by Sarah Carter
“Kayla, if things were different,” he turns away, running his hands through his hair, “but they aren’t. I will not have my parents make my life decisions for me. I don’t think you want that either.”
Kayla shakes her head. “No, you’re right. My dating Damien is pissing them off, so I’ll stick to that. I mean, I’m with him because I like him, but it’s just an added bonus that they aren’t happy about it.”
“I want us to be friends, really good, close friends,” Jackson declares as he takes her hands.
Kayla gives a curt nod. “Agreed. I better go check on Damien. I need to give him a verbal ass kicking.”
“Kayla, I deserved it. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”
She puts her hand on the side of his face. “I will tear apart anyone who punches you again, even if he is my boyfriend.”
With a small smile, Jackson kisses her on the forehead. "Go, tend to his bruised ego.”
“Can I ask you a favor? It will seem awkward because of the conversation we just had.”
Smirking, Jackson says, “I’ll do anything you want.”
“Ooh, if that’s the case, strip off all your clothes.”
“You only wish. So what’s the favor?”
Her eyes move down. “Can I stay with you again? I think I can block William out now, but I’m still afraid of him. I don’t want to sleep alone, but I think it’s best that I don’t sleep in Damien’s bed.”
“You run that past Damien and see how he feels about it, but if that’s what you want, I would be more than happy to oblige. This time I’ll put a bib under you, so you don’t soak my shirt in drool again.”
She shoves him. “Shut up.”
Jackson shuffles her to the door and then smacks her butt. “Go to your boy toy and make sure he’s all right.”
“I do like taking care of my guys.” Kayla giggles. “Maybe his hand hurts.”
“He should be fine. He didn’t hit me very hard. Go, tend to him.”
Kayla rolls her eyes and then heads upstairs. Damien’s door is shut, so she knocks on it. “Damien?” No answer. She knocks again. “Damien!” When there is still no response, Kayla frowns. “What in the hell do I do?” After a few more rounds of knocking that still don’t result in Damien answering, she sighs. “Hopefully you’re clothed,” she mutters to herself. She opens the door and walks in.
The room appears to be empty. Kayla is about to walk out when she hears whispering coming from the closet. Curious, she sneaks closer. Damien is standing in the walk-in closet with his back to her. “It’s not what you think,” he mumbles. “It’s not even like that with her. The council is interfering and I have no control.” Kayla tilts her head in confusion. Who is he talking to? She steps forward, wanting to hear the rest of the conversation. “Courtney, I love you, but it’s not like that with her!”
A hammer slams against her heart, shattering it. “You bastard,” Kayla breathes out.
Damien turns around, his face filled with panic. “Kayla.” She turns and runs. “Kayla, wait!” Damien yells after her.
She sprints down the steps and out the front door. Yelling erupts behind her, but she ignores it. With one thought, she shifts and her pace increases. It takes her a second to realize she didn’t shift into a dog. Looking down at herself, she realizes that she just turned into a cheetah. With a slight grin, she takes off into the woods, trying to put more distance between her and... She can’t bring herself to even think of his name.
Miles later, Kayla feels her muscles tire, and she slows down. Shifting back to her human self, she falls onto her side and her stomach starts to churn. “Holy cow, I’m going to hurl.” Rolling onto her back, Kayla exhales. Light filters through the treetops, and she basks in the beauty. A yawn escapes her, and she closes her eyes. She drifts off.
Chapter 16
Kayla doesn’t know how much time has passed when she wakes up later. The sun is setting against the horizon, casting shadows across the ground. “Oh crap,” she mumbles. “I fell asleep.” Kayla stands, her eyes scanning the trees around her, but she has no idea where she is. “Damn.”
Leaves rustle on the bush beside her, causing Kayla to jump and scurry backwards. A wolf appears between two trees. “I pray to God that you’re someone I know.”
The wolf stares at her for a minute longer and then shifts into Jackson. “You are in so much trouble,” he spits out, pointing at her. “Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you?”
“I have no idea,” Kayla snips back. “I fell asleep!”
