“You could have just told me the truth, you know.” I slammed my bottle of water down on the counter. The anger, the hurt, the resentment I had felt over all the months since he had left spilled out. “I could have handled it. We could have gotten through it together.” I heard my voice becoming louder and brash. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to hold it in any longer. “I would have been there for you. I would have helped you. I would have done anything for you – for us. I told you that. But you didn’t believe me. You just left. You just left me with no explanation at all. Even the truth, as crazy as it was, would have been better than nothing.”
“What was I supposed to do, Rose? What was I supposed to say?” Warren tossed his hands in the air slightly, his words swimming in frustration. “Will you marry me, and oh, yeah, by the way, I’m a werewolf.” I paused. Did he just say what I think he said? He said marry.
“Shifter,” I said, remembering what he had told me earlier. He chuckled. The resentment I felt left my body with each breath. The anger I carried left my body in the tear rolling down my cheek. And the hurt left my body in the next words to leave my tongue. “You were going to ask me to marry you?”
I was shocked, clueless that he had even considered asking me. We had discussed our future, but he never hinted that he was going to ask. He never even fumbled over questions to get ideas of how or when or my ring size or ring type.
There was a silence. Not an awkward silence, but the kind of silence between two people when they know each other enough that there’s no need to fill it with words. A beautiful silence. A loving silence. A perfect silence.
“I even bought a ring,” he said, his voice calm, his eyes looking down at his hands as he picked at his nails. “I still have it. At Nana Kay’s.” I looked upon him with new eyes, with a mended heart, and with a full understanding of why he left. He was trying to protect me.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked.
Warren stood up, walked in front of me, and took my hand in his. Putting my hand to his lips, he gently placed soft kisses on the back of each finger. As he lifted his eyes to meet mine, he slowly knelt to one knee. I gasped. This is not happening. Is this happening? This is happening.
“Will you marry me?” he asked. “Oh, yeah, and by the way, I’m a werewolf.”
Shifter. He’s a wolf shifter. Fuck!
Chapter Nineteen
Girls night out may only happen once a month now, instead of once a week like when we were younger, but we still make it work. It renews the spirit and refreshes the soul, and it’s a great time. It’s on my schedule every month, and it’s the one appointment we don’t cancel except in times of physical injury, illness, or family emergency. Everything else can wait at least one day.
Walking out of the restaurant, Gayle and I stood together on the sidewalk and waved at the others as they loaded into an Uber. As the SUV pulled away, we turned to face each other.
“That was so much fun. Thanks for putting it together this month.” I said as Gayle hugged me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed tight, holding on to me for a bit of time. “What’s that for?” I asked.
She took a step back and grabbed my left hand, pulling it up to look at the beautiful engagement ring Warren had given me a few days ago. “I’m so happy for you,” she said. “And I’ll admit it. I was totally wrong about the whole ex thing not working out. Who knew?”
I gently pulled my hand from her grip and held it up at eye level, taking in the beauty of the ring for myself. The princess cut stone glittered and sparkled, catching the light shining through the front window of the restaurant. It was a beautiful ring. Warren had done well choosing this one.
“I know. I’m still in shock myself. I just thought we’d fool around, have some great sex, maybe date for a while again. I didn’t think we’d end up getting engaged.” I laughed and shook my head. I looked at Gayle, a smile still plastered on my face.
“You’re getting married!” She shouted. She hugged me again.
“Which reminds me,” I hugged her back. “Will you be my maid of honor?” Gayle snapped back and stared at me, her jaw slightly open, eyes wide.
“Seriously?”
“What? You’re my best friend. Of course, I want you to be my maid of honor.” I hadn’t imagined asking anyone, because I honestly hadn’t thought about getting married. But here I was, engaged, and thinking about my bridal party.
“Oh my god,” she squealed. “Yes! Of course! I’d be honored!” She hugged me again. Her phone chimed, and she released me from her grip. “My Uber’s almost here,” she said. “I hate to leave you alone. Will you be okay?” We began moving down the sidewalk toward the curb.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. You go. Get home and get some sleep. I’ll see you in a couple days. A car slowly approached, and Gayle looked at her screen, and then at the car.
