by Terra Wolf
This was not a game. Something serious was going on and dad was scared.
I wanted to scream, I wanted an explanation, but all I could do was remain in the cupboard and try to hold my breath.
I heard the footsteps approaching, then saw the door to the office being pushed open. Dad was standing behind his desk. I didn’t understand it. What had he done wrong? Why wasn’t he shifting?
Three men walked in. I could easily tell that they were coyotes by their smell.
“I don’t want to stare any trouble. Get out of here before the rest of the clan realizes you are here,” my dad growled. He was standing his ground.
The men were looking around. One of them even stared directly at the cupboard. Keeping it shut and not making a sound that night was the hardest thing I had to do. Through the wooden slits, I could see my father’s eyes flash with anger, but then he calmed himself down.
“Where is it? Where is it?” one of the men growled.
My father was holding back his bear.
“I told you to leave. The rest of the clan will be here any minute.”
Dad’s voice was shaking with anger as he spoke to them. He didn’t once look in my direction, in fear of giving my position away.
Then a long howl pierced the air. The men shifted into their coyote forms, but my dad stayed as human. I watched with fear in my eyes as he tried to push the coyotes out of the room. Why wasn’t he shifting? As a bear he could have taken them easily.
I watched as he tried to lure them out of the room. To get them to go somewhere else.
That’s when I realized he was refusing to shift to protect me. A bear in an enclosed space, like an office, never ended well. He wanted to get the coyotes out of the room. So that he had more room to shift and take them out, without exposing me.
One of the coyotes lunged for my father and I clasped my hands over my mouth. He had gone straight for his throat. I watched as my dad fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes tumbling to the ground.
The coyote shook him breaking his neck as I fought ever fiber in my body not to bust out of the cupboard and save him. I knew I couldn’t take two full grown coyotes. I had not shifted yet. My dad was starting to think that I would never be able to. Which before that night was fine with me. It wasn’t until that night that I wished my mom wasn’t human.
Just as quickly as they’d come in, they left ran out of the office. They abandoned whatever they were looking for.
I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even say a word. I wanted to push open the doors and go to dad, but it was like I was frozen. My limbs refused to work. I felt like maybe if I didn’t step out, if I didn’t actually see daddy’s body on the floor—then it wouldn’t be real.
I don’t know how long it was that I remained in the cupboard, until I heard the office door opening again.
“Jackson!” I screamed his name. I could see him standing at the door.
“Skylar, shit, Skylar!”
He came running to the cupboard and helped me out, throwing his arms around me and holding me close to himself.
I knew he could see my father’s body on the ground, and he purposely kept me turned away from it. I was crying on his shoulders, there was a lot of tears. I just wanted to stay there, like that, I didn’t want to move.
Jackson stroked my hair, then he forced me to look up at him.
“Skylar, you have to go. Now. You have to leave Nashville,” he said.
Chapter 3
Jackson
My lawyer was sitting on a plastic chair by the table that was assigned to us for the meeting. He was an older shifter in our clan, everyone called him Pops.
“What are you doing here? Something happened with the parole hearing?” I asked.
Pops smiled and shook his head.
“Typical. Why are you always expecting bad news, son?” he asked. I shrugged. My hands were wedged between my legs, my wrists were pressed together by the handcuffs. I sat staring at Pops, waiting for him to spit it out.
“What is it then?” I asked.
Pops looked over his shoulders and then leaned in closer to me conspiratorially.
“You don’t have to whisper, man. Nobody is listening in on our conversation, and even if they are; nothing goes out of this room.”
Pops fixed his tie and nodded. I smiled because I knew it went both ways. Even though Pops was a member of our clan. He always kept everything confidential.
“Okay, I have some information for you. Regarding the little side project, you assigned me,” he finally said.
Hearing those words made my muscles stiffen. He had all my attention. I was sitting up straight and staring at him.
“The girl. Skylar Adams, I got a hit on her,” he continued.
The thing was that I wasn’t trying to find Skylar. In the past ten years since she left Nashville, I had decided never to go looking for her. She was better off away from here, away from all this—and that included me. If the coyotes ever found out that she was in the cupboard hiding that night, they would kill her. Because they claimed that they had nothing to do with her father’s death.
When our Alpha Nixon went to question their Alpha Liam about what happened he denied that anyone in his pack was ever involved. Nixon was smart enough to not believe him, but no one had any proof.
Except for me. And I wasn’t willing to put Skylar in harm’s way.
I was sure that wherever she was, she was going to make it. The one thing I knew about Skylar was she was strong, and completely capable of handling herself. So, I wasn’t worried for her well-being.
What I didn’t want, was for her to come back to Nashville.
That was the little task I’d put Pops and his contacts to. They had their instructions. Keep an eye out for Skylar, and the moment she enters Nashville—report to me.
“Where is she?” I growled at him now. She’d done the right thing all these years—by staying away. Why did she have to come back?
“She’s rented an apartment, working at Billy’s Diner,” Pops supplied.
