by Diana Seere
“No!” she hissed.
He frowned.
“You’re—I can’t—Derry, what do you think you’re doing!” she said, her voice going low and smoky at the end, the change far worse than being screeched at like a child caught doing something horrible.
“I am mingling?”
“You’re planning to elope with Jessica Murphy?” She held up her phone. “I’m being asked to stock Champagne for your flight to Amsterdam.”
It wasn’t her words that made the thick hair at the base of his skull begin to stand on end, the gooseflesh rippling across his upper back and scalp, spreading like an undulating wave in a wheat field. Eva’s face morphed from unmitigated horror to her cool, sophisticated mask as her eyes darted to something behind him.
That was the source of his unease.
He turned, half knowing what he would see before his eyes landed on her, the scent of Marilyn Murphy already in his nose.
Based on the look on her face, she had heard every word Eva had just said.
And was not pleased.
“You!” she said through gritted teeth, the end of her finger jabbing the middle of his chest. She wore flat shoes and looked up—way up—to meet his eyes. He was at least a foot taller and more than one hundred pounds heavier, but by God she made him feel like a church mouse.
“Marilyn! I can explain—”
“You will not! How dare you? How dare you?” The last two words came out like molten lava being poured over flesh. Eva gave him a sympathetic look and departed smoothly, leaving him utterly alone and in a state of abject horror.
“How dare I, what?” He tried to laugh it off, turning on his charm like a fire hose, reaching for her shoulder and bending down with a warm, conspirator’s touch. “You heard what Eva said about the elopement? I assure you, Marilyn, I planned to find you and ask permission for your lovely daughter’s hand.”
“I wouldn’t give my permission if you held a gun to my head, you sick bastard.”
He shattered, his body jolting as if made of glass, her words like a baseball bat.
“Excuse me?” His phone rang in his pocket. Likely the jeweler or the Amsterdam authorities, helpfully navigating red tape for him to find an official. The buzz in his pocket was like a signal from another planet.
“You hurt Jessica like no one else has ever hurt her. I’ve had to pick up the shards of her poor little heart because of you.” That finger poked over and over, like a jackhammer driving pain into his core.
She was so angry. But it wasn’t the fury he saw in Marilyn Murphy’s eyes that made his heart break in half.
It was the disgust.
He paused, breath hitching as the words he needed didn’t appear. What was this? Did the Murphy family always communicate their feelings so bluntly? Had he been right about Lilah not wanting Jess with him? A thousand doubts ripped through him like a herd of startled gazelles.
“Marilyn, I don’t understand.”
She snorted. “Men like you say that. You make women fall in love with you for sport. For fun. So you can trifle with their emotions and sit back and watch them twist into pretzels over you, and then you brush them aside like a piece of used-up garbage.”
“What? Me?”
“You,” she said emphatically. “I’ve known men like you. Hell, turns out I married one. Did Jess ever tell you about the last time I ever saw her father?”
His throat went dry. “No.”
“He was in bed. With another woman.”
A dreadful sense of understanding washed over him. “Oh, Marilyn. I assure you—”
She held out her palm, flat to him. He stopped speaking. “You’re the worst of them all. Smooth and friendly on the outside, but all you care about are the notches on your belt. Keeping score. Getting drunk and having your way with anyone who you can manipulate. You’re a male whore. A rich, male whore who takes good, decent, beautiful women like my Jessica and breaks them. Well, I won’t have it. Not again!”
Poke.
“You stay away from my daughter! I can’t undo what’s happened with Gavin and Lilah marrying, so we’re ‘family’ whether we like it or not.” Marilyn’s mouth twisted into a sneer at the word “family.”
