Shifters (The Neturu Chronicles Book 3)

by Sarah Carter

  "Was she ever with anyone else?"

  "Well," Damien starts. "She is going to kick my ass, but yeah, Alex."

  "The guard member?"

  "He is one of her best friends. It happened once and she doesn't regret it. She loved him but just not in that way."

  Xander raises an eyebrow. "Doesn't that make it awkward?"

  "Well, there was a lot of tension between us for a while, because he was in love with her, but we have come to terms and are sort of friends now. He is a good person and will make some girl really happy one day."

  "I think I could make Trinity happy if given the chance."

  "When did you know you were in love with her?" Damien asks.

  "Three years ago," Xander replies. "She and I have always been close, but one day I looked at her and everything was different. I realized how big of a part of my life she was. Trinity had always come to me, but I started to be more affectionate while she was there. No one knew what was going on or could see what was going on. It was just the two of us. She would come to me at night and we would talk and talk and talk. Then one day, I leaned in and kissed her. She immediately pulled back and looked shocked. I froze, but then she jumped on me and kissed me hard. After that, she came as often as she could. We had to be careful. There were cameras everywhere. Not in our rooms though. I never quite understood that, but that's when she would come."

  "That's amazing," Damien exhales. "Wow. We will get her Xander. I promise. I won't stop until we have her. I have my best people working on it right now."

  Shaking his head, Xander says, "It won't be as easy as that. You've not known anything about this for over 25 years. Why do you think you would find it so easily now?"

  "We weren't looking for it before."

  "True."

  "We have to get your wavelengths and see what we could do from there.”

  “I swore I would never let anyone test us again, but if we can save any of them, I will do what I can,” Xander states.

  Damien reaches back and pats Xander on the back. “We will get them.”

  Xander smiles, but Damien stops dead and stares at him. “What?”

  Reaching over, Damien puts his hand on Xander’s back. “Turn around,” Damien instructs.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it. Trust me.”

  A little apprehensively, Xander turns his back to Damien. He feels Damien run his hand from Xander’s neck to his lower back. “Dude,” Xander snaps. “What are you doing?” He spins back around.

  “I’m not trying to freak you out,” Damien stutters, “But.” He reaches over and puts his hand on Xander’s stomach. “You have a pulse in you.”

  “Yeah, otherwise I would be dead,” Xander scoffs, like he is stupid.

  Quickly shaking his head, Damien says, “No, an energy pulse. That is impossible. We have a constant movement of energy.”

  Xander raises his eyebrows at him. “Huh?”

  “Come on.” Damien grabs Xander by the elbow and drags him back to the clothing store.

  “What are we doing?” Xander asks.

  “Go in the dressing room,” Damien demands, shoving him in that direction.

  “Dude, you are wigging me out a little,” Xander counters.

  “Trust me Xander. I need to check something.”

  Shaking his head, Xander walks into the dressing room. Damien follows him and shuts the door. “What are we doing? People are going to think we are making out or something.”

  “Hold still for a minute,” Damien says, moving directly in front of him.

  “Damien, I don’t swing that way.”

  He smirks, “No, I needed to do this.” Damien puts his hands on Xander’s head and closes his eyes. Slowly, he traces his hands all over Xander’s body.

  “I’m about to deck you Damien,” Xander growls.

  Damien finally stands back up. “You can’t be Neturu.”

  “What?”

  “You have an energy pulse here,” Damien states, holding his hand on his abdomen. “That spreads out into the rest of your body. We don’t pulse. I’m an energy expert. You’re not Neturu.”

  Glaring at him, Xander shifts down into a Tiger and then back. “I’m a shifter.”

  “No, seriously,” Damien says. “A Neturu’s energy courses through their body. Like a constant current. Yours is here.” He places his hand on his stomach. “I can’t explain it.”

  Xander takes a step back. “I don’t understand what you are saying.”

  He grabs Xander’s hand and puts it on his arm. “Feel that flow?”

  “I don’t feel anything.”