“That’s mine,” she said. Pausing, she turned to me. “You know what? Maybe I should do a rundown of all my exes.” Gayle cocked her head slightly to the side and tapped her cheek with her long, slim index finger. “I may have been too hard on some of them. Maybe there’s some potential in there.”
“Maybe,” I said. “There were some pretty good ones in there. Cute, smart, hot.” Thinking about the men that Gayle has dated over the years, I imagined them parading in front of her as she inspected them, clipboard in hand, taking notes. I smiled at the image. She turned back to me.
The car stopped in front of us and the passenger window rolled down. Gayle popped her head in and talked to the driver for a moment. Turning back to me she gave me the thumbs up to let me know the driver checked out.
“So, what you’re saying is,” Gayle opened the back door of the car. “Even if I don’t find a husband, I’m bound to have some great sex.” Gayle smirked and raised her eyebrows.
“Well yes. There’s that.” We laughed. We had been laughing all night. We had been laughing so much all night that my cheek hurt. I hugged Gayle one last time and then watched the car drive away. A few seconds later, my phone chimed. I looked at the screen to see my Uber was a still a few minutes away.
Suddenly, I heard a crash. Realizing the street light over my head had blown out, I moved away, afraid of being cut by any stray glass. The next light crashed and went dark. I continued down the street. A third light crashed, and the darkness seemed to follow me. As fear began to set in, I felt uneasy, anxious, as if I were being followed. Instead of heading back into the restaurant, I moved further down the street, toward the parking lot.
My pace quickened, and I moved to the middle of the nearly empty parking lot and hid behind the tire of an SUV. The lights that ran around the perimeter of the parking lot began popping, one after another, leaving me in complete darkness. Then I heard it. A familiar growling. I peeked out from behind the tire to see something moving in the darkness at the far end of the lot. As a car drove by, the headlights shone though the fence, illuminating the area where the growling was coming from.
The white wolf! I saw it. Slowly moving towards me. I gasped hard as I felt someone behind me, grabbing me by the waist, and placing a hand over my mouth.
“Shhh. It’s me,” Warren said. “Stay still and be quiet.” A sense of relief washed over me like a hot shower. I nodded. “And please, don’t watch.” I twisted around, turning to face him, shaking my head.
“No,” I whispered. “Don’t …” Warren placed a soft kiss on my lips before scurrying away. I heard Warren groan, grunt, and then I heard a growl. I moved slowly toward the end of the car hoping to see Warren and stop him from facing the white wolf. All I found was his shirt and jeans tossed in a pile. I picked them up, holding them tightly to my chest.
I could hear the growls, snarls, and barks of them fighting. I squeezed his clothes tightly, wishing there was a way I could help. But I knew if I showed my face, I would only be a distraction. I risked getting him injured or killed. So I stayed hidden. I stayed still. I stayed quiet.
The howls and growls c
ontinued, but soon, I heard yips and yelping. My fear and concern grew. It seemed to last forever. As the noises slowed, and quieted, I slowly peeked my head around the car. Another car passed by, its headlights shining into the lot. That’s probably my fucking Uber. As the car illuminated the far end of the parking lot, I watched to see the white wolf limping off, his snow-white fur tinged with red.
Warren, still in wolf form, rested on his side. Without even thinking, I burst from behind the safety of the SUV and quickly moved to him. By the time I reached him, he was transforming back to his human form. I stood, watching, until the man I loved laid naked and bleeding on the asphalt. I may not know much about his world. In his world, I may be helpless. But what he needed now was medical attention. And that’s my world.
