Quarantine

by Dakota Rebel

  His grip on me slackened, and he slid out of me, his forehead resting on my back. I collapsed to the floor, Dean falling on top of me with a thump. He rolled to the side, and when I opened my eyes to look at him I saw that there was indeed blood covering his lower lip. I smiled lazily and leaned over, licking it gently, the sweet coppery taste hitting my taste buds and sending a shiver down my spine.

  “Mine,” he whispered, kissing me softly.

  “Yours,” I purred, snuggling into the arms he opened for me.

  My body and my mind were spent. It had been a long, emotional night, and I was exhausted. I closed my eyes and drifted away. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t afraid to give myself to sleep. I knew tonight I would have no bad dreams, and no one would come after me. I was safe here in Dean’s arms. I was home.

  * * * *

  “Jo.” Nate’s voice broke through the cloud of sleep burying my brain. “Jo, sweetie, you need to get up and eat.”

  “Not hungry,” I mumbled, rolling away from him.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Jasen said.

  I opened my eyes to see him grinning at me.

  “It’s the day of the full moon love. You have to eat. We all overslept. We should have started eating hours ago.”

  “Ugh.” I pulled the blankets over my head. I felt as if I could sleep for a week. But against my will, my stomach gave a loud growl, and I knew this was a lost battle. My beast would win, food over sleep every time.

  A knock on the front door startled all of us. I pulled the covers down a little so I could see and looked from Nate to Jasen who both shrugged.

  “Stay there,” Dean said, walking across the room. He opened the door, and a man walked in. He looked vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t sure why.

  “Good news,” he said. He smiled widely until he saw me lying on the floor, obviously naked under the blanket and surrounded by Nate and Jasen. “Um, someone confessed to calling in the Anthrax threat. It was a hoax. We’ve cleared up outside, and you’re free to go.”

  “That is great news,” Dean agreed, moving to block the man’s view of us. “Thank you for letting us know.”

  The man left quickly, and I realized he looked familiar because I’d seen him several times before, but he’d always been behind a big plastic helmet. His words slowly sunk in. We were free to go. I could get out of here. My mind started calculating how far I could get before I’d have to shift.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Nate said as if reading my mind. “You know it’s not safe to take off now. You have to stay through the night. If you’re still hell-bent on taking off tomorrow, fine. But tonight, we’re locking down the bar, and no one gets in or out.”

  I nodded. He was right. I was too dangerous still to be left on my own. I didn’t know where I would go to change anyway. Tonight, I would shift with them, and tomorrow morning, I would go.

  “Now,” Jasen said, clapping his hands. “Let’s get some meat into you.” I stared at him, and he laughed. “No double entendre intended, I promise.”

  I climbed to my feet, stretching my arms above my head and cringing at a tight pain in my shoulder. My hand went to the skin, and I felt teeth marks still indented in the flesh. The memories of the previous night came back to me. Dean had marked me.

  Jasen handed me a bundle of clothes then smacked my ass. “Get dressed. Breakfast is getting cold.”

  Dean had gone back into the kitchen and, now, emerged carrying a tray full of food. The smell of bacon hit my nose, and my stomach growled again. I quickly pulled on my clothes and went to join them at the table.

  “Jesus!” I looked around at the mountain of food. There were eggs, bacon, sausage, half a ham, a few steaks, a mountain of hash browns and a full loaf of toasted bread. “Who’s going to eat all of this?”

  “We are,” Nate said as he reached over to grab a handful of bacon. “Just wait. You’ll be amazed at how much food you’ll put away today. I’m guessing you haven’t been stuffing your beast.”

  “Not like this.” I shook my head as I sat down. Was this why I’d always been so out of control when I shifted? Should I have been eating nonstop in the hours leading up to the change? It was hard to believe that a full stomach could affect my mental state when I became a cougar. But they had been shifting a lot longer than I had, and I trusted them to help me through this.

  Dean scooped a heap of scrambled eggs on to my plate. “Eat,” he demanded, gesturing with the spoon at my plate.

