by Skye Jones
“It’s okay. He told me there’d been plenty of women.”
“He did?” Again, Izzy’s eyebrows flirted with her hairline. “You guys talked, then? Did he tell you much about this place?”
“Some. He explained you’re an eco-village, and you own the land. He said I’d fit in. I’m a veterinary nurse.”
Izzy laughed at my words. “Yeah, you’d fit in.”
“I don’t see a lot of animals around,” Laura put in.
“We have chickens, dogs, cats, some horses. There’s no vet for miles. Your skill set is one we’d happily utilize.”
“He also said you don’t let people come and stay, so….”
“So she thought, why not set up a tent in the middle of the wilderness and then stalk the eco-village and hope to see him?” Gemma finished my sentence for me, but she said it with good humor and a big grin on her gorgeous face.
“Hmm.” Izzy tapped her lips. “Tell you what. I’ll get you two ladies set up in the main guest house. Get you a nice room with a shower and place to change. Cait, you’re coming with me. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
“We stick together.” Laura jutted her chin out.
“I’m fine.” I met her gaze and attempted to fill mine with a confidence I didn’t feel. I wanted to have a chance to talk to Izzy without my friends around.
“You’re all completely safe here,” Izzy said.
“Fine,” Laura huffed. “But don’t be long, Cait, then come find us.” Her irritated tone was belied by the worry in her soft, violet eyes.
“I will, I promise.”
Five minutes later, I followed Izzy down a long, winding path toward a large, wooden house. “I want you to meet Brooke. She’s another huma…err, woman, who ended up with a guy from here.”
She banged on the door, and a pretty redhead opened it. Her frown turned into a face-splitting grin when she looked up at us.
“Iz! Come in. I’d been saying to Drew that I planned on popping over to yours later for a cuppa.”
“This is Cait.” Iz pushed me forward. “She’s a good friend of our Jake.”
“Oh.” Brooke’s eyebrows did the same dance Izzy’s had.
Why did it seem so surprising Jake had spent time with me?
Yes, he seemed to be a player. Yes, I wasn’t exactly pinup material, but this was beginning to get insulting.
“Come in, Cait. Lovely to meet you.” Brooke stepped back, and I walked into the hallway.
“We’ll go grab a cup of tea. I’ve got a gorgeous cake that a friend brought round yesterday. We can have a slice.”
“I think she needs something stronger than tea,” Izzy said. “They got stuck in the storm, in a tent over on Brady’s Ridge. Thought they heard a wolf.”
Brooke’s eyes went wide. “Yikes.”
She took in my soaked form and frowned. “You’ll catch your death. Come upstairs first. I have some things that will fit you while you dry your stuff off.” After ten minutes in Brooke’s bathroom with a warm fluffy towel and a change of clothes, I emerged drier and less frozen.
Brooke called to me from downstairs, and I followed her voice to walk into a large open-plan kitchen and dining area. A tall, broad man turned around from his task at the stove.
“Take a seat.” He jerked his chin in my direction and glanced at the table.
Something about him reminded me of Jake. He didn’t look the same, exactly. Blonder, a little more rugged, but his mannerisms and voice were similar.
“This is Cait…a good friend of Jake.”
“Ah.” The guy smiled, a cheeky grin, and turned back to the stove.
“My mate…I mean, husband, Drew.” Brooke flushed.
“Mate? Is that an eco-warrior thing?”
“She doesn’t know?” Drew turned back around.
“What do you think?” Brooke arched an eyebrow at Drew and clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. “The rules are the ones you guys made, remember?”
“Yes.” Izzy spoke up. “The ones you were so keen to observe when Louis and I got together.”
“Okay. All I’m saying is, I’ve seen Jake these past days and he’s a mess. No way this one’s leaving without him either following—or going crazy. So the rules aren’t going to count for much at that point.” Drew shrugged.
My heart fluttered in my chest. “What don’t I know?”
