One Night With the Shifter

by Theresa Meyers

  The soft, subtle fragrance of warm woman and the lightly floral scent that was just Jess seeped into his skin, imprinting itself in his very soul. He fell asleep listening to the soft inhalation of her body, knowing that this moment of peace couldn’t last.

  A battle was brewing and they’d have to deal with it sooner or later.

  * * *

  Jess woke a few hours later, giving a luxurious stretch, then let out a squeak of surprise when she found him staring at her in the half light. Without windows it was impossible to tell the time of day. “You aren’t always going to look at me like that, are you?”

  He smiled. “Every chance I get.”

  She combed her fingers through the muss of her golden hair. “I’d rather get some coffee.”

  Ty picked up a strand of her hair, enjoying the silky texture of it between his fingers. “Are you sure you don’t want anything else? Me, for instance?”

  She laughed, and turned, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing her breasts against his chest and kissing him on the lips. “It’s tempting, but—”

  “But only after you’ve had your coffee,” he finished for her.

  “How is it you know me so well already?”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “Maybe it’s because we’re meant to be together.”

  By the time he’d rolled out of the bed and pulled on his jeans, Jess had already snatched his T-shirt from the hallway and put it on as she made a beeline for the coffeemaker.

  He followed behind her, enjoying the view of her bare, shapely legs.

  “Where do you think they keep the filters?”

  Ty took in a deep breath and scented the location of the ground coffee and opened the cupboard over the refrigerator. “Okay, how’d you know it was there?”

  Ty tapped the side of his nose with his finger. “Weres have an excellent sense of smell.”

  Jess nibbled at her bottom lip as she took the coffee and filters from him. “Can you get me some water?” she asked softly.

  Their fingers grazed one another as Ty took the glass carafe from her. Instantly her gaze flew to meet his, the heat coming off her body suddenly spiking. It looked as though this could be a good morning after all.

  Ty turned to the sink and filled the carafe with water. The air filled with the smell and hissing sound of the ground coffee pouring into the paper filter. He handed her the carafe and she started up the coffeemaker, then turned, resting her lower back against the counter.

  “Ty, what are we going to do?”

  “Have coffee?” he suggested as he wiped his hands on a dish towel.

  Jess shook her head. “We need a plan for how we’re going to cope with all this when the babies get here. We can’t just never speak of it and hope it goes away. People are bound to find out. This isn’t something that will go unnoticed. I mean what if one of them is born with a tail or pointy ears?”

  Ty crossed the small room in two steps and put his finger beneath her chin and lifted it so she could look him in the eye. “Being a Were allows me to shift. It doesn’t mean I’m forced to be in that form. It’s a choice, Jess.”

  “What about the full moon?”

  He gave her a smile. “What about it?”

  She gestured with her hands. “Well, doesn’t that change you?”

  He chuckled and pulled her into his chest. “That’s a Hollywood fabrication.”

  “What about silver bullets?”

  Ty stiffened. “Well, that’s at least a little more true. Silver isn’t something you want to get too near a Were. It tends to act kind of like a Taser. Zaps all the juice out of us.”

  She snuggled in closer to him and Ty placed his cheek atop her warm head. Jess gave a heavy sigh. “What was that for?” Ty asked softly.

  “There’s just so much I need to learn before they get here, things I can’t get in just any old baby-advice book. And I’ve got such a short time to learn it all.”

  He pulled back and knelt down in front of her, lifting the soft T-shirt to lightly brush his lips back and forth against the smooth skin of her belly. It still looked the same to him as it had several weeks ago, the skin just as silky, but it was firmer to the touch than before. He kissed her just above her navel.

  Jess laughed softly. “So you were born a Were, right?”

  “Was born a Were, but it took the Alpha’s bite to help me transition.”

  Jess put her hands on his shoulders and pushed back slightly, looking down into his upturned face. “He bit you? Like you bit Riley?”

  Ty nodded. “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

  Anger flared in her eyes. “I know precisely how it sounds! You are not ever going to bite our children. Promise me!”

  He raised a brow. “What if they want that part of their heritage?”

  She screwed her mouth up tight. Much as she didn’t like it, he had a point and she knew it. They had a right to decide for themselves who they wanted to be, without someone making those important choices for them. Jess huffed. “Fine, but only if they want it, and only after they turn eighteen.”

  Ty let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding back while he waited for her answer. To know that he had at least her approval to change their children fully Were if they chose was an immense relief. But there was something still scratching away at his brain. An unanswered question.

  “And what about you?”

  She pulled her hands away from him as if touching him burned. Her eyes narrowed. “I might love you, I might want to be with you, but I never, ever want to be something I’m not. Promise me you won’t ever bite me. Please.” The aching plea in her voice nearly did him in. He would have promised anything to her at that moment to chase away the sadness and fear he glimpsed in her eyes.

