A Shifter's Claim (Pale Moonlight Book 4)

by Marie Johnston

  Waylon had to be throwing off waves of aggression. He planted his feet and fisted his hands, but he kept his back against the wall. It was either that or tear that stupid smirk off Paulie’s face.

  “Internet isn’t critical to our survival,” Weatherly said.

  “It makes it easier to notify suppliers that your food shipments can’t make it through the snow.” Langdon leveled his dark gaze on Shilo. “It’d make you downright…crazy. That’d be hard for you, Shilo. Right? With the impending rogue madness descending.”

  Shilo sucked in a breath.

  Cold slammed into Waylon’s chest. How the hell did that jackass know about Shilo’s mental state?

  Her parents were as stiff as icicles on a frigid winter day.

  Langdon rose, smoothed down his jacket, and strode out the door, his three cronies on his heels. His departure lacked all the respect due to the pack leaders in the room.

  No one said a word until they sensed the Covet members were gone.

  “Is it true?” Shilene’s voice shook. “You feel the madness?”

  “I’m handling it. What are we going to do?” Shilo was addressing her parents.

  Shilo. Was addressing. Her parents.

  “I hope you mean what are you going to do when you turn him down,” Waylon growled.

  Shilo shot him a censoring stare over her shoulder. He gave her a what the fuck look right back.

  “This doesn’t involve you, Wolf,” Shilene said.

  “How can you say that?” Waylon shook his head. “We’d be mated already if it weren’t for you and you wouldn’t be dealing with this fucking power trip of Langdon’s. But, hey, let’s forget the ‘you mate him, and we’ll disown you’ threat, I’m here as her guard—against Langdon.”

  “That’s enough, Wolf.” Weatherly stood, his chest puffed out. “Our pack business does not involve you. Our daughter made her decision.”

  Waylon’s gaze darted back to Shilo. Her leg was crossed over the other and bouncing, and her arms were folded across her chest as she glowered at the wall across from her.

  If not now, when was “the talk” with her parents supposed to happen? Where was the adamant denial that she would mate Langdon?

  Where was the mate who had his back when he needed her?

  He was done here.

  Shilo squeezed her eyes shut when Waylon left on a wave of fury. The utter dejection in his scent was hard for her to process.

  She needed his support now more than ever, not to resurrect an old fight. Langdon had calmly and calculatingly threatened her entire colony if she didn’t mate him. Announcing that she was now back with her mate would put her colony in the position of an imminent fight. Her people were strong, but they’d worked so hard to survive as isolated as they were, a fight would decimate them. Any survivors would have to move to larger, more stable colonies.

  And if she mated Langdon? A shudder swept through her. How long before her parents met with some happy accident that left the Ironhorse Falls colony to her, and there was Langdon at her side?

  No, she wouldn’t be standing by Langdon’s side anytime soon—or ever. Her refusal would have to be planned, prepped for, starting with her parents. She couldn’t just blurt out to them that her status with Waylon had changed until she’d discussed her assumptions with him first.

  The situation they found themselves in wasn’t sudden. Langdon had been planning this longer and more thoroughly than any of them could’ve guessed. He’d set it all up. Slowly, meticulously. Like Waylon had said, he’d put the bait in front of Shilo to determine how unstable she was becoming.

  Now that she’d pulled back and sought refuge in her natural mate’s arms, Langdon had upped his game. And it was driving Waylon away, like Langdon probably wanted.

  Her parents were talking but she hadn’t heard a thing they said.

  “I need to talk to him.” Shilo nearly tipped her seat over and charged down the hall, the fear that he’d be gone when she went looking for him making her clumsy.

  Her parents didn’t chase her. They’d stay and strategize, and truthfully, Shilo wasn’t sure she’d like what they came up with. She had to talk to Waylon.

  In her own part of the house, she went straight to the guest room and barreled into Waylon’s chest as he was coming out. His backpack was slung over his shoulder.

