by Ashley Marie
Crazy, right? My life is turning into a bad movie or how that stripped cat so put it, ‘We’re all mad here’. That seems right for this family.
Something good came from all of this. Those colored ribbons I see. The emotions I felt from others that I locked away. Turns out I’m not crazy. I’m an Empath.
From what I was told an Empath can feel people’s emotions. That’s it. Just feel what others are feeling. A pretty dumb super power. Here’s the thing, I can see emotions and lock out my own. Not something an Empath is supposed to be able to do. Would that make me a super empath?
I kick my feet splashing warm water on my legs. When Jeff asked me if I could sense others emotions I said no. He nodded his head and said it would be very unlikely that I might be an empath, with the Blackwell line being pure blooded and all. That was until he married Shelly and they had Lilly, mixing up the blood line in the process.
He thinks not going through the transition turned me into something different. Little does he know how different I really am.
After he explained my lineage I thought it wise to deny I could do anything knowing I’m even more different that they are.
He looked disappointed when I said I don’t feel people and when I missed the transitions period. It’s not uncommon. I’m what the others refer to as a dud. Where I missed my transition or in the case of an empath showing no signs of empathy. It’s unheard of in pure blood lines, but then again no one knows who my birth father is.
He could be the missing link to why I am the way I am. Why I didn’t transition or show signs of it in the beginning. Why am I super empath? He’s an unknown making the outcome of my abilities unknown.
I’ve been careful now more than ever. I don’t want to slip up like that day in the woods. I don’t want anyone to know I’m an empath and I’ve locked away all the feelings or know I can feel Camron sometimes. I don’t want them to know about the ribbons or how the black ones that day on the beach called to me in a primal way. Which I still don’t understand. I’ve never craved the ribbons before. Never hungered for them like that. So many things to figure out.
They questioned me a million times, but my lips stayed sealed. I have an inkling if they know I’m half way like them my days of feeling nothing, being hollow is over.
My hands come up, rubbing across my arms as a buzzing feeling on my skin takes over. Kayden’s near. The others are probably close by to.
Kayden, he’s been an odd ball from the moment I saw him. Always staring at me with this look. Now it’s on a whole other level. He seems to be always around or hanging back in the shadows watching me with this hunger that doesn’t quite seem human. Like a predator shines behind his green eyes. Lurking. Waiting. Watching for a chance to pounce.
I look out across the smooth lake as the sound of footsteps bounces to my ears. I should’ve known better than leave my room. After my three-day blackout, I’ve stayed in my room enjoying my solitude.
This lake has some type of pull on me like a siren. Always lurking in the back of my mind. Calling out to me. It’s the only good thing I have in my life. This muddy body of water. Plus, the memories from the lake are something I’d like to remember.
Fishing and swimming. Just being lazy out on the dock. Peaceful things.
“Hi, Ya Avery,” Camron says excitedly as he plops down beside me at the end of the dock. He’s always so hyper, full of life. Things I’m sorely lacking.
I look at him. He’s cute in a boyish kind of way with his warm brown eyes and dimples that are always out.
“Aden come sit.” Camron waves his hand, childlike.
Aden grumbles coming to sit down crossed legged on the other side of Camron.
Those two couldn’t be more different in looks and personality. I’m told opposites attract, though.
“How are you processing everything?” Cam leans out a smile on his face.
My eyes flicker between Camron’s sweet face and Aden’s stiff back, “How long have you and Aden been together?”
I watch as Camron eyes widen and a nervousness flutters to me from him. My hands tighten on the dock edge.
Aden snarls getting up and stomping his way back to the beach. I watch him go. His steps are angry and hard. His head shakes like he’s talking to himself. I still don’t like him. Something about the way he looks at me like I’m chock full of secrets.
Which I am. So many secrets yet it’s still not his business or concern to try and figure them out.
“We’re not together together.” Camron stutters, his eyes tracking Aden across the beach and into the trees. “We have an em-bond.” He mutters.
