“A get-out-of-jail free card?” I asked, words ungainly as I took another bite out of the frosted adornments, this time chomping down on my uncle’s beloved car. Luckily, the machine tasted like lemon rather than gasoline or oil—a sly nod to the fact that Chase’s vehicle had cost so much to bring back up to speed that he might as well have bought it brand spanking new.
“Just in case you need the help,” Mom answered. “Not that I think you will.”
Then all three of us lapsed into companionable silence as I ate my way through the rest of my relatives and their most precious possessions. Dad had been more poetic than literal in several instances...which meant the entire cupcake turned into a medley of deliciousness rather than harboring hints of swamp muck and leaf mold. And by the time I’d eaten down to the fluffy cake interior—and discovered a molten truffle core—I could feel the strength of dozens of beloved werewolves buoying me up despite the borrowed mantle that cut off our direct mental connection.
“I have to be at work in two hours,” I told my parents at last rather than explaining why I’d taken so long to call...and that I was now promised to an alpha’s son if I didn’t track down my brother and beat it out of town within the next six and a half days.
Usually, Dad would have sensed my conflicted emotions down the pack bond. He would have nibbled away at my resistance until I admitted that I’d woken that morning with the deep-seated urge to run home to Haven with my tail between my legs. Slowly, he would have drawn me out until I admitted that I’d been badly shaken by Chief Greenbriar’s ogle and subsequent ultimatum. And then my father would have done everything in his power to make those problems go away.
But today, the borrowed mantle eliminated our usual close connection, so all Wolfie had to go on was the sound of my voice on the other end of the phone. He could hear me inhale deeply, but he couldn’t understand that with each lungful of air came the deep realization that I was risking the family I adored more than anything in the hopes of finding a brother who might not want to be found. Wolfie heard me exhale, but didn’t feel my gut-deep acceptance of the risk I was accepting for the sake of a sibling who’d never even told me his own last name.
“I love you,” I said at last, rather than trying to use words to explain what Dad and I usually communicated with raw emotion and short grunts.
“We love you too, Buttercup,” Wolfie replied. And for a split second, I could feel him encircling me with those strong, familiar arms despite the Greenbriar bond that dulled the contact with my true pack. I closed my eyes and stretched my mind as far as it would go until everyone was there around me for one split second—Mom and Dad and uncles and aunts and cousins too numerous to count.
Finally, without another word, I let my lids rise and the connection fade away. Clicking off the phone, I tucked my empty cupcake wrapper back inside the waiting suitcase and rose to my feet.
I had pastries to bake and a brother to find. Only then could I return to Haven and take my proper place within the pack.
Chapter 9
After dragging a heavy suitcase across several miles of bumpy terrain during my return to civilization, I was huffing and puffing and running a bit behind. But my wolf gnawed at my stomach, angling us away from campus and toward a different neighborhood entirely. And since I was just as worried about Harmony as my animal half was, I chose an indirect route toward my ultimate destination, disembarking from the train in a poorer section of town than the one that college students usually frequented.
Human muggers weren’t the reason a growl rose from my throat, though, as I stepped up to the soot-streaked wall surrounding Harmony’s apartment complex. No, I found myself clenching my fists and fighting for control for a different reason entirely. The door smelled like wolf.
Instantly, my formerly somnolent animal half rose up behind my eyes, nearly ripping control out of my human hands with the intensity of her reaction to perceived danger. And with the beast at the fore, scents grew so intense that I was forced to stop stock still, only vaguely aware that I was blocking the flow of traffic while gazing intently at the building’s front door.
Together, my wolf and I assessed the barrier. A hefty lock promised to guard against unauthorized admittance. But any Tom, Dick, or Harry could currently walk right on through since a length of wood had been wedged between the door and frame to keep the portal from falling all the way shut.
An even louder growl ripped itself from my human throat. And as my lips parted to allow the sound out, the scent of shifter slammed its way in. Fox musk and fur. Lust and the urge to mate. The rapist had been here. This morning...but also yesterday afternoon and the night before and the day before that. He’d walked through this opening dozens of times, had done who knew what to Harmony while I’d slept off my deer dinner in the national forest the night before.
