Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy)

by Kelly, Amanda

  “Ah, very good. I will need the files back early Monday morning so you’ll have to come in a little earlier than usual or if you want to drop them off before then, you have a key.

  I got up and around the other side of the front desk. “No problem. Thanks again, Doc. Hope you have a great weekend.”

  “Thank you, I too promise to have fun.”

  I smiled “Good.” I left and thought about how much I loved my job and how my employer was more than the half of the reason why. It was a great feeling. I went straight to the bank to deposit my paycheck and get ready for a promised, fun Friday night.

  **************

  Jay

  It was Friday and I was feeling amazing. Will and I hadn’t spoken much besides the occasional grunts when we ran into each other in the kitchen but things felt different, at least to me. There was no longer an animosity there.

  Trent and I had golfed all day, he slaughtered me as usual but his dad did own the golf course so he had more practice. Logan had one of his newer clients in to thank him today because his campaign had been massively successful. This meant mega bank and notoriety for them both so we were heading out to celebrate.

  Even better, my father wasn’t back from his business trip yet. All was right with the world. Or at least as right as it could be in my world. “So, what do you guys want to do?” Logan asked from the back seat of Trent’s car.

  “It’s your celebration, man. What do you want to do?” I said.

  Trent added “Yeah, dude, just tell me where to go?”

  “I honestly don’t care where we go right now but what do you think about taking a long weekend and going to Jay’s beach house?” Trent looked over to me expectantly and I answered.

  “Yes, I’m so down for that. I’ll text everyone in a little and get it together.”

  Trent nodded, “Cool so what do we want to do now?”

  “Let’s call Kira, maybe she’ll bring us to a Chuck E. Cheese’s.” I said jokingly. That girl could probably manage to make even that fun.

  Trent and Logan laughed “Actually, she, Mena, and Annabella are doing the chick flick thing tonight.”

  I frowned, the bright excitement I’d been feeling dimming slightly. “Well then let’s go to Ember” I said. “Find Logan a respectable werewolf wife.”

  “What about you, Mr. Alpha?” Logan said “or have you lost your game?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m looking for something a little less respectable, actually. You know, like Trent’s type.”

  Logan laughed “Oh shit, you are so dead.”

  Trent smiled “That’s fine, let’s just hope some of them feel sympathy for that ugly mug of yours.”

  Ha. I thought of when Kira told me I ‘wasn’t hideous’ and smiled. “I think we’ll just have to see.”

  We got into Ember and the reception we received wasn’t exactly warm. I had fought more than one of the guys in here and I was getting all kinds of fun death glares. Now that I thought about it, this could be how it is every time I show up here but I’m usually so wasted that I must not notice. I shrugged it off “Wow, what’s it like to have so many people hate you, Logan?”

  He snorted loudly, “It happens when you’re the best looking guy in the room, you get used to it.”

  “Then it must be completely unfamiliar to you.” Trent quipped with the usual goofy smile on his face.

  We hit the bar and eyed the dance floor. One girl saw me watching and she put extra effort into her moves. Her top was low cut and her skirt was riding up with every motion. Her dance partner had no clue the show was for me.

  When the song ended she sauntered over to me, her hips swaying. “Hi, I’m Sara, and you are?” She leaned over and put her arm out.

  “Jay” I said shaking her hand.

  “So Jay, do you want to dance?”

  “Sure”. I turned to Logan and Trent and put one finger in the air, indicating my score in our game. They were still at zero and we’d been here almost five minutes. It was such a shame.

  Logan mimicked clapping and Trent rolled his eyes.

  Sara was just as aggressive dancing with me as she had been dancing for me. Her blonde hair shone under the spotlights as she moved to the music. She had it going on and she knew how to show it off, just my type.

