehensive.
“Do you feel like a run?”
I looked around again at all of the cars parked in my parents’ driveway. It was definitely going to take a while to think of the house as only my mom’s. “What? Here?”
He grinned, the easy expression familiar. “Well, duh.” Then he swayed against me, nudging me gently with his shoulder. “Yes, honey.” His voice was soft. “Do you want to run for your dad?”
“I need to take my car to Clover’s.” It was just an excuse.
“We’ll come back.” His reply was quick and hard to argue with.
It had been a long time since I’d shifted. I just didn’t need to, and I was still so ashamed of that side of myself after Ingrid. Part of withdrawing from Dad’s company was withdrawing from that part of myself. I just wanted to be normal.
“I think you need it,” Wes said, his eyes kind but his voice firm. He shrugged. “Come on. What have you got to lose? Do you even remember the feeling of wind through your fur as you run?”
I shivered a little at his words. “I do remember that.” And I missed it, though I rarely admitted that to myself.
“Then come on!” He grabbed my hand and led me around the building before he shifted effortlessly into his wolf.
He made it look so easy, like he was just changing his clothes. It was almost as though his entire being was liquid, molding into a new form.
I bit my lip. “Here?” I murmured. “Like, in front of you?”
Wes’s tongue lolled out, and I would have sworn he was laughing at me.
“Careful.” I shook my finger in mock admonishment. “I can still fire you.”
I turned my back to him, and he yipped like he was laughing again. “Hey, be a gentleman.” But I was half-laughing. It was dumb to feel so awkward.
I focused and reached for my wolf. She was still there, but so quiet these days. It had been such a long time since I’d let her out.
I tugged on her, and she resisted at first, but eventually, she responded, and I tensed at the ache of my limbs and joints as they flexed and twisted. This should have been as easy as Wes had made it look, but I was out of practice.
I stood on all fours, looking at the world from an unfamiliar vantage point, but there was something exciting about returning to it. Adrenaline started to thrum though me as I padded toward Wes and nudged him with my nose. His fur was soft, and it tickled.
He turned to me and grinned again, the effect comical on his wolf face.
He nodded. “Ready?” Anyone else would have heard a single bark, but we could communicate with each other as wolves.
He took off, and before I even thought about it, I was right on his heels, almost nipping at them as sudden excitement to be wild again overtook me. Like this, my grief was different. I offered it to the wind and nature, and I started to let go.
We ran for miles. I barked my glee at the grass and dirt under my feet, and the connection I felt with everything so much older than me.
It comforted me in a way I hadn’t discovered in my human form.
There was a house in the distance and the Novelli river somewhere nearby. I could smell it, the freshwater scent lingering in the air, making each breath I drew a little damp.
I slowed to a stop and Wes glanced over his shoulder as if sensing my loss from behind him. He turned and looped back.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Are we on someone’s land?” Trespassing felt wrong, no matter my form.