Greyriver Shifters

by Kristina Weaver

  I knew of him and what I knew I didn’t like. In fact, I hated him because I wanted him too, and that rankled me. I saw a tall, broad-shouldered male with dark hair and piercing blue eyes.

  It was a hard body that made everything female inside me bloom and want.

  But that wasn’t to be because, as the daughter of the pack Alpha, I knew that I could never just hop into bed with a man whose family is constantly attacking my father and questioning his leadership.

  I have gone through the last twenty-nine years of my life knowing that if I didn’t find my Fated, then when the time came, I would mate some other worthy male from the mixed shifters, like Clarke Kilter, who makes me laugh and has the blonde good looks of a wicked boy next door.

  I thought I would just settle, learn to love a male, and not long for the Fating that I have seen countless family members and friends go though.

  I was content and happy enough with my life as the pack princess and the girl who had everything. All my life if I wanted something, I would get it. My parents and my brother Bear spoiled me terribly since I was the only girl and one of only two young my parents produced.

  All my life I have had exactly what I wanted, seen things exactly as I was taught to see them, and I never questioned any of it, not once, until one day I looked up and saw Blain and everything shifted.

  I scented his maleness, that special scent that a male only gives off for his female. I was trapped by the arousal he set off inside me and horrified when my wolf knew him as hers.

  Horrified because I had run away from my home, my family and gone on a one female mission to find the resistance, a secret organization that has been harming my pack for months.

  I found them, using my determination, some of what I had heard throughout the years and tracked them down to Helena, our main city in Montana.

  When I got there, I was so scared but determined to do the right thing, at least the way I saw it then. I thought I would walk in there and kill another shifter, without thought or guilt, just do it. Because the ends justified the means, right? I don’t have to feel guilty about taking a life because the male was a murdering, unconscionable bastard. Right?

  That’s what I thought, what I made myself believe, and the truly horrifying thing is that the moment I spoke of, where I looked up and I saw my Fated, was the moment I had my hands on a knife about to kill him.

  The shock hit me so fiercely that I still feel the pain of it. In that moment, I was not Julia Silverton, the pack princess. I was not the female who had decided not to be pampered anymore and help those I loved. I wasn’t anything I was or wanted to be because it all stopped, and I became the female that was meant to have Blain Seers.

  Right there was when I knew that I could never do it because instead of attacking me, the fucking idiot smiled! He smiled at me, lay back down and watched me, as if daring me to do it.

  Sometimes, especially times like right now, when I sit beside his hospital bed, I think I saw a plea there, as if he was asking me to end it. I ran though. I ran as far and fast as my legs could carry me and got myself home with my tail tucked between my legs.

  I stopped being anything other than a spoiled little princess who once again ran home to Daddy to protect her. Not that Blain followed, mind you.

  Oh no. He only strolled back in and kept playing his part as a pack enforcer and elite bastard two days after I found out that he led the council, trying to take control of all shifter packs.

  He is so arrogant that the first stop he made was my family home, where I was hiding, and he ambled in as calm as a cucumber without batting an eyelash and smiled at me as if daring me to out him.

  I don’t know if he knew I couldn’t, or if he was just testing me, waiting. Whatever the case, I hid and kept my mouth shut because while I hated him, I also couldn’t be what got him killed.

  I didn’t tell my pack, my father, my Alpha, that the male they were hunting and intent on killing was my Fated. I kept that knowledge buried, and in doing so, I created a situation where I had no control.

  I tried to. I eventually got myself out of the house and started watching him. Spying, listening in on his conversations. I don’t know why I did that, just to say that a part of me wanted to have a reason to betray him. I already had one, and yet I needed more because I just couldn’t do it.

  I hated myself for that, especially when I overheard him telling his scentless goon squad, a dangerous gang of male shifters who’d been genetically changed through a drug Blain developed, to go and get Cass, the female human who is Fated to my friend Banner and worked for Blain.

  I heard him tell them to go and take her because Cass had stumbled upon his secret and he couldn’t afford for her to let it out. I ran, harder than I have ever run in my life to get to Cass and warn her, but I was too late.

  They came anyway and took us both and Blain locked us away in his basement where I thought Cass and I would die. It turns out that inside this male there is more than just darkness, that his budding friendship and love for Cass made him do one heroic thing.

  Try to save her.

  In the process, he saved me too—and got himself ripped apart.

  Now, here I sit, beside the bed of a male I do not know, one I do not love or trust, and I cannot move because he saved me. He put himself between me and five scentless male shifters. He took the pain, the attacks, and the impending death.

  He sacrificed himself for me in the most beautiful display of savagery I have ever witnessed. He’s here now because his throat got near ripped out by one of them while protecting me.

  He hasn’t woken. He doesn’t move. He is gone for all intents and purposes, despite me blooding him to help him heal and save his life.

  And I don’t know how to feel about that because the male I saw protecting me was not the male I thought I knew. He was magnificent. He was noble. He was strong.

  And now he’s in a bed, hooked up to machines, while I blood him daily and nothing. No change. Will he ever open his eyes for me and let me know who he really is?

  Do I want to?

