by R. A. Boyd
Aaron’s phone started vibrating. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. “See,” he said, showing the phone screen to her. “This is them. The ones that’ll stop Teague and his people. That’s what we’ll be a part of, baby. You and me and Liv. All of us.” He used his thumb and slid the little picture to ‘Accept Call’ before he put it up to his ear. “Yeah. Two times. We’re ready. Backdoor will be open.”
He’d gone crazy. Riley didn’t know if it was because of the animal eating away at his mind, or if he was just that angry that she’d actually gone through with the divorce. There was no need to try to talk him out of this. His mind was made up. He was going to turn her. Or fucking eat her, and not in a good way if the animal ripping up his sanity had its way.
Aaron stood up and looked down at her. “If you run or call for help I will empty this clip into his fucking head. He might not recover from that.” He kissed the top of her head and walked toward the back of the house.
Crap. What the hell was she going to do? She couldn’t drag Teague out of here. He was the size of a yeti, and if she ran Aaron would do his best to kill him. She went to crawl for her mate, but her arm protested. It was dislocated, not broken. Riley wobbled to the side and stood up.
When she got to Teague she had to stop herself from crying out. A huge, gaping wound had blown open his shoulder and a shiny liquid was oozing out. The muscles in his leg were showing, and Riley had to bite her tongue to keep from panicking. He was looking up at her. His lips moved but no sound came out. Whatever that liquid was had him paralyzed, disoriented. He was pale, and the dark colors of his tattoos looked like pretty ink had spilled on delicate, thin paper.
“I’m here,” she said, going down on her knees next to him. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
His eyes moved back and forth. “Run,” he mouthed.
Riley sobbed and put her face next to his, and kissed him. “Never.”
She was crazy for what she was thinking. It had to be done. Riley not only had to save herself, but she had to save her mate. And her daughter. Aaron would have Liv turned if this all went along with his plan.
“We’ll be good. I would never run out on you.” She took her good arm, held it to his lips and bent down to whisper in his ear so Aaron couldn’t hear. “Bite me. I don’t want you to argue because we don’t have time.”
Teague shook his head.
“Damn-it. If you don’t do it he will. Or he’ll kill me trying to turn me. Do. It.”
Couldn’t he hear the resolve in her voice? See the urgency of what was happening? She lifted her head from him and gave him the sweetest smile she could push through her pain and fear.
He tried to bite her once, twice, and on the third time his head fell back on to the floor with a loud thunk. “My… teeth.”
He couldn’t do it. Fuck that. Aaron had poisoned him and she would make him pay for it. If they could get this bitey show on the road. The only other option was letting Aaron bite her with no complaint. Then she would use her new strength to end him.
Riley leaned down and put her eyes almost on top of Teague’s. She needed him to see her. Nothing but her. He had to know that right now she was their only hope. Whether she wound up a saber-tooth cat or a cougar.
“Teague, he will claim me as his if you don’t do this. He’ll take me away from you. I know he’s pumped you full of whatever the fuck that is, but focus. On me. Just me.”
She sat forward and pressed her arm into his mouth again. It took him a few painful seconds, but Riley could see his gums begin to separate between his front and canine teeth. She smiled until the slow descent of his saber-tooth canine teeth began to slowly dig into her skin.
Oh, God it hurt so badly. Riley put her head on his chest and sobbed as she felt his teeth tear through skin and muscle. She thought she would pass out when they hit the bone in her arm and she felt his teeth grind against it. She shook, pain searing in her arm and moving through the rest of her body.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more of the aching, tearing pressure Teague let go of her arm let his head fall back.
Riley opened her eyes and looked at the bite. Was that bone she could see from the two wide, deep punctures that separated layers of fat and muscle? Blood seeped from the holes. She vomited a little in the back of her throat but then bit back the terror of seeing inside her own body.
“How long is it supposed to take?” she asked, trying to focus on something else. All she felt was pain. Nothing else but pain. No other presence in her body. Just pain. And fear.