“You shifted into a cheetah, the fastest animal in the world!”
“It wasn’t like I planned it. I just wanted to get away…fast.”
Jackson walks over and puts his hands on her arms. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m not hurt.”
He puts his finger under her chin and makes her look at him. "That’s not what I was asking. Are you okay?”
“No,” Kayla yells, the pain of her discovery almost knocking her over. “Damien has a freaking girlfriend!”
Jackson laughs and shakes his head. “No, he doesn’t.”
“He sure the hell was telling some chick named Courtney that he loves her and that it’s ‘not like that’ with me,” Kayla shouts.
Jackson chuckles.
“It’s not funny,” she snaps.
His eyes soften as he looks at her. “I know Courtney, and she’s not his girlfriend.”
“He said he loved her, Jackson,” she says, her voice breaking. “So who knows, maybe he’s just sleeping with her.”
Jackson laughs harder. He struggles to regain his composure before he says, “Courtney’s not a lover. She’s his sister.”
Kayla is about to yell something in reply but stops as reality sets in. “What?”
“Courtney is his sister, his older sister to be exact. He has two of them. The other one is Victoria. Courtney is twenty and Victoria is ten,” Jackson states.
“Holy crap,” Kayla squeaks, covering her mouth. “I thought…oh no.”
Jackson sighs. “Everyone is freaking out right now, especially Damien. You were too fast for us. Shifting into a random animal for the first time on the fly like that is unheard of. You took us all by surprise.”
“Damien must think I’m an absolute nut job.”
“No, he doesn’t, not at all. He’s angry at himself for not telling you about his sisters. It just hadn’t come up yet. We need to get you back though; your parents are about to have heart attacks.”
With a wave of her hand, Kayla says, “Lead the way.”
“You want to walk all the way back? We’re like ten miles away from my house.”
“Really?”
He nods. “Yeah, we’re going to have a long hike ahead of us.”
“Can’t we run?”
A smirk crosses Jackson’s face. “I’ve never tried shifting into a cheetah before.”
“Won’t it look weird, two cheetahs just out on a stroll in the woods?” Kayla quips with a grin.
“Nah, we’ll be too fast. You have to swear you won’t tell anyone that we did this. It would go against the guidelines of training a newbie.”
Kayla steps up to him and smacks him on the butt. “See if you can keep up.”
Jackson bends down and says, “Let’s race once we get out into the open.”
“Sounds good to me,” Kayla says through her giggles. She shifts and looks at her paws to make sure she’s a cheetah and not a golden retriever.
She peers up at Jackson. “Another form bites the dust,” he says before shifting into a cheetah. As his eyes lock onto hers, Jackson growls. He tilts his head to the right and starts to run. Kayla takes off after him. They run down paths that have already been formed by humans, so they can run at full speed. It is exhilarating. She can sense the excitement and pheromones coming off of Jackson. The feeling sweeps across her and makes her nerves tingle. It’s like an instant adrenaline rush when they come to a clearing. Jackson gives Kayla one look
. Before he can even move, Kayla jumps ahead of him and tears off across the field. She senses him hot on her tail. Kayla pushes and pushes her cheetah body to keep up the speed. They reach the end of the clearing and Kayla leaps into the woods.
She rolls to a stop and looks up for Jackson. He lands right behind her. Kayla shifts back and exhales, “I won.”
Jackson, breathing heavily, gasps, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Kayla walks over to him and puts her finger on his chest. “I won and I rock.”
Jackson looks at her intensely and says, “Yeah, you won, come get your spoils.” He grabs her up in his arms and kisses her. Kayla gives in and they kiss each other without restraint, the passion between them building. Everything in her yearns for more.
Kayla finally pushes him away. “Need to breathe, I need to breathe.” Jackson steps back, breathing hard himself. “Okay,” Kayla gasps. “We can’t do that again.”
“Why?” He shakes his head, trying to clear it. “Wait, yeah, we can’t do that again. You have to slap me.”
“What?” Kayla exclaims.