  I can’t answer any of those questions honestly, but what I do know is that I claimed this male in front of my Alpha. I staked myself to him on this pyre, and I hope to God he doesn’t die and leave me to burn alone.

  For shifters blooding, mating, claiming, all the biology that goes along with it, is non-negotiable. He’s mine now, and while my pack’s laws have changed to include divorce, it’s the one law my father made that I do not agree with.

  Mating is for life, and I have basically mated Blain. For life. Without his agreement because he’s unconscious and may never wake up.

  My father is furious with me for calling him out and defending Blain when the Alpha wanted to kill him. My family is furious, all my friends think I’m nuts, and the only person who has supported me for the last week has been Banner’s mate, Cass, the human who befriended Blain.

  I snort just thinking of her, recalling how she came into town and had no clue that we were all shifters. I still laugh when it hits me that she ran from a shifter—a werewolf to Cass, a monster—right into an entire town filled with what she was trying to escape.

  She is human. Well, she was until Banner blooded her, and she is kind and caring and refuses to see the bad in anyone, no matter what race they are.

  Hell, she adores Blain, and I have yet to meet an unkinder male. She loves him, defends him, never allows others to put him down, and always comes in here with a smile, puts a kiss on his forehead, and has the unflagging conviction that he’ll wake up.

  All he needs is time.

  I can’t stand the waiting though! I sit here—day after day—watching him with only Cass to keep me company for a few minutes before Banner drags her back home. No one else comes. Not his sister—Hannah. Not his brother—Brig. Not his mother, that fruitcake elite female who has no heart.

  My family has all abandoned me. My father refuses to acknowledge me, and my own friends are all gone once they heard that I�
��d mated a male who is considered a traitor to pack and race.

  I don’t leave though. I should. I have every right to walk out of here, call it good because I tried to save him with the blooding and not give a shit. If he lives, great, go to prison or face execution. If he dies, well, see ya, loser.

  I stay.

  I need to stay because I have to know that my life wasn’t…isn’t more valuable than his. He may be a villain, the bad guy to my good girl, but he is worth something to me.

  I want to talk. I want to know why he’d do it. God, I don’t understand why he did it! If he’d just stayed bad, then I’d be dead and—

  I just don’t understand why he came down to that basement and did something good when he is all bad. Surely, maybe he isn’t all bad then? I can’t even answer that, but it’s moot right now because he’s not here and thinking it to death won’t get me the answers I need so I can walk away and go on with my life. Forget about Blain Seers, Fating, my feelings.

  I don’t want any of it dammit. He’s not…

  My wolf whines, ducking her head, and I grind my jaw when the word mine is growled in my head. Stupid bitch, just stay down and leave me alone. I don’t want this. Don’t want him.

  Oooh, liar, liar pants on fire, muzzle as long as a telephone wire.

  I groan at the sound of that voice, the glee in her tone making me cringe and attempt to shove her out of my head. The problem with Hannah though, she’s tenacious. She has a mind ability that allows her to telepathically connect with people, and while I happen to have no idea why she’s talking to me since we can’t stand each other, at least I’m not alone anymore.

  What do you want?

  Oh be nice, Jules. I’m here to keep you company.

  I don’t like you.

  Me either. I mean, I don’t like you either, but I need to update you about things in case people decide to show up and ask you questions.

  About what?

  About what happened, silly.

  They already know what happened.

  Oh doooo they? Or do they know what your sweet little Cass told them because for once she grew a huge set of balls and lied straight to everyone’s faces. Even Banner’s.

  I hear her gasp, the mocking tone and feel a reluctant grin pull at my lips. God, this bitch is so freaking unshakable.

  Me’n Cass is like fungus! We grow on you.

  Stop trying to be cute and explain this to me, would you? Cass lied?

  I can hardly believe it. Cass is like the epitome of all that is good and kind and honest in this world. She’s the nicest person I have ever met, and part of that niceness is her inability, or complete suckiness at lying. She just doesn’t do it because she literally can’t. So hearing that she’s told a whopper is almost unbelievable to me.

  She lied huge, Jules. I’m talking the Big Mac, the caviar, the prime rib of all lies. It’s bad, girl. If anyone ever finds out about this, she is in deeeep shit. Deep.

  I hear the concern and fear in Hannah’s words and feel my chest go tight. I won’t ever let anything bad happen to Cass. I love her, and I won’t let her take the hit for anyone. Not even me.

  What happened?

  Your daddy was plain pissed after you gave him that scathing put down about being a shit Alpha and stormed out of here like he was on fire when Althea told him Blain was still alive though critical.

  That was supposed to be happy news.

  Yeah, well trust me on this, girl, Nick Silverton was not happy. He was in a rage that even Prissy couldn’t calm down. He shifted and ran off and eventually came back three days ago. Demanding answers.

  Answers about what? Hannah stop pissing around with me and just spit it out, would you?

  You are so bad at building the drama, girl. If this is you telling a story, then it’s a two pager with no punch but whatever. Okay, so he came back, and he had this bug up his ass about you Fating Blain and saving him when he needed to die, blah, blah, blah. So he called a council meeting.

