by Jodi Vaughn
The whole thing of being protected and loved was such a foreign concept to her. Her own mother had died giving birth to Skylar, and she knew her father had always resented her for it. Maybe that was why he’d neglected her when she was growing up. Maybe that was why he’d turned to drugs, to smother the pain of living without a mate. It really didn’t matter. In the end, she couldn’t make excuses anymore for someone else’s choice.
“Who’s the lucky guy?” Hershel looked around nervously, as if he expected her mate to appear out of nowhere and demand to know what the hell he was doing talking to her.
A smile grew on her lips as she imagined Zane smashing his fist into Hershel’s face right here in public.
“Nobody you know. I met him in Louisiana.”
Hershel held her gaze as silence stretched between them.
“I guess he must not be doing too well if you’re having to buy clothes from the secondhand store.” Hershel whipped out his wallet and tugged out several hundred-dollar bills and waved them under her nose. “I’ve got more to offer a female than he does. You should really think about that, Skylar.” He shoved the money in the wallet and put it back in his jeans pocket.
“No thanks,” she muttered to herself. She’d walk bare-ass naked down Main Street before taking one dime from him.
Clearing her throat, she straightened her shoulders. “I’ve got to go. He’s waiting to have lunch with me.” She moved past him as she clutched the bag of clothes to her chest. She didn’t have to turn around to know that he was watching her walk away. She could feel the heat of his eyes on her.
It made her stomach turn.
When she reached the safety of her truck, she slid inside and locked the doors. She looked around, searching to see if he was still there. She didn’t want him following her back to the house. Not that it would matter much. He would probably hightail it out of there once he laid eyes on Zane.
She scanned the sidewalk where they had been standing, but it was empty. He was nowhere in sight.
She noted the time as she cranked the truck. Might as well pick up something for him to eat before driving back out of town.
Maybe after she got Zane dressed and fed, he would leave. Then she could get back to her normal life.
***
Zane paced the house wearing the drop cloth like a kilt as energy continued to surge through his body.
Since Skylar had left, he’d shifted into wolf twice, and he wasn’t sure why.
He couldn’t determine what was causing him to shift or why he couldn’t control it. He was trapped inside a body he could not control.
He was fucking helpless, like a damn infant.
He slammed his fist down on the board of the kitchen island. The wood split in half and slid onto the floor.
The slam of the back door had him turning and bowing up.
“What the hell did you do?” Skylar’s expression was full-on pissed off as she pointed to the wood on the floor.
“I got a little jumpy.” He flexed his hands as he sucked in a breath.
“Well, why don’t you try calming the hell down. I just started on this kitchen and if you don’t stop tearing stuff up, I’m never going to get finished. And when I don’t finish, I don’t get paid.” She shoved the plastic bag into his chest. “I’m not made of money like you. I actually have to work hard for what money I earn.”
“Look, princess, I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but you need to stop with the attitude. I’m not exactly feeling in control today, so you need to be careful with what you say,” he growled.
She spun around on her heel and shot him a glare so heated it should have fried his ass right there in the kitchen.
“Don’t ever call me ‘princess.’” She shoved her finger in his face. “Let’s not forget that it’s you trespassing on my project. I have a feeling that the owner of this house would take an issue to having a werewolf hiding out in the shed like a common criminal.”
He arched a brow. The pounding of energy in his veins relented a bit. He should be angrier, but instead her tirade amused him. He grinned.
“Skylar, I guess some things never change. You’re the same spitfire I remember from when you were a kid.” He’d known something was familiar about the female when he’d laid eyes on her.
“So you do remember me.” She dropped her hand and stared up at him with her mouth open.
“You are hard to forget,” he admitted.
“I was an annoying kid who used to get under your skin.”
“You and Katy both did. It was like having two sisters, except one didn’t always stay at the house.”
“How is Katy?” She swallowed and looked away. “I haven’t heard from her since I moved to Jonesboro.”
“I wouldn’t know.” The anger was back in his blood and building to a slow frenzy. He tried to shove away the emotions that only his sister could arouse in him, but it wasn’t working.
He’d not talked to her in forever.
And it was all Jayden’s fault.
“I’ve left messages and tried to find her on the Internet, but I can’t find out anything. It’s like she doesn’t want me to find her.” Skylar’s soft voice had him jerking her head in his direction.
“It’s not just you. She’s cut her family out of her life,” Zane stated. The words settled in his stomach like a sickness. They’d been so close growing up, and now they were strangers.
“Maybe she just needs time to spread her wings. You know, get out from under her big brother’s shadow.” She chortled. “You have to admit, Zane, you were a bit overbearing when she was growing up.”
“I was not,” he thundered. She flinched at the tone, and he immediately wished he could take it back. Instead, he changed the subject. “So you do remember me after all. Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
She shrugged her slim shoulders. Her red hair slid like silk across her shoulders with the motion. He inhaled deeply, hoping he could catch her scent, but once again, he couldn’t smell a thing.
