“Whoa, hey. I have no idea how he knows. If he even does. We don’t know that he knows anything. I mean, those could just be old friends visiting.” Was I talking too fast? I felt like I was talking too fast.
Vic eyed me, sizing me up in that creepy way he did. “Don’t worry, kid.” He said suddenly. The turnaround was so quick, it took me a moment to realize I was off the hook. “I know it wasn’t you. And we do have to assume he knows if he’s called for backup from another pack.”
“Who do you—”
“Go on back to your cabin.” Dismissively, he turned to speak with the enforcer. I wanted to take my time, listen in just a little, but AJ clapped a wide hand on my shoulder and tugged be out of the room.
As I walked back to my cabin, which I shared with three other guys around my age, I thought about who could be stupid enough to betray Vic Westboro. The man was unforgiving, to put it lightly, and anyone would tell you that he wasn’t one to mess with or draw attention from.
I entered the cabin and found that Chaz, one of my roommates, was there, reading on his bunk. The cabin was sparse, with just the two bunks on either side of the main room, chipped chests at the head and foot to store our belongings, with just one small toilet, and a dripping faucet of only cold water in the back. If you wanted a shower, you had to use the communal shower in the compound. Vic didn’t trust his pack to be too far away, where he couldn’t monitor their every move. It was better than nothing, which is what I had before I came here. After the second day of my exile, I went into a dive bar slash restaurant, using the money that Dad gave me to use sparingly on a hot meal. Before I finished the last few sips of my dreg filled coffee, a couple Westboro’s walked in. The idea to follow them back, to plead with Vic for asylum, came to me then. I didn’t regret it for a second. The McIntire’s didn’t give a crap about me, tossing me out like that. And after what my father did for O’Connell’s company too, getting them the partnership that made it as successful as it was today. They’d see how wrong they were. And they’ll pay for it, too.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Maeleigh
“Uncle?” I repeated, looking to Dad for confirmation. I had no idea if my voice came over clear enough or not. I could feel the dryness in my throat and the tickle in the back of my ears made me worry I was going to choke from the odd emotion that was coming over me. My dad just kept dealing out the punches. When would I know everything? Where does the secret keeping end?
Dad nodded from across the room. I could tell that he’d picked up on the fact that he’d kept something else from me.
I had an uncle and he was wolf. This was my mom’s pack. Since seeing and feeling what it was like to be a part of this pack, I felt an indescribable need to embrace them all. Family. Even the man and woman—and I don’t even know their names!
Grayson picked up on this and opened his arms. I didn’t care that a sob escaped as I raced over.
It was a stupid move though. I didn’t even consider Gearden and how close his wolf was. The instance Grayson’s big arms wrapped around me, Gearden attacked. Before I knew what was happening though, Grayson jerked me behind him. Jarred, I tried to look around him, to see what was happening. When I finally got a view from behind his shoulder, I saw Gearden being held back by Ro and the other two wolfs bracing themselves in front of Grayson.
I caught the flash of Gearden’s silver eyes, and instantly knew his wolf had taken over. His fangs protruded, and he was snarling at Grayson, uncaring of the other wolves threatening postures.
“Stop!” I moved to step around Grayson, but he threw his arm out, staying me. “No!” I said louder, grabbing said arm to push it away. It was like trying to move concrete.
Before I knew it, Luna was rising to the surface, and I let her, giving her room to spread through my subconscious and mind.
“We’ll make them listen.”
The arm was still here, keeping us back. When we tried to move, his hand lashed out, gripping my forearm. Alpha or not, family pack or not, he had no rights to touch us. We were Luna.
The snarling growl that erupted from my throat must have been louder than even I imagined, because the instant it did, everyone froze, even Gearden. His misty gray eyes flashed to mine, anger still boiling behind them. The hand on my arm released me like my flesh burned him. I glanced over to my uncle to see the shock written all over his face. Together, he and his pack members backed away. I let out another growl, telling them to keep moving.