My eyes glue themselves to his face, waiting on him to explain what an em-bond is. He shifts back and forth letting out a sigh.
“I’m an Empath and Aden is a wolf.”
No wonder he snarls so much. I raise my eyebrows, waiting.
“This is so hard to explain.” Cam looks out towards the calm lake, chewing on his bottom lip, “A male shifter needs an Empath bond. I don’t know if Jeff told you or not but when they hit a certain age their wolf starts to take over a little more each day. It’s like the human part slowly gets consumed by the wolf. Leaving well, only the wolf and their basic predator instinct.”
He lets out a breath and looks at me, serious for once, “Empaths are critical to a male wolfs survival. We share our human emotions with them, it helps ground them, push back on the wolf to an extent.”
I kick my feet, “You and Aden are bonded. What does that actually mean?”
“Well,” Cam scratches his head, “We’re connected. Aden can always feel what I feel. Be human. It keeps his wolf from taking over when he can feel my emotions. It grounds him to his human side, but it’s more than that.” He shrugs, “They also help us. Some empaths feel more than others. Their bonded wolf can pull that out of them. Their bodies can handle it better than our body’s can.”
Interesting, I wonder if that’s why I can see the ethereal ribbons. Is that my body telling me to pull at their emotions? Nah, that doesn’t make any sense. The only ribbons I’ve seen is from Cam and Jeff. Cam is an empath so I’m not meant to be his em-bond and Jeff is my uncle. I don’t think the universe is that cruel. That wolf on the beach, I saw his too. I shift and scoot forward as I feel Kayden moving close. What if?
My head snaps toward Cameron, “How do you know if you have an em-bond to someone?”
He looks at me strangely, “You just know.”
My eyes narrow on him. That’s not good enough. Are the tingles I get from Kayden being near to me, ‘my knowing’.
“How about I tell you about Aden and me.” Camron smiles and I give him nod.
“I came to visit Aunt Shelly and stumbled upon Aden and Nick arguing close to the house. This would be the first time I met Aden before he kept to himself a lot. Anyways the closer I got to them the more I felt from Aden. Well, it was more the wolf then the person. I got a feeling of Nick being the prey. Of wanting to hunt. Taste blood. It was all coming from Aden and I had this need to help him. There were no human feelings coming towards me, like anger or hate. So, I pushed my emotions towards him. It took a while but he eventually calmed down, reigned in his wolf and accepted the bond.” Camron lets out a laugh, “Aden then snarled at me and took off. And ever since then you can’t find one of us without the other close by.”
“Aden still seems really touchy.”
Or should I say wolfly? Is that even a word?
“Well yeah, it will take him a couple of years to get back to being somewhat human. Aden was twenty-five. The rage was already starting to take over. Little by little he was losing himself to his wolf.”
Huh. Camron’s just full of information. I didn’t know any of this. Em-bonds. The rage, which sounds like a bad movie. Aden doesn’t look anywhere near twenty-five. He looks like he’s hitting twenty. Do they age differently from normal people?
But what about Kayden and me. Nothing Cam said explains what’s been going on between us. That�
�s what has my thoughts going crazy. Could Kayden make me feel? I feel my face clinch up. I don’t want that. To feel.
“Is that the only kind of bond,” I ask not looking at him. I feel his excitement and that bothers me.
“No there’s the life mate bond.” Cam gushes, waving his hands in the air.
“And?”
“I’ve never experienced it and never will, being an empath and all. Only wolves form the life mate bond with other wolves and few have. It’s rare. They say each person feels something different, but the wolf always knows. Why do you feel something?” Camron leans out to the side trying to catch my gaze.
I ignore him, looking at the calm water. Yeah, I feel something alright. From day one, Kayden’s muscle tensing tingles. Is that the life mate bond? No that doesn’t make sense only wolves feel it. All though I have pure blood, I’ve shown no signs of being a wolf. Just an empath with strange powers. Is it consider powers? Who knows. All of this is starting to make my head hurt.
