by Jeff Hale
“Freely?”
“Yes. Humans and animals have our base nature of things we desire: food, sex, and yes, violence. Most of us try our best to suppress the violence, at least insomuch as it hurts other people, but we tend to indulge in the rest.”
I nodded at him, glancing mournfully into the bottom of my empty glass before pushing it away.
“I just don’t understand why you’ve never had any… offers,” Darien said softly.
My eyes shot to his face and saw only sincerity. I shrugged one shoulder and sighed. “Boys at school seem to think I make a good friend, but they don’t seem interested in making me a girlfriend. A lot of them tease me, say hurtful things.”
“Hurtful things?” Darien’s eyes darkened as he said this, and he frowned.
I shrugged and bit at my lip. “Yeah, you know how guys can be sometimes.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. You’re a beautiful girl, Katelyn, I don’t understand why any man wouldn’t want you.” He was sincere again, his eyes warming as he stared at me, letting me see the desire in them.
I blushed, ducking my head. “Well, there haven’t exactly been many men in my life,” I mumbled, “just stupid teenage boys.” I thought of Aerick; he wasn’t stupid though, just complicated.
“Stupid is right. You probably intimidate them.” He reached across the table and brushed hair from my eyes, then put a finger under my chin and lifted my head. “They don’t know what they were missing.”
The waitress showed up at that point with part of our order. She set plates on the table, then went back to get the rest, taking my empty soda glass with her to refill.
I used the arrival of food as an excuse to extricate myself from a situation that was only going to end in my face resembling a tomato, grabbing up a fork and starting to dig into the eggs and hash browns in front of me. Darien withdrew back to his side of the table and I thought I heard a small chuckle from him before I heard the clink of silverware on his plate as well. I kept my head down, not wanting to meet his eyes again.
The waitress returned with the remainder of our food and a newly filled cola for me. I washed down the food I had already eaten, then went back to eating and ignoring Darien, which was difficult to do. Not the eating, but the ignoring Darien part.
I was very aware of his presence across the table and in my deep concentration to studiously block him out, I paid no attention to my eating and soon found myself staring at an empty plate. Several empty plates. The hunger in my belly had finally settled down as well.
I stared at the empty dishes in front of me and wondered where I had put it all.
“Did I eat all that?” I asked in bewilderment.
Darien laughed. “Well I certainly didn’t.”
I groaned. “How did I eat all that?”
“I told you, you might surprise yourself. You probably already had a fairly high metabolism before I… ah, anyway… but now your metabolism has sped up even more. We shifters burn a lot of calories. Especially if we’re injured. So don’t be afraid to eat anytime you feel you need to.”
“Well that’s a plus at least. Don’t have to worry about what I eat.”
He smiled at me, but there was a quizzical look to his gaze, as though he were watching me for some other reaction. I tilted my head to the side and grinned at him.
“What? Do I have syrup on my face or something?”
He shook his head. “Not at all.”
“Then what?” I yawned. Then I yawned again, and suddenly my eyes felt heavy and lethargy stole in.
I saw him nod to himself, then signal the waitress over. He pulled some money from his wallet, handed her several bills and told her to keep the change as a tip. This made her smile broadly. Then he stood up and came over to help me up.
“That. I was wondering when it would hit,” he said.
I yawned again. “When what would hit?”
“You were injured and traumatized, you used up all your reserves to heal, you’ve replenished those… and now you need to sleep.”
“Sleep? But I’m not…” I tried unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn, “…tired.”
He helped me stand up and guided me out of the restaurant to the parking lot and the bike.
“Oh good lord, I’m not sure I can hang on,” I complained, feeling the urge to just drop to the ground spreading through my limbs.
“Don’t have to, you’ll ride in front of me. Where’s home at the moment?”
“Gary’s, my step-dad’s… guess it’s Mom’s now that he’s dead, she hadn’t even gotten around to filling out the papers yet for the divorce.”
