by D. K. Davis
My face grew hot. I grabbed Addison’s hand and pulled her out of the pen and down the path. She kept giggling on and off all the way back to the house. We dropped our shoes at the back door and headed toward the loft.
Aunt Becka was typing away inside her room. “Everything all right out there?”
“Just great.” I stopped at Aunt Becka’s open doorway. “Addison and I got into our work a little too well. We need to clean up, taking Addison up to the loft to use the shower.”
Aunt Becka continued typing while talking, “Sounds like there are some kids from around the Grand Rapids area wanting to come up here for my class. Do you know a Lara, Blade, or Jaz?”
“Nope. Weird names though.” I led Addison to the loft stairs, and then added, “Got to get a move on, we didn’t finish our job.”
I showed Addison the bathroom and gave her one of my T-shirts to wear, after bagging her sweatshirt. I changed my shirt and shorts, then ran down to the back bathroom to rinse off my face and hair. Once the water got warm enough, the deep sink allowed me to unroll my hair and rinse it good. A little bottle of shampoo set off to the side, so I used it and washed away the stench in my hair. After rinsing out my hair, I reached for a towel. Oops. Forgot it. I leaned over the sink, stranded.
The back door opened.
“Hello,” I called out. “Can you come in here for a minute?”
“Sure,” Rowan answered.
“I forgot a towel. Would you mind grabbing one off the shelf next to the door?”
A shuffle, then a towel draped over my head. Rowan stood so close behind me the heat from his body penetrated my clothes and touched my skin. Something felt off about it though, not the usual zing.
His hands worked the towel through my hair. He leaned over my back and pressed his body harder against mine. Whether intentional or not, a surge of panic expanded in my chest and chased itself into a knot at my throat. Claustrophobic here; had to move…now.
I pushed his body back with mine, grabbed the towel off my head, and scooted to the open doorway. “What are you doing in here?” I choked out. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt, not the clothes he arrived wearing. Oakly.
“I want you to see the meadow with me tonight.” His eyes glowed, for real, not a play with the lighting. He sniffed the air as he ambled toward me.
What in the hell is happening right now? I backed through the door, knowing Aunt Becka was only a few steps away and Addison was upstairs. Any moment, someone would walk in and interrupt Oakly’s weirdness.
He reached toward my shoulder, his fingernails appearing more like claws.
How can he do that?
“Damn, girl.” He growled his words. “There’s no pleasing you. I can’t seem to get on your right side.” He caught my shoulder; his nails sank into my upper arm.
The pain didn’t register, but fear gurgled around the lump still lodged in my airway. Oakly stood inches from me, and I swore drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
The backdoor slammed open. A hand reached over me and grabbed Oakly’s. “What the hell are you doing here, son? You’re supposed to be on patrol right now.”
Oakly’s eyes darkened, his nails retracted from my arm, my eyes hazed over, and then everything went black…
* * *
Rowan
I sensed high emotion, close by, from my brother and then from my father. Another extreme sense, fear and then resonating anger, both hit hard inside my chest. Morgan. Adrenaline ripped away any limitations. I catapulted over the deer-pen gate and ran to the Connors’ house. Dad had a hand around the back of Oakly’s neck, guiding him forward around the corner of the house.
“Hey, what’s going on? What did he do to Morgan?”
Dad stopped and pushed Oakly to the ground. “Don’t move.”
My brother stayed on his knees and kept his head bowed.
Dad walked over to me, never taking his eyes off Oakly. “She’s going to be fine, just shaken up a little. Her injuries are already healed.”
“What injuries?” I strode toward Oakly, and Dad stopped me.
“Oakly stuck his claws into her arm, but the wounds never appeared.” He glanced at me for a quick moment with an arched brow. “No human heals that fast.”
My heart tripped and then beat like a drum. “Are you saying—”
“She’s only a small part human, and I’m guessing that she hasn’t a clue.”
