23. Conflict of interest

(ARES)

She sat there for a long time, staring at Storm, her hand pressed against his fur, in the surrounding silence. He was content just sitting there with her.

"I want to shift," I said to Storm. Usually, the shift worked perfectly well when Storm and I were in perfect sync, but when the wolf didn't want to shift... it was usually a big problem.

"I think I would like to be here with her. She is already shaken, and I don't want you to mess it up anymore than it already is. So I think I will stay with her for a while," Storm said with a sigh as she ran her fingers through his fur, still shuddering. I could feel her body shaking. She had stopped crying, but she wasn't fully alright yet.

"I am not an asshole. I will not talk about that right now, at least not when she looks like she eats wolves like us for breakfast," I said with a wince.

She had long red, bloody lines along her cheek, and I remembered the time I called her powerless. This woman here was not powerless. She looked p