“Where’s your car?” I asked. Placing his clothes on the asphalt beside him, I grabbed the keys from his pocket of his jeans and clicked the alarm button. He pointed behind me. I clicked the alarm button again and heard the bleep bleep from nearby. “I’ll be right back,” I said. I kicked off my heels and ran. I felt pebbles under my feet but kept running until I arrived at his car, opened the door, and started the engine. I pulled the car next to Warren. He had managed to put on his shirt and his jeans up to his knees. As I helped him into the backseat of the car, I assisted him in putting his clothes on.
Hopping back into the driver’s seat, I quickly drove to the hospital. I used my ID code and snuck Warren into an empty urgent care bed through the back entrance.
“Won’t you get in trouble for doing this?” He asked. He took off his clothes and climbed onto the gurney. I offered him a sheet to cover up. If someone did come into the room, I didn’t need them seeing my fiancé’s goods.
“Do you want me to start you a chart?” I scoffed. “Let me see. What’s the medical bill code for shifter attack? Oh, and don’t worry about your follow up because you’ll be healed in less than a week.” I raised my eyebrows and offered a fake shocked face.
“Yeah, okay,” he said, wincing as he turned over. “Point taken.”
I gathered the supplies I needed from the cabinet, set up the area, took a deep breath, and went to work. As I stitched his skin back together, the sounds of the two wolves fighting echoed in my ears. I closed my eyes, lowered my head, and rested my hands against the edge of the gurney.
“Everything okay?” he asked. He turned his head to look back at me. “Hey, babe. What’s wrong?”
“You could have been killed,” I said. “Look at you!” I motioned to the injuries on his body. There were scratches and bites on both arms and legs, a deep gash on his back, and a slash across his cheek. “That white wolf tried to kill you.”
“To be more accurate,” he turned back and allowed his body to relax, resting his head on the pillow. “Officer Tucker tried to kill me.” I paused, stunned at his words.
“What?” I asked not because I didn’t hear him, but because I needed him to say it again to make sure I heard him correctly. I knew Officer Tucker was trouble, but I never thought he was the root of it all.
“Officer Tucker is the white wolf.” Warren let out a deep breath. “It took me a while to figure it out, and we had to do some digging, but we found his old pack.” I continued suturing the deep gash on his back as he told me what he and the other shifters had discovered. “Officer Tucker was the Omega in his pack.”
“The Omega?” I bandaged his back, treating the rest of the wounds and moved to his chest area.
“The Omega wolf is basically the bottom of the pack,” Warren winced and retracted to my touch. “They are often the whipping boys of the pack, the one the others practice or take out their aggressions on. Omegas either learn to accept their position, or they get fed up with it and move on. Officer Tucker decided to move on.”
“Move on to what?” My god there is so much I don’t know about his world.
“To start their own pack usually,” he said. “But, no matter what, whether you’re in a pack or a rogue, there are hard and fast rules about turning humans. And there are very strict laws forbidding any shifter to turn a child. Officer Turner violated all of them. Instead of starting his own pack, he’s trying to create one he can control.”
“How many has he turned? Were there more, other than Rebecca and Matthew?” I was afraid to hear the answer, but I needed to know.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Warren said. I began to clean the wound on his face, gently wiping the blood away. “He’s turned a total of five that we know of, but we’re afraid there are more we don’t know about.” My heart sank. I had witnessed two of his victims and knew how they suffered. The realization that Officer Tucker had hurt more innocent people made me feel sick. And lucky.
“So, what happens now?” I wasn’t sure if I was curious or worried. I didn’t know anything about shifter justice, or how harsh they were going to be on him.
“All the packs in the area, and his previous pack, have convened and decided he must be dealt with, and contained.” Warren sat up, allowing me to access the wounds on his arms and legs, which seemed to be improving already.
Contained. I’m not sure I want to know. But at least he won’t be turning anyone else. “But why did he attack me? Was he trying to make me a part of his pack?”
“I believe he wanted you to be his Beta – his mate.” Warren’s look changed. He became more serious, agitated, and angry. “If he were to bite you, or mark you, you would become his. You would be his property and no other shifter could ever touch you or claim you without repercussions.”
“Like you,” I said. I looked into his eyes.
