Maggie's Wolves, Part One: A BBW Shifter Romance (Red Mountain Pack Book 1) by Cara Morgan Page B

tilting his head and tasting the air. “Case and Jack.”
    They didn’t have long to wait. Within moments, the first wolf, large and covered with reddish brown fur, stepped from the tree line. He paused to study them through golden eyes. Maggie would have been able to read the wolf’s curiosity in the slight tilt of his head even if she hadn’t had the instincts of a shifter. A second wolf, smaller and gray, entered the clearing only a few seconds behind.
    Eli stepped forward to greet them, positioning himself between her and the wolves. He probably meant to give her a minute or two to catch her breath, but she’d felt better with his arm wrapped around her. The wolves ignored Eli anyway, both of them moving to keep her within sight. They stared at her with obvious interest.
    No. It was more than that. They were watching her with intent, as if she were prey. Feeling threatened, she reached for her wolf and, when the shift eluded her, made a small noise of distress.
    “It’s okay, Maggie,” Eli said softly. “They’re not going to hurt you.”
    It wasn’t that. “You said I would be able to shift.”
    Frowning, he turned to look at her. “You still can’t?”
    She shook her head. “It’s the same as it was last night before...” She glanced at the wolves, who continued to stalk closer, and then back at Eli. “Before. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
    She didn’t want to believe that Eli had lied, but if taking a mate was supposed to allow her to shift again, it hadn’t worked. Why would he have lied? Not for sex. As desperate and sick with lust as she’d been last night, he hadn’t needed to make stuff up to get her into bed.
    Eli lifted his hand, but she didn’t take it. “Maggie…”
    “Why can’t I shift?”
    The brown wolf stopped moving forward. The air seemed to shiver around him like heat over asphalt, and then he shifted, the change moving over him in a sweeping wave of retracting fur and popping bones. She winced at the sound even though she knew from experience that it wasn’t particularly painful. She’d always thought it would hurt like hell if it happened slowly, but it never took more than a second. It was strange watching it from the outside. She hadn’t seen anyone shift since she was a child.
    When it was done, a man knelt in the place of the brown wolf. His hand sank wrist deep into the snow as he leaned forward to catch his breath. His skin rippled for a moment longer as the skin and muscle settled into place. He stood slowly. His eyes, still tinged with wolflight from his change, fixed on her with disconcerting intensity. His hair was the same reddish brown color as the wolf’s fur and longer than she liked. He pulled the look off. With a face like that, he could have worn his hair however he liked and still have looked good. His body was…God, he was a beautiful man, as perfectly proportioned as a statue in a museum. The thick white scar running from the bottom of his ribcage to hook around his hip was a jarring blemish.
    “This is Case,” Eli said. “Alpha of the Red Mountain pack. Case, this is Maggie Lewis…my mate.”
    Case’s gaze flicked briefly to Eli’s, but his expression didn’t change. Maggie couldn’t tell what he thought about the news. Eli had said the men of his pack would roll over at her feet and beg for her touch. Maggie couldn’t imagine Case begging anyone for anything. He seemed far too contained for that. 
    Stepping forward, Case extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maggie.”
    She shook his hand, and a shiver ran over her skin at the contact. His hand wasn’t as roughly calloused as Eli’s, but his grip was warm and very strong. When she moved to release him, his fingers flexed once and then reluctantly, as if he had to force his hand open, he let her go.
    “You won’t be able to shift until your heat is over,” Case said. “You still feel your wolf?”
    She felt her wolf just fine. At the moment, her wolf