“Are you and Aden life mates?” I ask watching the sun shift across the water.
“NO.” Camron gasps. “Empaths don’t mate with wolves. We kind of like fill in until the wolf finds his mate, then the bond gets turned one sided. The empath can no longer feel the wolf or be connected to that shifter, but the bond is still there in a sense. When the emotions get to much for our weaker bodies to handle, the shifter can pull those feelings out of the empath.”
“How are Jeff and Shelly together? She’s an empath and Jeff’s a wolf.”
“Gosh, this is so hard to explain. Growing up around here you would have just known this stuff.” He huffs out, kicking his legs.
“Jeff lost his mate in an accident when they were in their teens. It’s not like she was the only one he could be with. At the time, it was because well the wolf won’t let you be with anyone other than your mate but both Jeff and his wolf chose Shelly when he met her in their late twenties and well the rest is history.” Camron says grinning.
“So, wolves can be with someone else if their mates die and empaths are tossed to the curb when the wolf they have a bond with finds their mate.”
That is barbaric. Who would want to get tossed out like trash?
“I won’t get tossed aside like trash Avery.” Camron says, upset with me, “I will always be a part of Aden’s life when and if he finds his mate. We will still have a bond like brothers and we will still have the em-bond, it will just be a little bit different is all.”
“I can’t be a mate, but can form em-bonds and get tossed to the side,” I mumble to myself.
I don’t like either outcome. It sounds so animalistic. And I don’t want any part of it. Maybe the tingles are the em-bond trying to tell me ‘Hey right here’. I shake my head. I don’t want that.
A harsh breath of air leaves my lungs as the tingles get stronger to the point I’m no longer able to make them seem imaginary. They buzz and sizzle across my skin, seeming to go into my body. Making me warm and needy for something.
I grind my teeth and stand up. I see Camron jerks back with my sudden movement. I strip off my tank and shimmy out of my shorts.
Camron gasps as I jump off the deck. I do a perfect dive, slicing smoothly into the refreshing water, never making a splash. I cut through the water like a fish as the tingles become muted.
I’ve missed this. Slicing through the water. When the dance season ended, swimming began. I was never really any good being on the swim team, but I loved the water. The weightless feeling it brought me. The muted sounds of the cheering crowd. The thrill of the race.
My chest burns needing air. I slowly rise from the water taking in full gulps of air. My nose hovers above the water line as I look to the shore. My eyes locking with a pair of familiar green ones on a majestic chocolate wolf, standing with the same proud stance.
“Kayden.”
It’s barley a whisper but I know he heard me. His eyes flash a sickly yellow. His ears flicker back. I watch, my arms weaving in the water keeping me afloat as the wolf disappears into the tree line.
Chapter Seventeen
Kayden
KAYDEN MOVES SILENTLY through the trees, keeping far enough away from Avery. He doesn’t want her to feel him so near quite yet, but he still needs to be close, just in case she needs him.
His thick paws sink into the soft soil, Avery’s winter scent over powering the forest smells. He sneezes. His mighty head shaking. A low growl builds in his chest.
Kayden wants to go to her. It’s taking all his will power not to. He wants to rub on her like a common dog. Marking Avery with his own scent, like warning bells to other males to stay away. A quiet growl comes out at his ridiculous line of thought. This girl is driving him crazy. Or is it the uncompleted bond making him wanting strange things. He shakes his head, a snort coming from his snout.
It’s killing him. This bond between them and her not knowing it. Not wanting his touch or anything to do with him. This isn’t the way the bond is supposed to work.
Kayden moves closer to the tree line watching Avery sitting on the dock. Her feet dangling in the water.
Pride and excitement fill his chest. As his keen eyes take in her small hands rubbing at her arms.
She can still feel me.
A worry he didn’t know he had lifted away like a light breeze. Maybe he can start talking to her now instead of staring at her like a stalker. Which is how he feels. An intruder in her life. Kayden needs to try and form some type of relationship with Avery. Take it slow. Completing the bond being the desired result.
