by Haley Weir
Before I pulled myself away to leave in the morning, the truth of what was happening set inside of my ribcage as if someone had lit a match and started a fire within my chest.
I knew for certain that this woman was the one that I had to have. Instinctively, without either my consent or my control, I claimed her as my mate. There was no ceremonious announcement, just the conviction that now ran through my veins that she would be mine.
I realized that this put me in a very awkward and dangerous position—go against my alpha to save her or follow my obligation to my pack and help to kill her father. But—if her father is taken down, then this girl will become enslaved to the new alpha. And if she resists, she’ll be killed.
Chapter Three
Peyton
I normally didn’t dream, and even when I did, I rarely remembered my dreams once I woke up. But this time was different. I woke up with a start to an unsettling dream. I dreamt that the man I had seen a glimpse of the night before while I was outside standing in line at the theatre, was somehow outside my bedroom window looking back through the glass at me. I knew that was impossible, especially since my bedroom was on the second floor, but I still felt the need to jump out of bed and go to the window to check. As expected, there was no one there, and nothing looking back at me except for the tree that I had known since I was a child.
I sighed at myself. It wasn’t like me to overreact to things. But last night I had been plagued by a nagging feeling that I was being followed. It was weird too, because even though I kept looking over my shoulder, and knew that there was no one following me—I still couldn’t get over the feeling that the man who had glimpsed at me for less than a second, was the one following me. I could almost feel his eyes on me, even when I couldn’t see him there. I was starting to feel a bit crazy.
I had never seen the man before. I don’t think that he even lived in Rye, so he must have been passing through. Granted, not many people passed through our little town, but every once in a while, there was a random sightseer that had wandered outside of London, expecting to see some sprawling and beautiful countryside, and being completely unimpressed when they found themselves in Rye. Lately though, there had been some strange occurrences here—strange bestial sounds coming from the night train, the occasional person at the pub that rambled on about some fascinating encounter, only to forget that they had been speaking moments later. There were other incidents too, and I had told my father about them. But he always just laughed, and rustled my hair with his fingers, and told me that he was constantly delighted by my overactive imagination. I usually ended up agreeing that he was right; it was just my imagination. Nothing exciting ever happened in Rye.
I shook off my nerves, realizing that I was being ridiculous, and headed downstairs. Today I was going into the small downtown district to do some window shopping in preparation for my move to university in London. As soon as fall arrived, I would be heading off for my first time living in a big city. As much as I was sad about leaving my dad, it was only a couple of hours by train so I could come home to visit anytime. I ached for a bit of adventure and intrigue. I had been in Rye all my life, had done all of the things I was supposed to do, and never even so much as had a boyfriend. I longed to meet new people, have new experiences, and see new sights. I longed to see the city lights at night and sit in coffee shops sipping fancy lattes and watching hordes of people bustling by.
After I had shoveled some steel cut oats into my mouth for breakfast and thrown on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I went to my father’s room to tell him I was leaving for the afternoon.
“You’re sleeping late today,” I said as I pushed the already opened door a little wider and stepped inside.
But he wasn’t there. Weird. Normally dad would tell me if he was heading out for the day. He had been acting a little off lately, which I attributed to my having graduated and getting ready to leave home. He was probably off planning some other surprise activity for us to do together, since that was his main objective for the summer months—spending as much time together as possible before the fall semester started. I left him a note on the kitchen table to let him know I’d be back later and then grabbed my jacket and started out on the walk to downtown.
Strange.
I had a gnawing urge to look up at my bedroom window and the tree whose branches rested up against the glass. I guess I still hadn’t quite shaken that dream.
It was nice to peruse the shop windows downtown. There weren’t too many shops there, but at least the ones that we did have, were good ones. I wasn’t going planning to take much with me since the university dorms were already furnished, maybe just a small houseplant and a couple of cozy decorative cushions.
I looked into the glass at a particularly pretty green desk lamp that would be small enough for me to bring, and saw a reflection move behind the image. For a minute, I thought that maybe it was someone inside the store on the other side of the glass. But when I went inside, the shop was empty aside from the store owner who was all the way behind the counter at the back of the shop. I didn’t think too much of it, until it happened again at the next window, and then again, a third time.
I whipped my head around to look behind me, but there was no one there. The next time that it happened, I stayed still and stared back at the reflection in the window. When I was able to focus on the eyes that were looking back at me, I clasped my hand to my mouth to keep from letting out a small shout.
It was the man from outside the theatre.
There was no doubt in my mind this time, and it was definitely not my imagination. This guy, whoever he was, was following me. I turned around as fast as I could, but again her was gone. I was almost about to go home and give up on my afternoon out, since I was getting so freaked out by this potential stalking situation. But instead of being afraid, I got mad. How dare whoever this was ruin my day out in my own hometown? I was done shopping and decided to head to the pub to grab an ale in defiance of being unnerved.
