Twenty

"Get some pants for Jesse," someone yelled. Another crack in my spine another scream. 

"Does Tylenol work on newly-changed humans?" another guy demanded. Another snap another scream. 

"Of course not, moron!" a third guy yelled. Another break I was pretty sure I was crying at that point. 

"All of you shut up," a new voice snarled. 

"She doesn't like to be crowded." The voices went silent. I just kept screaming. 

More bones broke, more tendons snapped, and more terrible, horrible pain ensued. When it finally stopped, I was panting and sweating. 

I was wrapped in something like a blanket. I didn't know, but I wanted it off my skin. I wanted to freakin’ breathe, and feel my own damn body. I fought the blanket.

 "Everyone out," the new voice commanded. The door closed less than a second later, and the blanket was ripped off of me unceremoniously. 

The yank on the blanket rolled me smack into a bare, chiseled chest connected to a pair of arms that had been loosely wrapped around me and the smothering blanket. 

I opened my eyes, looked into the new pair, and growled, "Get the hell away from me. I don't know you." His hands left my body like I was on fire. The door flew open. 

"Rocco!" I yanked a blanket back over my chest even though the last thing I wanted was to wear anything. 

"Get me a towel and help me to the bathroom." The blond dared to look at Jesse like he was looking for permission. 

"I will rip your balls off," I snarled. Rocco disappeared and reappeared with a towel. He tossed it my way, and when I failed to catch it, Jesse did. 

"Here." He handed it to me. Standing on sore, shaky legs, I wrapped the thing around me and stood. 

"Let me" he began. "I know you were inside the wolf, watching me, but I'm not comfortable with you touching me right now," I said sharply. 

"I don't know you, and I feel like I was just body-snatched by a damned alien." He nodded slowly, lifting his hands out in front of him. 

"I get that. But you're going to fall over if someone doesn't help you, and I don't know how my wolf is going to react if any of the other guys touch you. He's very possessive."

 My wolf hadn't left Jesse's freakin' side for nine days except when she needed to pee, so I got that. That was reasonable. 

"I'll walk myself, then." The other guys scattered when Jesse shot them a look. Their feet were loud on the stairs. Even though it meant I was alone with Man Jesse, I was glad they were gone. 

My toes felt weird, my legs awkward after so much time in a different form. I took two steps and then stumbled. Jesse reached for me, but I grabbed the doorframe instead. 

"Tea..." "I'm fine," I hissed, biting my cheek to ignore the discomfort. 

"It gets easier. Your body adjusts," he said. "I was there in the van when you shifted after we met. That was not easier," I said through clenched teeth. 

"I was fighting my wolf, trying to give the guys time to get us away from a human-populated area. It's not usually that bad." I scoffed. "Yeah, right." 

"I'm serious. You'll learn to feel it when your wolf starts to take over, and if you give her control instead of fighting her, it'll be less painful. It just takes time to get there." 

"Excuse me for not trusting you." Jesse sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. I pretended not to notice that it was a glorious chocolate color, and long enough that I could feel its silk on my skin if he. 

Bad, Tea. Bad. I felt what he said the wolf pressing forward, trying to take control. 

"Shit! It's happening!" I panicked, grabbing the doorway with both hands and holding tight. "Back the hell off, wolf! I just got my damn legs back!" 

"Panicking isn't going to help. Come here," Jesse plucked one of my arms off the doorway and draped it over his shoulder. The physical contact immediately gave me goosebumps. 

"She doesn't want you to leave me, the same way my wolf didn't want to leave you. Show her that you're not walking away, and she'll stop. Probably." "Probably?" I hissed. 

"It's not an exact science; they're animals. Give me your other arm," he said, dragging it off the doorway. With a soft tug, he pulled me into his arms and hugged me. 

When he was holding me securely to his chest, my wolf began to retreat. "I think she's stopping," I breathed. 

"Mmhm," Jesse murmured. His nose was in my hair, his eyes shut as he held me. "Are you sniffing me?" I started leaning away.