He snarls thinking of Jeff wanting Kayden to stay in the background. A mate isn’t supposed to be in the background. He’s meant to be by his mate’s side always. It’s too soon Jeff says. The sooner the better Kayden thinks.
Kayden’s ears swivel hearing Cam’s scuffing walk and Aden’s deep tread coming down the path. He scoots closer, putting himself in front of the trees. His belly dragging in the warm sand.
His hackles raise as Cam sits down next his mate. Even knowing their cousins doesn’t help him at all.
He doesn’t want any male near her in until the bond has formed completely. It’s a territorial reaction he can’t seem to help.
Aden pauses on the deck, shooting Kayden a narrow-eyed look as he joins Avery and Cam.
Kayden shakes it off not caring. It’s been long enough. Him staying away, Well no more.
He smiles as much as a wolf can as Avery says something causing Aden to stomp off towards the trees.
Kayden slinks back into the cover of the woods. The shift comes fast in a blink of an eye. Leaving all 6’2 of Kayden naked as the day he was born standing tall amongst the trees.
“She thinks Cam and I are together.” Aden snarls, his eyes glowing, looking at the cousins.
Avery has her ice-cold eyes narrowed at Cam. She could freeze anything with that cold look of hers.
Kayden’s smirk can’t be helped as he looks at Aden, “Well, what did you expect? She doesn’t know our ways.”
Aden lets out a grunt, “Can you sense anything from her yet?”
“Emotionally no, but I can sense her physically.”
Kayden pauses his eyes glued to Avery, something’s wrong. His own heart beat speeds up and Avery’s muscles are tense, spine ram rod straight.
“She can feel me physically,” Kayden says, eyes never leaving Avery’s body.
I’m just going to go check it out.
He shifts and moves out onto the beach. He stops a whine pulling from his mouth when Avery springs up. A growl forms deep in his chest as he paws at the warm sand.
He’s ready to spring into action when Avery starts stripping off her clothes. Kayden freezes. A yelp coming out. He snorts staring wide eyed at an almost naked Avery. His blood burns in his veins.
What the hell is she doing?
Clad only in her black silk undergarments, he watches Avery with astonishment as she jumps smoothly into the water.
Huh.
“What w
as that about?” Aden calls out to Cam.
A bewildered Cam looks at them, “I have no clue. She was asking about bonds and then just.” His hands shake out towards Avery’s discarded clothes.
They all watch the surface of the lake. Kayden shifting his weight from paw to paw. Worry gnawing at his belly.
“Shouldn’t she be coming up by now?” Cam squeaks.
Kayden just stares at the calm water. Where is she? The water ripples as Avery comes up for air. A puff of air passes his lips.
She’s beyond beautiful. Her head is tilted back, mouth slightly opens taking in much needed air. Her pale neck rip for biting.
Avery slowly lowers her head. Water sliding down her face. Kayden’s transfixed on her. Avery’s eyes find him instantly, confirming his thoughts about her sensing him. Making him shiver, his fur standing on end.
“Kayden.”
Her muted voice floats to him on the wind. No more than a whispered breath. Cold and wicked at the same time. Causing all kinds of reactions to run through him.
He leaves. Pushing his body as he runs through the forest.
Kayden wanted to go to her so bad, the only way to stop it was to run away. Run from his need for her. He growls as he descends a hill. He couldn’t go to her as a wolf and being naked in front of her isn’t appropriate right now. He’s done waiting.
What’s between them is so rare he’s done wasting it. With that thought in mind, he heads to where he first shifted. His sleek body turns back to a human. He dresses and heads towards his heart once more. It’s time.
He is done with being in the background.
Chapter Eighteen
Avery
“WHAT JUST HAPPENED?”
My eyes flick over to Camron, standing at the edge of the dock. His slim arms are laying loose at his sides with his head moving back to me and to where Kayden disappeared through the trees.
Those damn tingles are what happened. Always bothering. Running along my skin. Buzzing and vibrating.