  I took a bite, and it was as if it opened a floodgate. I was ravenous. Talk ceased around the table while we shoveled food into our mouths as if we would never eat again. I couldn’t get enough. Ham, bacon, potatoes, eggs, more ham. Forkful after forkful disappeared though it didn’t feel as if I were filling up at all.

  It seemed as if we’ been eating for hours when Nate walked over to the bar and came back with a pitcher of beer and some glasses. I cocked an eyebrow at him, and he grinned.

  “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” he said, handing me a full glass. “Eggs and beer are the best breakfast ever.”

  I took a sip then a gulp. Before I’d realized it the pint was empty. A loud belch escaped my mouth, and I clamped a hand to my lips, burning with embarrassment.

  “Excuse me,” I mumbled.

  “Nice one,” Jasen said, clapping me on the back.

  Nate rolled his eyes at Jasen, but I saw a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. He really was head over heels for his lover, faults and all.

  I sighed. I’d thought I’d had that with Billy. But the more time I spent with these men, Dean in particular, the more I started to see how one-sided our marriage had really been. Billy had been happy because he wasn’t missing anything. He’d never had that great of a sex drive to begin with. And I just hadn’t wanted to believe that sex was that important. But now, I was finding out how much a relationship could grow through that physical bond he and I had been missing.

  “Are you okay?” Dean asked, his fork paused halfway to his mouth. “You look…lost.”

  “Fine,” I said, shaking my head as if to clear the thoughts from my mind. “I’m fine. My mind just wandered for a minute.”

  “Don’t get lost in thought today, chica,” Jasen said, placing his hand over mine. “If you let your emotions get the better of you, it can bring on the change. Just relax, make sure you eat if you feel even a twinge of hunger and try not to look too sexy today.”

  I laughed. There was fat chance of that happening. I probably looked like…well, like I’d spent the last two days getting fucked by three rugged men. My body ached, my hair was a tangled mess and my stomach was bloated from all of the sodium I’d just consumed. Sexy was not a word I would have used at all.

  “All right,” Dean said standing up with a loud groan. “Nate and I will clean up. Jasen, you keep Jo occupied.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jasen said excitedly. He pulled me to my feet and nuzzled my neck, making me giggle. I think we all knew he was kidding, but when he and I looked over at Dean, there was a pained look on the man’s face. “Fine. We’ll be good.”

  “What time is it?” I asked, peering out the window. The sun was high in the sky, but it didn’t feel very late yet. I’d had no idea how long I’d been asleep, but I wasn’t expecting the answer Jasen gave me.

  “Almost five,” he answered. He’d walked behind the bar and pulled out a couple bottles of water then flipped on the television. I hopped on a stool, accepting the water gratefully.

  “It’s important to stay hydrated,” he explained before draining half of his own bottle. “You don’t want to do anything that could set off the beast. Hunger, thirst, lust, anger, sadness, it can all trigger the change, especially the day of the full moon.”

  “You all talk about the beast like it’s not a part of you,” I said.

  “Well, it both is and it isn’t. Surely, you can feel that it’s like its own living entity inside of you? The way it stirs and rises and quiets in your chest or in your stomach.
Like a physical being. But obviously, it’s not. It’s just blood and genetics. It’s a disease.”

  “I don’t understand any of this.” I sighed. “You’re right. I do feel it, and it feels separate, like I could get it cut out of me and go back to being…” I trailed off, not wanting to offend him.

  “Normal?” he finished for me with a sad smile. “Sorry, toots, there’s no normal anymore. As time goes on, I promise you’ll get used to it. You’ll learn exactly what to do to avoid setting it off. You’ll even learn to shift on command. It just takes some getting used to. It’s like losing an arm or a leg except instead you get fur, pointy teeth and super powers.”

  “Super powers?” I asked with a crooked eyebrow.

  “You probably don’t remember much that happens when you turn. That can last for up to a year. But eventually, conscious thought will break through your beast’s panic, and you’ll be you in there instead of just an animal. For us, when we’re in our wolf forms, we're wicked strong, super fast and damn near indestructible. From what I understand, cats work pretty much the same way.”

  “Really?” I looked hopefully at him. “So the short bursts of consciousness I have when I shift aren’t just what I have to live with? It will be all me all the time? Can you teach me to do that tonight?”

