“What?” Mary jumped up, shoving her chair back so hard it toppled over.
Amanda flinched. She stared at her sister, taking in the fact that her blonde hair tumbled uncombed down her back. She hadn’t even tucked it into a bun on her head. She wore a camisole, sleep shorts, and no bra. And it wasn’t even seven in the morning yet. Why was she up on a Saturday morning so early looking like she’d just gotten out of bed and hadn’t slept long enough?
“Tell me this is a joke,” Mary said, running both hands through her hair and getting them tangled in the mess of curls. She was pale skinned like Amanda. And she had the same blue eyes. But where Amanda’s hair was almost black, Mary’s was almost white. She looked like a ghost.
No one spoke. Amanda didn’t know what to say, and probably Laurie was tired of speaking for her.
Mary paced several steps in one direction and then returned. She set her hands on the table and leaned over between Amanda and Laurie. She turned her gaze to her friend first. “We’ve been friends for almost a year, Laurie. I thought I was helping you out last night. Hell, I thought I was helping Amanda out. She needed to get out of the house.”
“For your benefit or hers?” Laurie asked.
That made no sense to Amanda at all.
Laurie lifted one eyebrow and stared at Mary.
“Don’t even go there,” Mary spewed. “How in the hell did my sister manage to end up succumbing to your lifestyle in less than twelve hours? I didn’t send her there to get fucked by two men. I thought she was babysitting.” Her voice rose with every syllable.
Amanda jumped in her seat. “I did not get fucked by anyone, Mary. Calm down.”
Mary jerked her gaze to Amanda, taking deep breaths that clearly didn’t make her calmer.
“I just met them.”
“Then why the fanfare, huh?”
“Because it’s serious,” Amanda added.
“Serious? What’s serious?” She stood again, hands on her hips now.
“The way I feel about them.” She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tell her sister it was all a joke and ignore the last twelve hours, but she couldn’t. She needed to get this out in the open. And she needed Laurie there for support. Even if it was her fault Amanda had met Logan and Sawyer in the first place. If only her original sitter hadn’t cancelled…
“You just met them,” Mary shouted.
“And I like them both.” It was so much more than that, but she wasn’t about to elaborate. Her sex clenched at the thought of them, and she gripped the table to try and control the way her heart raced. Sweat rose on her temple as if it were hot in the room.
“How could you possibly know that in one evening? Is this why you didn’t come home?”
“Yes. I was confused. I slept in Laurie’s guest room.”
“And now you aren’t confused?”
“No. I’m still totally confused, but not about Logan and Sawyer. I’m clear on how they make me feel.”
“Jesus.” Mary turned in a complete circle. “Two men? Amanda, are you listening to yourself?”
Amanda looked at Laurie to find her chewing on her bottom lip.
Suddenly the front door flew open.
Amanda jerked her gaze that direction to see Jazmine backing into the apartment. Her hands were full, and she spoke without seeing anyone. “Baby, sorry it took me so long. The line was long and—” When she turned around, kicking the door shut, she stopped midsentence.
Baby?
Time stopped.
Amanda stared at a wide-eyed Jazmine, who held a brown bag Amanda recognized from the bagel shop around the corner. Jazmine. Her sister’s friend. The one with a cute brown bob she was constantly tucking behind her ears. She was tall and skinny, like a model. And she currently looked about the same as Mary in shorts and a camisole. At least she’d put on a bra before she apparently left the apartment to get breakfast.
Mary started crying, shocking Amanda. One huge sob escaped her mouth before she covered her face with both hands and ducked her head.
Jaz raced forward, set the brown bag on the table, and stepped in front of Mary, taking her face in her hands and lifting it until she forced their gazes to meet. She kissed her gently on the forehead and then broke the silence. “What happened?” Her voice was soft and sweet and loving. Not in the way of friends.
Amanda suddenly realized so many things at once as several recent cryptic conversations converged in her mind.