  His stomach sank like a stone thrown into the open water of Puget Sound. This was a bridge he couldn’t cross with her. Deep in his chest, his heart absorbed the bruise her simple words had caused. On one hand she loved him and that was more than he could have hoped for. And that was amazing.

  On the other hand, she still saw something wrong with being Were. She’d come a long way, accepting it in him, in her brother, hell, even in her unborn children, but there was a line drawn in the sand between them.

  She would never become a wolf. She would never run in the forest beside him or know the power her body could wield when tied to the earth. And with every beat of his heart, Ty realized he had to let that go. He had a choice. He could take what she offered and let it be enough between them, or walk away.

  And Mesmer or not, he could never just walk away from her.

  He stood, cupping her cheek with his hand. “Jessica Brierly, I may nibble on you in fun, or nip at you in teasing, but I swear I will never bite you to turn you Were.”

  Her shoulders instantly relaxed and the corner of her mouth lifted a little, but not enough to truly form a smile.

  “Better?” he asked, hoping.

  She nodded. “Not perfect, but better.”

  “Honey, nothing’s ever perfect.” Ty gave her a kiss. He intended for it to be quick, but when she leaned into him, her mouth so warm and willing, he couldn’t resist. Apparently neither could she. Her hands crept up his body, her fingers running over the ridges of his stomach and chest. “Mmm.” The sound down low in her throat was arousing enough without the feel of her so soft beneath his hands.

  “We seem to have a thing for kitchens,” she said lightly, nipping at his bottom lip.

  “Remind me to find the biggest kitchen we can when we buy a home.”

  Jess laughed. And the bright, bubbling feeling the sound brought with it was the best thing Ty could have asked for.

  A wisp of particles eddied in the air, turning from smoky to solid as Achilles transported into the kitchen. “We need to make a m
ove. Those Thralls you brought us—”

  “What about them?”

  Achilles shook his head. “They’ve imploded.”

  “What?”

  “Whatever Eris and these reivers are junking them up on is not pure vampire ichor. It’s a mix of ichor and another compound. Doc is working on it right now, but she hasn’t nailed it down yet. Whatever it is, it’s potent. Numbs their pain, amps up their strength, but dulls their consciousness so that they are only open to suggestions from the hive mind.”

  Ty hadn’t considered before that delivering the Thralls to the Cascade Clan might allow the reivers access to inside information. “Do you think they’ve told the others about the complex?”

  Achilles nodded. “That’s why we haven’t moved them from their cell. All they’ve seen is the interior of the parking garage and their cell block. Can’t tell the others what they don’t know.”

  Ty was slightly relieved. It at least made this a safe spot for Jess to be. “You said they imploded?”

  Achilles looked slightly amused, his lip curling up in one corner. “Doc didn’t think it was all that funny. They just sort of started to shrivel up like somebody had stuck a giant straw in them and was sucking them dry. Looked like damn mummies by the time they were done.”

  Jess shivered, drawing closer to Ty’s side. “Sounds disgusting.”

  Ty put his arm around her. He didn’t want to ask, but knew he had to. “What’s the best guess?”

  “Eris. She must have some ability to literally suck out their souls and anything else from them she wants.”

  “How can she possibly do something like that? It’s not even logical,” Jess insisted.

  Achilles shifted his intense green eyes in her direction. “Goddess. Need I say more?”

  Jess nodded. “I see your point.”

  Achilles pinned his gaze on Ty. “Now that we know what happens to them when they can’t get their fix, we know that the people they’ve changed are in danger until we can get them an antidote.”

  Ty frowned. “There’s an antidote to being a Thrall?”

  “Doc thinks a DMD loaded up with a cocktail of Dead Man’s Blood mixed with a few chemical additives, including vervain, goldenseal, rock salt and skullcap, should do the trick.”

  “A DMD?” Jess asked.

  Achilles looked uncomfortable as he flicked his gaze to Jess for just a moment, then back to Ty while he explained. Perhaps he didn’t want Jess or other outsiders like them to know too many of the clan’s secrets. “Dead Man’s Dart. We used them to subdue the Thralls in the first place.”

  “So why didn’t it work?” Jess insisted. Considering how imposing Achilles was, Ty was impressed. A bloom of pride swelled up in his chest. His mate wasn’t the kind who would back down lightly. A fantastic trait in an alpha female.

  Achilles rubbed his hand over his fist. “It started to, that’s the problem. The additives should keep the process from proceeding to implosion. Detox their system enough to survive.” He jerked his chin at Ty. “You ready to roll?”

  Ty pulled away from Jess and cupped her cheek in his hand. “Jess, stay here. Watch some TV. We’ll be—”

  Jess slapped his hand away, her eyes mutinous. “Watch some TV? Are you serious? There’s total chaos going to descend on my friends and family, the community that’s been part of my family for generations, and you want me to just snack on popcorn and watch chick flicks?”

  He glared at her. She didn’t seriously think he’d risk her and the babies, did she? “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay,” she shot back.