He hopped on the bike and started it, then settled me in front of him on the seat, one arm wrapped firmly around me. He drove at a safe level back to Gary’s, my, house and as we pulled into the driveway, I slid with him as he got off the bike.
“Key… purse…” I mumbled at him, then felt him search through my small purse with one hand as he braced me with the other. I didn’t have enough energy to put one foot in front of the other.
I had a vague memory of hearing the door unlock, then felt myself lifted up and carried through the house. Then I felt the softness of cushions underneath me, a blanket being tucked around me and the whisper of his lips across mine before the darkness took me.
NINE
Katelyn
I dreamt I was a mermaid. In my dream I was frolicking in the waves, laughing, while a black wolf ran along the shoreline. Hunger woke me. That, and Angel’s cold nose snarfling my eyelid. Kris must have collected the cat and brought her back over here when she got my clothes and purse.
I burrowed deeper into the crook of the couch, pulling the thin blanket down over my shoulders, not wanting to move, and listened to the cacophony that played out in my stomach. I wondered how on earth I was hungry again so soon. There was still light coming in the living room windows, so I couldn’t have slept that long.
I sighed, then was overcome with the urge to use the bathroom so suddenly and desperately that I rolled off the couch and made a beeline for the room in question. Once I had taken care of that problem, I tried to tame my hair, but was interrupted by the muffled ringing of my cell phone. I went back out to the couch and sat down again, pulling my little purse off the coffee table where Darien had left it and found my phone. I didn’t recognize the number, but I flipped it open to answer it.
“Hello?” I asked, yawning.
“Good afternoon. Is this Katelyn Shaughnessy?” a male voice inquired. The voice had an authoritative tone to it and I could hear a jumble of other voices and noises in the background.
“Yeah. Who’s this?”
“I’m sorry, miss. This is Officer Larry Marcus.”
Oh. The police. I shook my head and slumped into the couch. They must be calling about my step-dad. “Was there something else you wanted? I thought you guys already got all you needed from me and my mom.”
“Excuse me, Miss Shaughnessy, I’m confused,” Officer Marcus said, and he did sound a bit perplexed.
“You’re calling about my step-dad, right? Gary Newall? He was killed last night?” I reminded.
“Oh, no, I’m not. My condolences on your step-father, though. I’m calling from one of the Las Vegas precincts.”
Las Vegas precincts? I blinked and straightened up. Why would a cop from Las Vegas be calling me? A little chill went down my spine and I shivered. Had something happened to Aerick?
Officer Marcus’s next words didn’t help. “I’m calling in regards to Aerick Kerensky.”
I bit my lip to fight back sudden panic. “Is he all right?”
He must have heard the worry in my voice. “Mr. Kerensky is fine, Miss Shaughnessy, at least as far as I know. I’m actually investigating some issues that he’s been involved in and I was wondering if there was any information you might be able to give me.”
I took a deep breath and let my heart rate calm. Aerick was okay. “Information? But why are you calling me? I live over a thousand mi
les away.”
Officer Marcus sighed and I could hear papers flipping. “You did date Mr. Kerensky, didn’t you?”
“Sorta, I guess. One or two dates and he took me to Prom.” I snorted to hide the sadness in my voice. “So what did you want to know? He’s just a normal teenage boy.” Or was he? With everything I knew now, part of me really did wonder.
Officer Marcus was quiet a few moments, then said, “I have reason to suspect he might be involved in a couple of arson cases. Did you ever see anything in his behavior, or hear him say anything that might lead you to believe he would be capable of doing anything like that?”
Aerick? An arsonist? He did have a bit of a temper, but nothing that would ever make me think he could, or would, do anything like that.
“No, Officer, I didn’t see or hear anything of that sort, and I really don’t appreciate that you would be trying to accuse Aerick of anything like that,” I replied a bit testily.
