01 - Chapter One - Cora Bradley's Point Of View.

If you would have told me, I would have loaded a fully awake, cast covered wolf into my car, drove him back to my house, and let him up on my couch to sleep, I would have said you were nuts, but here we were.

The wolf glared at me from the couch.

"You need to eat the dog food. It's all I have and you need to eat it."

I swore the wolf rolled his eyes at me before looking right at my fridge. There was no way I was about to hand feed the wolf food out of my fridge, like what the hell would he want in there anyway, a damn sandwich? I sighed and walked to the fridge to see what was inside. There was plenty of food in it, but I wasn't sure what I should try to feed him.

"Do you like veggies? I'm sure you do not know what I mean. You have probably never had a veggie in your life. After all, you are a meat-eater."

Eyeing the pack of lunch meat and pepperonis in the fridge, I grabbed them. Oh well, I could buy more at some point later if I had to. What was more important was making sure my wolf friend was full, so he didn't eat me.

"I have pepperoni and lunch meat. Hopefully, that is enough for you."

Bringing it over to the couch, I got as close as I could without him growling at me and ripped open the packages and broke the sticks and slices down so he wouldn't have any issues eating them. I carefully slid a little closer so that I could put the meat on the couch cushion without getting bit.

After watching him eat it all, I yawned just dreaming about my bed at that moment.

"I'll be in this room over here. If you have to do bathroom things, just don't do it on my couch, please."

Yawning again, I made my way to my room. I still had to shower and wash my hair. It had been a while since I had. Closing the bedroom door slightly, I headed to the closet to grab my housecoat and so I could change into it after stripping down.

Peeling the scrubs off my skin, I sighed in relief. It had been such a long day and her friend made it even longer on the couch. My stomach growled, and I ignored it. Food was low on my list of priorities. A shower was something I needed now. Covering up with the housecoat, I made my way across the hall to the bathroom.

After turning the water on full blast, I went to check on the wolf quickly. He had his face resting on his front paws, and I could see where he had been already chewing on the cast. And it made me sigh. I was going to have to watch him, making sure he didn't completely eat the covering off his leg. He didn't even stir a little.

Manoeuvring back to the bathroom, I left the door open slightly to hear the wolf if he cried or whimpered at all. Looking down at my pale leg, I was glad I was nearly hairless. My hair was so fine and light that I didn't have to shave them. My arm and underarm hair were much the same as my legs. Taking off the housecoat, I stepped into the heat of the water, spraying from the shower. It was a rain style shower head and made every shower feel ideal.

I would have stayed there if I wasn't as tired as I was right now. Honestly, I felt less than alive tonight. It took everything in me to wash my damn hair. I should have cut it before it got to the length it was now. But I didn't know how short hair would look on me, so I didn't bother.

After finishing up everything I needed to do in the shower, I stepped out and grabbed my housecoat, pulling it on and regretting it the moment the soft silk stuck to my skin. This sucked.

I wrapped a towel around my hair and made sure I properly tied my housecoat before leaving the bathroom. The Wolf lifted his head to look at me as I passed from the bathroom to the bedroom. He didn't make moves to get off the couch, he just looked at me. I was slightly worried he might be uncomfortable on the couch and thought about moving him to the guest room, but I didn't want him to try to eat me.

Shaking off that bad idea, I peeked down the hall from the bedroom at him once more before flicking off the light in my bedroom and running to climb into bed. I was positive I would hear him hit the floor if he tried to get to the bedroom, so I didn't bother to shut the door in case he needed me. I understood it was a wild wolf, but still.

The feeling of the cold sheets made me sigh in content. It felt so nice to have this feeling. Slipping out of the bed, I went and opened the window to make sure I would still have the amazingly chilly breeze blowing in. Slipping back into bed, it wasn't long before I closed my eyes and burrowed into the blankets.

