by J. E. Cluney
“I do not need to be babysat. She could be wrong,” I said as I plunged my spoon into my hot baked beans as Ollie leaped up to sit on the chair beside me.
“Yeah, but we should be careful anyway. Besides, if I’m there with you, I’ll actually get a lot of studying done, rather than be tempted by PlayStation,” he said with a wink as he sliced open his sunny side up eggs.
I recoiled at the sight. I hated sunny side up.
“You know I can turn into a wolf, right? I can defend myself,” I muttered as I spooned a mouthful of beans onto my toast and bit into it.
“How many times have you shifted?” he shot back.
I just narrowed my eyes at him.
‘Not a whole lot,’ Ollie answered for me, and I shot him a look of betrayal.
”See? Since you’re only a halfling, you don’t have the drive or desire to shift often like a true werewolf. I doubt you even know how to fight in that state,” Skip said as he pointed his fork accusingly at me.
“I have teeth and claws,” I retorted.
“Do your senses work better when you’re shifted?” he frowned, his fork still jutted towards me.
He had me there.
“No, a little better than normal, I guess,” I mumbled.
“You really are a strange one,” he murmured as he stared hard at me, as if he’d magically decipher my hidden secrets over my baked beans.
Ollie meowed loudly as we just stared hard at each other.
“Why baked beans?” Skip finally asked.
“Because they’re nice?” I just gave him a dumbfounded look.
“They make you gassy,” Skip smirked.
I just gaped at him. The audacity of this man.
‘They make everyone gassy,’ Ollie added as Skip just chuckled.
“You know what, I think I’ll finish my dinner in my room,” I growled as I stood up.
“C’mon, Bee Sting, I’m only playing with you. You seem on edge tonight,” Skip tried to reason with me and coax me into staying.
‘He’s right, ever since you came downstairs, you seem a little off. Hell, since you saw Teresa.’
“Can you blame me?” I murmured as I stared down at my bowl.
I had no idea what that reading meant. I wanted to know the truth about my parents.
“She thinks my parents’ deaths weren’t an accident. How would I even find out the truth about that?” I said as I nibbled on my lower lip.
“You could ask Lucas, he’s got a friend on the force?” Skip suggested as he shoveled a large chunk of steak into his mouth.
Kangaroos weren’t meat eaters. Guess that didn’t follow through to the shifters.
“Do you think they could find that out?” I asked, my chest tightening. Did I really want to know?
“Maybe.” Was Skip’s garbled reply around his food.
‘I don’t think he’ll be back any time soon. We can ask him as soon as we see him next, whoever sees him first?’ Ollie suggested.
‘That’d be great,’ I thought back.
At least he seemed to be over his jealously and uncertainty moment from earlier. But I could still sense he was off a little. He’d shared something with me, we’d been intimate, and now we were linked. Something he thought signified something.
He just wasn’t sure what.
I headed back upstairs after finishing my dinner and juice, tromping up the stairs with my brow furrowed.
Now that I had no uni or the boys to distract me, my mind was falling fast into dark thoughts. Everything Teresa had said was weighing down on me.
Why did death become me? Did that have something to do with my parents’ deaths? And if it wasn’t an accident, what was it? I couldn’t think of any reasoning. Then again, I’d only been a young child when it had happened.
I stood in my doorway, the lamp still on as I tried to remember anything.
My memories of my parents were hazy and jumbled, only glimpses here and there of smiles and laughter, their love for me.
Why would anyone want to hurt them?
The answers lay on my father’s side. That’s what Teresa and Emma had said.
But my grandmother was keeping whatever she knew to herself.
Hell, for all I knew, it was nothing. Some old story she used to tell my aunt.
But maybe she could tell me more about my father.
I hadn’t asked Natalie much about him. I didn’t know what to ask.
What questions would you have about a parent you barely ever knew?
I groaned as I rubbed my temple. Why had I thought starting uni would be the perfect change?
Instead I’d found myself with only a million more questions.
At least I was learning about supernatural stuff. And I could control more than just food with my mischief magic if I really focused hard.
That was a bonus. It wasn’t a completely useless magic.
Except I was banned from practicing it now.
I grumbled as I reminded myself of this.
Why did nothing ever seem to work out for me?
No, scratch that. I was in a house with four super hot guys who were all interested in me. We’d just ignore the weird bondings I had with two of them now.
Something I still had so many questions about too. But I’d just have to accept for now.
“Dear Nanna, please, for the love of God, give me some bloody answers,” I muttered as I made my way over to my desk to close the curtains.
Thursday. That wasn’t too long of a wait. Nat said they’d drive down as soon as she got in. I guess I should’ve run that by Lucas first, but apparently they had accommodation sorted.
I frowned as I spied movement out in the backyard, something shifting beneath the old wattle tree.
I froze, my heart skipping a beat as I tried to make out the figure standing outside.
Were they… horns?
Allison…
The scream ripped from my throat as the eerie, echoing voice snuck into my mind.
I stumbled away from the desk as Skip’s shouts rose up, and I heard him flying up the stairs.