He felt blind.
“I didn’t figure you would recognize me. The last time you saw me, I was a little girl.” She walked over to the kitchen window and peered out.
“You’ve certainly changed. No longer that annoying little girl.”
She cast a glance over her shoulder and smirked. “Now I’m an annoying woman.”
A laugh escaped his lips.
“Try on the clothes and see if they fit.”
He gathered the bag and stepped into the next room to dress.
“Are you expecting your crew to come in?” He tugged on the jeans and was relieved when they fit. She’d guessed his size correctly.
“Yes. And we need to get you out before they show up. I can’t do this whole job on my own.”
He slid the T-shirt over his head and froze. “You do construction work too?”
She spun around and leaned back against the area where the sink would eventually go. “What’s wrong? Don’t think I’m capable? I can do anything a man can do, and it’s usually better. It just takes me longer because I like to do it right.” Her blue eyes flashed.
“That I can believe.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She uncrossed her arms and frowned.
“When you and Katy were kids and you would come over, you were always straightening up her room because you said it was too messy. You even redressed her dolls because you said their clothes didn’t match.” He chuckled. It felt good to remember something good from the past instead of feeling the pain of how their family was in ruins now.
She grinned. “I can’t help it. Must be my OCD.”
“My mom always laughed about it.”
He couldn’t help but think it had more to do with the environment she’d been raised in.
It was common knowledge that Dale Wade would never get the Father of the Year award. He was a mean old man who’d lost his mate when Skylar was born. The first time Zane had laid eyes on Skylar had been when his sister
had brought her over to play. He remembered how dirty Skylar had looked. Face unwashed, dirt under her nails, and dressed in clothes that had not been washed in forever.
She had been no more than four years old and had been left alone to play out in front of her daddy’s beat-up old trailer. His sister had spotted her when her mother had driven by on their way to the grocery store. Katy had started crying and pitching a fit until his mom had pulled over and turned around. His mom had left a note on the door and let Skylar come home to play for the afternoon.
His mother, Victoria Steele, being the kindest woman he’d ever known, had been itching to get Skylar in a tub full of soap and scrub her until she was clean. But she didn’t want to embarrass her. So instead she turned on the sprinklers in the front yard and put down a plastic sheet and loaded it down with liquid soap. After she gave her one of Katy’s swimsuits she encouraged them to slide. Every time one of them slid down the plastic, they would be covered with bubbles. In the meantime, she’d washed her clothes and dried them so she would have something clean to wear home.
After that day, every time he saw Skylar, she was clean. He didn’t know if she was bathing herself or if his mother had a hand in it.
“How’s your mom?” Her face softened at the mention of his mother.
“She’d doing well. Still got my dad wrapped around her finger. They just moved down to the coast. She said she was tired of Arkansas getting so much snow. She figured there’s a lot less chance of that happening there.” He grinned.
“Your parents were always good to me. I didn’t know they had moved. Katy didn’t say much about them whenever I asked.” She smiled. “Richard probably loves the coast. He was always such a big fisherman.”
“True.” He glanced down at the waistband of her jeans and nodded at her gun. “I don’t think you need that around me, do you?”
“I always carry this when I go to one of my job sites.” Her expression hardened. “It seems like I’m always finding drug dealers breaking in at night to either steal my stuff or to get high.”
He froze. “You’re not going out at night by yourself to check this out, are you?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes. I already had two thousand dollars’ worth of tools stolen. I can’t afford to take another hit like that, so I try to ride out to my work sites at night to make sure everything is okay. I don’t do it every night, though.”
“You didn’t last night,” he stated. If she had come out to the work site last night with a gun, he would have ended up with a bullet in his hide.
“No, I didn’t. And imagine my surprise when I get here and see my shed has been broken into. I was expecting all my tools to be gone. Instead I get a blast from the past who happens to be a Guardian.” She cocked her head. Something about him being a Guardian bothered her a great deal. “How did that happen anyway? I figured you would have followed in your dad’s footsteps and gone to law school and then made partner at his firm.”
Zane shrugged. “Not my thing.” He didn’t bother telling her that he’d gone to college and actually graduated from law school. He never got around to taking the bar. He had known from the start that law was his father’s dream and not his. He’d spent many sleepless nights worrying about disappointing him. So when he’d finally told him, he’d been surprised by his reaction. His father hadn’t been disappointed, and he’d told Zane that all he’d ever wanted was for him to find what made him happy and to pursue that.
Being a Guardian was Zane’s calling. When Barrett Middleton had offered him the job, he’d taken the opportunity and had never looked back.
Now that opportunity might be taken from him if he didn’t figure out what the hell was wrong with him.
He frowned as he studied Skylar.
“So there are a lot of drugs in town? Do you know what kind of drugs they’re doing? Cocaine, heroin?”
“Crystal meth. It’s skyrocketed over the last few weeks.” She shook her head. “And it’s werewolves who are selling it to humans. I overheard a couple of Weres trying to sell it to one of my Hispanic construction workers. Thankfully, he declined. I try to make sure everyone I hire is clean.”