The fox-scented shifter had harmed someone who was mine. Now I would find him and tear him apart.
Then a human shoulder slammed into my side, knocking me out of the path of foot traffic and reminding me that I was supposed to be squashing my lupine nature while surrounded by innocent one-bodies. Accepting that nudge for the impetus it was, I followed my nose up the stairs and down a narrow hallway before sliding to a halt in front of a banged-up wooden door.
I could smell the rapist here just as clearly as I’d sensed him outside. He’d stood in this exact same spot mere hours earlier, sniffing at the crack just like I was currently doing. He’d waited on Harmony to emerge from her protected lair. And...then what? Had the stalker finished the job begun earlier in the evening? Had he assaulted the woman my own inner wolf had chosen as part of our pack?
I shook my head to clear it both of rage and of less familiar emotions that currently ricocheted through my body and brain. My wolf was urging me to draw this human into our inner circle, to bare our teeth and protect her with our life. But that instinct, while gospel to my lupine nature, made no rational sense to my human brain.
Because, sure, it was my responsibility to prevent Harmony—and any other innocent human—from falling afoul of shifter power struggles. But the female in question wasn’t a wolf and she wasn’t part of my pack. As such, the proper way to protect an unwitting one-body was to go up the chain of command and let Chief Greenbriar deal with the issue as he saw fit.
Tonight, I promised my wolf. I’d talk to the local alpha at dinner and ask him to place Harmony under his protection. In the meantime, the best option was to walk away so my presence wouldn’t draw additional werewolf attention to this human’s battered door.
I hadn’t quite managed to talk my feet into motion, though, before the portal swung open to reveal the woman my wolf and I had gone to such lengths to track down. Harmony was far less coiffed than previously, a food-splattered sleep shirt barely hiding her curves while a wriggling toddler bounced on her left hip. But despite the domesticity of their pose, two sets of dark eyes widened as one when they took in the presence of a predator waiting in the hall.
BERATING MYSELF FOR allowing wolfishness to terrorize the innocent, I struggled to tamp down my inner animal post haste. But before my lupine half was even partially subdued, the child began babbling out a welcome that meant nothing to my human ears yet said “Oh boy!” and “Hello!” and “Play with me!” to my wolf.
For her part, Harmony’s greeting emerged a mere hair’s breadth behind. “Come on in,” the woman told me, opening the door wider and motioning me inside. Despite her initial emotional reaction, the human clearly recognized me from the previous evening and appeared abundantly willing to give me benefit of the doubt.
Not smart, my human brain decided.
Still, feet carried me forward on the wind of wolf instinct even as my rational brain rebelled against entering Harmony’s domain. I really hadn’t intended to do anything beyond reassuring myself that my current companion had bounced back from last night’s trauma. But the child’s eyes drew me closer step by step until my finger trailed across feather-soft wisps of fur atop h
er tender infant skull. And I softened yet further as the youngster’s fingers curled gently around my outstretched thumb.
To my surprise, Harmony didn’t swipe her offspring out from under my nose the way I would have expected. Instead, the other female glanced down at my suitcase then up at my matted hair with narrowed eyes. Finally, closing the door behind my back, she slid the safety chain into place and locked us all inside. “You spent the night on the streets,” she said.
A human would have sidestepped the issue, would have danced the polka of politeness until the woman before us let the issue drop. But I wasn’t human. And I’d realized as soon as the pup’s tiny fingers touched my skin that I wasn’t leaving this family undefended.
Because why relinquish Harmony into Chief Greenbriar’s dubious care when I could protect her the easy way, by staking my own claim hard and fast? If that meant making the other female think I was homeless so she’d invite me to spend the night...well, that would be easy since I technically had no other place to stay.