I wanted to bang my fists on the table with anger and irritation. Not only was Skylar back in Nashville, she was living here?
“And you’re telling me this now? She had all the time in the world to get a job and rent a place, right under your big hairy nose?” I raged at him. I felt my bear shift underneath my skin. He was just as pissed as I was.
Pops looked nervous and apologetic and shook his head.
“We were doing our best to keep an eye out. Don’t know how she slipped through the cracks, Jackson. Anyway, we have her now,” he replied.
I sat back in my chair, glaring at him. I could see Skylar’s face in front of my eyes like it was yesterday, even though I was sure that was not what she looked like any longer.
That night, when I found her hiding in the cupboard in the office, her face was deathly pale and her blue eyes were wide with fear. I had never seen her look so afraid. The only thing that ran through my head then, was that I needed to protect her. I needed to keep her safe.
With the way things were going with the coyotes at the time, I knew the only thing to do was to get her out of there. While human kids were concentrating on school work and playing basketball; I had grown up in a world where I was learning to watch my back and make sure I didn’t get killed.
Yes, I was fifteen. In most people’s eyes, I would have been only a child—but even then, I knew exactly what to do. And to this day, I knew I had made the right decision. Skylar needed to leave Nashville. That was the only way to keep her safe.
Very soon, the cops were going to find her father’s body and they would discover that she was hiding in the cupboard. If the cops took Skylar in for questioning, the coyotes were going to kill her.
There was no doubt in my mind who was behind the killing. They’d come to the lodge looking for information on our clan. And they’d killed Michael Adams. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill Skylar if they found out that she saw them make the kill. She was a poten
tial threat to the coyotes, which meant her life was in serious danger.
Skylar had looked up at me with confusion in her eyes as I held her that night. There was no time to be wasted. She had to go.
“No, Jackson…I can’t go. Let’s go to your dad. Or to our Alpha,” she said, with her lips quivering. I had to stay strong. I wouldn’t have wanted anything more than to take her home, to hide her in my room if I had to—but that wasn’t going to keep her safe for very long.
“No, Skylar, you can’t come home with me. We can’t tell anyone what you saw. Not even my family, not even our clan,” I told her. “It will start a war.”
She was confused and scared and shaking, and I didn’t know how to console her anymore. She had to go. I had to stay strong and make sure she left the city. Even though it felt like I was ripping my own heart out of my chest.
Skylar cried, and it was the first time I’d seen her crying. And then she told me she trusted me. I said I didn’t want to know where she was going to go. That would make it impossible for me to give her location away.
And then she was gone.
“You want us to go speak to the girl?” Pops’ voice broke through my thoughts. I stared at him, blinking. I’d forgotten he was here. I’d forgotten where I even was.
“No. Just get me out of this place next week. I’m going to go speak to her myself,” I replied.
Chapter 4
Skylar
It was a week later, and nothing about my new life in Nashville had changed. I was still working double shifts at the diner, still trying to re-acquaint myself with the neighborhoods…and still searching everywhere to see if I could catch a glimpse of Jackson, or anyone from the clan.
I’d taken care not to rent in our old neighborhood. I didn’t know if I was prepared to get involved with the clan again. If they did recognize me, that is.
But I couldn’t help but hope that I might see Jackson somewhere. It had been ten years. I had no idea what his life looked like anymore. There was a high probability that he found his true mate already and was married. Chances were that he wouldn’t want anything to do with me, if he did see and recognize me. Ten years was a long time to change people. Besides, we were just kids when we knew each other. None of those stolen glances or the teasing meant anything.
The diner was slow now. It was late afternoon and the lunch rush had just ended. Most of our customers were slowly leaving, and it would give us the chance to catch a breather before the evening again. Amelia, one of the girls I worked with, was chatting away to me—telling me some story about some guy she’d met over the weekend. I hadn’t been working at this place for long, but already it felt like I knew everything about Amelia.
She didn’t leave any detail out.
When I finally got a chance to get in a word edgeways, I told her to cover for me while I took a break. The diner was fairly empty now, so it didn’t matter.
Untying my apron, I went out through the back-kitchen doors and sat down on the bench at the end of the parking lot. It was a sunny enough spot.
I slipped the juice-box out of the pocket of my skirt and pierced it with a straw. These days, I barely even had an appetite. I’d been surviving on juice boxes and crackers for days…when I remembered to eat at all.
I sat there, thinking about Jackson again.
When I returned to Nashville, I’d hoped I might see him. Just a glimpse, just to know he was doing fine. But I hadn’t expected to be thinking about him constantly this way.
He’d walked me to the bus station that night ten years ago. We’d held hands. I knew he was holding me because he wanted to console me, to make me feel better. But I couldn’t help but hope it was also because he wanted to remember the touch of my hand.
He didn’t want to know where I was going, so I didn’t tell him. Secretly, I’d hoped that he would look for me soon. That in a few months, we would be reunited again.
But Jackson never came looking for me.
