Rebirth (Rogues Shifter Series)

by Gayle Parness

  I opened my eyes, grateful to see Ethan’s concerned face, and not the snout of one of those wolves in my dream. Still feeling a little dizzy, I sat up slowly and looked around. My gaze wandered over to the window where a cold breeze blew the curtains in toward the bed. I was startled to see that the window was smashed, glass scattered all over the bedroom floor.

  “What happened?" I asked nervously.

  “I was sleeping and I guess I woke up when I heard you moan and then mumble. I think it was ‘run away’—something like that. I saw the alarm clock go flying through that window and then one of my boots smashed through it. Is there a poltergeist in this house that Carly didn’t tell us about?” He was freaked out, but I didn’t know what to tell him.

  I could tell by the light that it was still pretty early, probably around 6 or 7 AM. We'd only slept for a few hours.

  "I'll get up and clean up the mess."

  After locating the vacuum, Ethan helped me pick up the larger pieces of glass and then vacuum the rest. He was watching me suspiciously the whole time and I couldn't blame him. He probably thinks that I have something to do with the flying objects, but what could I tell him? Garrett made it clear that I shouldn’t tell anyone.

  When we finished, I made coffee and we sat across from each other at the small table. I looked at his worried face and reached across to hold his hand. He was startled and started to pull away but I held on tightly. Trusting my instincts, I made the decision to be honest with him.

  “I have to tell you something."

  "Does this have anything to do with Garrett and your private lessons?” he asked softly.

  “I think it might. I'm going to trust you with a secret.” I released his hand and talked about the currents of ley line power flowing beneath us, something that he knew about but had no experience with. I told him about the extra connection I had to this magic and what Garrett had taught me about focusing myself and building my diamond wall. Describing the dream, I explained that the broken windows were probably the result of me using the lines to protect myself. Of course I didn’t mention any of Garrett’s secrets.

  “I need you to swear that you won’t speak about this to Kyle or Sinc or Rob or anyone else. I need to learn to protect and defend myself. I may not survive otherwise. I’d also appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell Garrett that I told you any of this. I’d rather tell him myself. Hopefully, I won’t be doing any extra assignments for disobeying an order, “I laughed halfheartedly.

  “I won’t say anything. You know you can trust me.” He leaned over and gave me a hug, then walked to his cell phone lying on the kitchen counter. “We have to tell Carly about the window. She'll have to send someone over to fix it. I’ll just say we were throwing a ball around and the throws went a little wide.” He laughed and made the call. Within an hour a repair team was there and soon the window was as good as new.

  When they left, Ethan and I talked again about my ‘episode’. “If I understand this, you tapped into the power while you were dreaming? How are we going to keep this from happening again? I’d rather not wake up flying through the air and smashing into the window.”

  “I think I’ll have to ask Garrett when I see him alone.” I sighed, nervous about what he might say.

  Carly and Samson arrived around 3:00 with their usual array of supplies. She cooked us a wonderful steak supper and joined us this time. I made sure to feed Samson a few bites and to scratch him behind the ears. He wagged his stubby tail and curled up on the floor next to my feet.

  Carly looked curious. “Samson doesn’t tolerate many people, but he’s very attached and protective toward you.” I scratched his head and rubbed his belly and he grunted in doggy satisfaction.

  Twenty minutes later he was up, growling and barking at the door. At Ethan’s signals, Carly grabbed him and moved back out of the way, looking nervous. Ethan went to the left of the door, prepared to defend us and I walked to the right, a frying pan raised and ready to swing.

  “I don’t think the frying pan will even make a dent in Robert’s hard head.” Garrett laughed from behind Carly. She jumped and immediately moved to the window, dragging Samson with her.

  After the initial shock, Ethan and I cracked up and opened the door for Rob. I gave him a huge hug, which surprised him, and motioned him toward the table. “How are you? Are you hungry? There’s more steak.” I deposited the pan back on the stove.

