The Wolf Fount by Gayla Drummond

bed’s side.
    “What do you mean, back you up?” Morgan flipped the covers off her legs and swung them off the bed.
    “He’ll help if needed. When I begin to shift, you’ll start to as well. If necessary, Jake will shift too, in case you stick part-way through. His changing will push yours the rest of the way through.”
    She balked, sinking back onto the bed. “Wait a minute. I could get stuck?”
    Cal stood and smiled down at her after removing his shirt. “It happens sometimes, but it’s not permanent. Nothing to worry about.”

    M organ didn’t move. The idea of getting stuck in the middle of changing from woman to wolf wasn’t a pleasant one. In fact, it struck her then how weird the whole idea was, and how she hadn’t really been herself the past few days. It wasn’t at all normal for her to extend trust to a nearly complete stranger, as she had to Calhoun.
    I don’t accept things on some guy’s say so. What the hell am I doing here?
    Sure, something had been happening to her, and yes, she’d witnessed a few things that made those changes seem real. The eye color changing thing, and Calhoun’s spouting claws and fangs when he came. But those could be explained scientifically: drugs. Ones that caused suggestions to take root and flower.
    Maybe all that had happened the past few days were hallucinations caused by them slipping her drugs.
    “Morgan?” She looked up to meet Calhoun’s eyes, distrusting the reassuring smile he was wearing. “It’s really not something to worry about. No one’s ever gotten stuck permanently.”
    “None of this is real, is it? I’m hallucinating. You drugged me.” She watched his smile fade. “That’s it, isn’t it? You drugged me, and...”
    “No. It’s all real, and you need to do your first change now. If you don’t, you’ll change anyway. Maybe not tonight, maybe not for a few days, but you will. You don’t want to do it alone, and no one wants you doing it in public.” Calhoun reached for her hand and she slapped his away.
    “Don’t touch me.”
    “Morgan, listen to me.”
    She pulled her legs onto the bed and scooted across it, scrambling to stand on the other side. “I don’t have to listen to shit.”

    C al hesitated. She’d been doing so well. What had set her off? Morgan glared, her brows drawn together, and her sneer made another appearance.
    “No one has slipped you a mickey.” When her eyes flicked to Jake, Cal gestured for the other man to step back. Jake obeyed, moving to stand by the door. “And no one here wants to hurt you.”
    “Then you won’t mind giving me my stuff and getting the hell out of my way.”
    “Not wanting to hurt you isn’t the same as letting you run off half-cocked.” He really didn’t want to have to force her into changing, or to be forced into subduing her. “I can’t let you do that, for your own sake as much as ours.”
    Her hands clenched into fists. “So I’m a prisoner?”
    Well, that escalated quickly . Cal sighed. “Morgan, you’re not a prisoner. You’re newly Awakened, and because of that, you need support until you’ve adjusted. We’ve talked about some of this, and you were doing okay with it. What changed?”
    She shook her head, her sneer turning into a frown. “I trusted you.”
    What the hell? “I haven’t done anything to betray your trust.”
    That earned a look of pure disgust from her. “I don’t trust anyone, asshole. Why would I trust you?”
    “Because he’s the First,” Jake said, getting her full attention. “The progenitor of our species. We instinctively trust him.”
    Morgan didn’t look impressed by the information. Cal was at a loss about what to do. They couldn’t stand here forever. Downstairs, the club had been open for a couple hours. He couldn’t allow her to take off and risk her first change taking place in front of humans.
    If he forced her to change now, it was likely she’d never forgive him. His expression smoothed to neutrality as he realized