“Nothing you need to worry about right now.” Drew turned away to stir the pan. He pulled a lid out of a cupboard overhead and popped it on, before walking to Brooke and dropping a kiss on her cheek. Then he turned to me and added, “Patience.”
“You remind me of Jake,” I blurted out.
“Probably because I’m his brother,” Drew said.
“I’m off to grab a shower before dinner.” He kissed Brooke again, this one a soft brush of his lips over hers, but his hands framed her face and twisted in her hair. When he was done kissing her, he nuzzled her neck before walking out of the room into the more spacious living area and up the stairs. Something about the way he touched her melted me. Not normally overly romantic, except for when it came to my dreams of Mr. Darcy, I found myself yearning for what they had.
“He’s such an idiot.” Brooke rolled her eyes. “Don’t let him freak you out.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
“So…Jake!” Izzy clapped her hands. “He’s soooo in over his head.”
“You wouldn’t think so if you’d seen the way he shot out of my place the other week.” I sighed.
Brooke rummaged around in her cupboards and pulled out three wine glasses. She went to an open bottle of red and poured some into each glass before handing one to me. “Here. Have a drink. It will help with the stress of being stuck out in the storm.”
I meant to say no, but once I held the glass in my hand, the scent of the wine hit and I realized I needed something to take the edge off. I took a grateful gulp.
After two more big sips, my muscles eased and my stomach warmed.
“What happened? With Jake?” Izzy asked.
Should I share? I didn’t know these two women, although they seemed friendly enough. Jake did know them, though, so I ought to keep quiet. A small sigh escaped my lips.
“He can be such an idiot sometimes.” Brooke sipped her wine and closed her eyes as she swallowed. “Damn, that’s good. Thing is though, he has been wandering around here like some sort of lost soul. So clearly, whatever went down has affected him, too. You can tell us what happened, and I swear it won’t leave this room.”
I gulped back more of my wine to give me some Dutch courage. I needed to talk about this with someone who understood him. Who’d maybe have insight into his strange behavior.
“We were getting on great. We’d been sort of dating, sort of friends. Lots of hanging out and stuff. But I sensed he liked me…you know, a bit more than as a friend.”
Brooke nodded.
“There’d been this air of attraction between us from the start. I didn’t trust it at first because…look at him, and then look at me.”
“What do you mean? You’re lovely.” Izzy sounded genuinely indignant.
“But he’s so…I mean, they all are. No offense, but Louis and Drew too. You’ve got some spectacularly hot dudes in this eco-lifestyle.”
The women exchanged brief glances, and I again wondered what they were keeping from me.
“So, you were doing good, getting on, friends but more than friends. So what happened?” Brooke prompted.
“We were…erm… Well, we kissed and some other stuff.”
“Ooh. What other stuff?” Izzy asked.
“Private things, but you can imagine.”
“Nope.” Brooke puckered her lips. “Can’t imagine. I think you need to spill.”
“I don’t know you.”
“You’ll probably be our new sister soon enough.”
“What?” I took more wine. This got freakier and freakier.
“Spill, and we’ll share what we can with you.”
Brooke smiled. “Deal?”
I hardened myself against the embarrassment squirming within and told them. “We were kissing on the bed. It went further, things got passionate. Very passionate. He…erm…went down there.” I pointed between my legs, face burning.
“They love doing that,” Izzy laughed.
“Seriously? Is it another eco-warrior thing, then?” Who knew?
“Sort of. Go on.” Izzy poured more wine into my glass.
“So he did his thing. And it was great. I mean, seeing stars, hearing choirs of angels, great. But then he looked up at me, and his eyes…” I paused. “This is going to sound crazy.”
Brooke shook her head. “I highly doubt it. You’re going to say his eyes glowed, right?”
“Oh, my God!” I clapped my hand over my mouth. “Exactly. They looked lit from behind. I’ve never witnessed anything like it. Jake shot up, stalked over to the other side of the room and told me he needed to leave. He seemed so cold, so different from the guy I’d come to be friendly with. He also said something else, and I keep going over it in my head. He said it shouldn’t have happened because I wasn’t wolfen or empathine.”
