The Shifter’s Big Surprise (Fayoak Romance Book 3)

by Moira Byrne

  Slowly, all of the pieces were coming together, and I began to realize why she had been so upset. "You escaped."

  "Yeah, that's what I said."

  "You injured one of them."

  "Yes."

  "Aly, they won't let this go."

  "I know."

  "Aly, they won't let this go."

  "I heard you the first time."

  I had to pause and take a deep breath to calm myself. "How did you stay undiscovered this long?"

  Aly tilted her head to the side. "They didn't know where we were, Ben."

  Those words sent a cold chill up my spine. It was my fault. It was my fault her pack found her. I didn't understand why it was an issue before. I honestly hadn't given it much thought. Suddenly, it all made sense and I felt sick because of it.

  I'd never heard of a pack holding any of its members hostage, but if they were crazy enough to do that, then hunting down an escaped member was right up their alley. Especially if Aly and her sister had injured them. Packs were big on retribution.

  My wolf paced, frantic. This was not my territory. I needed to get her some place defensible. I needed to get her to my pack where I could keep her safe. Protect her. Where I had back-up.

  "We need to get you out of here."

  "No."

  "Aly—"

  "We've covered this before." Her voice was firm and her jaw held at a stubborn tilt. "I'm not leaving."

  I was glad she didn't look afraid anymore, but that didn't change the fact that she was in danger. I bit back my words in frustration, trying desperately to think before I spoke. I knew better than to argue right now. I'd have to figure out some way to keep her safe that we could both agree upon.

  I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, turning my gaze to the window. Bright headlights lit up the window as a truck pulled into the driveway. My cousins drove a silver car, so I knew it wasn't them. Who could it be?

  I frowned. "You expecting someone?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  I tilted my head toward the window.

  Aly looked outside. Her expression was tense and ready for a fight. However, she quickly broke out into a grin. I glanced out the window just as the headlights turned off. When I saw the driver I had to stifle a growl. Charlie. What was he doing here? Jealousy roared through me. This wasn't what I needed right now.

  The ogre hopped out of the truck. He took a couple steps and paused by my car. I narrowed my eyes. What was he up to? He turned his back to the house and faced my car, but I couldn't see what he did.

  It was only a few seconds before he turned and sauntered up to the house. I squinted, my wolf peeking through my eyes so I could figure out what he'd done. There, in the dust on my car, he'd written a little message. Woof.

  I narrowed my eyes. Seriously?

  He reached the door and I stepped back, not sure if he would barge in or knock. A worm of unease went through me. Aly had said she wasn't seeing anyone, but suddenly I wasn't so sure. How often did he visit Aly? Was this a regular thing? What was going on between them? I cursed myself for being so jealous of a freckled ogre.

  I glanced over at Aly and that unease I felt twisted inside me like a knife. She watched the door with a giant grin. A second later, Charlie waltzed in like he was at home.

  As he paused in the doorway, I saw that his shirt was pink. Then I saw the design. It had an ice cream cone with a big scoop of ice cream reclining on a beach towel. Giant slices of peaches stuck out from the ice-cream, making it clear what flavor it was. Underneath, it said, I'm The Coolest Peach. The shirt was a little faded, as if it was one of his favorites.

  And I was jealous of him, I thought again in disbelief.

  "Hey, Sour Patch, what's shakin'?" Charlie called out.

  "What're you doing here, Bigfoot?" Aly asked. Bigfoot? Sour Patch?

  I was glad she was the one to ask that because it would not have come out as politely if I had asked the question.

  "Tonight is bad movie night . . .?" He said it like this was a regular thing. As if the two of them just got together whenever. I glanced at Aly's face and it was still lit up with a big smile.

  Jealousy prickled at me again. My mind flashed back to all those study nights we had, when that same look had been directed at me. I wasn't certain how she felt about him, but I wouldn't stand here and brood like an ass either.

  I folded my arms across my chest and jutted my chin at Charlie. "What're we watching?"

  They both looked at me in surprise.