Ours, my wolf reiterated simply, and this time we were in full agreement. I’d move in and scent mark every inch of this building until any shifter in his right mind gave the residence a wide berth. Eventually, we’d find Derek and be forced to make other arrangements. But for now, these humans were ours to protect.
To that end, I smiled shyly and agreed with Harmony’s assessment. “I’m looking for a room to rent,” I told the mother boldly while wiggling my ears to entertain her offspring. The latter descended into a chorus of musical giggles, proving that wolf pups and human pups weren’t so different after all.
Another string of babble emerged from the little girl’s lips, then she was flinging herself through the air between us, landing in my waiting arms as ably as any monkey. And as the child’s warmth soaked through the intervening t-shirt, I could have sworn infantile heat made its way through my skin and impacted the heart underneath.
“You are a charmer,” I whispered, lowering my head to nibble ever so gently upon the lobe of one tiny ear. The toddler smelled like innocence, joy, and sunshine. Tastier than a cupcake, more tantalizing than any bar of European chocolate. I wanted to shift into lupine form and snuggle the little critter until she fell asleep cradled between four furry paws.
And while I would have expected Harmony to swipe the child back, my hostess instead stuck to business. “How long will you be in town?” the other woman asked, seemingly unconcerned by her daughter’s traitorous jump into a stranger’s waiting arms.
“Six nights,” I answered quickly. No way was I planning to remain behind once Chief Greenbriar’s clock ticked down to marriage-ville. And if I was forced to leave earlier...well, from the looks of Harmony’s scrupulously clean but seriously shabby furnishings, my hostess could use the extra cash.
The time frame seemed to be acceptable to all involved. “For a week, I can move into Mama’s room and give you my bed,” Harmony began.
Only, before my companion could name a price, the sound of a cane tapping across linoleum put our incipient deal on pause. The newcomer who appeared around the corner was wizened with age, a bent back and a preponderance of wrinkles giving me the impression of a fragile elder who should be cosseted and protected.
But the matriarch’s eyes were even darker and more piercing than her daughter’s. And her head whipped from side to side with the speed of a power mixer. “No,” she told Harmony before erupting into a stream of Spanish far too rapid for me to follow.
I did catch one word, though. Bruja. Harmony’s mother was calling me a witch.
Chapter 10
“Mama,” Harmony protested. Still, she plucked the toddler back out of my arms as adroitly as ever a mother bear stepped between a pack of dangerous werewolves and her curious yet innocent offspring. “We aren’t campesinas supersticiosas. Speak English so our guest can understand.”
I forced a healthy helping of confusion onto my face even though my own grasp of Spanish was good enough to know that Harmony was accusing her mother of being a superstitious peasant. Unfortunately for me, the older woman’s subsequent words were even easier to understand.
“You. Leave,” the matriarch ordered, pointing at the door behind my back with all the force of a parent chasing a stray dog out of her spotless kitchen. Meanwhile, the older woman’s grip slid down the shaft of the cane as if she fully intended to use the weapon to protect herself...or perhaps to club me to death.
And no wonder. As I edged around Harmony and neared the diminutive yet powerful elder, I caught a hint of fox musk clinging to her weapon. Had the old woman risen in the night, seen a werewolf at the door, and chased him away with her trusty stick? Did something about my own posture reveal the lupine nature hidden beneath my human skin?
Sensitive one-bodies often reacted negatively to alpha werewolves like myself, which was part of the reason why I’d brought so many cupcakes along on my road trip. Unfortunately, I was completely out of sugary bribes at the moment. Instead, I donned my most sincere smile and attacked with an honorific combined with pure honesty.
“Doña, I’m not here to harm your daughter and granddaughter,” I told the older woman, raising my hands as if their emptiness would prove I was neither witch nor wolf. “I’m just looking for a place to spend a few nights. Nothing more, I promise.”
In response, the grandmother’s nostrils flared and her eyes flashed. I could tell that she’d noticed my lapse, had tuned into the way I’d skipped right over the human promise to leave if I wasn’t welcome. The trouble was, I knew I wasn’t welcome...and I still wasn’t leaving.
