Shifter

by Jennifer Reynolds

  “All right people you heard her, everyone out,” he commands after a few seconds of deliberation.

  As expected, Devan and Sam leave quietly.

  “Abby?” Carrie whispers, bending down in front of me.

  “I can’t tell you. Not right now.” God, I sound like a drama queen. You’d have thought I’d been kidnapped, beaten, gang raped, and tortured. Well, I guess to some extent I had, but it could have been much worse than it was.

  She nods and, with tears streaming down her face, she leaves the room.

  Dimitri stands his ground. I refuse to look at him.

  “Dimitri, son, please leave the room.”

  “No.”

  “Dimitri.”

  “No.”

  I have to hide a smile at how childish and defiant he sounds.

  Daniel fades from my view. I can only assume he went to Dimitri because I hear him say to his son, “I understand how you feel, trust me. However, we have to know what happened, and she isn’t going to talk with you in the room. You have to go. The Witches’ Council and the Regent need this information and as do we if we are to justify to the were community what we did to the alpha of that pack, his mate, and his people.”

  “Abby,” Dimitri pleads, seeming to ignore his father’s words, but I refuse to acknowledge him. “Abby, please.”

  Tears leak from my eyes, and Katelyn takes my hand for support. “Give her time, son,” she says.

  The room falls silent for a heartbeat, then the door to the room slams shut. I jump at the sound and turn to face Daniel. “Can you sit up?” he asks.

  “I think so,” I answer, pulling myself up with the help of Katelyn. She piles pillows behind me for comfort before taking a seat beside me on the bed.

  “Are you comfortable?” he asks.

  “Yes. How long have I been out?” I ask.

  “About twelve hours,” he answers.

  “Really?” I remove a few of the bandages and look at my hands and arms. Tiny pink teeth marks cover the very limited exposed flesh. The wounds look weeks old.

  “You’re healing fast. Soon you won’t even be able to tell they were there,” Katelyn says.

  The implications of this sink in, and I nod.

  “Abby, I need to ask you some questions, is that all right?” Daniel asks.

  I nod.

  “First, I have to ask you if it is all right if I record our conversation.”

  “Record? Why?”

  “My pack has killed nearly every member of the Sulfur Springs wolf pack including their alpha and his mate of the day. We took pictures of your wounds while you were still covered in blood. We also have testimony from a few of the surviving members of the pack as to what they had planned for you. The witches will cast a truth spell on Mave so that she won’t be able to lie about anything. Nevertheless, it will help everyone involved if you let me film you telling us your side of the story, starting from when they kidnapped you. I’m refusing to let anyone come near you, but your testimony is necessary.”

  I start to ponder why he is refusing people access to me, but then I realize it probably has something to do with me becoming a were. He is probably afraid of what I might do. What did he think I might do? In the movies, weres are usually fine until they transform. I feel fine, relatively speaking that is. I don’t feel any kind of blood lust or uncontrollable anger. My hearing and eyesight haven’t been heightened in any way.

  “Okay,” I say ready for this to all be over so I can go home and never see these people again. I’ll figure out this werewolf thing on my own.

  “Good.” He goes over to the chest of drawers and removes a camcorder from the top drawer along with a tripod. He sets the recorder up at the foot of the bed and focuses the lens on me. The sight of the thing makes me nervous. I know only Daniel is behind the camera and that my testimony isn’t being broadcasted live to millions of people, but I still feel as if there are eyes staring right at me. I shift in my spot and pull my blanket farther up my chest.

  “Please state your name.”

  “Abigail Lynn Sinclair.”

  “Miss Sinclair, do you know who I am?”

  “Yes,” I answer a little hesitantly. “You’re Daniel Sullivan Sr. I’m sorry I don’t know your middle name.” I chuckle.

  “That’s all right, my middle name isn’t pertinent. And you are right, I am Daniel Sullivan, leader, or alpha, if you will, of the Sullivan shifter pack. Also in the room is my wife, Katelyn Sullivan. Abby, can you tell me what happened last night.”

  Last night? Has it really only been a day? And not five hundred years? Shaking my head slightly, I say, “I took my niece for a walk.”

  I tell my story. Every detail I can recall. Katelyn and Daniel say nothing. During some of the more horrific parts, Katelyn squeezes or pats my hand but that is all. When I’m done, Daniel asks a few questions to clarify some of my story, then turns off the camera. “I know that was hard for you, but we appreciate it,” he says.

  “You’re welcome. Now can you tell me the parts I don’t know?”

  He nods and begins telling me everything that happened from the moment Katie appeared in Dimitri’s cabin. “When we got to the cabin, we were surrounded but far from outnumbered with the witches and everyone on our side. Dimitri headed straight for you while we killed the weres and captured Mave. The witches took her. They’ll take all the testimonies and decide on a punishment for her. The biggest issue is that she is pleading insanity. To an extent, she is, but most of her actions prove that she thought through them and carefully planned every move she made. She’s strong too. They’ll most likely strip her of her powers if they can.”

  He continues with the logistics of it all, but I tune him out. I’m too tired and honestly don’t care what happens to Mave or any of her people as long as they can’t come after me anymore.