  "I don't know if our movies are for you." Charlie thoughtfully tapped a finger against his chin. "It takes a special sort of person to appreciate these gems."

  "Let me be the judge."

  Aly snorted as, with all the fanfare of a magician revealing a trick, he fanned out three movies. It had been so long since I'd seen an actual movie that it took me a moment to register the titles. My eyes widened when I did.

  "Charlie, you beautiful genius," Aly said with the sort of reverence reserved for a hero. "Where did you find Super Mario Brothers?"

  "I have my sources." Charlie gave her a smug grin as she bowed to him dramatically.

  "Battlefield Earth?" I read from one of the covers. "What's that?"

  "You're in for a treat. Right, Charlie?" Aly looked over at him and the two of them started to laugh. Deep and dramatic. I felt like I was missing out on some sort of reference.

  "Uhh, what's so funny?"

  "Well," Aly said with a sly grin, "if we watch Battlefield Earth, you'll get it."

  "I was thinkin' we'd watch Twilight, but if you haven't seen Battlefield Earth, then we have to watch it."

  Aly laughed and darted over to grab the case from Charlie. A second later, the movie was in the player and she was sprawled out on the couch with a remote in hand. It was surreal, as if all the tension from moments ago never existed. If he could make her feel this way—I clamped down on the thought. I had just told myself I wouldn't brood over this.

  As I made my way over to the couch, Charlie moved into the kitchen. I heard rustling followed by microwave beeps.

  "What is he—" The sizzle of a popcorn bag answered my question for me.

  "Bad movie night requires popcorn," Charlie called from the kitchen. "The salt is what flavors our tears. Sometimes they're from laughter, other times, well . . ."

  I sat down on the couch, making a point to sit as close to Aly as I could without looking like a possessive jerk. Even though I wanted to be a possessive jerk.

  "Do you two do this often?" I asked, feigning casual.

  "Charlie and I have been doing bad movie night every week for months. We started shortly after I moved here. Alex and Sophie used to join us, but—"

  "They always turned it into a make-out session," Charlie's voice rang out over the popping in the kitchen.

  "Yeah, that." Aly grinned. "We had to institute a 'no making-out' rule during bad movie night."

  That was a shame. Now that she said it, all I could think about was making out with Aly on the couch. I wanted to hold her close and nibble on her ear. I would slowly trail my lips to her mouth, where I'd gently bite her lower lip, then kiss it.

  Her look turned heated and I knew she saw the fire in my eyes. Her breath hitched and her eyes flickered to my mouth. I closed what distance was left between us. Just as I was about to kiss her, the microwave dinged and a bowl banged onto the counter.

  "Geez, Aly," Charlie complained as he loudly stomped into the room. "Take a cold shower, would you? We have rules for a reason."

  "You're right." Aly bit down on her lower lip, a laugh threatening to spill over. "I would hate to ruin this cinematic masterpiece."

  "And you, wolf boy, can you keep yourself together or do I need to throw you outside?"

  Charlie snickered as my wolf looked at him through my eyes. Although we both agreed that it wasn't really a threat, neither of us were particularly happy. He was an ogre, however, and I knew he could literally throw me outside. I didn't care for
that idea, either. Besides, I wouldn't get to see what this mythical bad movie night was really like.

  "I will do my best to keep my hands to myself," I replied, hands in the air as I scooted an inch away from Aly.

  Charlie looked at me with narrowed eyes, then nodded. After a moment of looking between Aly and me, he turned off the lights, then plopped onto the couch on the other side of Aly.

  Aly was maniacally gleeful as she turned on the movie. "You're in for a real treat."

  Although I still felt strangely territorial, I forced myself to settle back onto the couch, my knee lightly bumping against Aly's. She gave me a tiny knee bump back and, despite it being such a small gesture, it made me feel at ease.

  The movie was even worse than they implied but I found myself enjoying the night. We munched on the popcorn, and several times burst out laughing at each other's comments. However, that same feeling of unease started to form once more when I noticed Aly and Charlie were finishing each other's sentences. I stopped adding my comments and started paying more attention to theirs. They didn't even seem to notice I had stopped talking.