 "Shh. Give her time." He gave my waist a gentle squeeze. I found myself leaning my face against his chest. 

He was the perfect height; my head would fit right under his chin if he wanted it to. Of course, right then he just wanted to sniff me. Like a damn weirdo. "I think you just wanted to hug me," I mumbled into his bare chest. 

"I won't deny that." At least he was honest. And did I mention how much I liked his bare chest? The muscles on that man... phew, a girl didn't see muscles like those very often. 

And if he was shallow, I wouldn't have been interested in said muscles, but knowing that he was majoring in software engineering and that he had an envelope of money saved for me and a cupboard full of tampons... 

Well damn, if that didn't make me attracted to his muscles nothing would. 

And as much as I hated to admit it, being in his arms started to relax me. My body began to settle, the wolf disappearing back into wherever the hell she was. My legs even started to feel a bit more normal. 

"What are you doing to me?" I spoke into his chest again. That time, I noticed the flex of his muscles as his body reacted to my lips on his skin. And well, I liked that reaction… a lot. But I wasn't admitting that. 

"It's part of mating. No one's told you shit," he said into my hair. 

"You scared them away when you kissed them all." I snorted. "Most guys aren't afraid of kissing." "We're not most guys." 

"I've gathered that." I closed my eyes and inhaled again slowly. Something about the way he smelled just made me feel like everything was going to be okay. "Alright, you can let me go." 

"Can I?" he teased. I smacked him on the arm. "Let me go." With a sigh, he released me. I immediately felt more on edge than I had when I was in his arms, but I'd get right the hell over that. No way was I spending the rest of my life wrapped in Man-Jesse's arms, even if they were very nice arms. "I'm going to take a shower to try to feel a little more human again," I told him.

 "Stay out here." I pointed outside the door like I had when he was a wolf. "Your wolf's not going to like that," he warned. 

"You're not going to sit in here and watch me shower, no matter who you are." I started to close the door. 

He caught it, leaning his head toward me. Dammit, why were his eyes pretty too? Dark green, like the forest right after the sun disappeared... they were freaking gorgeous. 

"If your wolf starts to take over, just shout," he told me. "I can sit there on the toilet seat while you shower, with the curtain closed, and she'll be a lot more manageable." 

"I'll be fine." I closed the door, and he didn't stop me. I immediately felt that awful feeling of the wolf about to take control. 

"Jesse," I called out in panic. The door swung open. I waited for his smug expression and words, but they didn't come. He just stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself. 

The feeling of my wolf trying to force her way out didn't go away, though. 

"Can you do the thing, where..." I gestured between us. His arms wrapped around me, and he held me to his chest. The wolf relaxed immediately. 

"Dammit," I huffed. "It'll get easier," he promised. 

"Quit saying that. Let me live in my misery," I grumbled. He chuckled. 

"You want to be miserable? Fine. You've got an uncontrollable animal inside you. 

There's no way to get rid of her, and the only person she responds pleasantly to is me, a guy you don't know. 

You went out to get yourself a bed so you wouldn't have to sleep in mine, but tonight you're going to realize that she won't let you sleep away from me, and one way or another we're either going to end up cuddled together in a bed or on the floor." 

He continued, "You're also going to find yourself extremely hungry in the next few minutes, to the point where you could probably consume an entire ham on your own and still feel hungry. Your grocery bills are about to shoot through the roof. And sometime in the next few days, you'll have the extremely-pleasant experience of watching your wolf hunt and eat a small animal." 

"I hate you," I groaned, smacking him in the chest. "Hate's not that far from love," he remarked.

 "Mention love again and I will let my wolf take over next time," I said into his pec. 

"Vicious," he drawled. "Very." I let go of him. 

"Alright, sit on the toilet like a heathen."

 "Yes ma'am." He shot me a grin, plopping down on his ass on the closed toilet lid. 

I'd never seen someone so happy to sit on a toilet. But I didn't want to hear the reasoning behind his grin, so I just turned on the shower.