"Shift,” he told me, already stripping off his shirt.
It took a moment to reel my jaw back up and for my brain to catch up with what the hell was happening just then. Finally, my body started to move, and I began removing my shirt, trying desperately to ignore the sight of the Adonis standing before me as he shucked off his jeans. He was already growing fur by the time I had lost my underwear. Man, he stripped fast!
“I’ve gotten way too comfortable at getting naked in the middle of nowhere,” I grumbled, but Luna was at the forefront, champing at the bit to be let out of her cage.
The shift was so much faster than I’d ever experienced, at least a full shift. Partial shifts were almost always emotionally induced. This time, my fur seemed to burst through my skin in an explosion or grays and whites. My belly was snow white while the rest of my coat was the same timber wolf-gray color as the pack. My gums bled at the speed my teeth erupted from them and my bones cracked all at once, sending me to my knees, but the shift was so fast, I landed on padded paws. Shaken, I took a moment to regroup, my head hung low on my shoulders as I did, panting. After a moment, I felt a wet nose nuzzle my ear; snuffling, warm air that tickled. Coming back from the rush, I slowly tested the waters in my new skin – or rather fur – and stretched, his licks kissing my muzzle, lips and ears as I did. Finally, when I was ready, he bounced back and playfully bowed.
“How do you feel now?” he asked. I ignored the invitation to play, but I trotted with him into the trees.
I took a second to do a body and mind check and found that I felt calmer, no longer panicked. “Better,” I told him, glancing up at a squirrel that was leaping between trees on the branches above us. “How did you know?”
Shoulder to shoulder with me now, he gave a canine shrug. “I’ve come to notice the signs, especially from before we mated.”
I remembered. It wasn’t that long ago that he was near crazy with the indecisiveness of our mating and future together. It was no fault of ours, being as young as we were, but still, his animal nature didn’t adhere to such reservations.
We walked aimlessly through the trees, until we came to the compound of smaller houses and explored the area, sniffing around the picnic tables and porches. As we started to leave the area, another wolf met up with us. He rubbed heads with Gearden and then sat in front of me, waiting. I tilted my head at him curiously, when Luna recognized his scent. It was Gearden’s grandfather. Happily, I padded closed to him and rubbed my head under his chin in welcome. He playfully nipped my shoulder and walked off. I guess you’re never too old for a shift and a walk through the woods! After a while, Gearden and I found ourselves walking back to the house. It was dark when we arrived and well past dinner time. The kitchen lights were off and the rest of the house was dark.
Before he shifted, Gearden pricked up his ears and listened. “Mom and Dad are watching TV upstairs.”
I returned to my human form much more slowly than I had when shifting to my wolf. When I started to pick up my clothes, searching for my underwear, Gearden stopped me. I realized then that he’d been watching me, even as he shifted. The heat in his gaze lit a fire in my core. He gripped my wrist and I dropped the cotton garment, turning to him as he stalked around me in a tight circle. He was so close I could feel the energy from under his skin, but he didn’t touch me.
Finally, after a full turn, he bent slowly so that his nose hovered above my shoulder, at his marks. His chest brushed mine as he breathed deeply. With agonizing slowness, he leaned in to press an intimate kiss on the scars of the teeth marks on my neck and shoulder. When he did, a new desire revved up from deep inside me and caused Luna to growl and lash out. My canines burst forth an instant before I bit his shoulder, in the very place where I had frequently buried my own nose. He flinched but didn’t move. Instead, he latched onto my shoulder and locked us both in place. I held on for a moment, the coppery taste of blood on my tongue, before I released him.
Pulling back, I examined the marking with both bewilderment and pride. He’d never questioned why I hadn’t marked him so I assumed it was just something the male did in a mating. But I guess, the urge just hadn’t come over me until now. The second he also let go, our lips fastened on each other, nipping and licking. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pressed me tight to his front, letting me feel his desire. Deftly, he walked us back to the house, our bodies and mouths barely parting from one another. When we stumbled through the back door, not caring about our lack of clothes, he pulled away and pressed a finger to his mouth, motioning me to be quiet. Then, quickly, probably much faster than the average human being, he pulled me through the house and up the stairs until we were once again behind his bedroom door. The moment the door was shut, he advanced, guiding me down onto the bed as I pulled him down with me.