  A few songs later, we were hot and sweaty but I wasn’t excited about it. Lethargy had kicked in a little bit ago and I sucked at keeping it at bay. I turned to see Trent in a dark corner making out with some chick. Werewolf night vision helped me to see she had great, long legs. He must have seen me looking because he put up three fingers behind her back and I laughed. I didn’t see Logan anywhere so I decided to use it as an out. “Hey, I’m going-”

  She latched her mouth onto mine and I went with it. We made out for a while on the dance floor but I felt as bored as ever. I knew she could tell I wasn’t into it because she kept trying to amp up the excitement. Biting at me and running her hands all over me. “Whoa” I said pushing her back. “It’s been fun but I got to find one of my boys. I’ll see you around.”

  She pouted and any other guy would’ve found it sexy but I didn’t. I headed to the bar and got a beer.

  A few minutes later Logan found me. “Hey, I think Trent’s killing us both but that one chick you were with was hot.”

  “I guess it just his day for winning. He clobbered me at golf today too. At least I got one chick. What’s your number?”

  “It’s a slow night” he mumbled. I wondered how long he thought he could keep this up. I may be more self-involved than most but I wasn’t blind. I know he felt something for Annabella. Whether he’d acted on it already or whether she even had a clue, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that he stared at her a lot when he got drunk.

  “True.” I said. We sat there and drank until someone tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Hi, remember me?” It was a pretty girl and she did look kind of familiar but I couldn’t place her. I gave her a slow smile

  “No, should I?”

  Her face went from inquiring to livid. “You should, you beat up my boyfriend last week and we’re not too happy about that.”

  Ah, yes that’s where I knew her from. “Then maybe he shouldn’t have challenged me.”

  “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have hit on me.”

  “Call it what you want, babe but it takes two to tango and you shouldn’t have tried to tango if you already had a partner. It makes things so awkward. I mean there are so many questions, who would get to hold the rose in their mouth?”

  She stomped her heal into the floor. “Enough games, you going to have a rematch with my guy or not?”

  I looked at Logan and mouthed “Chick’s crazy” I looked to her “Not and trust me this is a favor to him, I beat him last time and I was wasted then.”

  “Whatever, but trust me, you’ll be sorry.” She flipped her hair and walked away.

  Logan spoke “Well that was nice and cryptic. Are you going to survive?”

  “I’ll do my best” I said. “Let’s find Trent and get out of here, death threats kill my buzz.”

  “That’d be a great song title.” Logan said.

  We found Trent and pulled him off the leggy girl. “Trent, it’s time to get home before your parents realize we snuck out.” I said.

  “What?” he asked confusedly.

  “Plus the bouncer found out we were sixteen and he does not look happy.” Logan added.

  The girl froze, “You’re sixteen? What the hell. You little perv, you’re going to pay for this.”

  Trent sputtered, “What? No.”

  Logan looked at her all doe eyed innocence and said “Sorry Ma’am, we have to get home now because it’s past our curfew.”

  Trent stood open mouthed in shock but his eyes were shooting murderous rays. So many death glares, so little time.

  Legs looked back and forth between him and us and started shrieking. “Who let the freaking infants in this club?” She threw her hands in the air and stomp
ed off, still screaming like a banshee. Then again, maybe she was a banshee. It was hard to tell with women.

  Trent bust out laughing as we walked to the exit. “Dudes, that was so not…Ok, it was hilarious. I’m pissed you did that though.” This was a lie because Trent was hardly ever angry and he appreciated a good prank.

  “Yeah, pissed you didn’t think of it, first.” Logan said.

  He shook his head and his goofy smile returned, “True.”

  We got outside the club and headed to the parking lot. “Where to next? We’ve got more celebrating to do and it’s still really early.” Logan asked.

  “I don’t know. This place is usually the after party joint. Hmm…How about we hit a house party?” Trent suggested.

  “Yeah, sounds good.” Logan said.

  I looked around. “I think I’m going to head home, I got shit to do before we head out to the beach house tomorrow.

  “Want me to drive you home?” Trent asked.

  “Nah, I want to shift and run. I’ll catch you guys later. Oh, and congrats again on the campaign.” I said the last part to Logan.