  He did not.

  He totally did, and he sat there while they called Cass in to give a statement about everything that happened. I was sweating like a whore in church when that female walked in there looking like she was going to the gas chamber.

  Banner?

  Pissed. Logan had to knock him out just so he could carry out Alpha’s orders. Poor Cass actually cried. I think even Bear wanted to clock your dad.

  He fucking deserves it! After everything that female has gone through, being so sick from the essence poisoning her, almost dying, being kidnapped. What is my dad thinking?

  He’s thinking that if he puts this in council hands, then he won’t have to go against a law to keep you away from Blain.

  I don’t get it, Jules. A fating is concrete, so is a life debt. He can’t argue this.

  No, but the council can vote on whether a law impedes or improves the pack, and right now he wants them to prove the Fating and life debt cannot supersede law of pack. Basically, a traitor cannot hide behind laws that were set out by the ancients.

  Oh God.

  Calm down! It’s okay. Ish! Maybe. I mean Cass went in to testify and tell them everything, to give them cause if you will. I think your dad considered Miss Honesty his trump card. Only, she wasn’t biting. That female is loyal to the core.

  I know. I saw it when we were in the basement.

  I hate that place so much.

  Me too. I have nightmares about it even when I’m awake. I hate bugs.

  Okay! Back to topic here. They asked her like a billon questions about why Blain kidnapped you, who else was there, their plans, and a whole bunch more, but you know, that female is a trooper.

  What happened?

  She told the council that Blain is a good male who wanted to save you both from those maniac shifters. She said he’d gone along with the kidnapping because he wanted to get you out of there without anyone knowing. She described a secret tunnel I had no idea about and told them that he sacrificed himself for you because get this, he’s not high up in the resistance and he was just following orders.

  We both giggle at that because that is not just stretching reality, it’s a total detour.

  Go on.

  Apparently, Blain is just some helpless patsy trying get out of a life of criminality, and he was caught up in this mess. She used his love of all things human to prove that he couldn’t possibly be the human hating council lead. She also said that, ahem, he was planning to steal some formula that would give the pack temporary scent loss so that we could have an advantage over the scentless and finally stop them.

  I burst into laughter at those words, my whole body shaking, because that is so much of a lie it isn’t even funny. It’s scary. To make matters worse not only has Blain become a hero, but he’s basically the guy who is willing to die to do the right thing.

  I know right! Who knew she had it in her? I thought your father was going to blow a fucking gasket in there, but everyone already knows her and reluctantly likes her because she’s such a gem.

  Did they believe her?

  I don’t know, Julia. Right now, your father has three months to gather evidence against Blain, prove that Cass perjured herself, and then they’ll make a final ruling. For now, we have time, time that Cass bought us, but you can’t underestimate your father. If he gets the council to wave pack law and kill Blain….

  I snarl, my anger flaring bright red, everything I now feel all mixed up in duty, anger, fear, and the hope that this is all worth it. I’m going to lose my family if things go bad because I too am guilty of going against my Alpha.

  I concealed information that would have helped countless shifters. I didn’t do anything to stop Blain. Now I have exacerbated it all by Fating him. All things considered, I am a traitor who just proved undeniably that I was in cahoots with Blain.

  If they find him guilty and overthrow the life debt and Fating…

  Do you think he’ll do it?

  Girl, that father of yours is un-fucking-manageable r
ight now. He’s going nuts telling anyone who will listen that you’ve lost your mind and you’re lying because you feel responsible for that male getting his throat ripped out.

  Goddammit.

  Yeah. Look, I gotta go. I’ve been carrying low, and I think I may have an early delivery one of these days, and Logan is up my ass about resting. Be strong. Don’t let anything slip.

  Wait—

  I feel her leave before I can say anything more, and I settle down, promising myself I will talk to her about Blain later. For now, I am exhausted, scared, and very certain that shit is not going to go well for us.

  Chapter Two

  Jules

  “Shhh, we can’t talk here. Hannah has gone into Whitefish to have a scan because the one here broke and Logan is having a fit about how much she’s expanded in a few days. I’m starting to think twins may be a dream compared to what she gets. She could hardly stand up this morning,” Cass whispers, holding onto Blain’s hand.

  I would be totally jealous of her stroking her fingers over his hand, I mean, he is my Fated, but she is so in love with Banner it’s sickening to hear her just saying his name.

  “Fine. But I want to know what the hell you were thinking,” I hiss, looking down at Blain with my chest aching.

  “I was thinking that it is far past time someone looked at this man and saw more than what he shows us because it hurts less being bad than it does being good and getting kicked in the teeth,” she mutters.

  I do not disagree, but the thought of her getting into shit because of this makes my heart race. My dad loves Cass; he says she is the true thing, the real thing, the way you would hope your children turn out.

  She’s never mean; she’s hilarious; and she truly means well in every single endeavor she undertakes. In short, she’s an angel. At least that is what Mom and Dad think.

  To know that my dad is so far off the tracks that he brought Cass in to testify, knowing that she loves Blain, knowing that it would hurt her to toss him to the wolves—pun not intended—means that we’re in deep shit.