"My wolf wants to meet you properly. He wants me to hand over control."
She considered my words and then nodded. "My wolf wants to meet yours, too. She's been bugging me whenever she's not searching for your wolf."
{She's looking for me too?} my wolf said, somewhere between an excited yelp and a whine. {Don't make us wait any longer! I need to find her.}
I considered. If her wolf was as enthusiastic as mine, it could be a bad combination. But still, if he managed to locate her he would relax considerably. They would go off and do whatever it was they wanted to do in the realm of wolves and I would have a break to get to know Anne properly without him trying to convince me to mark her every five minutes.
It was worth the risk. {Very well, but if you step out of line, I won't let you out for a month.}
{You worry too much, human.}
I sighed and let him have control of my body. He did not usually like to take over in human form, but he would on occasion.
"Anne," he said. "It's good to finally talk to you myself; it has been painful watching from the shadows. I've been trying to find Maria, to no avail."
"She's been looking for you, too," Anne said with a smile. She did not seem afraid of him, which was good. Many people were skittish around a wolf as powerful as Pierce.
"I have wanted to mark you from the moment we met, and I have been waiting because Arthur believes you need time, but it has been truly excruciating."
{Don't pressure her,} I cautioned, considering whether or not I should wrest control away from him right away.
{I'm not pressuring her, I am speaking of my feelings. Do you not wish to communicate with our mate? I thought that was your intention, but perhaps I was wrong?}
He did have something of a point.
He continued speaking to her, "Once we mark each other I'll be able to communicate with Maria on that side and we'll be sure to be able to find each other more quickly."
"She wants to meet you, too. I'll let her have control."
There was a long pause, then her green eyes lightened to golden.
I heard my voice say, "Maria."
She smiled and kept her gaze on mine. "I don't know your second name," she said.
I could not believe I had forgotten to give her such a detail.
"Ah, yes. Please forgive us, mate. Like all humans, mine tends to over-complicate things and forget the things that truly matter."
I let his words pass without comment.
"I'm Pierce."
"Pierce? I like it." She smiled. "And I agree that we should be marked at once."
{Don't even think about it.}
"My human is opposed," he said with my mouth. He rolled my eyes, as if I were the unreasonable party in the situation.
She laughed. It was somehow deeper and more guttural than when Anne was in control, but it sounded sweet all the same. "Yes, my human is quite annoyed at me for even bringing it up. It's going to happen eventually, but they're so troublesome. If it were up to me alone, there would be none of this silly waiting."
My mouth smiled and said, "Would you like to go for a run in our proper forms?"
{I never actually agreed to that,} I pointed out. I would take control back if he got out of line, and he knew it even if he needed a reminder.
{What's the harm? At least let me have this,} he said.
{There are hoards of reporters outside.}
My wolf grinned with my mouth and responded, {You know that we could deal with them.}
{We're trying not to scare her off.}
{As I said, you know nothing of female wolves. She would love it if I drove them off.}
{And what about Anne? You won't be happy if she runs away with Maria.}
{She'll like it too, I'd wager.}
"My human thinks we should stay inside," Maria commented. "She's concerned about that pack of media on the street."
"My human agrees, but we could easily see them disperse."
{Watch it,} I warned him.
"Ooh, really?" She sounded quite pleased with his declaration. Her golden eyes sparkled appreciatively.
{See, I told you she would like it.}
"Should we go?" he asked.
She smiled. "My human has reservations, but she's decided not to fight me on it. However, she wants to sneak out the back door and hope they won't notice."
"I'll let security know and have them distract the crowd while we leave," my wolf told her.
She smiled. "My human also insists we change in our rooms for some reason, as if that should be a concern in the presence of our mate."
She rolled her eyes and added, "I'll be back out in a minute."
He followed her up the stairs and went into the guest room we had stayed in.
He pulled out my phone and growled, {I don't see why you insist on communicating by human means when we could simply use the pack link.}
{Having voices suddenly in your head is very jarring, but I suppose you would not understand that.}
{I understand more than you know, since you're always in the back of my mind,} my wolf said. He fumbled with the phone for a minute and tapped out a message.
He was barely literate since he had seldom been present or attentive while I was in school. Perhaps it was cruel of me to insist, but my point remained. The pack link was for emergencies, and if he wanted this he had to do it my way.
He undressed and immediately shifted our body into that of a wolf. He had left the door ajar so he was easily able to push it open with the side of his head, and he met our mate out in the hall.
Her golden eyes inspected us. Her posture was relaxed and she was a very healthy looking wolf. Pierce wagged his tail enthusiastically.
{Look at her. I knew she would be beautiful, but she is truly exquisite. Her proportions are perfect, and that muzzle is simply adorable, but at the same time serene. Her eyes are like a piece of the sun fell out of the sky. And her fur, shiny and brown with a sprinkling of silvery grey in the mix, like a beautiful rock in the light. And those legs... And that tail...}
{Maybe you should tell her that,} I muttered. I was glad he was happy, but I did not particularly want to be trapped in my own mind while he composed sonnets to the beauty of her muzzle.
{I would, but someone is reluctant to mark her.}
{I'm not reluctant to mark her, I'm reluctant to pressure her. There's a significant difference between the two.}
My wolf did not bother to respond.
With one last look, my mate began leading us down the staircase and to the door at the back of the house. She pushed out through the wolf door. He followed her, barely able to get my larger frame through the space and into freedom.
We snuck away from the yard, but no one seemed to notice us. Once we were safely away, we began to run. I let myself relax and watch passively. Unlike my wolf, I could not retreat into the realm of the wolves while he was in control. I would not want to, anyway. This was my body in my world as the realm of the wolves was his, although my wolf and I were connected in a symbiotic relationship as close together as two beings could be.
What I could do was lean back and allow myself to relax while my shifted body ran through the barren wilds with my mate. My wolf, whatever his faults, could handle it.
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