It didn’t work. Maybe he chose wrong. She wasn’t the one for him.
Riley laid down on the floor next to him to listen to him breathe. She was overcome with a wave of nausea and then exhaustion. She wanted to sleep now. The adrenaline had left her body. She was tired. Disappointed. Even though she didn’t have a beast to speak of, she would fight Aaron until the death. He wouldn’t win. Karma would get him.
“Teague,” she whispered, holding on to her arm. “I’m sorry I couldn’t he—”
A scream burst through Riley’s mouth. She was in agony. Her shoulder popped and slid back into its socket. Her scream tapered off into a snarl and lit up the whole room with its tremor. The sound of her saber-tooth went to a low whisper, and she breathed a sigh of relief. This fucking hurt.
Her back bowed off the floor and she grabbed her chest. It was burning deep inside. It was dreadful. He’d bitten her arm. Why did her chest burn like this? Her growl grew louder again. A death call to Aaron.
She shrieked, and the preternatural sound hurt her ears. Riley curled in on herself and held her middle as she panted, waiting for the burning to stop. But it didn’t. It intensified and built until Riley thought her torso would catch fire and burn the house down. Seconds passed. Maybe minutes. Maybe hours, she couldn’t tell.
Ohh, something different and vast coiled around her middle. She convulsed on the floor and when she looked up Aaron was standing over her.
“Why, baby?” he asked. “It’s supposed to be us. Our family. You don’t believe what he tells you,” he said, pointing at Teague. “It’s me. I’m your truth. I’m your mate.”
She smiled up at him and could feel her teeth growing and reshaping inside her mouth. “You are so… fucking… fucked,” she said, a hard gritty edge to her breaking voice. “I am so going to…”
Riley yelled and her entire body broke and reformed, jerked and reshaped. Her insides were melting and freezing, and she could feel the skin on her arm where Teague had bitten her knitting together. She exploded into nothingness, and when she came back to herself she was down on all fours and staring at two large paws the color of spotted amber. Gleaming white, tusk-like teeth were visible to her, and her long scary looking nails curved into the floor.
She lifted her gaze and looked at Aaron, and the horror in his eyes made her giddy. If she could speak in this form she would be singing him a song of pain and vengeance.
He tried to back away but something else took hold of him. The unstable beast that someone had given him out of desperation was forcing him. Aaron shook his head and let out a soft snarl that did nothing but make him seem even weaker than he already was.
Aaron thrashed his head back and forth, and then slapped himself. “No. Don’t hurt her. I’ll make her mine. Make her ours.” His eyes flashed to a glowing blue, and then the sound of breaking bone and flesh rang out in the room. His shift was faster than hers.
Aaron was covered in tawny-colored fur and his silvery-blue eyes shined bright like moonbeams on a steady pond surface. White and black fur surrounded his nose, and his rounded-tipped ears sat at attention. His face hunkered in, and a low rattling hiss came from his mouth. He looked at her with something close to disappointment, resentment. He seemed to slink away to run from the room, but Teague made a low gurgling sound in his chest.
Aaron’s eyes flicked to Teague’s struggling form and from where Riley stood she could sense the hatred bleeding fr
om Aaron.
Even with Riley’s huge and powerful body hovering close to Teague’s, Aaron did what he’d always done. Made a dumbass decision. He leaped for Teague who was now convulsing on the floor, but before he could even make contact with him Riley struck out with her paw and batted him away. His lithe, heavy form went flying across the room, blood following him like an open bottle of water that had been shoved across a table.
Aaron hit the wall next to the kitchen and slid down to the floor. He tried to move but his body was scored with three claw marks that slowed him down.
Riley gasped, and it came out sounding like a heavy, moist smoker’s cough. She looked down at her paw and saw that her claws were covered in blood. And fur. And flesh.
He wasn’t going to heal from this.