“…she could use a night without her sister in the same space just as much as anyone else would. I don’t even think she was alone when I spoke to her.”
“…I never said she was with a guy.”
“Maybe it’s not what you think.”
“Mary never leaves the apartment. She sometimes meets up with Laurie, and she often hangs with Jazmine, but that’s not a life.”
“Are you sure? Maybe that’s the life she enjoys.”
“That was fast… Did you forget something?”
Amanda jumped to her feet, her chair scraping across the floor. Mary wasn’t staying home in the evenings because she didn’t want to date. She also wasn’t shacking up last night with a secret boyfriend. She was with Jazmine.
She was with Jazmine.
“You bitch,” Amanda yelled. “How dare you judge me?”
“Amanda, calm down,” Laurie said.
Amanda twisted herself to face Laurie. “You knew. You knew my sister was…was…with a woman, and you didn’t tell me.”
Mary pulled herself from Jaz’s embrace to face Amanda. “It wasn’t her story to tell.”
“I’m sorry, Mary,” Laurie said, “I wouldn’t have said anything at all if I’d known it was a secret. I didn’t realize…”
“Not your fault.” Mary’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry I put you in that position.”
Jaz brushed Mary’s hair from her shoulder. “I told you this was going to happen.”
Mary’s shoulders slumped farther, and she reached up to set a hand on Jaz’s. “I know. You were right. I was chicken.”
“Mary?” Amanda slowed her breathing, still taking in this new development. She glanced at Jaz, who was now totally unapologetic about her obvious relationship with her sister. In fact, she wrapped her arm around Mary’s waist and hauled her in closer.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were ready to hear about us.”
“Why would I care who you’re involved with? What pisses me off is you standing all high and mighty here judging me not two minutes ago while you huddled in your proverbial closet.”
“There’s a big difference between me being in a committed relationship with one woman and you sleeping with two men.”
Amanda threw her hands up in the air. “I have not slept with anyone, Mary. And that’s not the point. I’ll sleep with whoever I damn well please. At least I had the guts to come home and tell you immediately. You, on the other hand, have been sneaking around ever since I arrived and for God knows how long before that. Does the entire world know besides me?”
Mary shook her head. “No. And we don’t want them to.”
Jaz interrupted with more of an explanation. “People around here aren’t very understanding of things like this. If they found out, we could both lose our jobs.”
Amanda blinked at Jaz. She liked her. She really did. And as soon as she had a chance to wrap her head around the fact she and Mary were a thing, she was sure she would embrace it fully, but for now, she was too stunned and confused about her own problems to put much weight on that issue.
She did understand her reasoning, however. Both Mary and Jazmine owned preschools. That’s how they’d met, at a convention.
Jazmine was Native American and her school was in Sojourn, forty minutes south along the end of the lake on the reservation.
Amanda pulled her gaze back to Mary. “Then we’re even. I won’t tell anyone you’re in a relationship with Jaz, and in return you can keep the details of my unconventional arrangement to yourself too.”
> Mary opened her mouth, but hesitated before speaking. “Are you sure, Amanda? You just met them. You couldn’t have spent that much time with them.”
“I’m sure.” She was. She might not have admitted it to Logan and Sawyer, but it was growing clearer to her with each passing moment.
“There’s more,” Laurie stated.
Everyone turned to face her while Amanda groaned. “Do we have to have a complete come-to-Jesus moment? Can’t we keep a few things for later?”
“No. Keeping this a secret will only make things worse, Amanda.” Laurie met her gaze directly. “You want me to tell them? Or do you want to?”
Amanda slumped forward and grabbed the edge of the table. Her coffee was cold now. Oh how she wished she’d swallowed every drop before the shit hit the fan. “Go ahead. Your mind is working better than mine, and I’m not even sure where to begin.”
“Let’s go in the living room. Sit.” Laurie stood and turned around to head toward the entertainment center.
“What now?” Mary asked. She and Jaz plopped down on the couch.
