Damaged Pack Shifters: The Complete Paranormal Collection

by Leela Ash

  It was all Tarzan’s fault, she thought in anger. In the space of a few minutes, he’d made her sad and now angry.

  As though on cue, he stepped back into view from behind the trees. “I’m sorry, everyone. Let’s go.”

  He’d carefully avoided looking at her, Kelly noted. And even Therese was still so miffed that she placed her hand in Tom’s and strode off to walk beside Tarzan, knowing that was the one place Kelly wouldn’t want to be.

  Carefully, Kelly walked behind the entire group, her thoughts churning with each step she took.

  “Murphy’s going to be taking pictures for the group and he’s gonna let everyone get theirs at the end of the tour; but if you want to take your personal pictures, knock yourself out. Just don’t wander off, okay?” Tarzan was saying.

  What was his name, anyway? She could hardly call him Tarzan forever, Kelly thought, biting her lip as she thoughtfully regarded the back of his head.

  In that same uncanny way she had of picking up on Kelly’s thoughts, all a sudden, Therese spoke to their tour guide, “I don’t know your name.”

  He looked sideways at her, “Sorry about that, ma’am. I’m Derek Cavanaugh. I guess I already introduced myself before you joined the group.”

  “Derek, huh? I’m Therese.”

  “She’s a doctor. She gives kids lots of injections,” Tom piped up.

  Everyone chuckled, and just like that, the ice broke, conversations struck up and people seemed to meld together. The other kids let go of their parents and were soon racing along beside Tom and Therese.

  Kelly looked wistfully after her son. Something about him seemed to attract kids his own age and adults alike. Everyone wanted to associate with him. He was such a sweet little boy. He was everything on earth to her and she knew that his father only wanted custody as a way of petty vengeance. He’d never paid the boy any sort of attention whatsoever in the past and then, out of nowhere, he hired a thousand-dollar-per-hour lawyer to get the boy for him.

  “Let’s walk up a bit. We should be seeing giraffes just a little up there. Get your cameras ready,” Derek called.

  Tom yanked his hand from Therese’s grasp and ran back to Kelly, positively jumping on both feet as he announced, “Mom, look, giraffes!”

  “Yes, darling, I see them,” she replied, reaching out to ruffle his blond mass of hair. Tom looked a lot like his father but that didn’t affect how she felt about the boy one bit. She loved him with everything in her and it didn’t matter that his father was a world-class jerk.

  “I wanna feed them,” Tom screamed as he ran up to dance around Derek’s legs with the other boy and girl.

  “Sure thing, champ,” Derek laughed. “Here, hand them carrots. Don’t be scared now,” he whispered with encouragement, standing over the kids as he guided them.

  He seemed very relaxed with kids and they seemed to respond well to him, Kelly noted, folding her arms across her midriff. She knew his way with kids should be a mark in his favor, but somehow, she was too angry with him to see any good in him.

  Kelly looked around and saw Therese standing by herself. She ambled over to her friend and nudged her slightly.

  Therese cocked a silent brow.

  “I’m sorry,” Kelly said. “I shouldn’t have bitten off your head.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” Therese agreed.

  The women slipped into comfortable silence as they watched the children play with the giraffe. Derek hoisted Tom onto his shoulders as though he weighed less than a feather, and Kelly bit her lip against the surge of feminine awareness in response to his sheer strength.

  “I want to see the lions,” the little girl piped up.

  “Not now, sweetie. We’ve got an age limit for some areas of the tour,” Murphy rumbled, snapping away with his camera.

  “When are we going to see the lions?” Therese demanded.

  Derek chuckled, the sound dark and warm and reminiscent of hot chocolate on cold winter mornings. “We’ll take the truck and go out into the wilds tomorrow.”

  “And the kids?” Kelly asked tersely. That particular excursion could take hours. Her heart was already beating a wild tattoo in her chest at the thought of being separated from her son for even a minute. That was all Jason had tried to do for the past few months. Once, he had even tried to kidnap, Tom and she had had to threaten him with a restraining order. She couldn’t bear to spend a whole day not knowing where Tom was.

  “Someone else is going to take them on a tour of some other part of the camp,” Derek answered without looking at her. “They also get to take a balloon ride and see the lions, panthers and other animals from a distance. It’s just safer because, with kids, you never know. These animals are wild, yes? We’ve taken all precautionary measures, but adults are just easier to safeguard because they can easily follow instructions. Kids might not even recognize danger when it walks up and taps them.”

  His explanation made sense, but she couldn’t shake the rising sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. What if Jason had sent someone to follow them here and what if they grabbed Tom?

  “I don’t care about your rules, Tom stays with me,” she spat, walking up to Derek and planting herself in his path.

  To her annoyance, he kept his gaze averted as though he didn’t want to look at her— or worse, he was averting his nose.

  Kelly drew herself up to her full height as she reached out and snatched Tom from his arms. “I don’t know what kind of crazy rules you have here, but my son stays with me. Always.”

  “Ma’am, it’s not me. We’ve got our rules—” he began

  “Rules!” Kelly scoffed. “Is the excursion safe at all? If it isn’t, why are you taking us on it?” she demanded.

  “It’s perfectly safe,” he replied mildly, but somehow, she sensed his anger at her questioning the integrity of the resort. “But—”

  “So, it’s decided. It’s safe and Tom is coming along!” Kelly cut in without emotion. “I’d like to see you try to separate my kid from me.”