Chapter Eleven
Morgan
Uncle Charlie’s voice echoed, from far away. “Morgan, wake up.”
Shuffling, rustling, shaking, and then other voices called my name and told me to wake up. Fingers touched my forehead.
“Dear, sweet child, please open your eyes,” Aunt Becka whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes to my aunt’s face. She leaned closer as if examining me.
Aunt Becka smiled, and then said, “There you are, now. I think you had too much fun.” She backed away, uncovering the small crowd around me.
I turned my head, noticing no blood on my T-shirt and then realizing I lay on the floor near the back door. “So, what happened?”
Addison stood next to my feet. “Too much green slime’s my guess. You fainted. That can happen to a person, such as yourself.” She grinned and rolled her eyes at me.
Nope, not slime, but maybe a slime-ball. Oakly. I touched my arm where he’d clawed me. Nothing.
Addison stepped closer and gave me a hand up. “You had us all scared. Do you remember fainting?”
Aunt Becka patted my arm, the exact spot where Oakly had sunk his claws. She nodded for me to follow her.
I glanced at Addison. “Talk to you in a minute.”
Aunt Becka wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me into her bedroom, which also served as her office. She closed the door. “Sit. I have some explaining to do, and I’m not sure the best way, other than straight-up.”
“You know there’s something wrong with Oakly, right?” I touched my arm, again feeling nothing. “I didn’t imagine his glowing eyes, his drooling mouth, or his claws sinking into my arm.” Hearing the words spoken out loud, they sounded ridiculous. Crazy. I shook my head in frustration, rejecting the need to rub my nose, and then looked straight at my aunt. Her brows rose high as her gaze met mine. I added, “Did I?”
Aunt Becka shook her head. “I’m sure it happened. And, may I add, I’m so sorry it did. We’re not sure what’s going on with Oakly, but he’s been sinking lower into whatever it is, ever since his mother left a few weeks ago.”
“Rowan and Oakly’s mother left?” My mind went straight to the father I’d never known, but the twins had known their mother. How harsh for them.
“For business in the U.P. Willow wasn’t sure how long she’d be gone. Linden’s had a lot on his plate lately, so sent Willow in his place.”
“They’re in business together? Why would he send his wife and not like the company V.P. or an executive?”
“Linden and Willow act in positions sort of like a king and queen, and they lead a group of people in this area.” My aunt’s lips pressed together, and she brushed her fingers across her brow. “Did your mother ever talk about her mother, your Grandmother Mary?”
“Other than Grandma having her hands full with Grandpa Luke and his drinking problem? No.”
“Well, Grandma Mary is something other than human, which makes your mother and I a little something different also.” Aunt Becka ambled across the room and stared out the window. After a few moments, she turned toward me. “What you saw in Oakly, it’s the bloodline that your mom and I also share. We’re half-human from our father and half-cougar from our mother, but neither of us fully possess the ability to shift.”
My mind went numb. Was my aunt on drugs? Or maybe she was part of a cult.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, Morgan. You’ve been the only child in our family who didn’t grow up being aware of our shifter culture. Your mother kept you away from it. She wanted you to grow up as a normal human.�
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“Are you telling me there are people out there that can shift into a cougar?”
“Yes, Oakly is one of them. We are lucky he controlled fully shifting.”
“I don’t know what to do with this.” What could I do? “I mean, so who am I? A quarter-shifter and three-quarter human? Do you know my father? Wasn’t Mom pregnant when she left home? She was only seventeen, right?”
“After your mother left, we’d made guesses as to your father’s identity, but she never admitted his name. So, in answer to your question, no, we don’t know who your father is, but we are thrilled you’re here. And that you’ll have a chance at learning the wisdom that comes with being a part of the shifter culture.”
My aunt crossed the room, drew me off the bed, and wrapped her arms around me.