I took the bus to Atlanta, where I knew my Aunt Lisa lived with her family. When I showed up at their door the next afternoon, she was shocked. But I knew they wouldn’t turn me away.
All I told them was that dad was dead. He’d suffered a sudden heart attack and died in the hospital. They knew I had nowhere else to go, that I had nobody besides them. I told them that the clan already buried them. I was sure that Aunt Lisa and her family didn’t buy that excuse. But they also knew better than to ask me many questions.
Aunt Lisa was human, like my mother was.
It was an open secret what my father was. They had their suspicions, but they kept it to themselves. All these years that Aunt Lisa and her family looked after me, gave me a roof over my head and made sure I had as normal a life as they could manage, I was grateful to them for.
But I had to leave. Atlanta was never home. Nashville was where my heart was, where I’d left my old life behind. Over the years, I hoped and wished that someday, Jackson would find me but eventually I realized he didn’t want to.
We led separate lives now and that was how he wanted it to stay.
I sat on the bench, drinking my juice. It was Aunt Lisa and her family I was thinking about. I called them a few times since my arrival in Nashville. I knew they were worried for me. But they couldn’t stop me from returning to Nashville, they knew I was going to go back some day.
I was still lost in thought; when a muscle car pulled into the parking lot. It wasn’t until I heard the driver’s door bang shut, that I looked up—being snapped out of my thoughts.
For a few moments, I just stared ahead…looking at the man who’d climbed out of the car. I blinked. The realization hit me like a jolt.
Jackson. It was Jackson walking towards me now. I thought I was dreaming. It couldn’t be him. More than a month later, was it really him who’d appeared out of the blue?
He looked quite the same, only taller and more muscular. His brown hair was cut short on sides with length on the top. His eyes were as green as always. His face was angular and chiseled, like his wide shoulders and his muscular chest.
The juice box dropped to the ground from my hand. I was stunned into silence. Ten years later, and seeing Jackson again had the same effect on me. I was speechless with my feelings for him. They’d gone nowhere. Only now, they weren’t just giddy teenage feelings, they were hot womanly emotions. I wanted him, from the first moment I saw him. I felt a tightness in my belly that I couldn’t describe.
Chapter 5
Jackson
The first thing I did when I got out of detention, was get in my car and drive to Billy’s Diner. The place Pops said Skylar worked. I hoped I’d see her there, that she’d be on her shift.
After I’d parked my car in the lot, I got out and walked towards the diner. She was on my mind. I was feeling jittery with anxiety. I wanted to see her, as much as I wished she hadn’t come back.
As I walked towards the doors of the diner, I didn’t even notice the girl sitting on the bench at the side. She was looking straight at me, while my mind remained occupied.
It was only when she made a movement, to tuck some of her stray curls behind her ears—that my eyes adjusted to her presence. I stopped in my tracks, literally. I was too in shock to say anything or move. She was sitting on that bench just a few feet away from me. I thought I was going to explode.
It was Skylar. She was in the diner uniform, and she looked absolutely delicious in it. The truth was, that I would have recognized her anywhere. Her face looked the same, but she was taller now, just by a few inches. And she’d filled out. The Skylar I remembered, was a teenager and the person sitting in front of me was a woman.
Her hair was still the same length. Long and full of delicate waves and curls. She’d tied it up in a loose braid today and it lay plump on her left shoulder. Skylar didn’t need makeup. Her cheeks were a bright pink, to match her bulbous kissable pink lips. Her blue eyes were wide in surprise and she was staring at me like she’d seen a ghost.
I’d stopp
ed in my tracks and said nothing, and neither had she.
My gaze travelled from her face, down to her full breasts underneath the flimsy uniform shirt she was wearing. Her long pale smooth legs under that short skirt…she’d developed curves. In all the right places. Even though she was sitting down, and I hadn’t seen her in full; I knew she had the kind of body that made my mouth water.
Skylar Adams was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever set my eyes on.
“Jackson…” she whispered my name, low enough for me to nearly miss hearing her voice.
“Skylar!” I exclaimed. She stood up from the bench with a jerk, her hands clasped together in nervousness. I wondered if she was going through the same thing I was—an utter helplessness.
I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her. I wanted to tell her exactly how much I’d missed her. That I thought of her every night.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, breaking the cold silence between us.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I replied.
“I work here,” she said. I could see that Skylar was struggling to meet my eyes. Her cheeks were ruddy and flushed. She was standing in a nervous stance…was she afraid of me? Was she upset to see me? I didn’t know what she wanted.
“You know what I mean, Skylar. What are you doing in Nashville?” I asked, stepping closer to her.
She kept her chin up, trying to look up at me with a strong gaze.
“Thank you for the warm welcome, Jackson. It’s great seeing you again too,” she said.
I watched her for a few moments, breathing heavily as I drank her in. Nothing about my feelings for Skylar had changed. She was still the only girl who could make me weak in the knees like this. I wanted to pin her to the wall and ravage her body—what I’d always wanted to do.
“It’s good seeing you again as well, Skylar. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to say it to prove it to you,” I said.