“Marilyn, there’s a big misunderstanding here.” He flushed deeply, trying to find words. They slipped out of his mouth like tadpoles in a small pool, so elusive. “Please, can’t we talk about this so I can—”
“There is nothing to talk about. And God help Lilah if Gavin turns out to be like you.” She practically spat out the words. “I have no idea how you could be twins with such a lovely, compassionate young woman like Sophia.” She shook her head slowly, revulsion reeking off her. The odor was so overwhelming he nearly gagged, pinching his nostrils internally, resorting to breathing through his mouth.
“Let me be crystal clear here, Derry: don’t you ever, ever go near Jess again. Don’t look at her. Don’t call her. And certainly don’t you dare touch her!”
And with that, Marilyn Murphy turned on one foot and stormed off, leaving him breathless. Literally. He couldn’t breathe, because if he inhaled he would inject himself with nothing but the scent of his rotting heart.
Chapter 23
Jess sent Molly away so she could sit alone for a few minutes in her mother’s cabin and get a grip on herself.
She’d known what she was getting into with Derry when she took off her clothes the first time. She’d known who he was, what he was, just hadn’t let herself accept all its implications. How had she convinced herself an infamous womanizer would’ve always been a sensitive, considerate man underneath all the sexual posturing?
Drying her eyes for the third time, she took a deep breath and headed for the door. Getting angry at Derry for being a shallow playboy was idiotic. Of course he went to frat parties and enjoyed himself the way those men always did—taking, laughing, fucking, never looking back, never getting close enough to see if they were hurting somebody. The question was, could he change? Could anyone?
Perhaps she was as cynical as Lilah had always said she was, but she didn’t think so. Any man who could enjoy the mob-driven, premeditated humiliation of a young, vulnerable woman just hadn’t inherited a conscience. It wasn’t sexual promiscuity that bothered her. It was the cruelty.
She stepped outside and sucked in more cold, bracing air. Instead of going back into the house the way she’d come, she decided to walk around the back and return to her bedroom through a side door. Crossing her arms over her chest, shivering in the cold, she strode past the old stairs to Derry’s cabin.
Lilah was slipping away with Gavin any minute now. In fact, she probably had already. Jess could climb into bed alone and leave the big thoughts until tomorrow. Curled up in bed, she’d sleep off the stress of the day and decide what to do about Derry tomorrow.
But then she imagined him laughing in his cabin with a woman or two from the reception. No, he wasn’t really doing that, was he? She just couldn’t believe it. Even after what he’d said to Archie, she just didn’t feel that he could fake his feelings for her so well. The way he’d looked at her, showed her his paintings…
Give me a break, she thought. Maybe that was his line. Come see my art up in my room. I never show anyone my work, only you. You’re special.
Damn it, this couldn’t wait until tomorrow. She had to know. Shivering in the cold, she turned and returned to the steps that led to his cabin, jogging up them two at a time, catching her heel on the uneven stone and falling to her knees.
She stopped for a moment and swiped at the clumps of earth on her dress, her heart pounding. The silk was torn. Lilah was going to kill her…
No, the wedding was over. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
She climbed the remaining steps and paused at the top to catch her breath. A strange glow was coming from the path to her left. To the right, Derry’s cabin waited with its secrets she didn’t want but had to find.
Nevertheless, the glow was pulling at her. She s
niffed the air and was alarmed to smell smoke. What if Lilah and Gavin had slipped away to change for their honeymoon and there’d been some kind of accident? Lilah had always loved candles too much, sticking them on bookshelves and beneath curtains, and never remembered to blow them out. With everyone partying at the house, nobody would notice a fire until it was too late.
Derry could wait. She turned and began to hurry through the trees toward Gavin’s cabin, rubbing her bare arms for warmth. But as she drew closer, she realized she wasn’t cold anymore. The air was noticeably warmer here. Thoughts of a fire made her break into a run.
Then she came out of the trees into broad clearing and saw the bonfire. A huge one. Not a forest fire, but completely contained. And around it stood several familiar figures—she recognized Sophia’s statuesque form and Edward’s bearded head next to hers. Staring intently at something, they didn’t see her arrive.