Again, they exchanged loaded glances, and my patience wore thin. “I’ve looked the terms up online and found nothing except references to games and fantasy films with regards to the term wolfen. Nothing at all for empathine. So putting two and two together, and adding in my welcome here, something is clearly going on. What, though, I’ve no idea.”
“I’m going to tell you something now, and you’re not going to believe it.” Brooke’s face grew serious as she spoke. “You’ll probably want to tell me I’m crazy or think I’m taking the piss out of you. But I swear neither of those things is true. What I’m going to say is true. But you need to have such an open mind to hear it and not flip out.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“No need to be scared. Why don’t we go sit in the den? It’s comfier.”
I nodded and followed her out of the large dining-kitchen, past an open lounge area, and down a light hallway. House envy sneaked up on me. This place appealed to the nester buried deep within me.
I wondered if Jake lived in a home similar to this. All the houses were constructed of wood, from what little I’d seen, but they varied in style. Louis and Izzy lived in a sort of modern Hobbit house, whereas Drew and Brooke’s home came all ranch style and sprawling.
Thoughts of Jake had my heart speeding up. Why did he have this effect on me? I’d always believed girls who lost their hearts too quickly were stupid, and here I stood, doing the same damn thing.
We entered the den, and I gave a small gasp of delight. The room held a huge stone fireplace with a log fire roaring away. A gorgeous pewter coal scuttle sat on the slate-gray tiles of the hearth. On either side of the hearth, resting on the polished wooden floor, were tall wooden candlesticks. I wanted this house.
“Your home is truly lovely.” I followed Brooke to the sofa and sat by her as she gestured at Izzy and me to join her.
“Thanks. I can’t take too much credit. Drew already did most of it before I arrived here. He added this, though, since I moved in, as I’d always wanted a room like it.” She looked around, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled, but when her gaze landed on me, it darkened and her features grew serious.
The air around us seemed to grow heavier, unsettled. I waited for Brooke to explain it all, my stomach uneasy with nerves.
“We aren’t an eco-commune. Well, we are, actually, but we’re so much more. This place is unique. One of only a few communities like it left in the world. It houses creatures who aren’t human. Not fully.”
I’d been taking a sip of wine and choked as it went down the wrong way. About to laugh it off, I remembered her words from the kitchen and struggled to find the open mind she’d asked for.
“You noticed the guys and how they look. Healthy, tall, muscular. A bit too good to be true?”
I nodded, because they were.
“The women here are the same. They are all tall, strong, and full of rude health. Me and Iz, we’re human, same as you, but we have a special…talent. The rest of these people can change form and switch between human and wolf.”
My jaw dropped open, and I stared at her as the words sank in. Did she mean werewolves? Holy fuck. Panic surged through me as the implications of her words hit home. Maybe I’d led my friends into a deathtrap. Brooke carried on talking as if she hadn’t dropped a conversational nuclear bomb.
“Their wolf always resides within them. It is part of them, and at times, the wolf can take over. There’s a risk of going feral, or worse, rogue. The two need to live in harmony for a shifter to be truly happy. We, me and Iz, help the harmony stuff happen. We can calm the restless spirits of their wolves. Help them live a more peaceful life. They call us empathine. And we are highly prized amongst their people. Their wolves want to be with us, as does their human side. So the wolves sometimes mate with humans like us. Other times they stick with their own and mate with other wolf shifters.”
For a long time, I simply stared. Wolf shifters? For real? But I’d seen those preternatural eyes, something other looking out at me from within Jake’s face. I’d dreamed about the moment repeatedly. I’d also dreamed of a large wolf in the woods. I shuddered, and then I remembered the lonely wolf howling near our tent and my shudder became a full-on shaking.
My voice trembled when I spoke. “So, why do I feel such a link to him?”