I saw Ro then, slowly release Gearden and step to the side as well, keeping his gaze glued on me.
I have no objection with our protector, Luna told me.
Liam said something, but I didn’t catch it, not wanting to let the outlanders out of my sight.
Bri stepped up, then, her gaze downcast.
She knows her place.
She reached out, an asking gesture for me to follow her. At first, I sniffed at it, disinterested in the idea of leaving my defense. Then she glanced at me, pleadingly, but only for a second, before she looked back down.
I saw she meant no harm, only to help. I took her hand. It was then I realized, looking down at both of ours, that my hands had shifted, transformed. It was no longer pink skinned, with short nails. Rather, it had grown into something beastlike. My nails were massive claws now, thicker…sharper. My hands looked like they were something from a horror movie. Fur sprouted from the back, and the skin was darker. I could feel extra padding on my palms, too.
What the hell is this?
Looking to Gearden for an explanation, I saw that his eyes had returned to their natural, human, green. He was looking at me with awe. I pressed my other hand to my face, noting that my other hand was the same and that my face had change as well. It’s like I started to shift and then stopped midway. I noticed I had grown a little, too, towering over Bri by a few extra inches more than I did before. I felt the pull of my shirt, biting into my flesh. No doubt I’d probably torn it. It was one of my favorites too, damn it.
“What’s happening?” I asked, confusion breaking my voice.
“You’ve partially shifted,” Gearden said, finally making a presence in my mind.
“What does that mean?” I tried not to yell at him. Bri let my hand go when I got to Gearden’s side. He didn’t hesitate – thank Goddess – to wrap his arm around my waist. I wanted to burrow into him but was unsure. I had no idea what I was capable of in this form. I had more teeth, and just, more sharp things in general that I was worried I could hurt him with.
“It’s okay,” he crooned, pressing his lips to my forehead. The touch felt different, a little less sensitive, duller, like my skin was tougher, too.
“What just happened?” I wasn’t entirely sure, but I think I was in shock. My heart felt like it was going to explode, and I started to shake uncontrollably.
Before he could answer, I pushed away from him, headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” He asked as I felt him following close behind me.
“To find a mirror.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Wait, now.” Hands on my upper arms, he drew me back, my body too weak and out of control to fight him off. Pulling me around, he leaned his face in close, making sure my eyes met his before he said anything else. “You don’t want to do that. Not right now. You’re too—”
My eyes narrowed at him. “What? ‘Too,’ what, Gearden?”
He wasn’t deterred at all by my reaction. “Fragile.”
I saw the truth in his words. He wasn’t worried about what I would see, necessarily, he was worried about how my mind would handle it right then. The small part of me that was still aware and able to function, saw his logic and appreciated it.
I gave in, relaxing under his grip, letting my head drop so that my face buried in his chest. The rest of me let go too, tears streaming down my cheeks to wet his cotton shirt.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gearden
A whirlwind of questions came from everyone in the room.
“What just happened?” Bri’s asked.
“Is that normal? Does she do that a lot?” Coming from the yet-to-be-named woman.
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
That last question was from Grayson to Ben and it was full of accusation. Of course, I’m sure there were still secrets Ben was keeping from all of us, but I doubted even he knew that Maeleigh could partial shift.
“Everyone,” Dad said in his placating manner. “Let’s calm down.”
Ben looked completely thrown off, much like the rest of us, only there was a hint of foreboding in his expression.
When everyone seemed to quiet, and fangs had receded, Liam looked over at me, still clutching a weeping Maeleigh to my chest. She broke my heart, but she also fascinated me.
“How is she?” Liam asked.
I didn’t even attempt to ask her, not yet. “Give her some more time.”
Dad nodded and looked to Ben. “Were you aware she could partially shift?”
The other man was staring off in space, but still shook his head slowly. “I know as much as you do when it comes to Maeleigh’s gifts.”