She looked at him. “It’s weird. Usually drug dealers are users too. But not these Weres. They don’t mind selling it, but they sure as hell aren’t touching the stuff themselves.”
Zane’s blood ran cold. “How do you know?”
“After my worker declined their sale, I walked over to them and took the drug out of the asshole’s hand. I opened the bag it was in and started dumping it out on the ground. The guy jumped back, like he didn’t want the stuff getting on him. It was weird.”
He grabbed her arms and glared down at her. “Did he say why he didn’t want to touch it? Did he say what was in it? Did he say what they had added to it?”
“Let go of me.” She shook off his hold and stepped out of his reach. His pulse jackhammered in his head as anger once again began to flood his cells.
“He didn’t say anything. Just acted weird.” She cocked her head. “Zane, why are you so interested in this?”
“It’s my job as a Guardian.” He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control his sudden rage.
“No.”
“What?” He jerked his head up at her.
“The way you’re acting is making me think otherwise. This seems very personal to you.” She narrowed her eyes and took another step away from him. Her hand rested on the butt of her gun. “You’re not on this stuff, are you?”
“What?” His eyes widened as his heart sped up. Adrenaline pumped through his body at an alarming rate, signaling his impending shift. He turned away from her and grabbed the counter, trying to hold the shift at bay. “Skylar, you need to leave.”
“Zane, what’s wrong?” He heard the tremble in her voice and sensed her fear. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to control himself once he shifted.
“Skylar, leave. Now,” he growled as his body began the transformation. His bones lengthened and his tendons stretched to accommodate his wolf body. Fur sprouted across his flesh until he was covered in a furry pelt.
He glanced down at the floor through his wolf eyes.
Fuck.
He’d ruined his clothes. Again.
“Why did you shift?” She spun around to the back door and peered out the window. “Is there danger?” She glanced at him over her shoulder.
Anger and agitation flooded his body at an alarming rate. He glared at Skylar and wanted nothing more than to attack.
What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he want to attack Skylar? She’d done nothing wrong.
“Zane?”
His eyes popped open at the soft sound of her voice.
Her beautiful eyes were wide with concern. The sound of her breathing increased, and his pupils dilated. His gaze drifted down her curvy form as agitation quickly turned to lust.
Run!
He wanted to scream to warn her away from him, but he couldn’t speak.
He glanced down, holding himself back from launching at her and tackling her. He could see the scene in his head. Damn, he wanted her. Bad.
Lifting his head to the ceiling, he let out a howl as he lost his battle with his own body.
Chapter Three
Skylar reached for the gun as Zane’s howl echoed in the house. In wolf form, he had to be at least twice the size he was in human form. Every powerful muscle in his body twitched as if he were holding himself back from something.
His body trembled as his eyes popped open and he narrowed his gaze on her.
Gone was the boy she’d grown up with.
A killer’s eyes stared back at her instead.
She aimed the weapon at the large wolf. Her gut clenched as her finger trembled against the trigger.
Did she have it in her to put a bullet in her best friend’s brother?
“Zane, I know you’re in there.” She swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of her throat. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but you need to s
hift back.”
His muscles tensed for a brief second. He turned to his left and then walked back to his right. She watched him for several seconds as he paced in the small kitchen.
“It’s broad daylight. Someone might drop by and see you. You know it’s against the rules for humans to see us.” She gritted her teeth and lowered the gun. If he were going to attack, he would have done so by now.
She frowned as she watched him. “Zane, what’s going on?”
He continued to pace the small room, his large self bumping into the corner of the lower kitchen cabinets.
“Shift back so we can talk about this.”
He stopped for a second and then glanced down at the floor.
He lifted his head and met her gaze. He made his way to the corner of the room and paced around in a circle before lying down and curling up into a ball.
Her heart sunk in her chest as reality settled over her in a sickening wave.
“You can’t shift back, can you?”
***
Zane stared up at Skylar as he tried to control the rush of adrenaline flooding his veins. Maybe if he could just relax enough, he could shift back.
If he couldn’t get this under control, then he was gonna be screwed.
“Zane?” She stepped forward and cast a worried look at him.
He lifted his head and sniffed the air. He still couldn’t smell her scent. His gut sunk like a rock.
“Look, I’ve got my crew showing up soon, so we need to get you out of here.” She squatted beside him and cocked her head.
“One of them is a werewolf, and if he sees you in wolf form, he will contact the Pack Master. And you don’t want that, do you?”
Shifting in broad daylight was against the code. It was punishable by death because it put the entire species at risk. There was a standing reward for turning in any werewolf who broke the rule. He bet his ass that he’d get turned in for the money.
Skylar glanced at her phone and then back at him. “I can take you back to my place and let you stay there. But we need to leave now before anyone arrives.”
He looked up at her, wondering how he of all people had managed to get his ass into this position. He had no other option but to do what she said.
