She undressed us both. She did it slowly. Neither of us moved. We let her take the lead. She had us stand side by side and then she dropped to her knees. She took turns blowing us. When she blew me, she held Jules in her hand and stroked him firmly. Her coordination was nothing short of impressive. We had to stand close for her to be able to touch both of us at the same time. Really close. My arm was pressed up against his. His skin was hot. Hotter than hers. I could feel the hair on his forearm brush up against my skin. It agitated me. It made me feel wild, too. It made me feel even wilder than Sandy. It was one hell of a night. It was by far the best night I’d had since Storm left. By the marked improvement in Jules’s mood, it was the best night he’d had in a while, too.

Jules and I never spoke about it exactly. It’s not like we plotted or planned for it to happen. It wasn’t a deliberate decision or anything like that; it was just that over the next few months, more often than not, when we went out we ended up sharing a woman between us.

12. Twelve

12

By the time summer rolled around at the end of third year, I was having shifting dreams almost every night. Sometimes they were easy to shake, and other times they stayed with me all day. I thought constantly about what Storm said about our pack and Dalton messing with our magick. I’d turned twenty-one by then, and when I wasn’t horny or angry, I was riddled with anxiety.

“Do you ever worry about the fact we haven’t shifted yet?” I asked Jules when I couldn’t take the stress of keeping it in any longer. It was a sultry night and we were at the creek, sitting and sweating under the willow tree.

“Nah,” he said, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. “Why would I?”

“Because we’re both twenty-one now. Twenty is the usual age for our pack to have their first shift and that’s really late compared to other packs. Don’t you ever worry that our pack hasn’t bred since we were born and now we’re not shifting? Maybe Storm was right. Maybe our magick is getting fucked? Have you ever thought about that?”

“Nah, I’ve never thought about that. Don’t need to. I know why I haven’t shifted yet.”

“Why haven’t you shifted?” I couldn’t imagine a single reason on earth why anyone would stay in this awful limbo one second longer than they needed to.

“’Cause I’m waiting for you, dumbass.”

I was quiet for a long while after that. Eventually, Jules said, “Come on, I’ll push you on the swing.”