“Sorry to bother you, Miss Shaughnessy. Here’s my number,” and he rattled of a phone number which I didn’t bother to write down, “just give me a call if anything comes to mind, alright?”
“Sure, whatever.”
“Thanks for your time.”
The line went dead and I dropped my hand to my lap, staring at my phone. Had Aerick done something to put himself under suspicion to the police? I didn’t think he would, but then again, I had heard some stories from Nina, and I didn’t know him that well. Not that it really mattered. I wouldn’t have said anything to the police even if I had known something. But it did make me think there might more to Aerick than anyone knew.
I shook the thoughts from my head, checking my phone to see if I had any missed calls. I did. A lot of them. Several from Kris, a couple from the number Darien had given me, and one from the hospital that came with a voicemail letting me know that my mom was doing okay and would be coming home tomorrow. Kris had left a message saying she had things to do with her parents tomorrow and would call me afterward and hoped I was having fun. Even over the voicemail I could hear the chuckle in her voice. Darien just wanted me to call him when I woke up. Considering the time, I was surprised that he hadn’t just stayed.
I wandered into the kitchen to find something to eat. The time on my phone claimed two o’clock; I had only slept a few hours. I called Kris’s phone and got her voicemail, so I left a message for her letting her know that company would be appreciated later on this evening if she wanted.
I called Darien while I watched a bowl of spaghettios spin around in the microwave and fed the cat. He seemed happy to hear from me and wanted to know if I wanted some company. I stared around the big empty kitchen and listened to the house breathe for a few seconds before telling him that I would love some company.
Darien showed up while I was spoon deep in sphagettios. I had taken a quick shower once I got off the phone with him, changed into clothes I had found in a box in the basement storage room, and done a quick two minute makeup session with the little makeup I carried in my purse.
I let him in and he sat and watched me finish eating, while the cat watched him with suspicious eyes from her spot on the floor. I hoped I didn’t have sauce on my face.
“Feeling better?” he asked me.
I licked the last bit of sauce off the spoon before standing to head to the sink and rinse the bowl out. “Actually, yeah. The nap did me good I think. You could have stayed though, you didn’t have to leave.” I swirled water around the bowl, very aware of Darien in the room with me. It had been that way since he walked through the door, a hyperawareness of him that made me feel very much on edge.
“I wasn’t sure how you felt about it, and I didn’t want to presume, so I felt the best choice was to take off. Figured if you wanted my company you would call me.” His light chuckle reverberated along my skin. “Any word on your mom yet?”
I took a breath and held it while I put the bowl and spoon into the dishwasher, then let it out slowly. “Yeah, the hospital called, said Mom was doing good and they were gonna kick her out tomorrow.” I turned to face him, putting my back to the countertop, and scrutinized him. What was it that made me turn into Jell-O whenever he was around?
I had only known him about a week, and I knew that part of me was drawn to him simply because of what I was, but there was more to it than that, and it bothered me. Did I love him? I didn’t think so, at least not yet. Part of me felt that I should, wanted to, while another part was still holding out for Aerick, but the more practical part knew that I just didn’t know him well enough yet, that we hadn’t been seeing each other long enough.
Did I want to be in a life-long committed relationship with him? Once again the mixed feelings. But I hadn’t even been in a single relationship with anyone before, never really been in love before. I wasn’t sure I was ready to settle on one guy permanently quite yet. But being around Darien made it very hard to think clearly.
He must have seen the mental battle going on in my eyes because his brow furrowed in concern and he stood as though to come to me. I stopped him the only way I knew how.
“Who is Sasha?”
It worked. He froze mid-movement and slowly sank back into the chair. Emotions flitted across his face, some that showed so much pain that I felt myself take an involuntary step towards him. He turned his gaze down towards the table and took a few short breaths, steadying himself, before turning back to me, his face more composed.
“Who mentioned Sasha?”
I waited a second before shrugging one shoulder. “You did… in your sleep.”
