It was near dawn, so he assumed she would morph back soon. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa and covered her. He must have nodded off again, because when he opened his eyes, Elisabeth's human form lay sleeping with her head in his lap. Running a hand through her hair, he contemplated how to explain all that had happened. She opened her eyes and smiled at him, then horror washed over her face and she jumped up. "What am I doing here?"
Jackson wrapped the blanket around her. "You better sit down."
"No! What the hell happened?"
"Your wolf loves me."
Elisabeth stared at him, wide eyed and shaking. "You let me out of that room?"
"Yes, but only after you assured me I could trust you."
"What? Are you out of your mind?" She started pacing. "I cannot believe you would act so irresponsibly. Do you understand what could have happened?"
"You weren't at all menacing."
She screamed at him, "You promised you would be careful, you call this careful? What is wrong with you? Do you have a death wish?"
Jackson had never seen her like this. He wanted to say, you're scaring me now more than as a wolf, but thought better of it. "Please, hear me out."
"There is nothing you can say to justify this. I have nightmares of waking and finding you dead at my feet, and now you are trying to make them real. How could you do this?" Jackson attempted to hold her, but she pushed him away and glared at him. "This will never happen again! You got your wish to see me as a wolf and survived. I will never be close enough to hurt you at the full moon again." She turned and stormed away.
Jackson plopped down and put his head in his hands. "Shit." He sat for a minute trying to figure out how to fix things, but came up empty. He slunk down to the holding cell to face the music. Elisabeth was putting her shoes on as he entered. "I'm sorry. Will you please let me explain?"
Her face was wet with tears. "I could have killed you, don't you understand that? How could you risk making me have to live with that?"
Jackson approached her, and she nearly collapsed into his arms. He held her close and whispered over and over, "I'm sorry."
After a while she pulled away. "I need a drink."
"Me too." They trudged upstairs and Jackson poured tall scotches. They sat on the sofa without speaking. Jackson finally moved closer and slung his arm around her. "Can you forgive me?"