I wrapped my arms around myself as I stared wide-eyed at the window, my breaths coming out in short bursts as my chest tightened.
Skip burst into my room, instantly beside me.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong, what happened?” he asked, checking me over with his eyes as he ran his hands down my arms. They were covered in goosebumps, but I couldn’t pull my eyes from the window.
“There’s something in the backyard,” I whispered.
Skip spun around, moving to the window and scanning the yard.
I watched him, hoping and praying he’d see whatever it was. He probably had fancy night vision or something being a shifter.
‘Whose voice was that?’ Ollie asked as he leaned against my leg.
I looked down at him, into those large amber eyes filled with concern and fear.
‘You heard it too?’ I thought to him, and he nodded his head.
That only terrified me more.
Because I had no idea who said it.
16
Skip.
I assured Ally that whatever it was, it was long gone now. I couldn’t see whatever it was that she’d seen, but she sure as hell was shaken up from it.
Hearing her scream pierce the house had terrified me, but she was safe within these walls. I reminded her of that, that Lucas’s magic on the house would protect her.
The fear in her eyes, the fear she’d been working so hard to hide ever since her reading with Teresa, made me determined to protect her. Seeing her so afraid broke my heart. She was normally so fiery and fun, and here she was, doing her best to hold it all together.
Ollie sat on her bed, nuzzled into her side as she wrapped her arms around her knees.
“You’re safe here, Bee Sting, I promise,” I assured her as I sat on the edge of the bed. I’d closed the curtains now, wishing I could’ve caught a glimpse of whatever she said she’d seen.
So
mething with horns.
That didn’t sit easy with me. I’d texted Lucas about it, and he said he would be home in the next hour or two. He wanted her staying inside until he could investigate outside and determine what was going on. I knew he was uneasy about it.
“What do you think it was?” Ally asked as she lay back in bed, stroking Ollie’s fur as he purred.
“Honestly? I have no idea. Probably someone playing a prank,” I said, but I knew my words sounded false. Not even I believed that. All I could think about was how she was being hunted.
I wouldn’t let anything hurt her.
“Skip, why’d you come back here? You were working on your parents’ farm, why’d you come back to study?” Ally asked, changing the subject.
I sighed as I looked at the wooden chair by her desk, and shifted into it so I could rest my feet up on the end of her bed.
“It was time for a change. To be honest, I needed to get away from home,” I murmured as I folded my arms and looked down at my feet.
“Why?” she whispered. Ollie’s purring had only increased, and I was sure he’d since drifted off from her light touch. What I wouldn’t do to feel those fingers in my hair or stroking my arms or back. Just a soft touch, nothing sexual.
“Selena,” I mumbled, frowning as I dug my fingers into my forearms. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to open up to Ally about her.
“Who is she?” Ally asked, sitting up a little straighter. I doubted she wanted to sleep any time soon.
“She was my girlfriend. We met when I was sixteen back at home. Wallaby shifters. She was amazing. We shared so much in common, and we were so in love. She wanted to study medicine and become a volunteer doctor in third world countries. She wanted to make a difference in this day and age, to have a greater purpose. She was so passionate and alive, so happy and fun. She brought out the best in me, and she even got along fairly well with my shitty family. That was no easy feat,” I said with a sharp laugh, unable to meet her eyes as my throat tightened. Even talking about her now was painful.
“What happened?”
I glanced at Ally, and I could see her heartbreak for me. She knew right away that something bad had happened. How she knew, I have no idea, probably the way I spoke or looked.
“Not too long before my eighteenth birthday, we were going four-wheel-driving and seeing the beaches. We decided to climb a mountain one of the days, and I struggled to keep up with her. I was fit back then, but she was more agile and quick. It was a steep climb, and I still remember how we were talking about moving back this way and studying. She was worried about how my family would cope if I left, as I did a lot of work for them. I told her they’d find another worker, and her family was happy for her to pursue her dream. We were talking about where we’d move, what kind of work we’d do on the side. I wanted to be a chippy, do carpenter work to pay for rent and provide for us. She was going to become a barista since she already did it in town. Cafes are always after baristas,” I chuckled, hating how my eyes were tearing up. But Ally was just watching me quietly, and I wanted her to know. I needed her to understand why the boys called me a player. Because she was different, and I wanted her to see that things could be real between us if she wanted it to be.
“She went ahead of me on the trail, we were laughing and I was trying to catch up to her. It was getting really steep and dangerous with how close to the edges we were, and I wanted us to move to a safer track. She slipped, and I couldn’t reach her fast enough. She went right over the edge, and I’ll always remember the sound.” I gritted my teeth as that resounding thump echoed in my mind. The impact of her body hitting the earth at the bottom of the massive drop. She hadn’t even screamed, just fell.
“She died?” Ally asked gently.
I just nodded, unable to say another word as I forced the tears back. I was not going to let her see me weak. But I wanted her to know.
“I’m so sorry,” Ally murmured.
I didn’t say a word as she slid out of bed and walked over to me, bending over and wrapping her arms around me as she held me tight.
My bottom lip trembled, and I bit down on it hard as I held her back.
