by Stormy Glenn
No matter how much he wished otherwise, Jackie’s words played over and over again in his head. He didn’t think he would ever get over his mate looking at him as though he were some sort of horrible monster.
As Jackie’s words played out, another thought entered his head, one that made his blood go cold. “Jackie knows about us.” He glanced across the cab of the truck to his brother. “Jackie knows about shifters.”
Neumus’s frown was deep. “How?”
“I don’t know, but he hates us.”
And then some.
“He also mentioned the council.” Boone wasn’t about to say why he mentioned it. “Has Hugh said anything about it?”
“About Jackie?” Neumus asked.
Boone nodded.
“No.”
Crap. That couldn’t be good.
“I didn’t smell it, but is it possible that Jackie is a shifter?” Neumus asked. “It would explain how he knew about us and the council.”
Boone shook his head. “I would have smelled it except I got my nose broke breaking up a fight last night.”
Neumus shot him a look. “Dude, your nose is broken and you haven’t shifted yet? What the fuck?”
“I was too tired when I got home. I didn’t want to expend the energy to shift and heal. I was dead on my feet.”
It was a lame excuse and Boone knew it. He should have shifted, but he hadn’t. He figured he would in the morning once he got a good night’s sleep. Now, he could kick himself.
“You can’t smell shit until you shift, Boone.”
“I still would have known,” Boone insisted. He didn’t want to tell his brother how he would have known. Blood didn’t lie. Jackie was no more a shifter than he was human.
“We’ll need to keep an eye on him.”
“I’ll have Hugh call Elder Hamilton and ask him what he wants us to do,” Neumus said. “We can’t have a human walking around with knowledge of us if there’s the slightest chance he might tell someone else.”
Boone bristled at the thinly veiled threat in Neumus’s words. “You won’t touch him,” he said with a snarl as his claws slid out.
Neumus slammed on the brakes and turned to stare at him. “What the fuck is your problem?”
Boone winced as reason came back to him. Not only had he basically just threatened his brother-in-law, but the alpha mate of his pride.
He was so fucked.
Boone groaned as he dropped his head back on the seat. “Jackie is my mate.”
“Oh.”
Yeah.
“He thinks we’re monsters.”
Neumus frowned again. “I thought you said he knew about shifters.”
“He does. He thinks, and I quote, we’re evil, vile creatures.”
“Well, that doesn’t make sense.”
Yeah, the entire thing was fucked up.
“My mate hates me, Neumus.”
“I’m sure he didn’t—”
Boone clenched his hands, his claws threatening to come out again. This time, his anger wasn’t aimed at Neumus. “He told me if I went near him again, he’d report me to the council for sexual assault.”
“Shit.”
Yeah, Boone didn’t think there was another answer for that either.
“We still have to call the council,” Neumus said. “You know that.”
Boone nodded his understanding, and maybe acceptance of Neumus’s words. He didn’t want to report his mate to the council, but he was hoping they might assign someone to Jackie who could keep him safe. Boone could do it from afar, but that was it.
“They won’t hurt him, will they?” Boone couldn’t allow that.
“The council doesn’t go around hurting humans.”
Boone snorted.
“Okay,” Neumus corrected. “They don’t usually go around hurting humans, but you know someone has to check on Jackie. If word of shifters got out…”
The world they knew would come to an end. Boone knew that. Everyone knew that. It was in everyone’s best interest to keep the existence of shifters from humans. It was also an order from the council.
Boone was still a little confused at how Jackie knew about shifters. It seemed as if there were more humans with shifter knowledge popping up every day. Those who did know seemed more interested in seeing how they could profit from that knowledge than exposing shifters to the world.
When they pulled up in front of the house, the last thing Boone wanted to do was go inside and tell Hugh about Jackie, but the man was not only his brother, he was Boone’s alpha, and that meant he had to know.
“I’ll go wake Hugh if you want to make some coffee,” Neumus said as they walked inside the house.
Boone nodded and headed for the kitchen. He worked automatically as he grabbed the coffee pot and prepared a new pot. His mind was kind of numb. He just couldn’t shake Jackie’s words or the hatred and loathing on his face.
Once the coffee pot was going, Boone looked out the window over the sink. He gripped the edge of the counter with his hands until his fingers hurt. His misery was so acute that it was a physical pain.
Tears prickled his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. He took a deep breath and unclenched his hands from the edge of the counter before turning to face his brother.
He wasn’t surprised to see Kye with Hugh and Neumus. The three men hardly went anywhere without each other. Seeing how bleary-eyed Kye was, Boone reached for a cup and poured some coffee into it before the pot was done. Kye looked as if he needed to mainline the stuff.
Kye grunted and moved to sit on Hugh’s lap after the man sat down. Boone crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter, waiting until both men were awake enough to talk.
“So, what’s going on?” Hugh asked.
“I found my mate.” Boone quickly held up his hand when Kye smiled and started to get to his feet. This was not a joyous occasion. “It’s Jackie Lee.”
Hugh’s gaze was intense, his head tilting to one side. “I’m taking it this isn’t something to celebrate?”