Chapter Six
Gearden
Sometime during the night, I must have rolled over and throwing an arm and leg over Maeleigh pinned her down because she laid squished, albeit peacefully, on the bed beneath me. I woke up to my phone alarm buzzing. Dropping a drowsy kiss onto her temple, I peeled myself off her, grabbed a clean shirt and boxers and made my way to the shower down the hall. When I got back, Maeleigh quickly ducked out but not before I caught the blush tinting her cheeks. I won’t deny that it gave me a little thrill to know that I’d put it there.
When we both descended the stairs, something drew my gaze to our laced hands. It was like every other time we’d held hands, but not the same. This time something was different. It took a moment, but by the time we reached the kitchen doorway, I had finally figured it out – I realized that I wasn’t holding on to her as tightly as I used to – just the day before in fact. My hand wasn’t attempting to cut off her circulation or clinging on to her in desperation. Seeing that I’d stalled at the doorway, she looked up at me quizzically.
“What is it?” she asked me.
I didn’t think to hide it from her. “Do you feel different at all? Something feels different.”
She frowned as she took a moment to think about it. Then, “Not really. I mean, I think I slept better last night than I have in a long time, but that’s …”
“Yeah, same here.” It was the deepest sleep I’d remember having in a couple months. Finally, it dawned on me. “We completed the mating.”
Surprised and a little embarrassed, she looked around the room to make sure our telepathic conversation wasn’t privy to the rest of the room, and then she glanced back up at me. “But I thought …”
“Your bite. It must have been the final seal we needed to complete the bond,” I couldn’t keep my excitement from showing. That’s what was different; our wolves were at peace now that the bond was officially in place. I leaned down to kiss her gorgeous lips when the sound of my dad clearing his throat halted me. Looking up, I saw him at the table, pretending to be interested in the back of the cereal box that Rowen was chattering about.
With a glare only a teenager such as myself could muster, I planted a kiss on my mate’s lips and patted her round butt. I was sure my dad couldn’t see that last part, but I enjoyed the blush that covered her cheeks! She made her way through the kitchen and poured coffee as I picked out an apple and orange from the fruit bowl. Mom hated cooking breakfast, so we had all got used to fending for ourselves in the mornings. I guess if we had wanted, we could cook something easy like toast or microwavable bacon, but no one seemed to care enough to do so. As we sat on the other side of the table from my dad and Rowen, my mom and Ro walked in. He held his favorite leather jacket and was inspecting it for something.
“The stitching won’t last forever, but it should do until we can get you a new one,” Mom was saying.
He looked up at her appreciatively, smiling widely. “It’s great, Mom, thanks.” He looked down when he was done, like he always did. Though he called them Mom and Dad, he never did seem to get used to their love being unconditional. I suppose that was something that never would leave the abused and lost kid of rogue parents w
ho didn’t give a rat’s ass if their kid ate or starved. He pulled on the jacket and brushed her cheek with a kiss as he made for the garage door.
“Hold it,” Dad called, stopping him in his tracks.
Both he and I tensed up from the tone of the alpha in his voice, not that of our father. I could feel Maeleigh growing nervous beside me, too, feeling the energy that his words evoked.
Turning, Ro looked at Dad questioningly and so did I, near the edge of my seat.
“You haven’t gone unnoticed,” he started. “Just beware of that.” Rowen started to chat with Mom, oblivious to what was going on around her.
“What’s that?” Ro asked, raising his brow. Uh! Wrong move to play dumb, bro.
Dad smiled dangerously. “Cute.”
Oh, damn.
“Trust me when I say that if I’ve noticed your little spy escapades, then so has the queen and her guards. You’ll have to get a little more creative.”