Jackson looks at her. “You promised Damien that you would slap me, so go ahead and slap me.”
“Not with your busted lip.”
He steps in front of her, leaving barely any space between them. “Slap me, Kayla. That is the only thing that will stop me from pouncing on you again.”
Kayla takes a deep breath to gather courage and then gives him a feather light slap on the face. Jackson laughs. “You need to do it a little harder than that.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Just do it,” Jackson instructs. Kayla brings her hand back and slaps him full force. He grabs his face. “Ow!”
She puts her hands up in innocence. “You told me to!”
“You’re right, I did,” Jackson moans, wiping his lip. “I’m bleeding again.”
“Oh,” Kayla whines, stepping closer to him. “I didn’t want to hurt you. Why did you make me do that?”
Jackson looks at her. “Because you made a promise to the guy you’re dating. I am not going to ruin what you have with Damien.”
“Then you shouldn’t kiss me,” Kayla grumbles. “Just that big of a draw coming out of a shift, huh? Can’t keep your hands to yourself?”
“No, yes, I don’t know. I just need to learn to keep my hands off of you. This uncontrollable drive to feel you is absolutely absurd!”
Kayla crosses her arms. “Yeah, it’s an absurd idea that you may be really attracted to me.”
“You know that I’m attracted to you,” Jackson states harshly. “Don’t be such a girl.”
Kayla hauls her leg back and kicks him in the shin. “I’ll show you what kind of a girl I am!” Jackson grabs his leg and buckles. “You’re such a jerk, Jackson!”
He groans and rolls onto his back. “Kayla! Damn it, that hurt!”
“I should have slapped you again,” she growls at him.
Jackson sweeps her feet out from underneath her, and she lands hard on her butt. He spins and jumps on top of her, so his hands and legs pin her down. “Don’t start a fight you can’t win,” he jeers.
“You used a martial arts move on me and made me fall,” Kayla exclaims, her anger dissipating. “I should have kicked you between the legs!”
Jackson leans over her. “Now, why would you do that? You don’t want to break what you want to use.”
“I don’t want to use anything of yours,” Kayla squeals, trying to push him off of her. “Get off of me.”
“Yeah, get off of her,” a voice says.
Their heads snap in the direction of the voice. “Hi, Damien,” Kayla says.
Damien just looks at them, taking in the situation. “I’m glad you found her, but I have a few questions. One, what does she want to use of yours? Two, why are you in such a compromising position? Three, why is your lip bleeding?”
“Ummm,” Kayla replies slowly as she stands up. “I don’t want to use anything of his, we were joking. He swept my legs from underneath me because I kicked him in the shin, and he’s bleeding because I slapped him.”
“Ah,” Damien exhales. “You guys kissed again.”
“I grabbed her,” Jackson interjects. “It wasn’t Kayla. Don’t blame her.”
Shaking his head, Damien says, “I’m not putting blame on anyone. I’m just glad you found her. Everyone’s panicked. I think we should get Kayla back to the house.”
Jackson executes a perfect kip-up and lands on his feet. Kayla’s jaw drops. “That was awesome.”
“Kip-ups aren’t hard,” Damien mutters. “None of that matters. Come on.”
“Wait, let me talk to you for a minute.” She turns to Jackson. “Alone, please.”
With a curt nod, Jackson says, “I’ll run ahead and let the families know.” He quickly shifts and takes off.
Feeling awkward, Kayla bows her head. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”
“If I walked in on what you heard, I would have reacted the same way,” Damien states, walking towards her. “Courtney is my sister, my best friend. I was just talking to her about you; it was nothing bad. I just don’t know how to get people to see that I really like you. Even Courtney didn’t believe me. Kayla, I really like you…for you. I don’t care what the council says, or my father. They don’t matter. It’s about you and me.”
“You don’t think I’m insane for freaking out?”
He brings his fingers up and traces them down her face. “No, not at all, I’m just glad you’re safe.” He meets her gaze and then steps forward. Kayla closes her eyes as their lips connect. It isn’t fiery like Jackson’s kiss, but it still makes Kayla melt. Damien kisses her and then breathes out, “We should get back.”