“It’s not usual, especially with you not being an empathine, but clearly you guys are bonding. His eyes changed. It may mean he’s marked you as his.”
My belly flip-flopped as the enormity of her words sank in. Did I want to be his? Now I knew he wasn’t human. Now I understood how he changed his form and shed his skin until he became something else entirely.
Maybe Brooke had this all wrong. “Why did he run away if he wanted me so bad?”
“You’re human. It’s not encouraged. They can, and do, bond with humans, but in recent years, few have. It’s not the done thing amongst wolf society, particularly for high-ranking wolves like Jake. Then there’s the burning.”
“Burning?”
“I think we’ve talked enough,” Izzy butted in. “You need to go see Jake. You can’t leave it this way. There’s one last thing you need to understand. If you decide to leave and go home to your life, you’ll have your memory wiped. Your two friends will, too, if you tell them any of this. There’s no argument about it—they do it to protect the settlement.”
I nodded, numb with shock at all I’d heard.
“Come on. Drink up. You look as if you need it, and then we’ll take you to Jake.” Brooke smiled at me, and it lit up her sweet face.
I stood on shaky legs and prepared to go see Jake.
Chapter Six
Brooke walked me over to a house situated right at the back of the village. It bordered the woods behind and had a long, narrow garden which climbed up the hill and disappeared at the end into the trees surrounding it. Smaller than Brooke’s home but bigger than Louis’s, it looked welcoming.
When Brooke rapped on the door, I swallowed down the lump in my throat. I was scared shitless. I’d never experienced such a strong attraction to a man…a wolf shifter…before in my life. At the crazy reality of my life, hysterical giggles threatened, but I pushed them down, along with the still present lump.
The door swung open, and Jake scowled at us. “Yeah?”
“Brought Cait to see you.” Brooke nudged me forward with her shoulder.
“Why? It’s up to Dad and Drew what happens to her and her friends.” He didn’t look at me, the bastard.
Brooke sighed. “Don’t be a total dick, Jake. Talk to her. She’s been told most of it.”
“What?” His lips ran into thin lines, and his jaw tensed. “For the love of the gods, did you consider what this means?”
“Yes. She already guessed things weren’t normal here. And she’s seen your eyes change. Pl
us, you’re a mess.” She punctuated the last two words by poking him in his chest. “Talk to the woman you’re so rattled by that you ran away.”
His blue eyes finally settled on me, but his gaze didn’t soothe me. His eyes weren’t warm. They were full of disdain.
“Don’t blame her for talking either.” Brooke didn’t back down one jot. “She’d no choice, what with you showing her part of your wolf and then leaving her all confused and scared. And did you stop to think if you’re bonding with her, she’s doing the same with you?”
“I’ve not bonded with her. She’s not wolfen, and she’s not empathine.”
“Yeah, but your eyes changing tells a whole other story. I’m out of here.” She stomped down the path, twigs crunching under her boots, but she stopped and pivoted on her heel. “I didn’t have you pegged as a coward.”
Jake shook his head. “Don’t understand how my brother puts up with her. You better come in.”
Gee, don’t lay out the welcome mat or anything! I followed him inside, sourness churning in my gut.
I stood in his long hallway, not sure what to do as he headed toward a door at the end. He turned back and blew out an exasperated breath. “You coming or what?”
Utter. Dick. Half of me wanted to say no and walk out the door. The other half desperately wanted to know more, in particular about how he felt.
I trotted after him as he headed to the kitchen. Pale stone flooring set off warm kitchen units. A worn wooden table sat surrounded by chairs looking as if they’d been carved out of individual curved branches. They were all natural lines and gnarly knots. I loved them.
“You want a coffee?” he asked.
“Got anything stronger?”
“Whisky or beer. Afraid those are your choices.”
“I’ll take a shot of whisky, please.”
He pulled two heavy tumblers out of a cupboard and went to the far side of the room where a small shelf held an assortment of whisky.