  “So, what do we do now?” I ask when he finishes.

  “Whatever you want. No one’s after you. You can go back home anytime you want. You’ll need to rest for a few days, but you can go back to your life.”

  I nod. “Can you take me and my sister home now?” I ask.

  “Of course. I’ll get Dimitri,” he says, turning to the door.

  “No. I mean, could you and Katelyn take us home.”

  Daniel looks at his wife questioning. “We can but...”

  “I...” I start but don’t continue.

  “Daniel, honey, could you get her sister, please?” Katelyn asks.

  He nods and opens the door. Dimitri is standing outside the door. He makes a move toward me, but his father shakes his head and says, “Carrie, bring the kids. Abby wants to go home.”

  “Abby?” Dimitri asks and takes another step forward.

  I turn my head not wanting him to see me this way.

  “Mom? Dad? Abby?” he asks. His voice shows how desperate he is to know what is going on.

  “She wants to go home, son,” his father says. “Give her some time.”

  “But...”

  Carrie and the kids enter, and Daniel shuts the door behind them, blocking Dimitri from my line of sight.

  “Are you all right?” Carrie says, rushing to me. The kids stand frozen by Daniel. Katie begins to weep at the sight of me lying helpless and weak in the bed. I’m blotchy from all the crying I did during my story. The boys only look scared.

  “Yeah, I’m just a little tired. Mr. Sullivan is going to take you guys home. Let you sleep in your own beds tonight,” I answer my little sister.

  “What about you? Where are you staying?” she asks with a frown, looking between the Sullivan’s and me.

  “I’m going home. I want to be alone tonight. But if you don’t mind, will you come over in the morning after you drop the kids off at school?”

  “Yeah, anything you want. You know, sweetie, you can come stay at the house with us, or we can stay with you. We don’t mind.”

  “I know you don’t. I’ll be fine. I’m going home and going to bed. I won’t need anything un
til tomorrow. Go on now. The kids are exhausted and have a lot of catching up to do.”

  She doesn’t argue, only says, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Carrie grabs the baby, Daniel picks up James, and Katie clings to both their legs, obviously used to this form of travel by now, as they disappear from the room.

  Katelyn stands at the foot of the bed watching me with the occasional quick glance at the door.

  “I’m ready,” is all I say, and I very carefully pull back the covers and crawl out of the bed. Dimitri hears my words through the door and calls my name again, begging me to talk to him, to let him in. I stare at the door and silently begin to cry.

  “I’ll let him in if you want,” Katelyn says, stepping toward the door.

  “No. I don’t want you to. Goodbye, Dimitri,” I say to the door in a soft voice that I’m sure he can hear and hold out my hand for Katelyn. She takes it, and we disappear from Dimitri’s childhood home and a life I could have had.

  The journey is quick but energy sapping. Katelyn helps me into my bed, pulling the covers up tight around me. I thought she would leave then, but she doesn’t. She sits down beside me and takes my hand. Here it comes, I think, the conversation I’ve been dreading, and she doesn’t even know the worst part.

  “How does this work?” I ask, breaking the strained silence when she continues to just sit beside me, looking down as if she is trying to figure what kind of carpet I have and if there are hardwood floors under it.

  She jerks her head up and looks at me questioningly. “How does what work?”

  “The change. The shifting. Since the weres seemed to do it whenever they wanted, I’m guessing it isn’t a full moon thing.”

  “Change? What are you talking about?” The confusion on her face is genuine.

  I hold up my arm then proceed to point to all the healing bite marks.

  “What about them?” she asks. Her reluctance to explain things to me begins to piss me off.

  “When should I expect my first change?”

  “Your first...oh. God no, sweetie. I’m so sorry. With all that has happened, we forgot to tell you. We had you examined. Your bond with Dimitri kept you from being infected.”

  “So, I’m not a were?”

  “No.”

  “Does that mean the wolf wasn’t able to uh...”

  “To what?”

  “He bit me to break the bond so that he could impregnate me. That was why Mave removed my IUD. I assumed when she did that she made me fertile as well. If the bond held through that then he wasn’t able to...”

  “No. He didn’t touch you. I checked for that. You were covered in blood, and we couldn’t tell for sure, so I did a full examination.”

  I burst into tears. She pulls me into her arms and shushes me. My bedroom door opens. I look up with blurry vision to see Dimitri standing there looking angry and scared and hurt.

  I don’t know what to say when our eyes meet. I’m too scared to open my mouth. Scared of what, I’m not sure. I’m not turning into a were or carrying a were spawn. Nor do I have a price on my head. Maybe that is it. Now that Mave is no longer hunting me, I’m terrified that he has no other reason to stay. Yeah, we have a bond, but I don’t know what the means exactly, and what if it can be broken?

  “I’ll leave you two to...” Katelyn says and vanishes.

  Dimitri says nothing for a long moment, then he stammers, “Abby...”

  I burst into tears.

  “Abby,” he whispers and rushes to me, pulling me into his arms. I wince slightly because my body aches and not only from the pain it has so recently suffered.