“Yes,” he said. Grabbing my left hand and looking down at the ring that he so lovingly placed on my finger. “Like me. And I think this is why he decided to go after you. Because I asked you to marry me.”
“Warren,” I put my fingertips under his chin and lifted his head. His gaze met mine. “This isn’t your fault. You didn’t make him attack me.”
“If he would have gotten to you I don’t know what –”
“But he didn’t,” I interrupted him, placing a soft kiss on his lips. “You were there for me. You helped me. You saved me from him.” He was there for me. He came for me. He loves me.
We didn’t speak. I treated the rest of his wounds, gave him a shot of antibiotics, a pitcher of water, and then sat down beside him. As we sat in silence, my thoughts drifted to how things had changed over the past few weeks. There was no way I was about to let some asshole like Officer Tucker take any of it away from me.
“You mark me,” I said. I looked at him and smiled. He furrowed his brow and stared at me. “I’m serious. You mark me.”
“What?” He squashed with face with squinted eyes, furrowed brow, and tightened lips. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Mark me,” I repeated my words with added excitement. “Make me yours so he can’t. If you mark me and I belong to you, he will have to accept that he can never have me and will stop coming after me, right?”
Warren’s eyes darted here and there a few times before finally looking at me. “In theory,” he said. “It makes sense.”
“All right then,” I popped up from the stool and stood by his bed. “As soon as you’re healed, let’s do it!”
Fuck you, Charlie!
Chapter Twenty
Standing in front of Warren, I felt a band of butterflies take flight in my stomach. I was trembling so much, I feared my body was visibly shaking.
“Hey,” Warren slowly approached me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close. “You okay?”
I nodded, pressing my forehead into the nap of his neck and melting into his embrace. He smelled so good, like the forest after the rain. “I’m okay.” I’m nervous as fuck and scared as shit. But I’m not telling you that.
“We don’t have to do this,” he said. “I can find another way to keep you safe. We can talk to some of the others in the pack or –”
“No,” I said, insistently. “I want to. If this is
what it’s going to take to show Tucker – and everyone else – that I belong to you, then this is what we’re going to do.” I paused, and my overactive brain started going to work. “Unless of course you don’t want to. I mean if you don’t want to then I understand. I mean it’s okay. It’s different than just marrying someone I guess. I mean I don’t know, but …”
“You’re rambling,” he chuckled. “And I want to.” He ran his hands through my hair, pushing it back off my face. I leaned my head back, taking pleasure in his touch. “There is nothing I want more than to show everyone, human and shifter alike, that you belong to me.” He pressed his lips to mine, brushing his hand against my cheek.
Leaning down, Warren tucked his hands under my buttocks, gently dug his fingers into the flesh, and gripped me tight as he lifted me up from the floor. I wrapped my legs around his waist and interlocked my fingers behind his neck.
My nervousness morphed to excitement as he carried me to the bedroom and placed me on the bed. Standing in front of me, he slowly took of his off his shirt, then his jeans, kicking them to the side.
“Keep going,” I said. I could feel my desire growing. I wanted him. I wanted him so badly. “Don’t stop there. I want to see all of you.”
“Nope,” he said. “Your turn.” I smiled. He asked for it.
I gripped the bottom seam of my shirt, and slowly pulled it over my head and tossed it at him. Standing from the bed, I turned my back to him and undid my jeans. Wiggling them down my hips, I bent over slowly, lowering them to the floor, and pulled them off my ankles one at a time.
“Damn!” he said from behind me. His breathing became heavier and it only fueled my desire. My desire to tease him. And my desire to have him.
I stood up, reached around my back, and unfastened my bra. Holding it out to the side for a moment, I allowed it to fall to the floor. The floor squeaked as he stepped up behind me, wrapping his hands around me, cupping my breasts from behind. He squeezed them enough to give me the pleasurable pain I loved so much. I moaned. He responded by pressing his body against mine, allowing me to feel the hardness of his erection against my ass.
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