Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
My favorite art professor, Ann Sweetling, thought I was depicting a person’s inner wolf spirit or animal spirit guide. That’s the angle I play up on my Instagram page, and I’ve sold a number of the paintings. I guess a lot of those woo-woo people out there think they have a wolf animal spirit.
If only they knew what it’s like to actually be run by your wolf.
Just thinking of my other side makes me break out in a sweat.
A light tap sounds on the door, and Dr. Oakley and his female assistant, Melinda, enter.
“Carlotta,” Dr. Oakley says warmly. “I’d heard you were back. It’s good to see you.” He takes a quick sweep of my body before meeting my eyes. “You’re looking…are you feeling all right?”
I glance at Melinda. Her daughter is a friend of mine–we graduated from Wolf Ridge the same year. The trouble with small towns is that your business becomes everyone’s business in about four hours.
“Melinda is here so you feel comfortable with any examination I conduct, and by law, everything we discuss in this room is confidential. You’re an adult, which means we can’t discuss anything with your parents or anyone else without your consent.”
I nod and draw a breath. “To be honest, the full moon kicked my butt. I hadn’t shifted since I left for college, and this feels like a second puberty or transition.”
“Check her blood pressure,” he directs Melinda, who jumps into action.
“You suppressed your wolf the entire time you were away?” To his credit, he covers his surprise fairly quickly.
“Yes.”
“Did that cause any adverse symptoms?”
“Loss of appetite and energy. Some hair loss. Low-level depression. But after about nine months, I got used to it.”
“Nine months is a long time to be feeling unwell. That must’ve been hard on you.”
It’s been so long, but his sympathy brings back that intense loneliness I suffered. The grief over my parents’ abandonment was made even harder by the grief from my wolf.
Melinda reads off my blood pressure, but the numbers mean nothing to me. Shifters don’t need doctors except for birth control or massive trauma. The last time I saw Dr. Oakley was as a freshman in high school to get on birth control for the full moon runs.
Same reason I’m back now.
“I had to do it. I wanted to pursue an education in art, and the best school was in Chicago. It was the only way I could cope with living amongst humans.”
Dr. Oakley raises a brow as if to say he disagrees with my reasoning, but he doesn’t argue. I supposed he lived amongst humans for years getting his medical degree, too.
He brings the stethoscope to my chest and listens. “So you shifted for the first time again–when? With the full moon?”
“Yes, sir.”
He waves a hand. “You don’t need to call me sir. When you’re in this office there’s no pack hierarchy or tradition.”
I lower my gaze, just the same. I may be an adult, but respect for elders has been thoroughly bred into me. “Thank you.”
“And now you’re experiencing hot flashes? Extreme hunger? Low blood sugar?”
“Yes.” I swallow and nod. I leave out the part about Asher. About my desperation to feel him inside me, riding me hard. My intense need to crawl all over that muscled body of his. To have him master me with dirty-talk and rough handling.
“Well, I expect it will be just like the onset of your wolf again. I don’t think it will last as long as puberty. I would think since you’ve been through it before, and you know how to shift between forms and how much food and exercise your wolf requires, you should adjust in a matter of a few months.”
“Months?”
He shrugs. “Two to three would be my guess, but it’s only a guess. You’re thin, Carlotta. I would say get as much protein and fat into your body as you can to help stabilize the return of the hormones.”
“Okay.”
“Anything else?”
“I need to get back on birth control.”
“Okay.” He glances at my chart. “It looks like we stopped mailing your formulation to you six months ago.”
Dr. Oakley works with a compounding pharmacist to make special formulations that will work with shifter hormones.
The only reason I stopped taking it was to keep myself from having gratuitous sex with my self-absorbed roommate, Andy. He was good-looking and available but completely conceited and empty in the brain department. I knew the roommates with benefits thing was a bad idea, but I indulged.
Obviously, I was using him. When I started feeling used back, I realized the relationship wasn’t healthy for either of us, and I cut off the sex. To keep myself from the temptation of returning, I went off the pill.
“Do you need a post-full moon shot?”
This is Dr. Oakley’s bread and butter, if I had to guess. Except I don’t know if he even charges anyone for it. His primary contribution to the pack is keeping teen wolves from getting pregnant during full moon runs.