  The sight just plain pissed her off. She shoved him back into the room and slammed the door behind her. “Why are you leaving?”

  “I’m not doing this again, Shilo.”

  “Damn it, Waylon. Is that going to be your first instinct the rest of our lives? To just fucking leave when we hit a rough patch?”

  Indecision crossed his face. “There’s no ‘we’ right now. Langdon made a claim on you and you didn’t even look at me.”

  “Excuse me if I was a little taken aback trying to wrap my mind around being negotiated over like livestock. We can’t figure this out if you take off—again.” She planted her hands on her hips, still blocking the door. Hurt from the last time he left wound its way around her heart. Why was she that easy for him to abandon?

  “Don’t.” He dropped the backpack to the floor.

  She lifted her gaze to his. “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t make me feel like the bad guy, Shilo. We’re both in this, but right now I feel like the only one who supports us.”

  She stalked toward him and poked him in the shoulder. “I support us. But I can’t just parade around Ironhorse Falls as if I don’t have responsibilities. I’m going to tell my parents—we’re going to tell my parents, but after Langdon stormed in here was not the time.” She poked him again. “He’s up to something, and for some reason, Mother and Father aren’t proactive when it comes to him. All I have to figure this out, to figure him out, is you.”

  She went to poke him again, but he grabbed her finger. Some of the fury had drained out of his eyes. He kissed her fingertip, and she twisted her hand out of his grip. The mental exhaustion brought on by the events of the day weighed her down. She flopped on the bed with her legs hanging over the end.

  “I can’t believe you think I’d mate Langdon.” How could he think she’d entertain that?

  “If that’s what your parents really wanted in the name of preserving the colony.” Waylon’s footsteps were barely audible as he crossed to stand at her knees. “What if they order you to mate someone else? They’d take you off the market and restore your sanity.”

  Oh God. Mother and Father would totally do something like that. What would she do? She’d gone along with everything they wanted. She’d fought off the early descent into madness out of her need to please them. Would she mate someone else and willingly cut Waylon out of her life?

  “I want you,” she said stubbornly, like that was going to solve everything.

  “We both want each other. And what about my developing power? It’s not going to impress them. I mean, sensing when others are using their skills? And you feel like yours is useless. Mine provides no offensive abilities and is mildly defensive at best when it comes to fighting Langdon.”

  “You’ve done more against Langdon with your attitude and the shit you’ve said to him than my entire colony has done.”

  He thought a moment, then gave a curt nod. “Are we willing to fight for each other?”

  She patted the bed next to her. He sat and lay back in the same position she was in.

  “I’m not going to mate anyone else.” The truth in her quiet words rang between them. “I’m not going to mate anyone else,” she said again. Sweet Mother, that felt good.

  “Do you want to mate me more than you want to belong to the colony? Because that’s what it might come to. Do you love me?”

  She turned her head. He was staring at her. The l word hadn’t been said since he’d returned. “Do you love me?” she returned.

  “I never stopped.”

  “I never stopped either.”

  “Maybe I should rephrase that,” he said. “Do you trust me?”
>
  She rolled up to lean on her elbow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m the abandoned kid who was raised by the town oddball. No one trusted me.”

  “I did. I do.” She leaned down to kiss him, but he set a big hand on her shoulder.

  “If you give me your word, the sun will rise and set with you. I will never leave your side, and I’ll always be yours. But I can’t do that and have you change your mind when you tell your parents about us, or when the people here ask you why in the world you’re with me. Cuz I’m telling you right now, the reason why I left was because if they’d asked, you’d have mated someone else and I’d have had to kill him. And then you’d have hated me forever.”

  Would she have done that? She couldn’t say. What had held her back at the time? Was it a lack of respect, of trust that he could be everything she needed even if no one else thought so?

