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.She told Colson one day that she felt a little like a midwife, helping someone to bring new life into the world.That was just what it was; a new body meant a new lease on life, and for most of the students the change was met with anticipation and excitement rather than fear.By the time February rolled around, Zoe was settled into a life she’d never imagined: she had a partner whom she loved and who loved her, and she had a fulfilling role to play in society which made her feel like she was serving a genuine purpose and improving the lives of others.Everything was as close to perfect as it could possibly be.It was on a day in late winter when Zoe had managed to tear herself away for a few hours to buy some much-needed new clothes that her world changed.Wolf Rock seemed to have two seasons: summer and winter.In the winter months, tourists would flock to town as they had in the summer, sometimes just to look at the shifters and sometimes to ski.But most of those visiting were shifters themselves, often wanting to get away from a world dominated by humans and to be surrounded by their own.Zoe wandered down the main street in early February, looking through windows at jackets and coats.She and Colson slept together, spending most nights entwined and warm in their human bodies.If the weather was particularly cold they occasionally shifted into their animal forms, winter coats of thick fur keeping them more than warm.But she still had to take the students outside at times and needed to invest in warm clothing for that purpose.She entered one shop and tried on a few coats, and when she’d found one that was to her liking, she turned towards the cashier’s counter.It was then that she heard a familiar name.“Annette,” it said.“Annette Barber.”“No, I don’t know anyone of that name,” the cashier was saying.“And I pretty well know everyone in town.”“She would have shown up in late September.”“What does she look like?”“I don’t know,” said the man’s voice.“She’s a changer.By that I mean that she can change her human form as well.She could look like anything.”Zoe hung the coat up quietly and found herself crouching behind the rack.The exit was only a few feet from where she stood, and she knew that it would be easy to shift into a mouse’s form and to scurry out.But that would mean leaving her clothing behind and it would be a clue.At the moment the man who stood just a little way away didn’t know that she was the woman he sought.“Well, here’s my number,” he was saying.“Call me if you hear anything.Anything at all.”“Okay.Thanks,” said the cashier.The man, who was tall, thin and pallid, turned and left the store.Zoe watched him.As he walked along the sidewalk he shifted into the small form of a ferret, dragging his clothing behind him in a manner that indicated that he didn’t care much about it.“Jesus, that guy was creepy,” said the cashier when Zoe approached to pay for her coat.“Yeah, he was.”“Hey, you’re Zoe, aren’t you? You teach at the school.”“I do, yes.” The recognition was making her uncomfortable.“I know Kyla and Maddox quite well.They’ve shopped here a lot for outdoor gear over the last year or so.”“They’re good people,” said Zoe, her voice betraying her distraction.“It’s weird, you know.That guy who was just in here was looking for a changer, and Maddox is one.Course, the guy was looking for a woman.”“Yeah, that is weird.Well, there are a few out there.It sounds like that man’s on the wrong trail.Hopefully he’ll head out of town and look somewhere else.”The cashier seemed pensive now.“Yes.He’ll probably do that,” she said, eyeing the paper with the man’s phone number on it.She picked it up, crumpled it and tossed it into a trash can.“Have a good day, Zoe,” she said as she handed over the shopping bag.“You too,” said Zoe.When she got back to the house, Colson was waiting for her.He’d prepared some soup, bread and cheese for their dinner.“Successful trip?” he asked, kissing her on the forehead and then the lips.“In a manner of speaking,” she said quietly.“Zoe? What’s wrong?”“Nothing,” said Zoe.She managed a weak smile.“I guess I didn’t sleep well last night.I think I need to lie down.”“Sure,” said Colson.He went with her to their bed and laid down behind her, spooning her.In the weeks since they’d first been together, never once had they ended up in bed with their clothes on.Colson felt pain emanating from his girlfriend, his partner, his mate.He felt an ache, a sorrow.Everything she was feeling he was experiencing.This, he thought, was what it was to have found your soul mate.To experience their pain as acutely as they did.And yet he had no way of knowing what it was that ate away at her from the inside.“I’d do anything for you, you know,” he said quietly in her ear.Her hand, which lay on the arm which he’d draped around her, squeezed his own.“I know,” she said.“I know.”She turned to him and kissed him then, passionately and long.It occurred to her that she may not have many opportunities to do so over the rest of her life.She’d grown passive and learned to take for granted that she would always have Colson, but she now remembered why she’d never settled in her life.You couldn’t count on anything.Fate had a way of throwing its weight around and of being a cruel bitch, and it was manipulating her now, destroying the idyllic life that she’d somehow managed, against all odds, to create with this man.Colson responded to her kiss, his tongue eager for hers.He pivoted, gently placing Zoe on her back and leaning over her as he continued to kiss her, his hips leaning into her pelvis.She felt him harden against her and she ached for him, only this time it was different from the usual.It was her heart that ached as well as her body; she wanted to take him inside herself and to keep him there forever.If only there were a way.“No,” she said, placing her hands on his waist.She thrust him sideways and down so that he was now flat on the bed, and she straddled him, his hard length underneath her.She slid along him, feeling his shaft through her clothing, her pussy moist, ready for him already.Zoe tore her shirt off over her head before reaching down for his.Colson leaned up so that she could pull it off his body, then laid back down while she undid his jeans and slid them off along with his boxers, moving off the bed as she did so.She then pulled her own pants and panties down and came to rest atop him again, her exposed pussy creating a streak of wetness over his cock and belly.Colson said nothing.Instead, he simply looked up at her, a searching look in his eyes.Zoe was assertive, even bossy at times, but this sort of sexual dominance was new for her.She wanted, in this moment, to take full charge, and he submitted, his body, his cock, obeying fully.Zoe put her weight onto her knees, pushing up enough to wrap her fingers around his thick shaft and to lift it so that its tip teased her opening, spreading her delicate lips apart.And then she came down on him, hard, piercing herself on his length.She moaned loudly, the pain of it exquisite [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]