“He knows about shifters.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Hugh asked.
“He thinks we’re monsters.”
Hugh’s eyebrows rose. “Monsters?”
Boone drew in a breath. “I believe his words were ‘evil, vile creatures. He shouted that at me just about the time he told me if I ever came near him again, he’d report me to the council for sexual assault.”
Kye gasped. “I’ll have to take all of my stuff back.”
“No, no.” God, I so didn’t want this. “Kye, just because Jackie doesn’t like me, doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you or—”
“You said he called shifters evil, vile creatures?” Hugh asked.
Crap.
Boone nodded.
“I can’t have Kye around someone like that, Boone.”
Boone’s shoulders slumped. This was coming around to bite him in the ass in more ways than one. “If everyone takes their stuff somewhere else, Jackie will go out of business. He’ll have to sell the shop and move somewhere else.”
“Maybe that’s not a bad idea,” Neumus said. “If he hates us so much, why would he want to stay? Our pride is growing every single day.”
Boone couldn’t argue with that, even if he wanted to. The pride was growing now that Hugh was in charge. People wanted to be where they felt safe, and Hugh was strong enough to keep them all from danger.
“This is my mate we’re talking about, Hugh.” Boone had no idea why he felt the way he did, considering what Jackie had shouted at him, but he couldn’t just watch the man walk away.
“Okay, look.” Hugh pulled his hand over his face. “We’ll go in and talk to him tomorrow. I need to find out how much he knows anyway. The council will want to know.”
Boone winced. “Do we really need to tell the council?”
Hugh just stared at Boone.
Boone rubbed his arms. He was starting to feel as if hi
s skin were going to peel right off. He knew it was the mating heat all shifters went through after they had mated. There just wasn’t anything he could do about it, not now that his mate had rejected him.
“Maybe we can wait a couple of days?” Boone asked hopefully.
“Did you claim him?”
Boone nodded.
“You also might want to call in sick for the next few days. You’re going to be no good for anyone while you go through the mating heat.”
That’s what Boone was afraid of. But if he was feeling it this bad already, what was Jackie going through? “Do humans feel the mating heat?”
“I would assume so,” Hugh replied, “but I’m actually not positive. I’ve not heard of any shifter-human matings.”
Neumus frowned as if a sudden thought had come to him. “Are you sure Jackie is human?”
Boone nodded. “I couldn’t smell him because of my nose, but I tasted him when I”—Boone swallowed hard at the bittersweet memories—“when I claimed him.”
“And he tasted like human?”
“He tasted like mate.”
Chapter Five
“Boone!”
Jackie jerked up into a sitting position, dragged from his sleep by something he didn’t understand, something scary enough to make his heart hammer painfully in his chest. He panted heavily as he pressed his hand over his heart, willing it to slow down.
He tried to remember what he had been dreaming about, but it was nothing but scattered images. Teeth and claws and blood. Jackie wasn’t sure whose blood it was. Just that there had been a lot of it.
He did know the dream had been about Boone, which made the blood kind of make sense. The teeth and claws, too. Fuck. Jackie rubbed his hand over his face. This was insane. If he wasn’t having fantasies about Boone, he was having nightmares about him.
He needed to stop thinking about Boone.
He needed another cold shower.
Jackie rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. After turning the shower on and checking that nothing but ice-cold water was coming out, he climbed in. He could have no more prevented the scream that came out of his mouth than he could have stopped breathing.
That shit was cold.
Jackie’s tears mingled with the falling water. Each drop of water hitting his skin felt as if a needle were being poked into him. It was excruciating, and yet Jackie didn’t know of any other way to make it stop.
He stood under the unrelenting spray of freezing water until his skin started to turn blue. After turning off the water, Jackie climbed out of the shower and dried off. When he started to walk back to the bedroom, the reflection of his pale face in the bathroom mirror caught his eye.
Jackie winced when he turned his full attention to the mirror. He looked like shit warmed over. His skin was ashen white and his eyes had a sunken, gaunt look to them. There was no shine in them, no life. Jackie looked half-dead.
He sighed as he turned away from the mirror. He couldn’t look anymore. No amount of makeup was going to make him look better.
Jackie walked into the bedroom and climbed back into bed. He groaned as another wave of heat rolled through him. He could feel a layer of sweat covering his entire body as he struggled to breathe through the pain ripping through him. His insides were being shredded apart.
Jackie’s jaw tightened to the point of excruciating pain as he tried not to cry out. He was going to crawl right out of his skin. He’d felt that way since the moment Boone walked out the door. Jackie had almost given in to his anguish and called the man to demand to know what he had done.
Except he couldn’t.
Jackie had seen too much, witnessed too many painful and horrifying scenes. He knew he could have nothing to do with anyone who had any connection to shifters, and that included the handsome sheriff. Jackie wanted nothing to do with the man.
And maybe if he told himself that enough times, he might start to believe it.
Despite the vivid dreams he had every time he closed his eyes, Jackie knew nothing could ever come of it. Shifters were the things of nightmares. They destroyed lives, killing indiscriminately without repercussions. Those they couldn’t control, they eliminated.