  Rob dumped my old backpack on the floor near the couch. He'd brought my stuff from the cabin. “Sure, Jackie, thanks,” He gave Carly a hug and then moving to the table to sit. I dished him up some steak and potatoes and Ethan sat across from him jabbering away and catching up on all the news.

  I glanced over at Carly who stared straight down at Samson, avoiding Garrett’s eyes. Garrett was gracefully walking toward her, an amused expression on his face.

  “Hello Carly,” he said in greeting. “How have you been?”

  “Garrett”, she said curtly, obviously uncomfortable. She looked up, her anger giving her some courage. “Judging from the hour, I’d guess you’ve been feeding from shifters again.” She frowned and squatted down beside Samson, petting him nervously and not looking at Garrett.

  “Only the ones who ask me to. I’m quite popular, really. Don’t worry. I’m not hungry at the moment.” He smiled wickedly and squatted down beside her. Samson stopped growling and started wagging his tail the minute Garrett began scratching him behind the ears.

  “Good Boy, Samson.” Garrett grinned at Carly, arching an eyebrow in a well-look-at-this kind of expression.

  Furious, Carly yanked on Samson’s collar, pulling him away from Garrett, then grabbed her coat and said as she headed out the door, “Good night all, I’ll see you tomorrow around noon.” The door shut firmly behind her.

  Garrett leaned elegantly against the large double window sill, staring after her and looking a little sad. I hesitated, afraid to intrude on his private moment, then gave in and walked over to ask quietly. “What’s up with you and Carly?”

  “We grew up together. Our parents were close friends and she was like a sister. When I was made vampire and discovered that I could feed from shifters without taking blood, I did, indiscriminately. I never hurt anyone, but it was wrong and I made some enemies. Carly’s never trusted me since. I like to tease her, but I wish we could get past it.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m a child of the revolution,” he chuckled.

  “Umm, which revolution?”

  “You know, General George Washington, John Adams. That revolution.” I was made a vampire in 1883.” His expression had grown serious again, making me think that there was a lot more that he wasn’t saying.

  “But then Carly’s that old too? How is that possible? She’s not a vampire, but she looks so young. And if you were made a vampire in 1883, then you’d been a shifter for over a hundred years. That can’t be right.”

  “Carly's a shifter, a leopard.” When I didn’t react, he stared at me strangely for a moment and then turned to Rob. “I believe Rob has left out a vital piece of information regarding life as a shifter.”

  “You know that she had to leave suddenly, before I was finished training her. You could have told her.”

  “Told me what?” I looked from Rob back to Garrett.

  Garrett continued. “Shifters age normally for a few years after their first transition, but then they stop. As long as they continue to shift a few times a year, they don’t age. I know several shifters who are around four hundred years old, but look about twenty. And there are two thousand year old shifters in Europe.”

  I sat down with a shaky thump on the window sill next to him, trying to deal with this newest bit of information. Seeing my reaction, he put his arm around my shoulders in support and I leaned into him, not even thinking about what I was doing. I couldn’t seem to process what he’d just said. It was surreal. But then everything from the past two weeks had been out of some fantasy novel.

  “Werew
olves also stop aging as long as they continue to transition every month, which is not even a choice for them, unless they're ill. My cousin Aaron’s a pack leader and he’s two years older than me. We grew up together.”

  “He wasn’t a shifter?”

  “No. His mother was a shifter but his father was human. It can go either way. He chose to be bitten when he was around twenty-five. I think his latent shifter genes made him stronger and helped him gain the Alpha position.”

  “But Garrett, there are older people living here in the town. I saw them.”

  “Some shifters decide to stop transitioning when their mates die, but our community is comprised of many human friends or mates of the shifters who live here in Crescent City. They all know about us and are sworn to secrecy. If it was all shifters, practically everyone would look like they’d just started college.” I was amused, imagining a town populated only by eighteen to twenty-two year olds.

  “What about all the tourists or truck drivers, you know, the people passing through?”