  “It’s not really teachable,” he said, his hand over mine in a comforting gesture. “Your brain just has to adjust to the beast sharing your body. You’ll get there. I promise. It’s a good sign that you already get some it now.”

  “Is it?” I asked ruefully. “It’s fucking scary is what it really is. Waking up covered in blood and hoping it’s just from the animal carcass at your feet. Watching your body turn into…not your body then blacking out for an hour just to come back to yourself as you’re swallowing raw meat from a raccoon and then you’re gone again and it’s all the beast moving you.” I shuddered. “It’s terrifying.”

  “I don’t know what to say except that it does get better. I know that doesn’t do shit for you now. But it does become easier to live with.”

  “Hey,” I said, looking up at the television. “Jeopardy is on.”

  I wanted to change the subject. All this beast talk was making her stir uncomfortably in my chest. That feeling of a physical being marching around inside of me was getting worse as the minutes ticked by. Like she knew she would get to come out and play tonight, and it made her restless.

  “Great!” Jasen said, hopping up to sit on the bar and watch it. “Hey, assholes, come on!” he called toward the kitchen. “Let’s play Jeopardy.”

  Dean and Nate came out of the back room, each carrying a tub of ice cream and a couple of spoons. Dean sat next to me on a stool and Nate went behind the bar to sit next to Jasen on the rail.

  “Teams?” Dean asked, handing me a spoon and nudging the tub of Mackinaw Island Fudge Ripple toward me.

  “Sure,” Nate said, his eyes twinkling. “What’s the wager?”

  “Oral favors,” Jasen said quickly.

  “Okay,” Dean answered cautiously. “What are the teams?”

  “Me and Jasen against you and Jo,” Nate said.

  “Perfect,” Jasen piped up. “Boys against girls.”

  Dean made a noise I could have sworn was a bark in Jasen’s direction, but Jasen just laughed. The game started, and we were off.

  Chapter Eight

  “Double or nothing,” Jasen said in frustration as Final Jeopardy started. Dean and I had thoroughly whooped them, and Jasen was acting quite the sore loser.

  “Double what?” Dean asked with a laugh. “You’re going to suck me off twice?”

  “I don’t know. This is bullshit.” Jasen crossed his arms across his chest and glared at us. “You two are cheating.”

  “How?” I asked, a smile tugging at my lips.

  “Jasen, calm the fuck down. We lost. This was your idea anyway.”

  “Well, I didn’t know she was a fucking genius,” Jasen said, pointing at me with his spoon.

  The ice cream was long gone, but Jasen had been nervously sucking on the end of the metal tip for the last few questions. It had drawn my attention away from the game, focusing instead on his lips and tongue playing along the spoon. Luckily, Dean couldn’t have cared less and picked up my slack.

  “I’m hardly a genius.” I rolled my eyes.

  “What was your major in college?” Nate asked suspiciously.

  “Art history.”

  “Who the fuck majors in art history?” Jasen was on his feet now, pacing up and down behind the bar.

  “You need to calm down,” Dean said, standing up to walk over to the restless man. “Take a deep breath. No one cheated. We shouldn’t even have played tonight. Didn’t we make that a rule once upon a time? No wagers the day of?”

  “Yes,” Nate said, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

  “It’s not funny,” Jasen yelled, rounding on Nate. “That car was fucked.”

  “What happened?” I asked, looking between the two men.

  “Jasen got pissed off about something and shifted an hour before sunset. We were driving out to my house to run after we changed, but he went early. Tore up the whole car, the seats were shredded, dashboard destroyed. We decided then that he’s a sore loser and it would be safest if we avoided making bets around the full moon.” Dean had cornered Jasen behind the bar and held an arm across his chest as he told me the story. When he was done, he turned back to the blond and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

  Nate and I watched as Jasen’s breathing slowed and the heat in his eyes dissipated. Whatever Dean had said to him had worked and calmed him down.

  I grabbed Nate’s arm and looked at his watch. It was after five-thirty. Fear shot through me as I realized that the sun would be setting in less than an hour. I hoped I wouldn’t try to hurt the guys.