It was that simple.
He had escaped once. He didn’t think he would be so lucky a second time, and Jackie would do everything within his power to make sure that never happened again. His days being someone’s guinea pig were over.
Jackie rolled to his back and stared up at the ceiling. It seemed as if nothing he did alleviated the pain rolling through him. It started at his toes and went all the way up to the top of his head. Even the tips of his hair hurt.
His stomach had cramped into one big knot yesterday. It hadn’t unwound yet. Jackie was starting to wonder if it ever would. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he had food poisoning, except he wasn’t throwing up.
He ached, every inch of him. He had hot and cold flashes that wouldn’t stop. His skin itched so bad he had nearly scratched it right off. His head throbbed uncontrollably.
It wasn’t food poisoning, but it was something. Jackie blamed Boone. He hadn’t felt like this before they had sex and that stupid knot had formed.
And, oh yeah, Boone had bitten him.
Jackie shuddered as he ghosted his fingers over the bite mark. It was still there, although when he looked in the mirror, it wasn’t an open wound like he would have expected. It actually looked as if it had been there for ages. And every time he touched the bite mark, it was like being bitten all over again.
“What did you do to me, you stupid shifter?”
Jackie didn’t even know what kind of shifter Boone was. He didn’t think it mattered. He was still a shifter. Unless he was a cute, cuddly house cat, Jackie wanted nothing to do with him.
Jackie groaned as he rolled to his side, trying to find a position where he didn’t feel as though he were about to explode. There really didn’t seem to be one. He got up and staggered into the bathroom for another cold shower. They didn’t help much, but at this point, any relief was welcome. Jackie wasn’t sure the agony would ever end.
Stupid shifter.
Jackie found if he wore his lightest silk shirt and undergarments, he could move around without crying out in agony. That was actually better than the previous two days, when anything touching his skin made him scream.
His stomach was still in one big knot, so eating anything heavy was out of the question. Jackie opted to make some tea and plain toast. He carried both to the small table by the nook off the kitchen.
He stared aimlessly out the window as he stirred some honey into his tea. Maybe he needed to consider moving? He liked Potter’s Creek. The people were generally friendly, even if he had received a few odd looks. No one had outright said anything about the way he dressed or acted, and that said a lot about the type of people who lived here. It was one of the reasons he had chosen the small town.
He didn’t want to leave the relative safety he had found in Potter’s Creek, except he wasn’t sure it was still safe. Not if there were shifters here. As far as he knew, he had only run into Boone, but the man was the sheriff. That didn’t bode well.
Jackie finished his tea and toast and then cleaned up his mess. He needed to get down to the store and open up. He had already skipped two days of work. He really couldn’t afford to miss any more.
He went about his usual morning routine, showering, doing his hair and a light layer of makeup. Picking stuff to wear was a little harder, as anything touching his skin still felt painful. He chose a delicate pale-peach silk blouse with medium-sized ruffles at the collar and loose-legged white slacks. He topped the outfit off with open-toed sandals that he could easily slip on and off. He suspected he wouldn’t have them on long.
He hated shoes.
Well, that wasn’t true. He loved shoes. He had an entire closet dedicated to shoes. He loved how they looked on his feet. He just didn’t like wearing them very long. Which was why he always made sure his t
oenails were painted. He had to keep some style and color, even if he was walking around barefoot.
Jackie glanced toward the front door when he heard a knock. He swallowed down his fear and walked toward it. It was light out, so he didn’t think it was those kids who had vandalized his place, but he was still cautious.
When he reached the door, he moved the curtain away from the small window on top and peered out. He didn’t recognize the man standing right in front of the door, but he sure as shit recognized the man standing behind him.
Jackie grabbed the bat he kept behind the door, made sure the chain was in place, and then pulled the door open a crack. He was positive the chain wouldn’t hold Boone off if the man tried to force his way inside, but it might give Jackie a few extra seconds to escape.
“Yes?”
“Jackie Lee,” the man in front of him said. “My name is Hugh Marshall. We need to speak.”
Jackie’s gaze shot to Boone. “No, we don’t.”
“I’m afraid we do, Mr. Lee.” The man’s voice was firm. “I’m alpha of the Potter’s Creek Pride.”
Jackie felt the blood drain from his face as his eyes snapped back to the large man at the door. “There’s a pride in Potter’s Creek?”
Fuck!
How bad could his luck get?
“Go away!” Jackie slammed the door closed. There was no way in hell he was talking to the alpha of any pride.
“I’m not going away until we talk, Jackie.”
Then he could damn well stand there on the front porch. There was no way in hell Jackie was opening that door. He gripped the bat with both hands and backed away. He jumped when the man pounded on the door.
Maybe he needed a gun?
“Open the door, Jackie.” Oh, that was Boone, and he did not sound happy. “We’re not going away until we talk to you.”
Oh, hell no.
Jackie spun around and raced toward his bedroom. He needed to get the hell out of there, and now. He grabbed his bag, car keys, and a light jacket and then hightailed it toward the back door. If he was lucky, he could get to his car and get out of there before they realized he was leaving.