  Achilles folded his massive arms over his chest. “Then it’s a good thing I asked neither one of you your opinion.”

  Jess took a step toward Achilles. “How will you possibly know who is acting normal in town and who’s not? I’ve been around these people my entire life. You might think somebody’s been changed into a Thrall when they’ve just always been weird.”

  Ty didn’t like being cut from the conversation. Jess was clearly used to getting what she wanted and wasn’t going to take less.

  Achilles frowned. “You have a point. But it puts you at risk. Are you willing to take that chance?”

  Her blue eyes blazed, but Ty could see the worry lines deepening around her mouth as she weighed her options. “What will happen to people in Sinclair who’ve been turned into Thralls if I don’t?”

  “If we can catch them and if the antidote works, we can change them back to their normal state once they detox.”

  “And if you can’t?”

  He paused. “We’ll kill them.”

  Chapter 14

  Jess sat in silence, just a few feet across from Ty, but a world away. They were returning to Sinclair by ferry, and they both had a lot to think about. Enough that they hadn’t bothered getting out of the truck for the crossing. The early-morning sunlight was at their backs, sparkling on the deep blue of the water as the ferry moved closer to their destination. On the banks on either side, frost clung to shrubs and trees and every blade of grass, making them all appear to be dusted with glitter. It was cold out there, but not nearly as frigid as it was in the truck between her and Ty.

  She decided she’d had enough of his brooding silence. “Are you even going to speak to me?” If anyone should be giving the silent treatment, it was her. He wasn’t pregnant with a litter, and the fact that he was a Werewolf was no freaking surprise to him. Her world had been turned upside down and inside out. The babies. Her brother. Werewolves. Vampires. The goddess of chaos... It was a lot for a woman to take in. It would be nice if she had someone to talk to about the bombardment of information.

  He looked out of the corner of his eye, refusing to move from his face-forward position.

  “I’ll take that as a no.” She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and sighed. “Look, I know you aren’t happy about me coming back with you, but it wasn’t your decision to make. Achilles agreed that my knowledge of the area is to your greatest advantage and theirs when dealing with these things. So instead of sitting there being the strong, silent, annoying type, why can’t you just go along with their plans?”

  A long silent pause stretched out between them and Jess was shocked to hear his intake of breath before he spoke. He turned to face her, a confusing mix of anguish and anger in his eyes. “Because they aren’t risking everything. You and I are. That’s not an acceptable option to me. I don’t like being put in a position where I can’t call the shots over the things that matter most to me.”

  She knew she mattered to him, but he’d yet to tell her he loved her, which made her wonder on some level if he felt about her the way she did about him. Jess supposed that this was as close as she would get. “But you agree they need my knowledge of the locals.”

  His mouth flattened into a taut line. “Yes. But there had to be a way they could have accessed that information and still kept you safe at their complex. Bringing you back here now is dangerous and they know it.”

  Jess looked out the window. “I think that would be the meaning of the word bait.” She sighed. “Look, the decision has already been made. Once we get back, I’ll go to my house and wait. The security team members from the clan will be on guard while you guys go scout or sneak or spy, whatever it is you call it.”

  “Recon.”

  She wove her hands together in a knot in her lap. “You know I’m not exactly thrilled about this, either. How do I know you’re even going to come back from recon? And what if you don’t? What am I going to do once they take care of these reivers if I don’t have a father for my children who can explain to me just how many teeth coming in is normal for a baby Were?”

  He could hear the worry in her voice. And it was true: everything was at stake for both o
f them. Even if he’d gone out and left her behind at the clan complex, there was a risk he wouldn’t come back.

  Jess pushed back her hair from her face, the play of sunlight in among the honey strands turning it gold. Ty wanted to stop time. To just leave things as they were. But too much had already been set into motion. Eris wasn’t going to stop, and he could either be part of the solution or get stomped by the vampires who were.

  “Are you going to stay long enough to see my brothers?”

  Ty gritted his teeth. “No. They think I kidnapped you. The moment we return, they’ll want to throw me in jail until the matter is cleared. It’s going to be impossible for me to go after the reivers and the Thralls if I’m behind bars.”

  “I’ll just tell them the truth.”

  Ty let out a bark of humorless laughter. It was a nice thought, but totally delusional. He shook his head. “They’ll claim your story is a result of Stockholm Syndrome. Worse still, if Eris is in control, like she seemed to be at that press conference, no one would listen anyway.”

  She sighed and slapped her hands on her thighs. “Just because Davis might have been at the same press conference doesn’t mean he’s a Thrall. Neither are the others. They’re my family. You of all people should understand that I can’t turn my back on family.”

  The words twisted deep. Yeah, he got it. Didn’t like it, but got it. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be suspicious.”

  Jess took a bit of her hair and nibbled on the tip of it. “So, you’re going to go north with the vampires, then what?”

  “We need to plan our attack on their nest, and to do that Achilles needs to see it firsthand. A member of the clan’s security team will be guarding you and your brothers.”