“Hey Peyton,” the pub owner called pleasantly as I walked inside and took a seat at the bar.
I smiled and he poured me the same ale that I had started drinking ever since I turned eighteen. The owner of this tiny little pub had been friends with my father since they were boys. They always gave each other a nod and a sort of cryptic wink every time that I came into the pub with my father, as if they were in some sort of secret club together. I guess that most girls might be wary about sitting alone at a pub, but I loved it here and felt perfectly safe and at home.
But when the man who had been haunting me in my dreams came and sat down right on the barstool beside me, I was completely caught off guard. At least he wasn’t hiding in windows anymore. Now he was right out here in the open for me to turn and stare at.
His sudden appearance wasn’t the only thing that caught me off guard though. When I took a good look at him and stared right into his bright blue eyes that seemed to pop against his black, messy hair and pale complexion, I was so struck by how gorgeous he was that I couldn’t even think straight. This was the guy that I thought had been stalking me for the past twenty-four hours, and yet all I could do was sit there with my mouth hanging open and stare at him.
He was breathtakingly attractive.
Instead of saying anything, he only stared back at me.
“What can I get you?” the pub owner asked him as he looked between the two of us with a cautious confusion.
If I hadn’t known better, it almost seemed like the pub owner was posturing a bit. I wondered if my father had told him to keep an eye on me when I came to the pub.
The stranger motioned toward my ale and said he’d have one as well, then went back to staring at me when the pub owner turned away to pour his drink.
“Why are you following me?” I blurted out as soon as I had reclaimed my ability to speak again.
“I haven’t really had much of a choice,” he said, in a voice that seemed as strong as iron yet as smooth as velvet.
; “What do you mean?” I asked, shocked that he was actually admitting to following me.
My dad knew the local police and all it would take was one call for me to have this guy thrown into jail.
“Trust me,” he said. “Finding and following you was the last thing on my mind here. And to be honest, the timing is absolutely horrible.”
I was completely confused as to what he was talking about.
“But,” he continued as he lifted the ale that had been set down in front of him to his lips and took a long sip. “Now that it seems that you are to be mine, there’s not much that either of us can do about it.”
“Excuse me?” I asked in shock. “What do you mean yours?”
“I’ve claimed you,” he said. His voice was laced with a possessive arrogance that seemed to roll off his tongue as if there was nothing strange at all about it.
“You’re crazy,” I said with a growing panic.
I put the money for my drink down on the counter and got up to leave. I suppose in hindsight, I should have just stayed there and informed the pub owner of this lunatic guy whose behavior was bordering on harassment, but my instinct was to just get away from him as quickly as possible and head home.
“Wait,” he called from the bar.
Not a chance, I thought to myself as I hurried out and left him sitting there. I turned around several times on my walk home to make sure that he wasn’t following me, which he wasn’t.
Good riddance.
I was going to tell my dad all about this handsome creep as soon as I got home. Hopefully he was just passing through and would be gone in another day or two. If not, I was sure that my dad would take care of it.
Chapter Four
Jasper
Ugh, why did this girl have to be so bullheaded?
I didn’t have time to deal with this or to run around chasing her down. I slammed money down onto the bar and mumbled something under my breath about how I should have handled the situation with her with a bit more tact, perhaps.
“Perhaps?” the pub owner said to me with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, ‘ya think?”
“I wasn’t asking for your opinion,” I growled.
“Then you should have muttered your thoughts inside your head instead of out loud.”
I was so frustrated and annoyed by the time I walked out of the pub to go chase her down, that I was nearly seething. I wasn’t sure if I was more upset about her lack of interest in me, or about the fact that I was treading on thin ice. I knew who this girl was—the local alpha’s daughter. And I already had a pretty strong gut feeling that this was not going to bode well for me. Regardless, I ran after her.
Her scent led me up the hill from the pub and toward a small patch of houses. Of course she would be running home to tell her father about the creepy guy at the bar that had been following her. I knew better than to follow her to her house. This was going to get me in a mess of trouble. But even as my head kept trying to talk me out of it, my legs ran faster and faster as my heart pushed me onward.
Why was she acting so weird?
I mean, even if I had been following her, and even if I was a stranger; there was an underlying code between shifters. She should have recognized that I was a shifter from out of town and offered to introduce me to her alpha. Why was she acting as if she had no idea how this stuff worked? And why was she acting as if she didn’t know anything about her own wolf pack?
I followed her home at a distance. I knew better than to spook her again. If I could only get her to listen to me, then I would try to explain things a little better. But right now things were a certifiable hot mess. My alpha would tell me to forget about her and follow through with my duties. The girl’s father would run me out of town. And she would probably continue to think I was a crazy stalker until she stopped and listened to me. Actually, she would probably still think that no matter what. But I needed to make sure that she was safe, and that no one else laid a hand on her, because she would belong to me.
