Enigma

Chapter 39

Breakfast woke Lillian up.

She opened her eyes and immediately shut them when brightness blinded her. The light was needles in her eyes. As her brain woke up, so did her senses. And it was chaos.

Smells and sounds and sensations, all jumbled up and overwhelming. Her brain hurt from all the sensory input.

Her heart rate increased until she thought it would stop. Lillian covered her ears and clenched her eyes shut. Still, her head span, and something inside of her pulled on the leashes and tried to escape.

It was all too much. The voices, the smells, the wolf.

She passed out.

"Lillian?"

Lillian cracked her eyes open. Everything came back to her at once.

"Focus on me, focus all your senses on me," the voice said.

Noah. She knew it was him, yet his voice sounded different. There were layers in it she couldn't hear before that she now did. The same for his scent.

Lillian converged all her senses on him. He was holding her. She was completely surrounded by him. She blinked, taking shallow breaths. Noah was sitting on the bed, with her in his lap. The curtain was pulled on the glass, blocking the sun, yet the halo of the light around it still stung her eyes.

Lillian switched her gaze to Noah's chest. The scar on his shoulder jumped at her, clear and detailed in its jagged edges and paler color. His skin was warm.

Then the wolf inside her pulled at the reins. It took all Lillian had to keep her from shifting.

"She keeps trying to come out," Lillian said, her voice coming out in a scratchy whisper.

"Your wolf?" he asked, his voice pitched low.

Lillian nodded. Her hair slid against Noah's shoulder. She raised her head. The sounds other than Noah's heartbeat took a backseat. She already felt better, more in control.

"Do you want to shift?" Noah asked.

"No. I want to talk to the twins." She raised her eyes to his and was struck by how bright his eyes were. Flecks of gold sparked in his irises, bright against the amber. She never knew they existed. "Your eyes are so beautiful."

Noah chuckled, hugging her to him until she was smothered. She didn't mind. Even her wolf seemed to calm down with him around. Lillian relaxed a fraction.

She felt odd. New yet the same. When Noah let her go, she finally turned her attention to the room. Details she hadn't noticed the day before jumped at her. The grain of wood in the ceiling, the thread lines of the sheets, the texture of the walls. She had been blind before this.

"Wow," she breathed out. "This is... weird."

Noah leaned to the side, picked up a phone from the bedside table and handed it to her. Eager to hear the twins' voices again after the eventful day before, she dialed Jennifer's number and held the phone to her ear. Noah moved her hand until the phone was several inches away from her ear. Right.

"Did you tell them?" Lillian asked as the phone rang.

"Only the adults know," Noah said. "The twins don't. Not yet."

Thankful he had left the decision to her, she pressed her lips to his cheek. His stubble pricked her lips. Jennifer picked up.

"Should I say congratulations?"

Lillian smiled. "Is that what they usually say to new wolves?"

"I have no idea, darling. It's been a long time since a human shifted, so I guess we'll make our own rules."