Page 21 of First Love

My wolf erupted from me, and I launched myself over the kitchen island, claws extended and jaws wide open. I moved so fast I caught the intruder off guard. He stumbled back, squeezing off another shot that hit the wall behind me. Guess he did have silver bullets in there if he was shooting at me.

The metallic tang of Jasper’s blood hit my nose, fueling a rage inside me that had me lunging for the guy’s throat. My teeth sunk into his flesh and I brought him down to the ground with one powerful yank. His gun fell from his hand as his body slammed onto wood flooring. The crack of his skull was so satisfying.

He struggled against me, trying to shift, but my jaws were locked on him. I held on, dodging some of the blows he tried to deliver with his fists, absorbing the impact of the other attempts. His fight became less animated the longer I squeezed his neck between my teeth.

Then he didn’t move at all.

I released my hold on him and shifted back to human then checked him for a pulse.

Nothing.

“That’s for my pack,” I said. “For my uncle, you fucking prick. For Jasper.”

I rounded the kitchen island and dropped to my knees beside Jasper. His eyes were open, but shock and confusion and pain swirled in their dark depths.

“What . . .” His face contorted as his hands grabbed at his bloody chest. His gaze dropped to my now naked body, my tank top and underwear shredded from my shift.

“Let me see your wound.” I pulled his hands from his chest, and the gaping hole that stared back made me roar.

“What are you?” Jasper managed around gasps for air. One of his lungs was probably hit by the bullet.

“I’m Amelia,” I said. “The same one you knew a few minutes ago, but with an added feature.”

I expected him to tell me to get the hell away from him. To refuse my touch. To call me a monster. To make his last words ones of fear over what I was.

“You’re . . . beautiful,” he whispered instead.

My eyes instantly stung. This wonderful human had been shot because of me, and he was accepting me for what I was? Unbelievable.

He reached up a bloodied hand and fingered my hair that dangled over him. “So many times . . .” He coughed, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth, his nose. “I wished . . . for the werewolf books I read . . . to be . . . true.” His eyes squeezed shut for a moment and when they opened again, I could tell he didn’t see me anymore. “And here you . . . are.” Jasper’s hand dropped to the floor, his eyes closing again, and another cough made blood gurgle in his throat.

My werewolf ears could hear his heartbeat slowing. Jasper was about to die right here on his kitchen floor because of me.

Fuck no.

“Jasper.” I cupped his face in my hands. “Jasper, open your eyes.”

His eyes fluttered open, but he didn’t focus on my face. His blood had pooled enough around his body that it slicked my knees where I kneeled beside him.

“Jasper, look at me.”

It took great effort, but he managed to connect with my gaze.

“Do you want to live? Do you want to be like me?” I shook his shoulders when his eyes closed again, his chest barely rising and falling. “Jasper, do you want to be like me?”

I waited a few seconds, but he’d passed out. His heart still beat and he was breathing but barely on both accounts. That hole in this chest was full of blood and a 9-1-1 call wasn’t going to save him.

Only I could save him.

I bit my own wrist, letting blood well up, then I turned my wrist so the blood would drop into Jasper’s bullet wound. I pressed a kiss to his cold cheek.

“Forgive me,” I whispered.

I sunk my incisors into his shoulder and ruined any chance of being accepted by a pack ever again. Sleeping with a human was a big no-no.

Turning one was a cardinal sin.

Jasper didn’t cry out in pain. His body had shut down enough that pain didn’t register. He was alive enough, however, that my blood had a chance to mix with his and get pumped throughout his system.

I sat back on my heels. All I could do now was wait.