Amanda dragged herself unwillingly to the chair that sat at an angle facing the television next to the couch.
Laurie stood across from them all in front of the television. “There’s a reason Amanda was so quickly attracted to my brother and Logan. I’m sure you’ve always suspected something about my family was a little different. And I’m impressed you never asked before.”
Laurie took a deep breath, her gaze on Mary, or Jaz. They were practically on top of each other. “Normally, I would never divulge this sort of private part of my family to anyone. Not to a single living soul. But occasionally we have to make exceptions, especially when one of us happens to meet and discover that a regular human is destined to spend their life with us.”
“A regular human?” Mary asked.
Laurie nodded. “Let me finish.” She glanced slightly to the side to look at Jazmine. “I’m going to include you in this revelation because I know you’re as committed to Mary as anyone can be. You’ve been together over a year. I know how Mary feels about you. And I assume you feel the same about her.”
“Without a doubt,” Jazmine confirmed. “She’s my soul.”
Amanda gulped as she watched Mary turn to Jaz and smile. She even kissed her gently on the lips. A tear fell down Amanda’s face, and she quickly wiped it away. She was overly emotional and so happy for Mary.
Laurie continued. “My family and several others in the area aren’t strictly human. We’re what we call shifters.”
“Shifters?” Jaz asked.
“Yes. We can change forms.”
“That’s crazy. What do you mean? Into what?”
“A wolf.”
No one spoke.
Amanda lifted one hand to her mouth and bit down on her knuckle.
Mary shrugged Jaz’s hand away from her shoulder and leaned forward. “That’s insane. Amanda?”
She released her knuckle and faced her sister. “It’s true. I’ve seen it.”
Mary bolted off the couch and stomped to the other side of the room, as far away from everyone as she could get without leaving the room entirely.
Jaz’s next words shocked the piss out of Amanda. As calm as a cucumber, she addressed Mary. “Mary, babe. Come back. She’s telling the truth.”
Laurie gasped. “How do you know?”
Jazmine shrugged. “I’ve never actually seen it, but I’ve heard about it.” She reached a hand over the back of the couch and twisted backward again. “Mary.”
Mary came to her and Jaz grabbed her hand and tugged, pulling her against the back of the couch.
“From whom?” Laurie asked, her voice squeaky.
Jazmine faced Laurie once more. “A friend. She moved away several years ago, but we were close when we were little. I knew her from school. I just never thought she was lying. She made it sound so real.”
“I see.” Laurie chewed on her bottom lip and then released it. “That’s unconventional. We don’t usually tell anyone.”
“I’m sure. I don’t blame you. Will you show us?” Jaz turned around once more. “Mary, sit with me. Please, babe.”
Mary looked wary as she rounded the couch and sat hard next to Jazmine, who grabbed her hand and held it tight on her thigh.
“I’m going to show you because I want you to fully understand, and Amanda needs your understanding and support. It’s going to be tough enough for her to adjust as it is. She needs her sister on her side.”
Laurie tugged her T-shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. “Sorry. I have to strip. Otherwise my clothes won’t survive the shift. I’ll be quick, and don’t worry, I’m fully aware of my entire human self and my feelings when I’m in wolf form.
“I won’t make any sudden movements. And I would never hurt any of you. We aren’t violent. But I am large. I’ll just sit still right here in this spot so you can see me. If you want to touch me, you can. If not, that’s fine too. No pressure. And then I’ll shift back and we can talk.”
The room was silent while Amanda watched what she’d seen Sawyer do last night in the dark on the porch. In less than a minute, Laurie removed her clothes, dropped onto all fours, and broke the silence with the popping of her bones until she was undeniably a wolf.
Mary gasped and pushed back into the couch cushion.
Jazmine leaned forward, not releasing Mary’s hand. “So cool.”
Amanda smiled for the first time in hours. At least someone wasn’t freaked out.
Laurie sat back on her haunches and didn’t move a muscle, just as she’d said she would.