  “I will push some energy into you, then see if you can feel it.”

  “No,” Xander snaps, pulling back his hand. “I’m not doing anything like that with you! I’ve never done it with a girl, why would I let my first experience be with a guy?”

  With a nod of his head, Damien replies, “Good point. Let me get Claire.”

  “You want me to do that with your girlfriend?”

  “It’s strictly for science purposes,” Damien states. “Come on.” Shaking his head, Xander follows him out of the room and to the girls.

  “They are pretty much set,” Claire says. “They just need shoes.”

  Xander looks down at his beat up sneakers and thinks that would be nice. “Sure, let’s ring everything up. Will you get me the total please?” He asks the salesgirl. She nods.

  Damien grabs Claire and pulls her towards him. “Meld your energy with his.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Just do it please,” Damien murmurs.

  Shrugging, Claire reaches over and takes Xander’s hand. Xander grips her and looks into her eyes. He feels a wisp of energy but it doesn’t go past his fingertips. After a few seconds, Xander says, “I thought this was supposed to be…pulse pounding exciting.”

  “I’m getting nothing from him,” Claire says. “I can sense energy but it’s not the same.”

  “That’s what I was getting too,” Damien whispers. “I don’t think they are Neturu.”

  “We’re not what?” Aurora gasps. “Yes, we are. We can shift.”

  “Yeah Damien,” Claire agrees. “They’re Neturu, but if they are engineered, they may be different in a lot of ways.”

  “We need to get some testing done,” Damien mumbles, running his hand through his hair.

  An uneasiness starts to build in Xander’s chest. “What kind of testing?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” Damien sighs. “That is something we are going to have to figure out.”

  “You’re going to experiment on us now, aren’t you?” Xander growls.

  “No,” Damien strongly counters. “There will be no experimenting of any kind if you don’t want it. But you have to admit you are different. You can’t meld your energies with ours. You have a pulsing in your chest. You’re telekinetic! That’s completely unheard of from a Neturu.”

  “Not from a Kenga,” Ariel interjects.

  “We are two different species,” Claire replies. “We couldn’t even have intercourse.”

  “Who told you that?” Xander asks.

  Claire tilts her head. “Every Neturu knows that.”

  “That’s not what we were taught,” Xander replies. “Kenga and Neturu could mate. Their offspring wouldn’t stay alive for very long.”

  “I would know of that if it were true,” Claire says. “My mom’s one of the highest historians. Right Damien?”

  Damien looks at her and nods, “Yeah, they couldn’t even have intercourse.”

  Xander bursts out laughing. “I’ve seen videos of them. Yes, they could.”

  “You’ve seen videos of the Kenga?” Claire gasps. “They said all the video was lost.”

  Shaking his head, Xander says, “No, they have lilac colored skin and bright purple hair, really vibrant green eyes.”

  “Like yours,” Claire counters.

  He is about to reply and then stops. “Yeah, like ours.”

  “No of
fense, but I don’t believe you,” Claire declares. “How would you know about it but not the son of the Merjyet line?”

  With a shrug, Xander replies, “I don’t know. We were taught a lot about the Kenga.”

  “How would The Collector know anything about them?” Damien scoffs. “It’s been over 300 years since we left. A lot of the history of the Kenga was erased by that glitch that wiped out a lot of our mainframe.”

  “What are you talking about?” Claire asks.

  “Soon after we left, something happened and some of the information we had stored was erased. We don’t know what caused it, but a lot of the history of the Kenga was erased. It may also be why we had no history of the last succubus.”

  “Aren’t we a super advanced species?” Xander snorts. “You would think we were beyond computer viruses.”

  “I can’t get into specifics, but it wasn’t a computer virus. I just know a lot of the history of the Kenga was gone.”

  Xander rolls his eyes. “That seems awfully convenient.”

  “What?”

  “You’re totally misrepresenting the Kenga and just lost any information on them.”

  “They started a war with us,” Damien snaps. “I know my people’s history. We had to leave because they were killing our planet.”