The back of my eyes burned and moisture blurred my vision. My entire world collided into any future possibilities; everything had blown up in only minutes. Nothing appeared real anymore, other than my entire life felt like a giant sham, a big fat lie. Mom is the biggest liar of all.
* * *
Rowan
I followed Dad to his truck. He’d hauled Oakly by the scruff to the passenger side. “Rowan, there’s a small box in the glove compartment. Get it for me. Then I’ll have another job for you.”
I dug the box out, and Dad grabbed a little tube from inside. He tore away some paper, took off a cap, and then pulled out a skinny blade. “Give me your hand, the one you used to claw Morgan.”
Oakly, eyes downcast, reached his hand toward Dad.
My father scraped under Oakly’s rusty-colored fingernails, each one, and then tapped the collections inside the tube where it piled at the bottom. He slid the tool back inside the tube and then capped it. “Take this to Cedar’s Hardware in town. Give it to Leo and tell him that I requested expedited-service. I’ll want a call from him with all the details.”
“Why’s he testing Morgan’s blood?” I asked, knowing Leo, the sanctified guru of technology, ran a specialized medical lab in the backrooms of his son’s hardware store.
“You know why.” Dad eyed me, and then shoved Oakly inside the truck. “I’ll be taking Oakly home. He has some explaining to do.”
After Dad drove away, I jumped into the van used to bring the kids to Connor’s and headed to town.
* * *
Morgan
I left my aunt in her room so she could answer a call from Jason’s Kid Kamp. My mind spun in out-of-control thoughts, and I suddenly wanted to run, escape. My whole body shook, adding to an over-all anxiousness. I hurried out the backdoor and stumbled past Addison sitting on a backstep.
“So, are we going to finish our job?” Addison got to her feet. “Charlie wants us to wash out all the soap from the deer pen and the water tub.” She stepped next to me, near the path that would take me to the woods one way or the deer pen the other way.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, unsure of what everyone, including Addison, was; a shifter or a human. I studied her, wondering if a shifter automatically knew when they faced another of their kind.
Her brows furrowed. “Are you okay? You’re looking at me like it’s the first time you’ve ever seen me, and honestly, it’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
Yep, I studied her, and like her, it would give me the creeps too. What clues or tells differentiate a human from a shifter anyway? “Sorry. My head got a little rattled in the fall, but I know that you’re Addison, the goof-ball. Let’s go finish the job.” My shaking subsided when Addison looped her arm through mine, and we walked toward the deer pen.
“You asked where everyone went. Rowan, Oakly, and their father left not long after you came awake. When your aunt took you into her room, everyone else went off with Charlie to do other chores.” She gasped when Woody and Willy whipped out of the grass, and then she released my arm to pick up the little woodchuck babies. “Hi, guys.” She handed one to me, and continued, “Charlie asked me to wait for you, which you already knew I would wait. That’s when he asked if we’d clean up the deer pen from our shenanigans.” She giggled. “His exact word, shenanigans. Say it out loud.” She squeezed my arm as if prompting me. “It rolls off your tongue like a cheerleader call-out to a crowd.”
I hugged Willy to me, feeling his little heartbeat against my chest. “I wouldn’t know about cheers or cheerleaders. I never attended games and never played in sports.” I bent to release the little guy. Addison did the same. The boys hustled off together around the corner of Big Red as we walked inside the barn.
“You’re seventeen, so you’re going to be a senior, right?” Addison grabbed a hose hanging on the wall.
I grabbed two long-handled scrub brushes. “I graduated this year. Planned on going to college in the fall, but that was before I came here.”
“Why would your college plan change?” Addison hooked the hose to a spicket and weaved the nozzle underneath the fence. We walked to the gate, and the hose we’d used earlier still stretched along the ground inside the pen.
“I can’t explain. Guess I’m feeling different about it now is all.” How could I explain anything to do with my future from what my aunt just unloaded on me? We walked through the gate and closed it. Green slime covered the ground around the water tub. Uncle Charlie must have turned the tub upside down to keep the deer away from it.