“Somehow I doubt that, very much.” Ben’s head jerked up at the new male’s words. Grayson didn’t argue with them, either.
“Who are you again?” I still hadn’t forgotten that he’d been one of the males to stand between myself and my mate.
At least the dude was calmer this time around. But then again, I wasn’t trying to rip out Grayson’s throat for manhandling my mate either. “Adam. An honorary beta in the Callway pack, Grayson’s pack.”
“Good for you,” Ro rumbled from the wall. He was probably doing what he did best, observing until he had something to say, even if it was dickish.
Adam threw him a droll look.
“Why are they here, Ben?” I growled at him, Maeleigh’s dad or not, he owed us explanations.
Obviously, he agreed, because he started talking straight away. “It’s been a myth among all of our peoples, about a female shifter being able to partial shift. Only a few males have ever done it, and even then, it’s been hundreds of years since one has. Never a female. Add that to everything else going on, including the possible threat of the Hunters and Vic…I figured we could use a little insight.”
“And, how, pray tell, can they give us this insight you speak of?” Dad wasn’t messing around anymore. I could see his patience in all of this had worn out. He was probably just as tired of all this secrecy as I was.
Ben took it in stride though. “I don’t think we can ignore the possibility of the prophecy being real and about Maeleigh, any longer. We should prepare ourselves.” He turned from Liam and looked at his daughter, who was just starting to pull herself together. As I felt her body relax, she shrank, to her normal height. I glanced down at her face as she quietly pushed away. It was human again, even her eyes had returned to their gorgeous blue.
“Is it gone?” She sounded so meek, it tugged at my heart.
“Yeah. It’s all gone. Back to normal.” I smiled down at her
With a nod, she turned around to face the room. “I’m sorry,” she said aloud.
Bri stepped forward from her position at Ro’s side, taking Maeleigh’s hand. “Don’t be. You were protecting your mate.”
Her words seemed to put Maeleigh at ease, because some of the tension eked out from her tight muscles.
The Callway female took a small step forward then. “Our wolf natures can be hard to suppress or reason with, sometimes.”
The confused look on Maeleigh’s face had Ben quickly raising his hands to translate. When he was finished, she smiled a little and nodded.
“How is that possible?” She said, glancing up at me, then to Liam. I could see the brief flash of pride cross Dad’s face at the clear acknowledgement that she still regarded him as her pack leader. As she wasn’t officially mated, her wolf could still revert to her origin pack’s alpha. Clearly, her wolf hadn’t changed her mind about my dad.
“You partially shifted,” Dad repeated, reluctantly, as Ben translated. “It doesn’t happen often. Rarely, in fact. And never, until today, with a female wolf.”
The gravity of his words wasn’t lost on her. Frowning at Liam she signed, “What does this mean?” When Ben finished translating, Dad looked around the room in search of any explanations, though, no everyone remained silent.
“We don’t know, Maeleigh,” Dad told her. “We’ll just have to be prepared for anything, now.”
“Speaking of which,” Grayson said, glancing from myself to Dad. My wolf appreciated the fact that his gaze didn’t touch on Maeleigh this time around. “I hear you have some hunters giving you problems.”
“Pfft.” Ro scoffed from his corner of the room.
Bri moved to stand closer to Maeleigh but giving her more room to see around the room. “If you can call it that. The Westboro’s have some sort of deal going on with them. A source told us about it, and we can only assume it’s not good.”
“The Westboros?” His brows came down, giving him a more menacing appearance, and he swung around to look at Dad. “They’re still giving you trouble?”
Dad shook his head. “Not for years. We’ve had a sort of agreement, to which we’ve both abided by until today. I’m afraid an ex-member of the McIntire pack has taken up ranks with them, though. Including information regarding Maeleigh.”
“But not everything. He didn’t know too much before he left us,” Bri added, crossing her arms. “He just knows that the hunters were after Maeleigh.”
“And the vampire.” Ro supplied nonchalantly.