  “Would a human who ran into Rob on the street think he was anything other than human?. The shifters here are good at hiding what they are. All supes are, and humans don’t usually sense the difference. We gently discourage non-supernaturals from settling here if they aren’t part of the community.”

  "Gently discourage, huh? Using magic?"

  He grinned in response. “How’s your wall holding up?” He'd whispered so only I could hear, then tightened his grip on my shoulder. His breath smelled sweet and clean and his closeness made my heart beat a faster.

  I whispered back. “I haven’t had any pain the whole day. I sense the current, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable.” His hand moved up and down my bare arm and I wondered if he even realized he was doing it. I relaxed just a tiny bit more against him, hyper-aware of every place our bodies touched as we sat together on the wide windowsill. Rob glanced at us curiously, so I got up and moved toward Ethan, who was still chatting about our training.

  Garrett interpreted my standing up as a sign of impatience. “Let's go, we have lots to do tonight. Rob will be working with the other three.” He stood and offered me his hand, looking excited about something. I took it shyly, even though touching him just made it harder. It was obvious he had no clue as to how his touch affected me, because if he did, he’d stop training me and run the other way.

  I was afraid. Was there any hope at all? I owed it to myself to find out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As Garrett drove, I peeked at him nervously, thinking through how my feelings toward him had changed so dramatically in such a short time. They’d gone from awe to respect to friendship to—what? Desire? Or was I in love? I’d never been in love before. Can you fall in love in only a couple of weeks? He’d been my silent guardian for a few years but I hadn’t known he existed until recently, at least not that I'd remembered.

  Again I wondered for the hundredth time if this was simply a physical attraction. I took another sneaky glance at his strong build and those delicious lips that I wanted to kiss so badly and his brilliant blue eyes that seemed to pull me directly into his heart. Any normal girl would want him.

  But I was also drawn to what I sensed inside of him: his honesty and his compassion. Strange qualities in a vampire, not that I knew much about the undead, but probably not so strange in a shapeshifter. When he was changed he must have retained much of his shifter self. I wondered why he’d decided to change at all.

  But there was something more that attracted me to him, so I tried to puzzle it out as he drove. He got me. We were connected on some deeper level, maybe because he’d saved my life and given me blood, or because we could both connect to the magic. Or maybe there was something else.

  I got him too. Hidden behind the professional calm or the occasional arrogant act, there was pain and self doubt. Something inside of him was broken. He was a rogue as much as any of us. I suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to touch him, to mend him. Instead, I clasped my hands tightly together in my lap.

  “What are you thinking about? You seem a million miles away.” His smile was warm and his eyes crinkled up in the corners in my favorite way.

  I took a deep breath and began, not wanting to put it off any longer. “Something happened this morning that freaked me and Ethan out. I had a crazy dream and we woke up to things flying around the room. I decided that I didn’t have any choice but to tell Ethan about my abilities. I didn’t mention anything private about you,” I added quickly.

  Garrett pulled the car to the side of the road and turned it off. He faced me, giving me his full attention, and said quietly, “Tell me what happened.”

  I told him first about my dream and then about the smashed windows. I ended with everything I’d told Ethan and his promise not to tell anyone. As I spoke, I tried to stay calm, but the thunderous thumping of my heart was probably waking the occupants of the nearby cemetery.

  As if reading my mind he said, “Your heart is racing. Are you still afraid of me?” His expression was sad as it often was these days.

  I thought for a moment about how to answer him.“I’ve never been afraid that you’d hurt me, only that I'll disappoint you and you won’t keep training me. I need your help.”

  "I’m not going to stop training you. I want you to be able to protect yourself and the team." His eyes burned into me. “You're blushing, Jackie. Are you troubled by something I've done? You can tell me anything.”

  Taking in a slow breath, I decided to go for it. “When I’m with you I feel—I feel kind of amazing.” Okay, that was lame, but since his expression hadn't changed, I went on anyway. "I know that you're not glamouring me, because I feel the same way about you even when my wall is up." I gave him a shy smile, hoping he'd respond in some way.