“What’s going on?” Maeleigh asked. The rattle in her voice didn’t surprise me. Dad’s last alpha encounter with her was a pretty scary one.
“Dad knows about Ro spying on the queen,” I informed her. Eyes wide, she looked at Dad and Ro and then back to me.
“She knows too. She told me yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to tell you before…” And cue the blush.
I had to ignore the desire to peck her on the lips again. The bomb she just had dropped needed my attention.
I looked at Ro, “Maeleigh said the queen knows, too.”
“Shit,” Ro cursed when all Dad did was shrug knowingly. I bet that rubbed Ro up the wrong way but I couldn’t blame Dad one bit. Serve us right for trying to pull a fast one on both him and the Unseelie queen. She had dark ways of knowing stuff that no one wanted to even fathom out.
Shaking his head, Ro came back into the room, dropped his jacket on the counter and asked, “Well, what now?”
“Go,” Maeleigh’s voice sounded unsure and when we all looked at her, she seemed to have a dazed look on her face. It took a second, but she eventually shook herself out of it and looked Ro dead in the eye. “Go. But ask to be included as an observer.”
“What?” Mom, of course, was upset by that idea. I didn’t blame her. Something in the pit of my stomach didn’t exactly like it either.
My brows knitted together when I asked Maeleigh, “Are you sure? That’s not…”
“Yes.” She cut me off, her tone stronger this time.
“Maeleigh,” Ro started, shaking his head to decline the notion, but Maeleigh was having none of it.
“You’re my protector, right?”
The room went still, much like it had a moment ago when Dad had sent out his alpha vibes. Poor Ro seemed to be catching all the dominant waves this morning. Cautiously, he answered, “I am.”
She jerked her chin down and then up again, accepting his answer. “Then, I need you to learn from her, in order to help protect me.” She looked at Dad and finished, “And the pack.”
Surprisingly, Dad didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by the whole exchange. In fact, he looked like he approved. Go figure.
“Maeleigh, are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked her privately.
She didn’t even spare me a glance to acknowledge she’d heard me, before she went on to tell Ro, “She already knows about what you’ve been doing. What can it hurt to formally ask her permission to observe her and any business she conducts while she’s in the city?”
She had a point. If what she said was true and the queen already knew, then she could have called Ro or Dad out on it as an invasion of privacy yesterday when she was training Maeleigh. But she didn’t, which meant she might be willing to host Ro as a guest observer.
Ro looked at Dad one last time, but he just shrugged as if to say he wasn’t calling the shots on this one. Another surprise for the morning.
With his brow raised, Ro turned back to Maeleigh and gave her a little bow of the head before collecting his jacket and backing up towards the door again. As the door shut behind him, I watched Dad kiss Rowen on the top of her head and excuse himself. Quickly, I did the same to Maeleigh and told her, “I’ll be right back. Will you get a travel mug for the rest of the coffee?”
“Sure,” she told me and I quickly followed Dad up the stairs.
“Hey,” I called as we both reached the top landing at the same time.
“Hm?” he said.
I didn’t beat around the bush. Neither of us had the time for that. “Is there something going on with you and Maeleigh? I mean, other than what happened yesterday? It just seems like…” I left my words hanging, hoping he’d fill them in.
Thankfully, he did. “When I calmed down after our confrontation yesterday, I realized that she is no longer just one of my pack. In fact, she’s more than that. She’s an alpha, Gearden. Possibly just as strong as you are. She may not be ready to lead just yet, but I have no doubt she will be capable of doing so very soon.”
I didn’t know what to say. My mind started to splutter at what he’d just told me. What it meant. In a matter of hours, she was going to fight for the position of alpha, and whether or not she wanted it, Dad had just told me that she was probably going to win. She’d be alpha before me, but this didn’t intimidate me, as some would assume. I was proud, of course, but mostly in awe. She wasn’t just a part of this prophecy (and it seemed like everyone and their brother wanted a part of her for that) but she was also about to become the leader of a whole other pack. I just hoped she could handle it mentally, not just physically. While her body had excelled, it seemed like her mind still needed a little time to catch up and come to terms with it. I hoped I could help her through it when the time came that she needed it.
