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Josh, what will I look like? I asked quietly as he lay on top of me, still in the
afterglow of our lovemaking.
I have no idea. You can t tell that from someone s human appearance. Well, except
that you ll be a smaller wolf than I am. Human body size does determine the size of your
wolf body. Other than that, we ll just have to wait and find out.
Will I still know you? Will I still love you?
Of course, babe. Remember those nights when I would sit with you and kiss you?
You mean lick my face with that big old sloppy tongue of yours?
Well, you could put it that way. Don t forget, you re going to have a big old sloppy
tongue soon.
Is it scary the first time?
Don t worry. I ll be right there with you. I ll see you through it. And then we re going
to run through the woods and have a glorious time! Trust me. I can t wait. I ve been so alone
out there, wanting you with me.
Uhh& have you ever& well& been with another wolf?
No. There was only one other gay Were in the pack but we didn t hit it off too well.
He was an Alpha, too. Neither one of us would ever submit to the other.
Hmm. I guess that could be a problem.
But he was going with another guy, anyway, who was not a were. Last I knew, they
were pretty happy together. That s at least what he told me. I never met his lover.
I looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost eight.
Aren t you going to work?
Nope. I m on the afternoon shift today.
Well, then I think you and I should go into town and have breakfast at the diner.
Wanda asked me to bring you in next time.
Oh, God! You didn t tell Wanda about us, did you? She s just about the biggest gossip
in town.
Second Time Around 83
Second biggest. Your mom is the first. She s the one who told Wanda and Wanda told
me.
I might have known. Josh groaned. Now you know why I never told her I was a
were.
We did go to the diner for breakfast and Wanda was thrilled to see us together. It
seemed strange to me that someone who isn t gay would be supportive of our relationship
but, perhaps, I d lived too long in the gay ghetto of San Francisco. Maybe there had been
more changes in the rest of the country than I realized. Or maybe, there had always been
people who saw love as something to support, no matter who it was. I wondered if that
boded well for younger gay couples like Pete and Rich. Already they were light-years ahead
of where Josh and I were when we were their age. I certainly prayed it did. Who knew?
Maybe Pete and Rich would actually be able to get legally married some day and have their
relationship recognized by society-at-large. I just hoped that most people in Star Harbor
could accept Josh and me. Especially since Josh was supposed to take over as the Chief of
Police.
After breakfast, I headed over to the shop and Josh went back home. He had things he
wanted to do before he was due at work. I was busy in the store all day, especially
considering that I was closed the day before. A lot of people, thankfully, came back who had
seen the sign on the door. They all asked if I was okay. It was funny. I used the bite on my
leg as my excuse, saying I had hurt myself and that I d gone to my doctor in Seattle. A lot
of residents on the island have specialists in Seattle they see so this wasn t an outlandish
notion.
When the boys came in, Pete and Rich were very worried about me. I explained that I
had injured myself but that I was going to be just fine. They were especially grateful to learn
that I was paying them for the lost day since it wasn t their fault.
Toward the end of the day, however, I did start to feel unwell. I had the very
symptoms that Josh had warned me about. I felt feverish and achy and vowed that I was to
go home, make some hot tea, and curl up on the couch with a blanket and a good book.
That s precisely where and how Josh found me when he got home after his shift. For
once, I really appreciated his carrying me up to bed. He didn t even try to make love to me,
knowing exactly what I was feeling like. He did change the bandages on my leg and showed
me how quickly the puncture wounds were healing. He told me this was a sure sign that
the effect was taking place. He told me that once I was fully were, I would heal from wounds
like that in a matter of minutes, not hours or days.
I curled up in Josh s arms, warm, content and feeling loved and cared for in a way that
I d never felt in my life, except for when I was very little and my parents were still alive. If
this was what life was going to be like with Josh, then I was more than ready to spend the
next possibly two hundred plus years of my life with him.
84 Bobby Michaels
Chapter Eleven
I m not sure when it was, sometime in the middle of the night, when I woke up feeling
sicker than I ever could remember feeling in my life. I threw off the covers because I was so
hot, I felt like I could burst into flames at any moment. The only thing was, the minute I did
that, I suddenly got so chilled I began shivering so hard my teeth were chattering and I
couldn t stop.
Josh, who was asleep next to me, was awakened by my movements of throwing off the
covers and then pulling them back over me again. He had been sleeping turned on his side
away from me but now he turned over and rose up.
What s the matter, babe? he asked with concern in his voice.
I don t know. One minute I m hot and the next I m freezing.
Josh reached over and felt my cheek with the back of his hand.
Holy shit! You re burning up! he exclaimed, quickly turning on the bedside lamp and
getting up from the bed.
He went into the bathroom and returned with a small, battery-powered thermometer
which he stuck in my mouth. Within a minute, the device softly began beeping. Josh pulled
it out of my mouth and looked at it.
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