  Putting up his hands, Xander replies, “We know that, but not all the Kenga were bad. You can’t blame the whole lot because of a couple bad apples.”

  “What exactly were you taught?” Damien asks.

  He looks around. “Is it alright to argue about the history of our alien race in the middle of the mall?”

  Damien puts up his finger and says, “Good point.”

  “Anyway, my energy is not in the center of me,” Xander states, crossing his arms.

  Claire walks up to him and Xander raises an eyebrow. She gently places her hand on his stomach. “Oh my gosh,” Claire breathes out. “He’s right.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  She closes her eyes and suddenly shakes her head. Claire bends over and grabs it. “Aaahhhh!” She yells.

  “What’s wrong?” Damien gasps.

  Waving her hand in front of her, Claire says, “I don’t know. Something is making me feel…off. Head hurts.”

  Xander watches Damien’s head perk up and Claire looks to the side. “Say that again?” Damien stammers.

  “I didn’t say anything,” Xander replies, confused.

  He shakes his head. “Not you.” Damien puts his hand up to his ear. “So, it’s happening again.” He pauses.

  “I can’t be creating energy,” Claire hisses quietly. “I take it from people.”

  Moving his gaze to Xander, Damien says, “Touch his stomach again.”

  She shakes her head, and put her hand on Xander’s stomach. Xander is finding this weirder and weirder by the minute. Claire closes her eyes and grimaces. Suddenly, she furrows her eyebrows and gets a very angry look on her face. “I am super…pissed off again.”

  “Go into the dressing room and shift,” Damien instructs.

  “YOU GO IN THERE AND SHIFT!” Claire screams.

  Everyone in the store, stops and looks at them. “Well, that’s not drawing attention,” Ariel mumbles.

  “Claire Livingston,” Damien snaps. “That is an order. NOW!” They stand there staring at each other. Xander grabs Ariel’s arm and they start to back up. “Claire, come on. I will go with you. Give me your hand.”

  Claire glares at him and then takes it. Damien suddenly gasps and collapes. Claire goes, “Oh my god Damien!”

  “What’s going on?” Xander asks, still keeping his distance.

  Taking deep gasping breathes from the floor, Damien says, “She just shoved a whole lot of energy into me at once. Oh my gosh.” He sits up and puts his head between his legs.

  “Honey,” Claire says. “I’m sorry. I had no control.”

  He puts up his finger. “I’d rather you do that to me than hit another energy point.

  “What is going on?” Claire quietly whines.

  “I think they are causing a reaction in you,” Damien exhales. He then draws another deep breath in, tilting his head back. “Oh my god.”

  “Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”

  A small chuckles escapes him. “Yeah, I’m perfectly fine.” Slowly, he stands up. “Okay, that was a rush. More so than you ever have before. It was a good rush.”

  “I don’t know if it was good for you though,” Claire whispers. “What if I hurt you?”

  “What a way to die,” Damien teases.

  “Shut up, this isn’t funny,” she snaps.

  “Yeah, it sort of is. Something much worse could have happened. Being that you sent me into a sexual tailspin is fine.”

  “I want to fall into a sexual tailspin,” Aurora giggles. That seems to break the tension, because everyone laughs. She frowns. “What? It’s true.”

  Damien puts his hand to his stomach. “Okay, I feel better now. Not that I was feeling bad because of that in the first place. We need to get testing on everyone, especially you baby. We can’t have you accidently tearing someone’s head off.”

  “Yeah, I’m partial to mine,” Xander interjects.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t touch them and maybe keep a little more of a distance,” Damien suggests.

  “Does she have to stay away from us?” Aurora asks.

  “No, I just think she shouldn’t touch you. Whatever makes you different seems to cause an effect in her, or that’s my theory. So, let’s try to stay on the safe side.”

  Claire takes a step back from all of them and holds her hands up. “So, does this mean we aren’t going to Stanford?” Ariel sighs.