She looked on as he fought to breathe, fought to move. Fought to live, and as she stood there watching him, his labored breaths slowing down. His insides hung on the outside. Tendrils of intestines and something that looked like a sack. What had she done?
His sluggish breaths became nonexistent. He was gone. She had killed him.
Oh, no. She’d killed him. Riley had never hurt anyone. But she’d just killed her ex-husband.
As Riley moved her large frame to go check on Teague, two men came in from the kitchen. One was tall and had eyes so light they were almost yellow. His hair was dark as pitch, and his skin was flawless and tanned. He was beautiful. He was also one of the ones who was trying to keep her and Teague apart and kill the Ghost shifters.
Without a glance to the second man, Riley bared her teeth and stalked toward the beautiful one. He was going to join her douchebag of an ex tonight.
“Get back, Leo,” he said to the man behind him.
No bother. They were both in for an epic ass kicking tonight. Riley opened her mouth and let out a rumbling growl that made her think of dinosaurs. If these lips could smile…
Something akin to electricity glided over Riley’s skin. It didn’t hurt. It was filled with love and triumph. A wave of power forced her a few steps forward and when she turned around to find the source she didn’t see Teague. No. Not the Teague whose body she knew like her favorite painting. This Teague was ferocious, frightening. Beautiful. Powerful.
Brown fur with black spots covered his huge body, and his sabers were so long they nearly touched the floor. He shook his head and stretched his massive body. This was the first time he’d shifted in thousands of years. Teague’s claws put hers to shame. They were thick, long, curved, and the ends pointed like daggers. His eyes were the harvest moon, massive and shining bright light into the room.
He was a fucking beast. And he was hers.
The sound of a car gunning away pulled Riley from her adoration of her mate. She turned to see that the men were gone. Aaron’s still form was there, but the ones who’d put it in his head to change her and kill her people were gone.
She sat down on her back paws and opened her mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out were garbled snarls. That sucked.
Carefully, Teague came over to her and sniffed her face, taking in her scent. She did the same to him. Riley looked around the room. Everything was crisp, clear. She could see the texture of the walls and curtains as if they were under a microscope. The scent of blood, innards, and spaghetti filled her. She sneezed.
Her phone rang from the kitchen. She moved to answer but then thought better of it. It was Liv’s ringtone. How did she turn back? As soon as the thought made its way through her mind, Riley’s bone and skin began to crack and transform with so much less pain that it had been to turn into the beast. And now, she was back in her human form. Naked and sweating.
Aaron’s dead cougar on the floor across from her was so much easier to take in when she was a prehistoric beast.
“What are we going to do with him?” she asked, grabbing on to Teague’s snout as he pushed his face alongside hers. “Should I call the police?”
Teague shook his large head and nudged her to get up. She had to use his body to help pull her up. Every inch of her, inside and out, was sore.
“Holy crap,” she said, leaning against Teague. “I hurt. Like really, really hurt. And I have Aaron’s blood under my nails.” Her lips curved down in to a frown. She went to wipe her hand on her leg, but ew. “Teague. I killed him. We need to figure out what to do.”
Teague began to shrink down, and Riley had the urge to turn away from him. If she looked like that when she changed she would have to do it when no one was around. It looked painful, unbelievable. Even in his anguish he looked magnificent.
He stood there for a moment, looking at his body and taking in large gasps of air. The gunshot wounds were gone. The only proof that he’d been shot were silver circular marks where the damage had been. When he looked up at her all that shone in his eyes was love. He took two large steps and pulled her naked body to his.
“You did this,” he said, brushing his knuckles up and down her arm and back. “You gave me back my beast. My soul.” He pulled away, still holding onto her shoulders. His eyes gleamed with unshed tears. “Beautiful mate. Strong mate.” Glancing at Aaron he said, “You did what you had to do to protect us. Not just you and me, but Liv. Thank you for giving me everything.”
