CRACKED: An Anthology of Eggsellent Chicken Stories by J. Posthumus (read after txt) 📕

of his as he reached out to place one of his hands over hers, and his touch sent tingles of electricity chasing each other all through her body.

Still…

“Your alpha? Is that some kind of sexual thing?”

He blinked. “No. My pack alpha.”

Slowly, Tori pulled her hand out from under his and dropped it into her lap. “What is a pack alpha?”

All the air whooshed out of Niall as he thumped back against the burgundy vinyl of the booth. “You don’t have an alpha?”

“I don’t even know what an alpha is.”

Niall leaned forward again, but this time his hands stayed off the table. Instead, he sniffed the air between them. “You smell like… maybe a bird?”

“A bird? I smell like a bird? I don’t think that’s a compliment.”

Niall stared at her with such intensity that it made her nervous.

Suddenly, his expression cleared. “Oh, my God. You’re new, aren’t you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “You were limping and bleeding last night when you got home. Let me guess. Some kind of animal attack?”

“Yes.” She drew the word out, uncertain where he was going with this.

“Okay.” He rubbed his hands together, then repeated himself. “Okay. Here’s the deal.” Pointing both forefingers at her, he said, “You were attacked by a were-animal. A shapeshifter.” Niall flipped his hands around so his thumbs pointed back at himself. “And I am a werewolf. And you are my fated mate.”

Chapter 6 Niall

I think maybe I flubbed that one.

Niall waited for a response. Tori stared at him blankly for several seconds. Then she laughed. The sound seemed to startle even her—she clapped her hand over her mouth. When she took it away, she was already shaking her head. “I always get the crazy ones,” she muttered.

“It’s true,” he insisted. “I can prove it.”

Her eyes widened. “You can prove that we’re supposed to be… what did you call it? Fated mates?”

He lowered his voice. “That I’m a werewolf.”

She stared into his eyes, her bright green eyes starting to glow in a way that Niall recognized.

“Oh, hell,” he whispered.

She opened her mouth as if to speak. “Squawk!”

This time, she clamped both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide and shocked.

“We need to get you out of here.” If he hurried, he’d be able to hustle her out to the car before she started actually shifting. “Try to keep breathing slowly and steadily. You can hold off the change for a while that way.”

Seasoned shifters could hold off a shift for a long time that way. Born shifters, like Niall, could keep from shifting anytime other than during a full moon. But Tori was so brand new that she didn’t even realize what she was.

It’ll be a real problem if she can’t keep it together until we get to the car.

“Let’s go,” he said.

In unison, they slid out of the booth and stood. Tori kept her hands over her mouth, though. That could prove useful.

Niall took her by the elbow and guided her through the restaurant, weaving between tables. As they passed the woman who’d seated them, he waved at her. “Tori’s not feeling well. I’m going to take her home. Sorry.”

The other woman started to move toward them, but Tori waved her off, taking her hands away long enough to say in a strangled tone, “I’ll call later.”

“Are you sure?”

It took every ounce of self-control Niall could muster to stop himself from growling at the woman.

She simply wants to protect her friend, he told himself. His inner wolf subsided, but only reluctantly.

Halfway across the parking lot, Tori stumbled.

She’s going to shift.

He had to act, and quickly. Without even thinking about it, he scooped her into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way to his car so he could get her back to the safety of his apartment.

Chapter 7 Tori

He had picked her up and carried her.

The last time a man had been able to carry her anywhere had been… longer ago than Tori cared to think about.

Like a bride over the threshold.

She pushed the thought down.

Not important.

No. What was important was that being swept off her feet—literally—had stopped whatever was going on inside her.

And now she was riding in the passenger seat of his bright red sports car, wrapped in the warmth of the interior, headed back to their apartment building.

Neither of them had said anything since he’d deposited her gently in the passenger seat and gotten in on the driver’s side. Outside the window, fields flashed by. They drove in silence until they came to a stoplight.

“What kind of animal attacked you yesterday?” Niall finally asked.

“A chicken,” she said.

He glanced at her with a surprised expression but quickly schooled his face into something more neutral. “A chicken. Okay.” He paused. “Any other recent animal attacks?”

“No.” Her voice came out as a bare whisper. In the back of her mind beat the tattoo sound of denial. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me.

“If that’s the only kind of animal you’ve had contact with, then that’s probably the kind of shifter you are.”

Her heart froze in her throat. She had to force the words out. “You can’t know that.”

“No, I can’t. Not yet.”

“Would that mean the chicken that attacked me was a shifter, too?”

“Yeah.” The light turned green and Niall continued toward the apartment. “It makes sense if you think about it. If this place doesn’t have any other shifters around, it would be the perfect place for a flock of chicken shifters to hide from predators.”

“I guess.” This conversation is insane.

He pulled into the parking lot and stopped his car next to hers but didn’t turn off the engine. Instead, he set the parking brake and turned to her. “I think you should try to shift.”

“This is crazy.” Tori couldn’t look away from him, though. And deep in her heart, she knew it was true. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “But okay.”

“Try closing your eyes.” Niall’s deep, rumbling voice made