Jazmine released Mary and lowered onto her knees on the floor. She reached out and stroked a hand through Laurie’s fur.
“Jaz…” Mary admonished.
“I’m okay, babe. Relax. Just because you’ve never heard about something doesn’t make it any less real.”
“Yeah, but…” Mary turned toward Amanda. “You saw them do this last night?”
“Just Sawyer. For the same reason Laurie is showing you.”
“I think I could have gone my entire life without knowing that. Why was it necessary for him to do it for you?”
“Because apparently I’m his mate.”
“Mate?”
“Like a wife sort of. But wolves call it mating, I guess.”
Laurie shifted back and grabbed her clothes, tugging them on quickly. “Wolves mate for life, and they don’t usually choose their mate. It’s fated.”
“Fated?” Mary asked.
Laurie sat on the end of the coffee table to pull her shoes back on. “Nature sort of governs it, you could say. When we meet our mate, we can’t really deny it. It happens naturally.”
“And Amanda thinks she’s fated to spend her life with Sawyer,” Mary stated.
“And Logan,” Amanda muttered.
“Right. Two of them. Of course.” Mary slapped her thighs. “How silly of me.”
“This mating in threes is strange even for us. It’s usually very uncommon. But for some reason, it’s happening a lot lately, although only between my family and the Masters. There are two left. It is presumed they’re destined to be together also. The powers of the universe must have something in mind we aren’t yet privy to.”
“Will Amanda be able to shift?” Jazmine asked.
Amanda hadn’t even considered that.
Laurie shook her head. “No. It doesn’t work that way. She’ll always be human, but her kids will be shifters.”
“Lord.” Mary’s eyes were wide and she stared at Amanda. “You can handle this?”
“I don’t have a choice.” Amanda knew it was true. She may have run from the house this morning to escape the two men who had rocked her world for the hours before daylight, but she knew in her soul she could only stay away temporarily.
The craziest thing was she was much less concerned about Logan and Sawyer being wolf shifters than she was about having sex with both of them. She was nervous about doing it.
That was half the reason she fled the house earlier. She wanted to. She could have easily told them to just do it and get it over with, but her inhibitions got in the way.
She knew in her soul she would lose complete control when they made love to her. And it unnerved her to realize one would be watching while she had sex with the other. And then what? Then they would switch, and she would have sex again? She shivered thinking about the logistics, not for the first time.
What if she disappointed them? She’d taken the coward’s route for the moment. She would face them again later when she’d had a chance to maybe ask a few questions and gather some courage. It was happening too fast.
“So many things make more sense to me now,” Jazmine muttered.
“Like what?” Laurie asked.
Jazmine met Mary’s gaze and they both stiffened.
“What?” Amanda leaned forward. There’s more?
“You need to be careful,” Mary said. “There are so many people in this area who won’t tolerate your relationship status.”
“You mean me being with two men,” Amanda clarified.
Laurie nodded. “That’s exactly what she means. And she’s right. Trust me. Keep this to yourselves as much as possible. I made the mistake of showing affection to both Zach and Corbin in public last year, and half the town went ballistic.”
Jazmine shook her head. “Yeah, but that’s not what I was thinking about. I’m wondering who else I know is a shifter. Like that Pete Sandhouse guy that’s a deputy in Sojourn?”
Laurie nodded. “He is. And he’s trouble with a capital T. As soon as Corbin and his boss, the sheriff, can nail him to the wall, they will.”
“What’s special about some deputy in Sojourn?” Amanda asked.
Jazmine moaned. “He’s one of the dickwads that was involved in trying to push Laurie, Zach, and Corbin out of town. I was just running down my internal list of assholes.” She turned toward Laurie again. “What about Veronica? The woman Corbin was dating when you three met.”
“Nope. She’s human. Just a regular jilted girlfriend. She doesn’t have any idea Pete’s a shifter. She just bonded with him for a common goal—to chase the mixed-race polygamists out of town.”
Amanda's Wolves Page 10