  “No, we will still go,” Damien replies, with a smile. “We have to throw you a party after all. Got to live a little right?”

  “Heck yeah!” Aurora exclaims, throwing her hands up.

  “Sir, I have the total,” the salesgirl says.

  “Okay.” Damien walks over to her.

  “That will be $3,498.63,” she politely states, trying not to smile.

  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a credit card. “Do you take American Express?”

  “Yeah,” the salesgirl gulps.

  “This just made your day didn’t it,” Damien laughs.

  “This is going to help pay my rent,” the girl snorts.

  “Thank you,” Aurora says to Damien.

  “You’re welcome,” he replies. “You will be taken care of. No more homelessness or starvation.”

  Aurora rubs her stomach. “I’m getting kind of hungry again.”

  “Well, why don’t we go get you shoes and then we can get you to our house. We can snag Jackson and Kayla.”

  “If they aren’t bickering,” Claire snorts.

  “They fight a lot?” Ariel asks.

  She laughs, “No, they don’t fight, but they have two very strong personalities. They lovingly bicker.”

  “Lovingly bicker?” Ariel laughs. “What in the hell is that?”

  “It’s just something they do,” Damien chuckles. “You should have seen them when they were falling in love with each other. Half the time I wasn’t sure if there was going to be bloodshed.”

  “That sounds horrible.”

  “They loved each other so passionately and wouldn’t let themselves feel it, so it came out in the only heated way it could,” Damien says. “Now, Kayla just gets cranky and Jackson has to deal with it.”

  “Whoa,” Claire interjects. “Jackson can act like a girl PMSing hard core. What do you say, oh yeah, he broods. Don’t interrupt his brooding time.”

  “Like you should talk,” Damien laughs. “You get frustrated at all and the whole world knows about it.” Xander sees Claire narrows her eyes at Damien. He only grins in return. “Oh come on honey, it’s true.”

  “I would say the same thing about you, but the only time I have seen you throw a temper tantrum was when you didn’t do well at school.”

  He crosses his arms
. “Which isn’t very often. Admit it, I’m the most level headed one of us.”

  “Yes, that is very true, but just wait, there will be a situation that comes up that will make you a blow a gasket.”

  “And you will have to deal with me,” Damien replies, wiggling his eyebrows. “Just wait, you will have your hands full.”

  “You have to be careful if Xander gets really upset. Stuff starts flying everywhere,” Aurora giggles.

  Xander rolls his eyes. “That doesn’t happen so much anymore.”

  “Duck and cover!” Aurora yells.

  “Shut up Aurora,” Xander snaps, though the corner of his mouth is twitching.

  Damien signs the slip. “Alright, let’s get going.”

  They all grab the bags. Xander shakes his head. “It has been a really interesting day.”

  “Hey, it’s not even over yet,” Claire states, with a big grin.

  “Oh boy,” Xander exhales.

  Chapter 7

  Claire

  Watching Ariel stare out the window, Claire smirks. Ariel breathes out, "This is so out of our norm."

  "Well, we hope to show you a whole different world. You'll love Stanford. I will actually get some studying in now."

  Ariel sighs. "I wish I could go to college."

  "You will someday," Damien says. "We will get you a proper education. I promise."

  "I want to do something in fashion," Aurora states excitedly. She pauses, "Of course, I have to learn about fashion first."

  "We will pick you up every fashion magazine printed," Claire promises. "You won't know what to do with it all."

  "Some of it will make you raise your eyebrows," Damien snorts. "Women's fashion makes me shake my head sometimes."

  Claire looks at Damien. "Men's too. He doesn't think men should wear skinny jeans."

  "Men shouldn't wear skinny anything," Damien remarks.

  "I don't think it's so bad," Claire declares, turning her attention back to Aurora. "I don't have to help Damien much. He has better fashion sense than me sometimes."

  "I have no problem with your wardrobe. The problem is other guys don't have a problem with it either."

  Rolling her eyes, Claire says, "I like to show off my body."

  "It's a great body to show off," Aurora chimes.