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nosed before nodding. “I’m sorry about that.”
I shrugged again. “It’s okay. I got the impression that she is… important… to you. I was just curious. If you don’t want to tell me…”
“No, no. You should know.” He opened his eyes and exhaled, then raised his eyes to mine. “Sasha was my wife.”
“Wife.” I had guessed she was a significant other of some sort, but I hadn’t quite expected that. I took a step back and leaned into the counter.
He nodded and I saw the flit of emotions again. “She… she died some time ago, before you were even born.”
“What happened?” I cringed as I said the words, not sure he would want to share the experience with me.
He closed his eyes again and was silent for several moments, as though replaying the memory in his head. “It’s okay,” he said after a moment, “I don’t mind. Ironically enough, she drowned.”
“Drowned?”
He nodded sadly. “She was a shifter, like me and you. But unlike me and you, her animal of choice, her spiritual creature, was a dolphin. She was a creature of the sea by nature.”
“That can happen? There can be weredolphins?”
“Oh yes. Any predatory creature can be someone’s totem. Some are more rare than others, but almost anything is possible.”
“You loved her.” I whispered it.
He stood again, moving slowly toward me, the sadness in his eyes fighting with something else, until he was standing right in front of me and I could feel the heat from his body. He put a finger under my chin and tilted it so that I was staring straight into his eyes.
“Very much,” he breathed.
Desire flared in me and I met him halfway, the force of the kiss grinding my teeth against the inside of my lips. His thighs pressed against my hips, pinning me to the edge of the counter and his hands grasped my arms roughly. My own hands snaked around his back, nails digging through his T-shirt as I sought to pull myself into him.
The kiss changed then, my lips parting to allow his tongue inside, to taste and explore as my breath caught in my throat. His hands let go their hold on my arms to caress my back and I gasped into his mouth as his fingers found their way under my shirt to play with the bare skin north and south of my bra strap.
I felt one hand hesitate over the hooks and he pulled back enough to question me with his eyes. I gave him a quick nod,
wanting his lips back on mine, and with a few squeezes, my bra strap was undone and I wriggled out of it.
His hands shifted then, from my back to slide towards my stomach, tickling my ribs as they went, making me twitch a little before his hands finally rose to cup my breasts and I began to twitch for other reasons. I gasped and jerked, simultaneously smacking my head on the cupboard behind me and biting his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. He drew away then, laughing softly, and I almost squealed in protest when his hands slid back down and around to my butt.
“Is there any place safer we can do this?” he asked, his dark brown eyes liquid with heat as he looked into my blue ones.
“My… bedroom…” I panted, my own hands still caressing him wildly with a mind of their own.
He pulled me up against him, lifting me so that my legs wrapped around his waist and took us both out of the kitchen. “Which way?”
I pointed in the direction of the spiral staircase that dominated the entry foyer, felt him take the steps several at a time, then gestured at a doorway when we reached the hallway at the top, hoping I steered correctly, but too busy running my lips along his neck and jaw line to care much. I could feel him shivering under my touch.
We made it to the correct room; I only knew because there was no bed or other furniture, and I recognized the pale blue carpeting. I heard the door slam shut behind us, and luckily for me the drapes were still drawn because while one of his hands steadied my descent to the floor, the other pulled my baby blue t-shirt right over my head and off me and I heard it land… somewhere. His own shirt followed right behind it.
I felt the heat of his skin against my breasts as he lowered himself to me, his mouth finding mine again, and no less demanding than before. I could taste the blood on his lip where I had bitten him and the taste stirred something wild and primeval in me that I felt roar its way to the surface.
Darien’s head came up, his nostril’s flaring, his eyes so dark they looked almost black. His hands buried themselves in my hair, pulling in a way that should have hurt but instead sent tingles of pleasure down my spine, and he turned my head to the side, running his lips and nose along my neck, inhaling deeply with each breath he took.
