This was all in her mind, wasn’t it? The feel of him, the undeniable pleasure, the coming release.

She didn’t care.

He didn’t care. He’d lasted as long as he could, longer than he needed since he had no one to please but himself. But those invisible muscles squeezed, begged him to hold on. His phantom Maizie demanding he last just a little longer. Every instinct inside him promised her pleasure, her release, would make his all the more mind-blowing.

Muscles coaxed him faster and faster. She was coming.

Maizie’s breath seized, her body froze, allowing the invisible cock’s frantic pace to pound her over the edge. Sweet release, coming hard and fast, rolled through her muscles, the force of it trembling through her knees. Her body hummed, skin hot, heart hammering in her ears.

“Yes. Yes!” Alone in the house she screamed the words with abandon, reeling in the uninhibited orgasm. She was panting, trying to catch her breath, but her phantom Gray’s pace never faltered, his thrusts coming harder and harder.

His cock thickened. He was coming.

Not a second longer. The needy pussy milked his last thread of control and Gray let go. The hard rush of pleasure, of pent-up denial, nearly swept him away. A wash of heat stormed through his body, rocked through his mind. His hips pumped his cock, shooting his creamy white come on the back wall of the shower.

“Oh, yeah. Fuck. Me. Yeah!” He rammed his cock again and again, bucking his hips until every last drop of his load emptied out of him. Then he slumped between the showerheads-boneless, exhausted, satiated.

“Wow.” Maizie stumbled under the spray of water turned cold, doing her best to stand on rubbery legs while she washed away the sticky results of her orgasm. Her breasts were tender, her pussy sore, as though she’d actually just been fucked-and good.

It didn’t make sense, wasn’t possible, but then again neither were werewolves. Gawd, what was wrong with her? How much time had she wasted masturbating in the shower, fantasizing about Gray? All the while, poor Granny struggled through the trauma of a near-death experience alone.

Was she worried, wondering why her Little Red wasn’t at her side? How would Maizie explain about the strange allure she felt for Gray Lupo despite their macabre connection? How would she explain about the attack, the sex, the werewolves? What would she say?

“You’ve been bitten.” Granny pushed up in bed as the door to her suite drifted closed behind Maizie. Her withered hand trembled, gesturing for Maizie to come closer.

Maizie shook off her surprise and strode across the room. She took her hand. “I’m fine, Gran. It’s just a scratch. You’re the one I’m worried about. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when they took you to the hospital.”

“Bah! Never mind that. Fieldtrip. The hospital has the best pound cake on Thursday nights.”

“Gran-”

“How’d it happen? Why? Did he explain everything? The book says the first time’s the hardest.” Her eyes wide, back straight, Granny was the most lucid Maizie had seen her in years, and she didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “It’ll hurt, y’know, the first time.”

“What will hurt? Explain about what?”

“About… Maizie, dear, where is he?”

“Who?”

“Gray Lupo, of course. You don’t know any other werewolves, do you?” Her tone made it clear she was joking, but when Maizie didn’t answer, Granny drew her own conclusions.

Voices in the hall pulled Maizie’s attention. Geez, why were they talking so loud? She could hear the nurse talking to Mr. Peterman in the hallway like they were both in the room. And who was pounding on the piano? Had they put a microphone inside the baby grand? Of course they’d need a microphone on the piano to be heard over the pots and pans being slammed around in the kitchen. God, why was it so noisy at Green Acres today? How could anyone think-

“So you’ve met the whole family then,” Granny said, adjusting the flowered quilt covering her from the waist down.

“What?” Maizie snapped her attention back to her grandmother.

“Gray’s family,” she said. “Joy’s a nice-enough lady and the twins are polite, but I can’t say I like that Lynn too much. Always trying to get into Gray’s drawers. He’s a widower, for heaven’s sake, and her brother-in-law.”

“You knew? About all of them? All this time?” Someone flushed a toilet, the sound of swishing water echoed through Maizie’s head.

“Why, yes, dear. So did you. I’ve told you about my beautiful silver wolf hundreds of times.” Her brow wrinkled, her voice taking on that careful tone people use with small children and the mentally unstable. “How did you think he got the violets in the vase and cleaned out the gutters?”

Someone yelled “bingo” and Maizie glanced around the room for the speaker. There was no one, though several people voiced their congratulations to Millie, whoever that was. “I…I thought you were…”

“One brick shy of a full load?”

“Yeah.” Although now she was wondering the same thing about herself. “I mean, I thought it was one of your spells.”

Maizie collapsed into the bedside chair, resisting the urge to cup her hands over her ears. What was happening? Pain twisted her stomach, made her cross her arms over her belly instead, holding tight. It was the first cramp since her shower, but it seemed to hurt twice as bad. She grimaced, rode the pain, waiting for it to subside.

“It’s starting already,” Granny said with a nod to Maizie’s belly.

“What?” Maizie squirmed in her seat. The pain dulled but still hadn’t completely gone.

“The change. The change is starting. Good gravy, he really didn’t explain anything?”

“Gran-”

“Well, dear, I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t have let him turn you without asking a few questions. You wouldn’t hop into bed without discovering the important things about a man first, would you?”

Important things like he blamed her for his wife’s death and that he was the very thing she’d spent her life despising? Apparently, I would.

“How did you know I’d been bitten?” A sly subject change. Maizie hoped Granny wouldn’t push her to admit all the careless things she’d done last night.

“I can see it in your eyes.” Granny leaned toward Maizie, staring at her eyes but not into them. “They have that wild look. Quick, larger pupils, like you see everything.”

Maizie wasn’t sure about that. At the moment she was too busy noticing how the dull pain in her stomach had spread to her legs and arms. Her muscles ached as though they’d been sorely overworked. And the racket of the nursing home was becoming damn near deafening.

“You smell like him too.”

“What?”

“You must have noticed it. It’s such a wonderful smell, like earth and trees and wind. I can smell that on you now. But that’s normal for werewolves.”

“Werewolves…” Maizie still couldn’t fully wrap her brain around it. “Gran, how do you know about all this?”

Granny opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out an old leather-backed book. She handed it to Maizie. “Gray gave it to me years ago when your grand-dad passed. He offered to take me into his pack. Tells you everything. I can’t believe he didn’t at least warn you about the first change.”

“It wasn’t Gray.”

“What? Then who? What happened?” Granny’s face paled.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Gray took care of it. He took care of me. But then we got distracted.” He was too busy fucking her blind to tell her she’d been turned into a werewolf. “And then I just…I didn’t stick around.”

“Well, I can’t imagine what could possibly distract him from something so important. What…” Her cheeks flushed. “Oh. Yes, well… A highly amorous nature is normal too.”