Well, not for another hour and fifteen minutes, at which point I needed to be on campus and ready to start my first shift at the coffee shop.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to figure out how to change a mind that appeared as stubbornly made up as my own. But Harmony solved the problem for me. “Mama, this is ludicrous,” the younger woman said, stepping in front of her mother’s cane without worrying that the stick might come down upon her unprotected back. “Ember is a friend and she’s staying here this week whether you like it or not.”
The old woman didn’t buy her daughter’s reassurance, I could tell. Instead, she and I locked gazes in a stare every bit as intense as a werewolf challenge of wills.
But, in the end, my opponent gave in. Shaking her head angrily, she turned away and stomp-tapped back down the hallway. She wasn’t happy...but apparently Harmony was alpha in this household despite the latter’s relatively tender age.
I’d definitely need to mend that bridge in the future, but there was nothing I could do about the old woman’s dislike now. On the other hand.... “Blueberry muffins?” I whispered to Harmony, hoping old ears weren’t werewolf-sharp.
“Her favorite,” the younger woman agreed.
LEAVING MY SUITCASE behind in the hands of a human family who already felt strangely like pack, I hightailed it back toward the subway station and boarded a train bound for campus. And in that moment of enforced stillness while the vehicle conveyed me toward the college, I pulled the chain out from beneath my shirt and considered my brother’s hidden key.
The number “404” was engraved in the center, ringed by a smaller admonition: “Do not duplicate.” But there was no explanation, leaving me with more questions than answers.
Did the key belong to a room? To a safe-deposit box? To a padlock? I wasn’t sure...and I didn’t have time to worry the issue further because I needed to switch lines and clock in at my new job ASAP.
Still, I nibbled around the edges of the enigma while racing across a summer-empty walkway in order to catch up with the cafeteria manager who’d offered me this gig. And I worried the problem up and down while collecting a pass card that allowed me to open the doors of my newfound shop.
And, okay, I’ll admit that I lost track of the mystery for several long minutes while relaxing into the wonder of having a commercial kitchen at my beck and call. There were brownies to bake, frozen blueberries to retrieve from the
pantry in preparation for creating a batch of muffins bound to sweeten the sour temperament of Harmony’s elderly mother. After that....
“Are you open?”
The jingle of a bell combined with a timid voice caught my attention as the first customers of the day blew in from outside. The two females were evidently students...perhaps friends of Derek’s? And while I served them with a smile, I also nudged my smartphone a little further down the counter, brushing my fingers across the darkened screen to bring Derek’s unsmiling face eye-catchingly to life.
It was time to remember my larger goal and lure in some confidences out of the wild.
Unfortunately, the gaze of the shorter girl skittered over my brother as if he didn’t exist. The other customer’s pupils, though, dilated with interest. “Do you know him?” I asked innocently, gesturing toward Derek’s handsome face while handing over a paper cup full of steaming liquid.
“Your boyfriend?” the second student answered. “Naw, but he’s a hottie.”
And, just as quickly as I’d thought her hooked, I cranked in my reel to find bait gone and line empty. “See you tomorrow,” I told the two with a nearly inaudible sigh, not bothering to correct the student’s assumption about Derek’s and my relationship. Then I forced my feet to dance with their previous joy as I returned to the oven, casting off the leaden weights that had threatened to materialize at the ends of my formerly buoyant feet.
“Of course it won’t be that easy. I don’t even know if Derek went to school here,” I reminded myself, my voice echoing oddly in the empty space as I got back to work creating treats so tantalizing they’d draw just the right sort of prey in my door. There were plenty of people on this campus beyond the students. Perhaps Derek had cleaned the floors or merely wandered along the walkways enjoying the scenery. Whatever his reason for mentioning the spot during our video chats, I was confident that some person with information pertaining to my brother’s current whereabouts would eventually drop by. I just needed to settle in and wait....
Shifter Origins (Series-Starter Shifter Variety Packs Book 1) Page 39