Her sweet honey and flowers scent was calming, and I closed my eyes as we held each other.
“Sometimes, things happen that we have no control over. They can be bad things, but we can’t blame ourselves for them,” she murmured as she rested her head on my shoulder.
“I know. It took me a while to accept that. I still moved back here, tried to occupy myself with things,” I said softly, hoping she understood the meaning behind my words.
“You weren’t ready to try to love someone again,” she said, understanding what I meant. “Losing someone you loved is not something you get over, you just learn how to live with the loss. It becomes a part of you and helps mould you into something more. That’s what I think,” she said as she pulled back and gave me a soft smile.
“Selena wanted to go to uni, that was our plan together. So I still followed it. I owed it to her,” I murmured, finally locking eyes with Ally.
The softness and empathy I saw there, the complete understanding, made the tension in me ease. There was no pity for me, something I hated seeing, only understanding.
“Why’d you tell me about her?” she asked as she moved to sit on the end of the bed, glancing briefly at Ollie who was sound asleep.
“I wanted you to know that I’m not just a player. I just couldn’t love someone again so easily. I felt like I owed it to her to remain faithful with my heart,” I murmured.
“She would’ve wanted you to be happy without her, to continue living life and moving forward. She would want you to love and be loved again,” Ally said as she gently took my hand and ran her fingers over the back of it.
My chest tightened at her words, and I just stared into those deep, dark eyes as she smiled softly at me.
“You don’t think I’m an arsehole?”
“I’d never think that,” she scoffed and shook her head.
“Thanks.”
“Will you stay with me tonight? I’d like it if you could both stay with me tonight. I’m just a little, shaken, I guess,” she sighed as she let her hand fall to my knee, still holding mine.
“I’ll stay here with you,” I assured her. I had no intention of leaving her alone while she was frightened.
“Tell me more about your family. Why don’t you talk about them much?” she asked as she moved back up the bed to slide under the blanket once more.
“They named me Skippy and you want to know why I don’t talk about them?” I snorted with an eye roll. I was grateful to be changing subjects though.
“C’mon, surely there’s more to it then that. Besides, you helped them with their farm, you mustn’t hate them,” Ally managed a warm smile. It lifted my heart, seeing that tender look on her sweet face.
“My parents did the best they could when raising me, but my father can be a narcissistic dick, would call my mother names, but she stuck by him. He’s gotten better now a bit, but our relationship has always been rocky because of it. As for mom, she’s always been as good to me as she can be while keeping him happy. Then there’s my little sister. She runs the place. She’s an absolute monster and a downright bitch. Her way or the highway type of person. She wasn’t always like that. When we were younger, I was the big brother she looked up to, and I always looked out for her. But when she turned fourteen, she became one hell of a monster. She said a few nasty things about Selena too, not too long after her death, and that broke whatever little relationship we still had. My mom sometimes contacts me to see how I’m doing, but to be honest, I don’t think they care much what I’m doing or where I am. Which suits me just fine,” I shrugged.
“Wow, I’m sorry it’s been so rough for you,” Ally frowned.
“Hey, don’t you apologize. You’ve had a tougher life than me by a long shot, I shouldn’t complain. And yet, here you are, pursuing what you want to do and still being so happy and alive,”
I chuckled. “I’m honestly blown away by it.” Which wasn’t a lie. I was in awe at how well she had her head on despite everything that had happened to her. My blood boiled at the mere thought of what her two father figures, her uncles, did to her. They hurt her and destroyed the trust a child has for their guardian.
I was grateful Wayne was dead, but Brett, he needed to be dealt with. If I ever came across him, he’d wish he never even met her aunt. I’d fuck him up big time, if I didn’t just kill him.
I’d not seen the scars she had, but I’d heard about them from the other guys. Her burns scars, from cigarettes and more. I couldn’t even imagine the pain she’d endured in her early life at his hands.
And then Wayne.
“You okay?” Ally cocked her head at me, and I realized I was gripping my shorts with hatred, my jaw clenched as I thought of the monsters who hurt her.
I focused on that sweet smile instead, on how much she seemed to trust us. I’d make sure none of us ever broke that trust.
Which wouldn’t be easy, considering she’d slept with Marcus and Ollie. How could I make sure they never broke her heart? I knew they cared deeply for her, but feelings could always change.
I’d just make sure I was always there for her, to be the anchor she needed.
“I’m fine, just thinking,” I said, managing a smile.
“So, studying tomorrow,” she chuckled. “You really going to hang around the whole day?”
“Of course! I’ll keep you on your toes too with orders,” I grinned, and she just rolled her eyes.
At least it looked like the fear had eased from behind her eyes.
That was all that mattered.
I wanted her to know she was safe here.
“Marcus texted earlier, said he felt my fear spike, he went to come home, but reached out through our bond and found I wasn’t in actual pain. I told him not to stress, I just got a scare,” she sighed as she glanced at her phone on the bedside table.
“It must be strange, having a bond with him. Ollie said you guys seemed linked too now. Wonder if the sex has something to do with it,” I mused, and her cheeks reddened at the suggestion.