  Still no reaction. I sighed and plunged ahead, figuring that I couldn’t be any more embarrassed than I was already. “I know that this is one-sided and that you're not attracted to me." I lifted my chin, trying to drum up some more courage. "I won’t let my feelings for you get in the way of working with the team.” Jeez, could I sound any more pathetic?

  I was praying he wasn't going to turn the car around when he finally spoke.

  His voice was a sad whisper. “As Sinc said, the mission comes first.” I nodded, trying to figure out what he meant by that. Sitting so close to him in the car was not helping me relax. I tried to open my window, but then realized the windows were electric and the car was turned off. Breathing in his scent was making me hot and not just because of the car’s temperature. I sat trembling in the seat, looking down at my hands, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut about how I felt.

  “Jackie, please look at me.” I bit my lip and turned. His beautiful face was mere inches away from mine, his intelligent eyes sucking me in like a whirlpool. “You did the right thing telling Ethan. I’ll talk to him about it. Tonight we'll work on ways you can block the line energy when you sleep and dream. It shouldn’t happen again.”

  He sighed, turning away and looking worried. “As for the other, you’re wrong when you say I don’t feel the same way. I'm incredibly drawn to you. Since I met you in the cabin on the island, I've thought of little else. Perhaps it's the blood or the magical connection between us, I'm not sure. You’re a courageous and compassionate person. I'm sure many males will feel the same."

  His eyes looked at me so sadly that it made me want to weep. “It doesn’t matter how we feel, because I’m not right for you. My lifestyle is dangerous and I have many enemies. I feed on shifters. I kill violently when I have to. You’ve seen firsthand what I’m capable of doing in a fit of rage. You’re young. You’ll find another shifter who won’t put your life in danger. I’m not a good choice for you and I won’t put you at risk.”

  After I heard the words, ‘incredibly drawn to you”, I blocked out the rest and started inching closer to him, staring at those perfect lips, loving the way they moved when he spoke, wondering how they’d taste when I finally got close enough. I
placed my hand on his arm, felt the firm muscles beneath his shirt and started tugging him closer. I mean here was my chance and I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life regretting that I never had the guts to go for it.

  He just kept talking and talking about how bad he was for me and how I should stay away from him when we weren’t training—blah, blah, yada, yada. I just kept inching closer and tugging him toward me until I was only about ten inches away. That’s when I struck, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him for all I was worth. He was startled and pushed me away roughly. I slid across the seat, hitting the back of my head against the window.

  “Ow,” I said rubbing the bump that was sure to form and suddenly he was there rubbing it for me, looking a little angry and a little scared.

  “What - are - you - thinking? His voice almost cracked. “Did you hear one word of what I said? I hurt you just now.” He looked so concerned. It made me smile.

  “I heard you say that you were drawn to me too. Anyway, it was my own fault; I kind of snuck up on you.” Because he was so close, right where I wanted him, I reached up and touched a thick strand of his hair which had fallen over his eyes. It was soft silk and shined in the moonlight and smelled sweet and delicious. He grabbed my hand meaning to push it away, but instead he held it trapped in his as we stared at each other. I felt his fingers twine themselves around mine as his eyes traveled slowly from my eyes to my lips to my neck. His chest rose as he breathed in my scent and I wondered for the first time what I smelled like to him.

  Dots of silver popped in his lovely blue eyes. He leaned closer to me and whispered. “You have no idea." His voice was so soft and sexy and his breath on my neck sent tiny shivers down my body. My heart was beating like a frightened rabbit's, only it wasn’t fear that made it jump around.

  “Vampires, weres, shifters, we’re all very territorial. Once we lay claim to something, or someone, we'll kill to keep it. We don’t share.” He hesitantly reached out and touched my hair, moving a stray lock behind my ear. “Any relationship between us would have to be exclusive. Is Ethan more than a friend or a team member to you? You seem very close.”