  Suddenly,the front door smashed open, and I screamed when I saw Kevin walking through it. Dean and Jasen jumped over the bar, and Nate came around to stand in front of me, his arms outstretched in a protective stance.

  “Thanks for keeping her warm for me, boys,” Kevin said, his voice just as oily as the rest of him. “I’ll be taking my girl back now, if you don’t mind.”

  “You stay the fuck away from her,” Jasen hissed through gritted teeth.

  “That’s my mate,” Kevin said, walking toward the men boldly. “Hand her over.”

  “She is not your mate,” Dean spat, stepping forward. “She is mine.”

  “Like hell, son.” Kevin’s tone was still light, as if he were having a normal conversation with friends. He was grinning in that crazypants way he had, and it made my beast start to pace. She wanted to attack him. I tried to swallow down my fear and her anger. It was too close to sunset to risk losing control. All I could do was trust Dean and the guys to keep me safe from Kevin.

  “You probably thought you were real clever, didn’t you, mister?” Dean asked, stepping slowly to the left to keep Kevin’s eyes on him instead of on me. “Calling in that fake Anthrax scare to keep her trapped here until the full moon? You’re a lot stronger when you shift, huh? So you figured there was no use busting in here if you could lock her up real good until you could change and barge in after her.”

  “That’s about it, yeah.” Kevin shrugged. “You’re pretty smart, kid. You ever think about becoming a Were-Cougar?”

  “Not interested,” Dean said.

  “That’s too bad. I kind of like you. Shame I’ll probably have to kill you all.”

  I wondered how Kevin didn’t know Dean was a Were-Wolf. I’d just assumed I didn’t know enough to be able to tell. But surely, Kevin had some sense of it. The guys had smelled me when I’d walked in. Didn’t Kevin know how to do that?

  “That’s not very likely,” Jasen said, walking around to Kevin’s right side. “You’d best leave. Now.”

  “I’d be happy to,” Kevin said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and smiling that greasy smile at Jasen. “Just hand over the girl, and I’ll wa
lk out real kindly like.”

  “I’ve already told you,” Dean said, stepping directly in front of Kevin and staring down at him. “She’s mine.”

  Kevin sighed and stepped around Dean as if he didn’t even matter. He stalked toward me, and I cowered behind Nate. If I hadn’t been a complete chicken I might have seen it coming. But my head was turned away so I didn’t know what was happening until I heard the gunshot.

  Nate collapsed to the floor in front of me, and I screamed, fear that he'd been killed ripping through me. I scrambled toward him, desperate to see if he was still breathing, but Kevin grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away. I struggled against him, bile and more rising up my throat. My beast threatened to burst from my body.

  Kevin threw me forward, and I stumbled, crashing to the floor. He wrenched down the collar of my T-shirt to look at my back.

  “You fucking whore!” he screamed, losing his composure for the first time. “You stupid little cunt!”

  He wrenched me to my feet, shaking me violently before reaching back and slapping me hard across the face. One minute, it felt as if my eyeball had exploded in its socket, the next every bone in my body was breaking.

  I screamed, a low guttural howl forced from my lips as my body tore itself apart. Bones shattered and bent, skin ripped, muscles burst and re-knitted as I shifted into my cougar form.

  “You bastards stole my mate!” Kevin screamed, turning dismissively from me as I writhed on the floor.

  “We didn’t steal anything,” Dean said, standing from where he’d knelt next to Nate’s body. “She is mine, ours.”

  “I’m going to fucking kill you,” Kevin hissed, raising the gun.

  “You picked the wrong fucking bar on the wrong fucking night, asshole,” Jasen said.

  I watched from the floor as Dean and Jasen howled. The sound echoed around the room, and I whimpered as it hit my ears. Slinking past Kevin, I made my way over to Nate. His body had shifted, too, but he was unconscious still.

  Dean petted my head behind my ear. The sensation was so odd, I looked up at him, and he winked at me. I knew fear and adrenaline had brought mine and Nate’s beasts out early, but it couldn’t be that much longer before sunset then there would be two more Were-Wolves and another Were-Cougar in the bar.