  She thought back to earlier when he’d walked out. She hadn’t trusted that he’d stay and support her, and he hadn’t trusted that she wasn’t entertaining the idea of acquiescing to her parents. They had all the fiery passion in the world but not enough faith in each other. It was time to rectify that.

  Swinging her leg over him, she straddled him and cupped his face. “You’re mine.”

  Desire flared in his eyes, but he didn’t wrap his arms around her. He was holding back. Could she blame him? His steadfast devotion had been thrown in his face. Because he’d been hers and hers alone, she’d taken him for granted until he’d become disposable in her mind.

  Her stomach curdled. A tear rolled down her cheek. “It was my fault.”

  The admission was a revelation. Her fault. All of it. And in some messed up way, she’d put her people at greater risk. Langdon was exploiting her weakness, which was losing Waylon.

  More tears rolled down her cheeks. “I was so mad at you, but I should’ve been furious at me.” The sobs started. She tried to hold them back, but when his eyes started glistening, the dam broke.

  “Shh.” He drew her down and curled her into her arms. “A relationship takes two. You should’ve fought, I should’ve stayed.”

  “I m-m-missed you.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I tried not to sleep or I’d dream of you.”

  After a minute her crying quieted. She looked at his handsome face. The way his hair was brushed back from lying down, how he was holding her. That body that knew exactly what she wanted and how she needed it.

  How could she prove that she was ready for the next step?

  It was obvious. He was her mate. “Claim me.”

  Chapter 14

  His mouth was hanging open, but no sound came out.

  “Claim me,” she said again.

  He’d definitely heard her correctly.

  All those years, they’d known they were mates, but the constant disapproval had kept her from outright asking him to claim her. He’d always known that she’d needed an out, that being torn between him and everyone else would eventually come to a head, and it had. She’d given him little signs she wanted him to give her the bite that would signal to every other male to back the hell off, but their whole relationship had been about not calling attention to themselves.

  A claim would scream for attention without saying a word. Was she serious?

  The scent of her desire clogged the room. His cock rose to answer her need. Yes, she meant it.

  But now wasn’t the time. “We tell your parents first.”

  The desire fell like a boulder. “You want to wait?”

  He rolled over on top of her. “No, but I don’t want to go from me leaving for five years because you didn’t stand up to them to me marking you and making them worry we’ll go ahead and bond before this Covet thing is taken care of. You care what they think. I can wait until you tell them.” I don’t want to be a mistake.

  A frown creased her brow and the plummet of desire in the room made it hard to know if she was considering what he was saying, or if this moment was a fluke and he’d pissed her off too bad to go back to considering forever together.

  He couldn’t leave her again. For the last couple of weeks, he’d been whole for once. He’d…had fun. They’d watched movies, run through the woods, cuddled. And the constant tension and restlessness that had plagued him were gone. Even before the moment they’d tentatively recommitted at Uncle Wolf’s cabin, he’d still felt a level of peace he hadn’t experienced in years.

  He selfishly didn’t want to go back. While he didn’t want to be the reason she was stressed out about broadcasting their growing reconnection, he also didn’t want to go back to the lonely existence of the last few years.

  “Let’s go tell them.” She wiggled enough to mainline blood back to his privates while she got out from under him. Straightening her clothes and smoothing her hair, she went to the door.

  “Now?” Was he ready? Without so much as a claim, much less a full bond, they were still reversible. And he could still lose her.

  “Yep. I’m an adult, and yes, I’m under their tutelage and authority. While the matter between you and me is my business, I don’t get the luxury of thinking it doesn’t affect the future of the colony. You’re right—we can’t do this in secret. Whether Mother and Father approve of it or not, it’s best that we’re open about it.”

  And it’d give Weatherly and Shilene time to strategize.

  His nerves threatened to get the best of him on the march down the hall. Shilo grabbed his hand. That alone would inform her parents what was going on.