  “Thanks. Bye.” They got in the car and drove off and I headed into the woods to shift.

  Once I got far enough, I slipped out of my shoes and socks. When I started pulling off my shirt, I heard crunching noises. Another werewolf was here. Shit, make that several werewolves. It was the Michigan kid and what looked like all of the males in his pack.

  Without thinking I pressed the first phone number on my speed dial that wasn’t my own voicemail. The phone got knocked out of my hand by the big man himself as he came at me from the side and pinned me to the ground. The phone landed on the ground a few yards away from me and I hoped it was still ringing and that someone would pick up.

  Michigan’s breath reeked of liquor as he got in my face. “Too bad your pack mates left. Guess you’re going to get your ass kicked all alone.”

  “Even if they were here, it wouldn’t have been a fair fight with all your goons here.” I spat, trying to get air.

  “Don’t worry it’ll be just you and me and this time we’re shifting first.”

  I managed to shove him over slightly, so he wasn’t crushing my chest. “Still not a fair fight but I’ll try to go easy on you.”

  His eyes raged and he pushed himself to his feet. “Shift, you piece of shit. I’m going to enjoy wiping that smirk off of your face and then messing you up so bad, you won’t ever smirk again.”

  “Promises, promises, Michigan. If you’re jealous because I’m better looking than you, take it up with your girl.”

  He roared and shifted and I followed his lead.

  Chapter 15

  Jay

  I had barely transformed and he came at me, claws flying. No circling around for this kid. That meant he was good and ready for his supposed revenge. Anger also meant he wasn’t thinking clearly and I could use that to my advantage. His claws had swiped my side and got me good down my stomach. I bit into his leg as he was trying to back away and I held on until I felt bone.

  He yipped and cried but I swung my head from side to side, tasting blood. One more whine and his pack mates were on me.

  Not just one or two of them but five. It was a freaking ambush and I fell right for it. I let go of the torn up leg and began forcing bodies off of me. They had numbers but I had Alpha strength and speed.

  I got most of them off but they kept coming at me in cycles. Some waited to heal their injuries and the others would jump on me again and again. This went on for what felt like forever and I was starting to lose strength in a big way. I’d been clawed at, bitten, and jerked around but I’d done the same to them. I hoped it would be enough for me to run out of here and be able to be faster than them. I knew these woods like the back of my hand, so I could go where they couldn’t find me. That is, if I didn’t bleed out before then.

  Suddenly wolves started flying through the air and I wondered what was going on. I clawed at the wolf above me until it passed out. Moving over him, I could now clearly see the reason for the flying wolves and I smiled inwardly. Will was here in his dark, shifted form and he was knocking around wolves left and right, not stopping until they were unconscious. I barked out a greeting and he barked one back.

  Will gave us the advantage because he was unexpected and having just joined the fight, he had plenty of energy. His presence renewed me and I went for Michigan. I dove straight for his left leg, the one I’d already injured, taking him down. Once he was on the ground, I went for his right leg, so he couldn’t run after me. The blood’s bitter taste turned into the sweet taste of victory when he cried out in pain. I let go as soon as he was good and paralyzed for the next few minutes at least.

  Will was fighting the last two guys moving around and I jumped into it with everything I had left. When they too were immobile, I grabbed what I could of my clothes because of my wallet and Will managed to find my phone and grab it with his teeth. We ran into the woods as fast and far as we could before I collapsed.

  I awoke a short while later as Will, now in human form splashed my face with water. “Get up, Jay. Drink this.” I looked to see him pointing to the stream next to me. We were still in the woods. He must have dragged me here. I drank as much as I could even though it hurt to drink but it hurt to breathe so it didn’t make any difference. When I was done, I looked back to Will. “Do you think you can shift to human form? I called Doc and he’s going to pick us up and get you to his clinic. It might be easier to get you in the car if you’re not a wolf.” All I could manage was a whine. I was in so much pain I wasn’t sure if I could shift back. I tried though.