Riley held on to Teague and the weight of all that had happened fell on her like a torrential downpour. Her arms fell to her sides and she started to cry. Heavy sobs poured from her mouth as she wept. For herself. For Teague getting his animal back. For Liv moving on to live without her father. She had to tell her the truth. There could be no lies between them.
But it would be okay. Riley didn’t know how she knew, but everything in her gut told her that things would be okay between her and her daughter. She had to call her back before the girl got worried and came home to check on her.
“Teague, what are we going to do about the shifters coming after you? If they are recruiting ever person who wants to stop you, this is going to get really bad.”
He nodded. “We knew a war was coming. We’ll be ready. We have allies. This was a surprise. No more of those. Call Liv,” he said, giving her a gentle prod toward her phone.
Riley watched Aaron on the floor as she walked to the kitchen to get her cell. Her eyes were glued to him, afraid that he might seal himself back up again and grab her to him. Take her with him in his death as punishment.
“He’s gone, Riley,” Teague said from behind her. “After you call Liv back I want you to go upstairs and take a shower and get dressed.”
After she dialed Liv’s number, Riley realized she was shaking. She had to shut that shit down before Liv picked up. She would pick up on Riley’s discomfort.
“Riley?” she said, answering on the third ring.
She cleared her throat and propped herself against the counter before she fell over. “Hey, Sweetie. You called?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m fine. Did you need something, Liv?”
She was quiet for a moment, probably trying to listen to what was happening on Riley’s end of the phone. “My dad called about an hour ago. He sounded funny. Said he was going to make us whole again. I—I didn’t want to think too much of it, but his voice was off. Kind of different. I just wanted to tell you. And you sound weird. Are you safe? Is Teague with you?”
Riley huffed a small laugh and looked toward the closed kitchen door. “Yeah. He’s here. We’re okay. You have fun tonight and we’ll talk in the morning.”
“Look, I need to know something.”
“Anything.”
“Riley, if dad decides he doesn’t want me because you don’t want him, can I keep you? I mean, can I stay? If you think I’d be too much then I can go visit my grandma on the weekends so you can have a break. I’ve been thinking of it for a while. He didn’t much want me in the first place and you might have been the deal breaker.”
“Olivia—”
“Let me finish.” Liv took a deep breath, and Riley could hear her move the phone from one s
ide of her face to the other.
The sweeping of her cell through the air and the sound of it settling against the hair on her ear. It was all a painted picture for Riley. She could hear everything with her new senses.
Even though Liv couldn’t see her, Riley nodded her head. “Okay. Please finish.”
“I know who my dad is. And I know I can be a bitch sometimes, sorry, but I swear I won’t cause trouble. Would you keep me?”
Happy tears ran down Riley’s face, and she used her non-bloodied hand to swipe them away. “Absolutely. But, after you hear everything you may not want to stay with me.”
Liv let out a tinkling laugh that sounded like fairy bells. “Nothing could make me want to stay away from you. You already know that. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, Sweetie. Good night.”
She hung up and turned around. Teague was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, dick at half-mast.
“My goodness, man. How are you hard right now?”
He scoffed and crossed his arms over his wide chest where a perfectly cut line was, dividing the defined, flexed muscles of his pecs. “You’re naked. How the fuck can I not be hard?” He laughed for a moment but then sobered. “Go on. Get dressed. My people are on their way. They’re bringing a cleaner.”
A cleaner. She’d seen cleaners in movies. She imagined a smooth guy like Harvey Keitel walking into her house to go over the situation. Did she need to make her best coffee?
“I don’t have any clothes for you,” she said, coming out of her short daydream.
He shook his head and opened his arms, beckoning her to him. When she was wrapped up tight in his embrace he said, “No need. Jax is bringing me over fresh clothes.”
“And the cleaner?”
“And the cleaner. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Riley stood up on her toes and stuffed her face in the bend of Teague’s neck, breathing him in and committing his scent to memory. “I know.”