  As the credits started to roll, I watched in the darkness as Charlie placed his hand on Aly's thigh. "Alright, I gotta cut out early tonight. Maddox has a big project lined up tomorrow and he gets cranky when I show up late."

  "I would hate to saddle you with a cranky panther," Aly said with a laugh. "Same time next week?"

  He patted her on the thigh. My wolf bristled at this invasion of our territory. Both of their heads suddenly snapped to me and I realized I was growling. Goddamnit. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Was it that he could make her laugh? I could make her laugh. Why was I so upset?

  Charlie whistled. "Well, this just got real awkward."

  "Yeah," Aly furrowed her brow, "it did."

  Charlie hopped to his feet and made busy work of fishing the movie out of the player. Aly's narrowed eyes were on mine. I knew she was mad by that look alone but I couldn't bring myself to back down. She always seemed to dodge my questions. I had no idea what the hell was going on half the time.

  The moment Charlie was gone, Aly closed the door and rounded on me. "What's gotten into you, Ben? Do you want Charlie to hate you or something?"

  "Yeah, that'd be too bad, wouldn't it?" I got to my feet, grabbing the popcorn bowl to take into the kitchen. I needed to be doing something. Aly followed me into the kitchen, our cups from the night in hand.

  "What does that mean?"

  "What do you think it means?"

  "I don't know. I think you're being disrespectful toward my friend."

  I tossed the popcorn bowl into the sink and turned around. "If you're so worried about your friend, why didn't you just ask him to stay the night?"

  "Why the hell would I do that exactly?" Aly gave me a funny look as she brought our cups to the sink.

  I shrugged and leaned back against the counter beside her. "Why wouldn't you?"

  Her hands stilled. "Excuse me?"

  "I saw the way you two were touching each other. How close you sat together. Would he have stayed if I hadn't been here, Aly?"

  She threw her head back and laughed like I was ridiculous. "Charlie is just a friend."

  "He seemed like a real good friend," I snarled.

  "Are you serious right now?"

  "I'm just calling it like I see it." I faced the sink and turned on the water. With jerky motions I pumped out some soap, nearly breaking the dispenser in the process.

  Aly remained quiet as I slipped my hands underneath the running water, trying to get the grease off them. I washed my hands with increasingly aggravated movements as tension built inside me. Why wasn't she saying anything?

  Aly suddenly yanked the faucet over and stole the water to wash her hands, leaving me with soap still dripping from mine. "You've got it all twisted if you think Charlie and I are anything but friends."

  I yanked the water back, rinsing the soap off my hands. "I saw you two tonight."

  She went to grab the handheld faucet and jerked at the handle, spraying water all over herself. Her shirt turned transparent, clearly outlining her soft curves. I hit the faucet handle, turning off the water.

  Aly looked up at me, furious and dripping wet. "Now look what you've made me—"

  I grabbed the back of her head and jerked her in for a kiss, her hands slammed into my chest. Her mouth was open and I swept in, devouring her.

  Her hands flexed, then she pushed against my shoulders. Caught off guard, I slammed back into the cabinet. I froze as I realized what I'd done. Before I could say anything, she crashed into my body, her mouth covering mine.

  My mind hazed over. Our kisses were feverish, almost punishing. Her hands were clenched in my hair. My fingers were digging into her sides. Aly suddenly jerked back, breathing heavy. With heat in her gaze, and her eyes cougar-blue, she grabbed my hand and started walking. I let her get two steps into the hallway before I whipped her around and pinned her against the wall.

  I kissed her hard. She shoved her hand back into my hair, pulling me in closer as if I wasn't already kissing the life out of her. I yanked back, my eyes boring into hers with a ferocity that surprised even me.

  "You're mine," I ground out.

  She gave me a small smirk, her lips swollen. Her eyes drifted toward the door to her bedroom, then back to me. "Prove it."