Curious, Jess followed the direction of their gaze. Apart from the others stood another couple, holding hands.
Lilah and Gavin. And holy mother of fuckmenow, they were naked. The glow of the fire cast red streaks of light on their bare skin.
Every hair on Jess’s body stood on end. What was going on?
As the fire crackled, Gavin took Lilah’s face in his hands and kissed her. Unlike the wedding, nobody sighed, cheered, and applauded. The people witnessing this scene were as silent as the moon.
Except they weren’t people. The thin veneer of this family she’d come to know was suddenly stripped away as each man and each woman took their other form. First was a man farthest from her—Asher, she realized—who fell to his hands and knees and morphed into a sleek gray creature with gleaming teeth and shining eyes.
Seconds later it was Gavin, after another kiss to his bride, who dropped to the ground and shifted like a man pulling a cape over his shoulders, quick and smooth. And then another wolf stood there, head turned up to Lilah, who reached down and stroked his head.
Heart pounding, Jess scanned the clearing for—
Yes, there he was. On the other side of the fire, mostly hidden from her, stood Derry. But as he lowered to the ground, she lost sight of him.
Just then Sophia shifted too, rejoining the earth as a brown grizzly bear that somehow looked like her. How could a bear look like a woman? Jess had no idea, but she was positive that if she’d seen the bear surrounded by a dozen others, she could’ve identified Sophia instantly.
Edward bowed to Lilah, said “Congratulations,” and fell to the ground as a lion, powerfully built and sleek with the coloring of a mountain cat.
All the Stantons had taken their other form. It was almost like some kind of ceremony—no, no, that’s exactly what it was, a ritual honoring the marriage. The hot, crackling air was thick with supernatural meaning. This was as important to them as the wedding earlier, if not more.
The wolves, bears, and lion gathered around Lilah, forming a loose ring around her. Tears on Lilah’s cheeks reflected the firelight. Sucking in a deep breath, she bent down and embraced Gavin in his wolf form, her wet cheek stroking his fur.
Jess took a step backward, belatedly afraid to intrude. She shouldn’t have seen this. This was for Lilah, not for her.
Not yet, a voice said. Again she didn’t know if it was her own fears, her own wishes, or something, somebody else.
Him.
Her hands were shaking and not from the cold. The mysteries of this were deeper than anything she’d ever known. It was like trying to count the stars. She could try, but from the beginning she knew it was impossible for her to comprehend it. Only vaguely, with faith, could she attempt to understand.
Like the stars in the universe, some scientific explanation had to exist. They just hadn’t found it yet. Humans weren’t technologically advanced enough to decipher the biological mystery, or socially advanced enough to accept the unknown without trying to fear, kill, or destroy it.
The Stantons had inherited something in their DNA that linked them to other animals, like a gene mutation or fork in the evolutionary tree. Gavin owned a biotech company, and she dimly remembered something about genetic research at LupiNex.
Jess was telling herself this as she moved farther away, slowly stepping backward into the darkness out of range of the bonfire, when Lilah lifted her hands to the sky and then fell to her knees.
Jess’s heart stopped. No, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t. It wasn’t—
Before her eyes, her own sister began turning into a wolf. The nose, the ears, the teeth. The fur, the shoulders, the chest, the tail, the paws. Only the eyes were the same. Only the eyes were her sister’s.
Mouth open in a silent scream, Jess fled.
Fueled by adrenaline, Jess managed to jog down the path to the old steps without making a sound. She wanted to shout, cry, demand answers—but the last thing she wanted was to talk to Lilah right now. Not that she could talk, being a wolf and everything—
Jess slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the hysterical giggle that was bubbling out of her. What was the big deal? She’d seen Derry as a bear. She knew this was how it was. Had accepted it. So why freak out now?
Because Lilah hadn’t told her, damn it! All these months, and she’d never said a thing. How was it possible? How could Lilah hide this from her? Of course their mother couldn’t know, but Jess was in on the secret. Why hadn’t she said anything?