Addison heard the quad at the same moment I did, we turned toward the path and waited.
A few minutes later, Uncle Charlie drove up to the fence gate and cut off the engine. He stepped inside the pen and waved us over. When we got to him, he winked at me. “Glad to see you’re here, happy both of you are ready to get started.” He nodded at Addison. “Soap scum is your priority. The sooner it’s removed, the better for the deer.” He pointed toward the side of the fence, where a new higher-sided watering tub stood. “We moved it closer to the fence, so it’s easier to fill. That one won’t be so easy for one person to drag around, nor will the deer use it for play.” Then he pointed toward the back of the large pen. “We finished the shelter toward the backend and Rowan finished the fence post repair. The only thing left to do here is to rinse away the scum. Once you’ve cleaned the old tub, we’ll set it closer to a side as a place for them to splash and play.”
“Wow, you guys worked fast. I wasn’t gone that long, was I?” I stared at the shelter.
“You weren’t out that long. We started the shelter long before your mom dropped you here.” Uncle Charlie tilted his head and his gaze met mine. “How are you handling things?” His eyes widened and brows raised.
I assumed he wondered how I was handling the download of family history Aunt Becka shared. “I got questions, but I don’t even know what those are right now.”
Addison stepped away and got busy.
“There’s more you should know, Morgan, but we don’t want to overload you with so much that you can’t process it. Hopefully, we didn’t already do that to you.” He studied me for a moment and then sighed. “I wish you could have come to us years ago. I understand there’s reasons for everything, the way it all works out and all, but I would’ve felt so much better having you raised with the knowledge of who you are, rather than who you are not.”
Wow, fireworks went off inside my head. “Maybe we can talk later?”
“Sure thing.” He patted my shoulder. “There’s a few around here that could answer your questions, Morgan, but, for now, maybe it should be your aunt and me.” My uncle gave me a quick hug and then headed back to the quad.
I hurried over to Addison, noticing she’d sprayed all of the green ground scum away, all the was left to do was the watering tub. “You’re a wiz-bang. I’ll finish the rest.”
“You brought two scrub brushes; I’ll help. We can knock this out in minutes, and then between the two of us, we should be able to carry this over where Charlie wants it. We can fill it afterward.”
I narrowed my gaze at Addison. “Why would you help me?”
“The same reason you’d help me, si
lly.” She grinned. “Let’s get to it.”
“You know, for a fifteen-year-old, you’re a smarty-pants, but I appreciate you saying what you mean. Thanks for sticking around.” I meant it. Those words made me consider Addison, from the few short hours we’d known each other and how she’d treated me, so different from Kara.
Addison spoke the truth.
Chapter Twelve
Morgan
Aunt Becka had never come out, but when we broke for lunch, she had the food laid out on the counter in the kitchen.
The kids filled their plates with ham or turkey sandwiches, cut up fruit, and potato chips. A stack of plastic glasses stood next to pitchers of lemonade, fruit punch, or ice water. Rowan came in through the backdoor, filled a plate, winked at me, and then walked out to the front porch with Gracie and Caleb. Riley, Easton, Aunt Becka, and Uncle Charlie all sat at the kitchen table. Addison and I sat on the couch.
“I love your T-shirt. Thanks for letting me wear it.” Addison slapped me on the arm. “You sure know how to aim a bubble.” She laughed.
I slapped her back. “Well, so do you. Not sure anyone else appreciated it as much as we did, however.”
“I still can’t get over the fact you’re here for punishment.”
“And I can’t get over how hung up you are about that. What does it matter?” A huge breath released like a build-up of steam finally escaping. The tension in my body I hadn’t realized was there, relaxed. “Look, Addison, just tell me why this is so important to you?”
“Because you were such a natural with the twins this morning, I can’t believe this feels like punishment to you. Plus, the fact that your Aunt and Uncle are two of the most caring and loving people I know. They would never treat you like punishment.”