  Aly. She was always one to challenge me and I loved her for it.

  I would always rise to the occasion.

  9

  Alysse

  I stared blankly in front of me as I sat on the couch. I seemed to be getting really good at sleeping with Ben while avoiding talking about the big issues. It was kind of impressive. Ben's kiss last night had taken me by surprise. It was a nice surprise though. I was so worked up that all it took was that one little spark to create an inferno inside me.

  I didn't know if I was more disappointed or impressed with myself by just how turned on his possessiveness had made me. I fanned my face as memories of the night before flooded back to me. I was pretty sure I had put a crack in my cabinet when I pushed Ben against it. So worth it, though. I bit down on my lower lip and glanced out the window.

  He was outside right now, talking on the phone. I guess he went out there for privacy, but we were shifters. It wasn't like I couldn't hear him. From the sounds of the conversation, it was a call about an accounting or finance-something job.

  Ana was down for a nap, so I busied myself with reading on the couch. Pretending to, that was. It was some sort of medical text my sister had left behind. It didn't matter. I was reading the same line over and over as I eavesdropped on his conversation.

  I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it. We had been skirting around serious talk since he got here. Well, it was much more fair to say that I had been skirting around it. I couldn't bear the thought of shattering the illusion of normalcy we had, even though I knew it was inevitable. Now, however, it was finally time for me to face reality.

  Ben had already graduated from college, so it made sense that he would be looking for a job, but I didn't know what that meant for us. I didn't even know what I wanted for us, really. I was torn between wanting him, what was good for my daughter, and the simple logistics that came with two people living very different lives.

  When Ben walked back inside the house, he was grinning from ear to ear. Apparently he wasn't so torn up about our options. When he looked toward me, I quickly looked back down at the book I was fake-reading.

  "What you got there?" he asked with a hint of confusion.

  "A book, obviously."

  "A medical textbook . . ."

  "And? Sometimes you want to read about . . ." I quickly scanned the page, "the cervix. I'm reading about the cervix, Ben."

  His brows lifted. "Really?"

  "Yep."

  "You were listening to my conversation, weren't you?"

  I pursed my lips as I thumped the massive text closed. "Maybe."

  "I thought so. You k
now I've got some great news then, huh?"

  "Do you?"

  Ben seemed as excited as a little kid as he rushed over to sit next to me on the couch. He opened his arms wide and exclaimed, "I've got a job!"

  A moment of silence stretched between us. Ben looked from side to side, his arms still open wide like he was waiting for me to hug him. Although I was calm on the outside, I was silently screaming on the inside. He seemed way too happy about this. Wasn't he worried about leaving me and Ana? Did he have any worries at all?

  "That's great," I finally said, my voice neutral.

  His arms slowly lowered. "Don't you want to know what the job is?"

  I raised an eyebrow. "Thrill me."

  "A buddy in my pack just got some major funding for his startup. He wants me to be his Chief Financial Officer."

  "Way to put that degree to work."

  Ben deflated against the couch. "I'm not getting the vibe that you're excited about this."

  "Yeah, um, I'm definitely happy for you, but . . ." I sighed.

  I was a mother but I was still learning how to adult properly. I was a living billboard for why you should be diligent in taking your birth control. I was faking it 'til I made it day in and day out. Sure, I had stepped up to the plate for my kid, but that didn't make me world-wise.

  In fact, it only seemed to point out how inept I was. All that fancy college-learnin' didn't prepare me for how to discuss custody and all those other logistics with the accidental father of my child.

  "But . . .?" Ben asked, concern growing in his eyes. It was good to finally see him freaking out a little too. I was feeling alone here in Awkward City.

  "About me and Ana—"

  "Oh, is that it?" He suddenly looked relieved.

  "Uhh . . ." Did he seriously just say that? I was starting to feel like we were talking circles around each other.

  He placed an arm around the back of the couch and faced me with a big smile. "Trust me, you two are going to love it back home. My pack is huge, but we're all close and—"

  "Excuse me?"

  He furrowed his brows. "What?"