“Jessica.”
It was a man’s voice, right behind her, but not the man she wanted to see.
No, she didn’t want to see him either. She didn’t want to see anyone.
“There’s something you need to see,” the man said. It was Asher, and he was a man again, in black trousers but shirtless and barefoot. Some woman might find his perfect chest appealing, but she wanted to claw his eyes out.
Claw…
Would she… could she…
“I’ve seen it all,” Jess said coldly. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Like Lilah hadn’t told her.
“Don’t be childish. You’ve seen nothing. But maybe if you see it all before it’s too late, you’ll act more wisely than your sister.”
Jess clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking. “Fine. Go ahead. Show me. You’re going to turn into an elephant?”
Asher unfurled a white shirt she realized he’d been holding in his fist and pulled it on. As he buttoned it, he pivoted on his heel. His fingers were impossibly long, on hands that looked regal, powerful. “Follow me.”
“We’re going to Derry’s?”
He didn’t answer. When they drew near the path to Gavin’s cabin, he veered to the right and escorted her down another narrow path through the trees. Moodily following, she lifted the skirt of her gown in an attempt to stop it from catching on the undergrowth, but it dragged and stuck on the branches. Even Goodwill wouldn’t want this sucker now.
After several minutes, they arrived at yet another cabin, far grander than the others. As they walked up to the front door, a porch light flickered on, revealing an oversized, carved door. It wasn’t a cabin. It was a mansion, with two stories and a vast wraparound deck.
He led her into the dark house without turning on any more lights. She had to reach out to feel for the wall to stop herself from bumping into anything. Just ahead of her, he disappeared into a room, finally turned on a lamp, and she saw the shelves of a large personal library.
“Sit,” he said, claiming the chair behind an enormous oak desk.
“I’m not the puppy here,” she replied.
He peered up from a big golden book he was shoving across the desk. It looked like one of those gigantic old dictionaries they have at libraries that need a magnifying glass. “I beg your pardon?” His voice was as icy as the water she’d fallen into that morning.
“I thought Englishmen had good manners.”
“I thought you wanted to know our secrets,” he said, not missing a beat.
“I never said that.”
He put his hands on the book an
d began to pull it back toward him. “I see. My mistake.”
Oh, damn it. “Fine, fine.” Rearranging the skirt of her dress, she took the chair in front of the desk. “I’m sitting.”
“You’re certainly an infuriating female,” he said. “I’m tempted to let Derry have you. It would be an appropriate form of justice.”
“It’s not your decision to let anyone have me. What century are you from, anyway?”
“Ah, finally we have returned to the point.” He shoved the book closer to her. “Open that up, and tell me what you see.”
She lifted the heavy cover and thick pages and peered inside. The writing was in a language she’d never seen before. She didn’t even recognize the alphabet. “What country is this from?”
“Not a country,” he said. “A family. Ours.”
The chill that hadn’t left her since she’d left the main house settled more deeply into her bones. “What does it say?”
“You can’t read it?” he asked.
“Of course I can’t read it. It’s in a different language or something.”
“Your sister could,” he said softly.
“What?”
“Immediately,” he continued. “As if born to us.”
Jess recoiled, unexpected tears burning in her eyes. She moved her hands into her lap so he wouldn’t see them trembling.
Lilah had been fated to be with Gavin. He was her One. She was his.
“What’s your point?” Jess asked, proud she’d kept her voice steady.
“You know what my point is. You want what your sister has,” he said. “But you can’t have it. I have my doubts about Lilah, and I will always have them, but you, well, there is no doubt. You are not Derry’s One. Humans and shifters do not belong together. Your sister is an outlier.” His face went sour at the words.
She jumped to her feet. “It’s not for you to—”
“Don’t blame me. I’m showing you what you already know. You have doubt, as you should. Now you need to find the courage within yourself to accept it.”