  When I regain my composure, he asks, “Why have you been keeping me out?”

  “I thought I was infected. Dimitri, he bit me everywhere. I thought for sure I was going to be one of them. Because I believed the infection took, I thought he had raped me and that there was a very high chance I was carrying his child. I didn’t want you to see me like that. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to stay with me after all of that. I thought with the bond broken you’d see it as a way to be done with me.”

  “Abby, the bond was never broken.”

  “I know that...now.” And I should have known that then.

  “You should have known that then,” he says, echoing my thoughts. “Can’t you feel me? It? I knew from the moment I got you home, and I was thinking straight that you were still you. That our bond was still whole.”

  “I didn’t. I’m not used to reaching out for it. I’m not even sure I know how.”

  “Even if it had been broken. Even if they had infected you, I’ll love you forever. I would have taken care of you. Helped you work through the shift.”

  “What about the bond? Wouldn’t you have wanted to have that link with someone?”

  “We would still be linked. Just in a different way. You would have been more like me. Shifters only form this type of bond with humans to allow them to spend their entire life with each other. It doesn’t mean I love you more than two shifters love each other. The bond helps you live in my life. If you were a were, we would be mated differently.”

  “And the child?”

  “Any child of yours would be a child of mine. If you could have handled having the child without being reminded of its conception, then I would have accepted it no questions.”

  I give him a doubtful look.

  “I’m not saying it would have been easy. But I love you. And when you truly love someone, then you accept everything about them. It isn’t as if you went into the situation willingly. That I might have a problem with.”

  I place my hand on his cheek and with every ounce of my being push out to him all of the emotions I’m feeling toward him. I’m not sure how the bond works, and don’t think I truly ever will, but I want him to feel me. Feel what I feel because at that moment I don’t have the words.

  He closes his eyes and breaths deeply. “I love you,” he whispers before lowering himself onto me, kissing me deeply.

  Final Note

  ~~Abby~~

  The next morning Dimitri asked me what happened. He could have gone to his parents’ house and watched the taped version of my story, but he refused to leave my side. I told him about how Mave planned to give me to the were for breeding and how I laughed at this because of my IUD. Then I told him how she removed it and made me fertile so that I would be pregnant before the night was over. We both froze as the words passed my lips. The revelation of what I’d said hit us both simultaneously. The idea that I was probably pregnant after that night scared me, but Dimitri grinned like an idiot and took me again.

  With all of the sex we had that night and the next day, we knew what the results of our first pee test would be a few weeks later. We were both scared and excited. My fear came more from the thought that I might be having a litter than anything else. I knew his mother had had him and his brothers one at a time, but still an irrational part of me feared I was going to be delivering a litter of puppies, especially as the months went by and I grew huge. On more than one occasion, Dimitri had to remind me that he was more human than wolf. The chances were high that—like every other female shifter—I would only have one child, though twins were a possibility.

  Then I started to worry that the baby would shift into random animals while we were at the market or something and again he had to remind me that the child wouldn’t shift until it hit puberty, which was exceptionally hard on the females because it usually came with their first menstrual cycle. Luckily, the child would still be young enough that the animal it shifted into would be young, like a kitten or a puppy, so even if the female child is menstruating, the animal wouldn’t be in heat.

  We married before I started showing. Everyone in the pack and in my family knew I was pregnant so that wasn’t why we hurried. We rushed things because we wanted to be married. We were mated, bonded; therefore, we were practically married anyway, but I wanted it to be legal in the eyes of God and the government before t
he baby got here. I also wanted to wear a pretty dress and all of the dresses I found that would fit me later on were beyond hideous.

  His mother was ecstatic when the baby was born a girl. She had all boys, and had been the only girl in a group of boys. His father, on the other hand, didn’t show his disappointment, but I’m sure he had been hoping for a boy. He had also been one of four boys. In a year or two, we’ll try for that boy, I promised him.

  We’re drawing up plans to expand the cottage a little. We’ve put my house on the market and hope to be living with the pack by the end of next year. We’ve agreed it will be easier if we are with the pack. No new threats have come up, but he and I don’t want to chance being away from the pack if it does.

  As for Mave, the witches stripped her of her powers. Unfortunately, the magic used to do it fried her brain, and now she is truly insane. The Witches’ Council swears they hadn’t meant for it to happen, but I have a feeling they’re lying.

  ###

  Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek at Jennifer Reynolds’ first novel, Alone, available now in paperback and eBook.

  Prologue

  A light dusting of snow covers the road, making my drive slow and even more nerve-racking than it began. A soft flurry of flakes feather toward the earth as I stare out the windshield into the shadow of light my headlights cast in the falling darkness. I watch them fall, all the while thinking that in all of the years I had lived in this town it has never snowed on Christmas.

  Now, so many years later, God welcomes me back with a wonderful white surprise.

  I have spent the last ten hours on the road, headed back to a home I abandoned too many years ago. From the very moment I left my love’s side and began this journey, my mind has been riddled with the anticipation of seeing it all again. Now the snow, which I had never learned to drive in, has me shaking for a different reason.