I caught up with her with ease in no time. As she got closer to her house, she stopped, which made me stop too. I waited and watched her for a moment to see what she was doing, but then followed her stare toward the scene that was unfolding in front of her house. There was a group of men dragging her father out and shoving him into the back of a car. I recognized that group of men—they were my pack mates. They were following through on the alpha’s commands, and I knew right where they were taking Ryland. Before I could think about the best way to handle this, she pushed off on her feet to rush up to the house and stop the men from kidnapping her father.
Fuck. Stupid girl.
I darted up and was behind her within a matter of seconds, grabbing her by the waist and putting one hand over her mouth so that she didn’t make any noise that they could hear. Luckily, I was able to pull her away to safety before anyone spotted her.
It was my pack that was kidnapping her father, and I knew exactly what they intended to do to Ryland. I also knew what they would do to his daughter if they managed to get their hands on her. I had to protect her and keep her safe. But the cost of doing so would not be a small one. For a split second, I stood there indecisively thinking about what I should do as she thrashed around and tried to bite my hand.
But the moment passed quickly, and I found myself lifting up her delicate body and holding it against my own as I got her out of there. I held onto her tightly and put as much space between us and the pack members at her house, as quickly as I could. The conflict between saving her and staying loyal to my alpha by letting her be taken, swelled up within my chest.
I had just committed an act of insurgency against my alpha, but I absolutely couldn’t help myself. I had to keep her safe and get her away from them—even if she didn’t want me to, and even if it was going to cost me everything I had known. I shook my head in frustration as I ran away with her. I couldn’t believe that this puny little town of Rye had already caused me so much trouble. All of my years in London, and all of the women that I had been with, both shifters and humans alike, and not one of them had ever caused me this much anguish and trouble. It was absolutely crazy, and I knew it. But she was already too important to me.
Chapter Five
Peyton
I was scared, and confused, but mostly I was mad as hell at being dragged away from my own house while my father was obviously in some kind of trouble.
Why in the world would this guy who has been following me and creeping me out, suddenly jump in and try to rescue me from some unknown attackers? What in the hell was going on?
This guy was strong too—like really strong. Not only couldn’t I wrestle myself free from his grip, but I could feel his strong, bulging muscles around my body. He managed to carry me while holding one hand over my mouth the whole time, as he ran faster than I thought was humanly possible on two legs. When he finally set me down, I looked around to see where I was.
It looked like an apartment, and I was guessing that it was his apartment. It was small, dark, and had nothing but a few cushions and a blanket on the floor.
He took a step back from me and stood there breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath, and looking at me as if I was a ticking timebomb.
“Why did you do that?” I screamed at him.
“Do what? Save your life?”
I scowled. I didn’t really know if he had saved my life or not. Maybe he was one of the bad guys too.
“Why did you pull me away from my father when he needed my help? You had to have seen what was happening. Those men were kidnapping my father,” I cried.
“Those men were way more than you could have fought against,” he answered. “Trust me. There was nothing that you could have done to save your father from being taken by them.”
Okay, that was it. I wanted answers and I wanted them now.
“Who the hell are you? And why have you been following me around?” I hollered. “And don’t give me any more of that chosen one bullshit. I don’t read YA and I know
self-defense, so your whole sexy stalker shit isn’t going to work on me at all.”
“You think I’m sexy?” he smirked.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked with a look of rage on my face. “Answer my questions.”
“You answer mine first,” he said.
He sounded like a stubborn and petty child.
“You didn’t even ask me any questions,” I said. “Besides, I’m not the one who just kidnapped you.”
“Why don’t you act like a shifter?” he asked. “Why is it that you seem like you’re pretending that you don’t know what you are?”
“What are you talking about?” I was about to scream. This guy was crazy, and I was worried about my father and wanted to go back and find him. I didn’t have time for this lunatic’s psychosis.
“Are you doing it because you think I don’t know who your father is?” he continued. “Because it doesn’t matter if you’re shifted or not, I already know who both of you are. I don’t see how you think that pretending you’re human helps you in any way.”
“You,” I said as I took a few steps backward to put some space between us. “Are insane.”
He looked at me as if I was the one being difficult, and then his face changed into an expression of complete disbelief. His jaw hung open as he whispered.
“Is it possible that you’re really not pretending?” he asked in a hushed voice. “My god, is it possible that you don’t know what you are?”
“Okay, you are really starting to freak me out,” I said with growing unease. “I think I’ll just—”
Before I could say another word, a scream filled my throat. Right there in front of me, he shook his shoulder-length messy, dark hair as if he was a dog shaking water out of his fur, and as he did—he changed. He suddenly transformed into the largest, most majestic looking black wolf that I had ever seen. I was too frozen with fear to move, so I just stood there with a scream stuck in my vocal cords and my entire body trembling with fright, as this giant wolf stared at me with its strikingly bright blue eyes. After a few seconds, the wolf shifted back into a man. As soon as I saw him standing there in mortal form again, I turned to run.