  A few minutes later and by some miracle I was able to gain my human form. Unfortunately, once I had, I buckled to the ground. It looked like I was bleeding everywhere but it was dried blood in most places. I did notice distantly, however that at least one of my wounds wasn’t closing. Which, I knew was not normal for werewolves. Even the wolves we brought down tonight would be fine in a few hours and totally heal up by next week. “Try to stay awake, Jay. Doc’s almost here.” He started to tear up my shirt and wrap it around where I was still bleeding.

  “I’m trying. This sucks.”

  He laughed, harshly. “No kidding.”

  I tried to lift my head up but failed “This is probably the blood loss talking but thanks for coming, man.”

  He stripped some more cloth. “Hey, you called, I came. That’s it works.”

  “I didn’t know if it would still work like that though, you know?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Hell yes, it still works like that. It will always work like that. You’re my best friend, Jay.” His voice sounded far away. “Jay” he called.

  I tried to answer but I couldn’t. I saw darkness but I figured my eyes must be closed or something.

  “Jay, wake up. God, I’m sorry, man, for everything, ok? You have to wake up... You were right about everything, your mom, me, Demi, all of it. I should’ve been there for you, you really needed me. This whole thing, your life now, it’s all my fault. Wake up so you can shove it in my face. Get up and tell me how stupid I’ve been…”

  He kept talking but I couldn’t hear him anymore. I felt like I was floating away in the darkness.

  ************

  Kira

  We ended up missing the first showing of the chick flick we wanted to see called The Daisy Bridge because Mena had been late. She had been Skyping in on an international conference on foreign policy and apparently the “stubborn men didn’t know their Hobbes from their Hume when it came to philosophy.” So she had to stay and educate them on whatever that was.

  Annabella, Mena and I got to the next showing just fine though. We’d invited Chris and Demi but they were understandably with their guys tonight. So it was just the three of us. The movie was ridiculously sappy and we all cried like babies. It was weirdly needed, at least for me. Sometimes I just had to let it all go and enjoy a silly love story.

  When we got out of the the
ater we checked our phones and found identical texts from Jay. “We’re doing my beach house this weekend to celebrate Logan’s success. Meet at my house at 8 a.m. tomorrow and pack accordingly. We will be there till Monday. Kira we will pick you up at your apartment at 8:30 a.m. so be ready.

  I had a second text from Jay that read “Talked to Doc, you have Monday off so you can join in the beach house trip. No need to thank me. J.” It ended with a smiley face emoticon. I wanted to be angry that he would just take me out of a whole day of work like that but I couldn’t. After all, he’d only made sure that if I wanted to miss work that I could. I didn’t have to go to the beach with them. I could stay here and go to work as planned. I laughed aloud at that thought and texted back, “I’m in. See you tomorrow. -Kira.”

  After that we went out for wine at this really nice wine bar and ate tapas like they were going out of style. It was shaping up to be the perfect girl’s night. “Can we do this every week?” Mena asked.

  “Yes” Annabella and I said emphatically at the same time.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I love the guys but I just need girl time.” Mena added.

  “I so get it.” Annabella said as she lifted a shrimp fritter to her mouth. “I wish you lived in our neighborhood, Kira. We need you around, you make things better.”

  I looked up at her, stunned. “Thank you, that was so sweet of you to say.”

  “It’s the truth.” Mena said before sipping her wine. “You’re like the missing piece to our puzzle.”

  I smiled “I feel like that too sometimes. Like when I first met you all, I felt like I’d known you for years. Just last month, I never would’ve imagined I’d be going to a beach house with friends. It’s still a little weird to me.”

  “Well get used to it” Annabella said, smiling “because now that we’ve got you we’re not letting you go.”

  We laughed and I bit into my tiny tortilla. “So tell me, I’ve been dying to ask you both for what feels like forever but who of the guys have you dated?”