“Mmhmm,” Kayla hums. “I really am sorry.”
“Stop being sorry. I probably would have freaked out more.”
Kayla nods. “We should get back. I don’t want to worry anyone more than necessary.” Damien takes her hand and they start to walk. “How far away are we?” she asks.
“Not far. I sensed Jackson. For whatever reason, he’s better at tracking.”
“Ooh, something he’s better at,” Kayla teases. “Whatever will you do?”
Damien turns his gaze to her. “You’re still Lady Sarcasm, I see. Maybe I should leave you in the woods.”
“What kind of boyfriend would you be then?” Kayla inquires, nudging him with her hip.
“I would never do that.” Damien chuckles. “I will always come and find you. There would never be anything that could stand in my way.”
Pulling him close, Kayla puts her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“It’s the truth,” Damien retorts. “I’ll always protect you, no matter what happens.”
“Even if I run away with some other boy?”
Damien laughs. “Yes, you’re under protection of the council, so yeah, even then I would protect you. The guy may go missing soon after that, but I’ll find you.”
“Damien! That ‘s awful,” Kayla yells.
“What,” Damien draws out. “I’m only being honest with you.” Kayla shakes her head. “Anyway,” he starts, “I want to tell you about my family. I’ll start with my sister, Courtney.”
For the rest of their walk, Damien shares details about his family. When they finally make it back to Jackson’s yard, Kayla stops walking and looks at Damien. “Your family sounds nice. I always wanted siblings, but that wasn’t in the cards, I guess.”
“Growing up with an older sister was horrible sometimes, but I adore her nonetheless,” Damien replies. His eyes flicker to the house behind her. “Oh, there are your parents.”
Kayla’s mom rushes toward them and wraps her arms around Kayla, crushing Kayla against her. “You scared us half to death!”
“Sorry,” Kayla mutters. “Once I got going, I kind of just…ran.”
“Why would you try to change into a form you aren’t used to?” her mom exclaims.
Kayla shrugs. “I didn’t really think a
bout it. I just wanted to be fast, so I thought of a cheetah. I didn’t think it would really work. I thought I was just going to morph into a dog.”
“Ugh,” her mom exhales, grabbing the bridge of her nose. “You are going to be the death of me.”
“Sorry.”
“Honey,” her dad interjects, putting his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “It’s a really big accomplishment. I mean Kayla is shifting while running and has already taken two forms. She is light years away from where she should be.”
Kayla grins. “Thanks, Dad.” He smiles back at her. “I don’t mean to change the subject, but I’m starving,” she exhales. “I need to eat mass amounts of food.”
“Why don’t I cook us all dinner?” Damien suggests. “I can make some chicken Parmesan.”
“That sounds so good,” Kayla moans.
Damien grins. “Then let’s get started.”
Everyone stands in the kitchen and talks while Damien cooks. Kayla watches him with a smirk on her face. Every once in a while, she notices Jackson staring at her but when she catches him, he quickly looks away.
After dinner, Kayla’s parents leave so she can do her homework. This time she takes her books into her own room and lays everything out on the bed. Picking up her history book, she starts reading. An hour later, a light knock sounds on her door. “Yeah?”
“I brought you a cup of tea,” Damien says, walking in with a mug in his hands. “I’m not here to bother you. I was just making some tea and thought you’d want some. I drink it when I’m doing my homework. It calms my mind so I can study better.”
“Thank you. You are too good to me.”
He smiles. “No big deal. I thought you’d like it.”
“I do, very much.”
“Your car is coming tomorrow.” Damien sighs. “They called me a little while ago, apologizing up and down. I told them it didn’t really matter. It wouldn’t be driven for a week or so.”
Kayla moves her backpack to the side and pats the bed next to her. “Come sit down, help me do my calculus.”
“Oooohhh okay,” Damien draws out. “If I must.”
“Please,” Kayla emphasizes.