Dad left me standing there as he made his way to his office and I slowly made my way back to Maeleigh. She was ready, standing at the mouth of the mudroom to the garage, travel mug in hand. As I waved to Mom, something out of the window caught my eye. There, in plain sight of my parents, brother and sister, on the lush green lawn of the backyard, were my and Maeleigh’s clothes strewn about, left there in our passionate haste to get inside and up to our room. I wasn’t sure Ro or Rowen would have noticed, but the knowing expression on Mom’s face from where she sat in front of said window, talking to my baby sister, told me that she’d seen the clothes and, no doubt, so had Dad. I felt my cheeks burn as I made my way out the door, grasping Maeleigh by the arm to pull her along. I could tell she wanted to stop me and ask what the matter was but I bustled her out and into the jeep as fast as I could. The garage door never opened so agonizingly slowly as it did in that moment.
“What’s wrong?” Maeleigh finally managed.
“We left our clothes outside,” I said simply, focusing on backing out of the garage.
When I was finally driving down the lane towards Bri’s house, I glanced over and saw the mortification all over her face. The blush was long gone, replaced now by pallor that said her stomach had been affected by the knowledge my parents had seen our clothes and knew exactly what we had done when we returned home last night. A small squeak of pain escaped her lips. I wanted to reach out to comfort her but Bri popped up on the curb just then, wearing her usual hundred-kilowatt smile. As I pulled over to let her in, she caught the atmosphere in the car.
“Geez,” she said, eyes bouncing between me and Maeleigh. “Who died?”
As though she hadn’t heard her, Maeleigh groaned and turned to stare out of the window, slouching in her seat. “I’ll tell you later,” I grumbled, and pulled away from her house.
Chapter Seven
Maeleigh
I think it was only after the lunch break that the mortification started to ease up and allow me to look Bri in the eye. Gearden, of course, had told her about what had happened. Not entirely willingly, I might add, but she didn’t stop badgering him about it from the moment she had got into the car that morning. My hopes of being able to run out the humiliation I was still feeling on the track were stonewalled when coa
ch Larson met me outside the locker room to inform me that I would be joining the rest of the P.E. class on the field instead of running my usual two miles solo.
Following him, I joined the rest of the class, most of whom I’d never really met and stretched as we awaited instructions. There were easily thirty, maybe thirty-five of us in the class, all gathered haphazardly, some in their own little cliques, when coach finally joined us. Instead of standing in front of the group, he moved to stand in among us, which meant I couldn’t see a damned thing he was saying. After a couple minutes, during which I had tried to figure out what the hell was being said, the coach broke away and walked to the edge of the field where someone had dropped a mesh bag filled with brightly colored vests. Already we were gathering that we were going to play some sort of game, but it became obvious when someone tossed a soccer ball into the air. I puffed out a breath, realizing that this was either going to be disastrous or boring, I followed the crowd to grab a vest. On the field, I followed those wearing my color, yellow, and waited for some sort of plan or input. I’d never played soccer before. I’m sure kicking a rubber ball around the back yard with Rowen didn’t count.
Everyone spread out before I could grasp a single word from who I thought was the captain – a senior guy who I had never met before but I knew we had homeroom together. Finding someone on the red team free of cover, I jogged over to her. She was in my grade, a junior, and though we seemed to be separated from the majority of the players, I didn’t get the feeling she was avoiding actually playing the game. Her eyes were focused on the ball as coach spoke with who I assumed were the team captains and soon the ball was in play. Bodies moved about, chasing the ball, trying to catch the attention of their teammates. And I was just trying to stay in front of my opponent. We jogged closer to the ball as it moved to either side of the line, but we never made contact with it. I got the feeling I’d gotten lucky and was paired with the one person who was interested in just making sure everyone else succeeded and I was totally up for that.
The Kill: Book 3 in The Hunt Series Page 6