  Weatherly and Shilene were in the room, heated words being lobbed back and forth, but the venom wasn’t reserved for each other. Frustration with the situation Covet had put them in, fraught anticipation over a physical fight between Ironhorse Falls and Passage Lake, and yes, some speculation on the boundaries crossed by their daughter’s bodyguard.

  Both looked up when they entered. Waylon closed the door behind them and instead of taking his standard post by the wall, he took a seat next to Shilo.

  Shilene didn’t miss the change in arrangement. “What’s going on?” Her voice held a dangerous edge.

  No, this wasn’t going to go well. Waylon didn’t care, as long as history didn’t repeat itself.

  “Waylon and I have grown closer.” Shilo positioned herself much like Langdon had. “I’m not mating Langdon, and I’m not mating another male to keep me from madness. Waylon is my mate, and he is the only one I will be with.”

  Langdon’s offer went over better than Shilo’s announcement.

  “No,” Weatherly said.

  Shilene slammed her hand on the table. “We’re not doing this again. I have Langdon Covet pissing on trees like this is his territory and you want to bring up this old argument. We already told you our stance on him. It hasn’t changed just because he’s your supposed bodyguard.”

  The level of hostility was as unexpected as it was insulting. But they weren’t done with him yet.

  “Is he still getting paid?” Weatherly asked. “Do you plan to bond with him and keep him on as bodyguard so he can mooch off our colony supplies like he’s done all of his life?”

  “What the hell—” Waylon had expected more than resistance, but the personal depth to Weatherly’s accusations was unfounded. “I haven’t taken a thing from this place.” Uncle Wolf had made sure they were self-sufficient and as invisible as possible.

  “Father—”

  “You’re taking Ironhorse Falls’ next leader from us.” Hatred burned in Weatherly’s eyes. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what she stands to lose. Her job. Her family. You’re fine with that?” He probably would’ve spit if they had been outside. “And you call yourself her mate.”

  “And why is that?” Shilo spoke the exact words Waylon wanted to ask. “Why would I lose everything because of Waylon? He has done nothing—”

  “Exactly,” Shilene said. “He’s done nothing. He contributes nothing to Ironhorse Falls and has no useful skills.”

  For a mome
nt of panic, Waylon couldn’t think of a single role he’d played in Ironhorse Falls. Arguing with the Ironhorses wasn’t going to convince them he and Shilo were right for each other beyond their innate drive to mate.

  But there was one thing he did well. “I take care of her.” It was the truth.

  Weatherly’s lip lifted in a sneer. “Our daughter can take care of herself.”

  “She works for you, she negotiates, she crafts for the colony to keep the various cultures alive. But she doesn’t get groceries. She doesn’t cook. She doesn’t relax and stop doing projects for others. She takes care of others, not herself.”

  The heartfelt words poured out. He didn’t care if he had to don an apron that read Kiss the Cook, this was his purpose. He was the yin to Shilo’s yang. She was pulled in different directions by her family, her colony, and Covet. He grounded her.

  Shilo’s hand clasped his. When he looked at her, the love shining in her eyes gave him the first indication that yes, they might make it through this.

  “We are meant to be,” Shilo said. “He is mine and I am his. He’s the reason I could be the strong leader this colony needs and not one who gradually crumbles under the pressure.”

  Shilene spoke through gritted teeth. “I am not risking what resources we have left to fight the Covet pack only to turn around and give it to another Covet spawn whose own family disposed of him before he could lead their colony.”

  “Shilene!” Weatherly barked.

  “What—” Shilo turned to Shilene.

  Waylon’s world slowed. Covet spawn? How could that be true? But then, why would they make that claim if they didn’t know it was true? They spoke like they knew exactly where he’d come from and how he’d ended up alone in the woods as a little kid.

  If the door hadn’t been shut already, he would’ve bolted it closed. Sealed it until he had answers. “Tell me everything you fucking know. Now.”

  Shilo’s chest tightened.

  Covet spawn?

  Waylon was a Covet?