The sound of glass shattering woke me up. Leaping out of the bed, I forgot I was only in my housecoat as it was messed up dangling off me. Fixing the housecoat, I peeked around the door. There was a man in just shorts, cleaning pieces of what looked like my vase off the floor.

He limped slightly, his injuries in all the same places as the wolf who had been on her couch. I felt my heart race as I thought about the possibility that this man in my home was a shapeshifter. I had let him into my house and thought he was just a regular wolf. This explained his mild injuries after all that.

I couldn't help but think about how I had found out about shifters. I had been a teenager when I saw him. A wolf, change into a man. He had been the most stunning creature I had ever seen, but also the most terrifying. But we had become friends. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I stepped out into the hall. This caused him to look up.

"Ah fuck." He groaned.

I just watched him as he stopped cleaning his mess and I spotted the cast on the ground where it had been chewed off.

"I will not hurt you." He whispered, suddenly.

I should have just nodded, but I didn't. I spoke.

"I know what you are."

The man's whole demeanour changed in that second.

"I don't know that you think—-"

"You are a shifter."

"Just how the fuck do you know that?"

I felt my throat close up; I could not tell him how I knew that. How was I going to tell him he was not the first wolf I had ever seen? It had been years since I had seen Zack in the forest change into a man from a wolf. It was something that wasn't ever really witnessed by humans, and I knew that.

"You... are not the first shifter I've seen." I said finally, Pushing off the uncomfortable feeling that this was not safe. I knew this. Zack would kill me for this.

I felt underdressed to have his eyes on me as he gazed at me. He got closer now, way closer than I would have liked. He was still limping, and I was worried about his injuries now, seeing him limp up close. I knew from Zack that wolves healed faster than humans, but they, too, could overdo it really easily when healing.

"Your limping, you really shouldn't be walking, you had——"

"I am fine."

"Look, I know nothing about shifters really, but your injuries were bad. You need to stay off that leg, or rather go to the hospital and have a real doctor look over your wounds."

"Sit down. Tell me how you know about shifters now."

I didn't really feel like sitting down or even telling him about how I knew. It wasn't much of his business at all. But I wasn't about to actually say that to him. He was way stronger and powerful than I was. I also didn't feel comfortable sharing information about Zack with him.

"Look, I said sit down. Just do it."

I blinked once before taking a few steps closer to him and placing my hand on my hip.

"Look here, You have no right to tell me what to do, And frankly I don't care to tell you how I know about wolves and such."

"I just wanted to know why you weren't freaked out about me being here."

"Look, You are not the first wolf I've seen. I have a friend whom I've known for many years. He was the first I ever saw."

"But he is not your mate?"

I knew that word from Zack; he had explained it to me after he met Marcie one night at a bar when they had all gone drinking to celebrate me opening my practice. But that had been a few years back. Even with Zack only living less than twenty minutes away, they were both so busy it had been a few weeks since they had seen each other. But no doubt he would make sure she was solid. He always had.

"No, He isn't my mate, more like my older brother."

The wolf looked conflicted about the information he got. He was limping more and more with each step he took, and I was becoming more worried.

"Please, sit down or go lay down in the guest room."

"No. I'm fine."

"You really aren't."

"I am."

"Then if you are fine, why haven't you left yet?"

"I can't."

"And why not?"

"I am in far too rough of shape to try to shift without it hurting impossibly."

"Why did you shift out of your wolf's form, to begin with?"

"I was ruining your couch with my claws."

"Let me help you to the guest room, and in the actual morning, when it is not four in the morning, we can figure something out."

"Just show me where it is."

"Why are you against me helping you? You let me help you earlier."

"Pardon me for my words, but you had a lot more clothing on then. I would hate for you to have an accident in just that."

Looking down, he was right. One wrong move and he would see every damn thing I had underneath. Sighing, I pointed to the spare bedroom door and waited for him to get to the room and shut the door before heading back to my room. The rest of the vase could wait till the morning. However, texting, Zack couldn't wait until then.