“Vampires?” The Callway female grew alarmed, swinging around to look up at her mate.
“Just one,” Maeleigh said. Right then, I realized that Ben had kept up on the interpreting. Poor guy. Looking at him then, I noticed that he didn’t do this all that often, he started to look tired.
“Right, just one vampire.” Bri went on to say. She glanced over at Dad, he gave her a nod, the “go ahead” to divulge more information. “All we know, is that the hunters came here looking for Maeleigh and Gearden. They kidnapped Maeleigh, hoping to lure Gearden. We found her though.” Maeleigh smiled at her and I could sense her gratitude.
“And the hunters? The vampire?” Grayson lifted an inquiring brow.
“Dead. All of them.”
“So, what you’re telling me is a person from your pack betrayed you.” The other woman looked at Dad. “Helped to kidnap your mate,” to me. “And you exiled him,” to Brianna. When no one argued with her, she went on. “Then the exiled went to an enemy pack, seeking asylum, we’re assuming, and is now feeding them information about what the last group of hunters were after and they’ve now made a deal with the devil to get what they’re after.” She swung around to pin Maeleigh with wide eyes. “You.”
For a moment, I expected Maeleigh to shrink back. She was put on the spot by an obviously higher-ranking female, who was basically accusing her of being the reason for all of that’s happened, but she didn’t. Instead, my wolf flared to high alert when it felt Maeleigh’s roar to the surface like a volcano erupting. Jumping behind her, I wrapped an arm around her waist just as she growled and started to step forward. Adam clapped a hand on his mate’s shoulder, pulling her back from the situation.
“Yeah, okay,” Ro said, moving to step between the four of us. It was like he was just casually walking down the street, too. Ugh, sometimes it irritated me how cool he could seem in tense situations. “What’s your name, again, darling?” Something caught my eye and I saw Bri trying to hold it together, folding her lips in to keep from laughing.
“Sharla,” she groused from clenched teeth.
“Well, Sharla.” Ro crossed his arms over his wide chest. “I’m going to have to ask you to take a step off your high horse and back away from my Luna. My wolf doesn’t appreciate your proximity.”
“Luna?” Grayson breathed the word and I knew the rest of the room grew still. I wasn’t entirely sure
Dad had wanted that particular bit of information divulged to the newcomers.
Picking up on the turn of the conversation, Maeleigh chose that moment to snarl, making her wolf’s presence known and heard again.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Grayson revered.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Maeleigh
Liam put up the visitors in the guest rooms on the property. I’d never seen it, but Gearden explained there were a couple of small cabin-like structures on their property, beyond the back yard, that they used for visitors like them or when new pack members needed temporary housing. In a way I felt more at ease knowing we had more wolves on site. Fighters, too, apparently. I didn’t think Dad would have called them over just for a family reunion.
I have an uncle.
The thought of that brought on so many mixed emotions, I didn’t know where to begin. There was the fact that I had more family now, a new connection to my birth mother, brought hope for more closure on my roots. Though, it was proof that Dad had even more secrets and I didn’t think he was going to reveal all of them any time soon considering his track record so far.
“You okay?” Gearden hugged me from behind as we sat on the porch swing. I needed some air, time to gain my bearings. It was all just becoming too much. I wanted to be there for whatever they were expecting me to do, even if they didn’t know, for when this whole prophecy thing happened, but I wasn’t even sure I had a firm grasp on my sanity, much less be this “chosen one” they thought I was.
I relaxed into his embrace. “Yeah. I’m just thinking.”
“Yeah. I get it.” Thank goodness he didn’t ask to talk about it more. I wasn’t ready for that.
“I think I’m going to go see mom tomorrow.” I stared off into the dark bushes ahead, seeing that leaves had wilted into themselves for the night, waiting for the sun the next morning.
“Want me to go with you?”
“No.” The breath I drew in was slow and deep, but steady. “I should do this on my own.”
The Chase: Book 2 in The Hunt Series Page 15