  Derek had been looking away, trying not to catch her scent, but surprise at the force in her tone made him turn his head and he looked at her in shock. Her eyes were filled with fright. She was really frightened at the idea of being separated from her son for even a few hours.

  His inner ear picked up the wild tattoo of her heart; she was indeed scared. His protective instincts rose fiercely and his gaze sharpened. There was something scaring her; he didn’t know what it was, but he would find out and he would protect her.

  Her scent hit his nose again but this time, he was prepared. He grit his teeth.

  Kelly frowned in confusion. One minute, he had been avoiding looking at her, and the next, he was staring at her as though she were some fragile porcelain he wanted to protect. Before she could make sense of that, his expression had changed again, and he looked angry.

  “Fine. But his safety is entirely up to you; and you’ll sign a waiver once we’re back to the resort building.”

  With that, he turned away and trudged up the path to show them elephants, leaving Kelly with an uneasy feeling that this particular victory of hers had cost her more than she knew.

  3.

  “I still have half a mind to report that twerp,” Kelly grumbled the next morning as she tugged Tom’s shirt into place and jammed a local straw hat onto his head.

  “And what? Get him to lose his job for daring to look out for your son?” Therese asked in a bored voice as she applied her lipstick.

  “Mommy? Don’t you like Derek? He’s nice,” Tom sang. “He’s my friend.”

  “Of course, he is. Everyone is your friend,” Kelly sighed.

  Kelly looked up in time to see Therese biting back a grin and she glared at her friend. Therese hadn’t been very helpful; she had simply stood by, and kept looking back and forth between Kelly and the annoying tour guide all through yesterday. After Kelly and Derek had had that …um, slight difference of opinion, every other person on the tour had given her a wide be
rth, like she was a troublemaker. One time, she had even seen the Chinese woman try to stop her daughter from playing with Tom.

  “I’m so excited about today, Tom,” Therese said, coming to lift him into her arms. She pressed a slight kiss against his cheek as he curved his small hands around her neck. “Are you?” she asked.

  “Yes, Aunt Therese. We get to see the hyenas and the lions. And Derek said something about a waterfall!”

  “That was one long chat you had with Derek, wasn’t it?” Therese laughed, kissing his chubby cheek again. He was so cute.

  Tom nodded excitedly, “He’s my—”

  “Yes, I know; he’s your friend,” Therese cut in. “Listen champ, when we go out today, you’re going to stick close to me and your mom, okay? No running off!”

  “Okay,” he nodded, his eyes wide. “Can I bring Dexter?”

  Dexter was his favorite toy; it was built like a little soldier, with a helmet, and Tom carried it with him wherever he went. Therese knew that Dexter was Tom’s security blanket.

  Therese threw Kelly a measuring look before she nodded. “But you’re in charge of keeping him safe.”

  Tom chortled, clapping his hands with joy. “Yay!” He scampered out of Therese’s arms and dived for his Dexen Resort’s wide-brimmed straw hat.

  A few minutes later, they joined the others out in the truck. Derek was nowhere in sight. Kelly smiled her greetings at the American couples and the Chinese and African couples. Murphy handed out pastries and coffee.

  “When are we leaving?” someone asked.

  “Right away, sir. Derek’s comin’ in right now,” Murphy said.

  Kelly looked in the direction Murphy had indicated and sucked in her breath at the intense wave of desire that sprang at her from out of nowhere.

  Derek was dressed simply, in a white shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his elbows and a pair of stone-wash jeans that clung to his muscular thighs. His eyes were shaded with dark specs that enhanced his air of mystery and a wide-brimmed straw hat, a lot like Tom’s was, placed atop his head.

  He looked as though he had just stepped off the pages of a magazine, Kelly thought. She desperately wanted to look away, but her eyes seemed to have developed a mind of their own; they continued to feast determinedly on him.

  He was so incredibly handsome; she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. As he moved, the muscles in his thighs bunched and relaxed with each step, and she swallowed nervously as she tried to ignore the tingling sensation in her nipple.

  She looked away from Derek and chanced a knowing look in Therese’s brown gaze. Hot color flooded her cheeks and once more, Kelly looked elsewhere, inwardly cursing her fair complexion and red hair.

  Derek bounded into the truck, his gaze going immediately to Kelly as though drawn by magnet. She looked peaked, he noted. He immediately looked around for Tom and saw the little tyke eating a pancake and giving him a thumbs up. He dimpled at the boy as he returned the gesture.

  The kid seemed okay, so what was Kelly all hot and bothered about first thing in the morning?

  With a shrug, he faced forward and began to give the driver directions. The excursion was very exciting. The animals seemed to be in fine form this morning. Cheetahs ran up one hill, and as they passed, everyone exclaimed, and they had to pull to a stop and take pictures.

  The pure delight and exhilaration on the faces of everyone made his heart sing. This was what he lived for. This was what made him tick.

  Derek’s low voice rumbled out every passing second, showing them one startling, breathtaking sight after another, while Murphy and everyone else took loads of pictures. Kelly was caught up in the rare, raw, naked beauty of the Kenyan landscape and the sight of animals she had never seen before. But every time Derek spoke, she couldn’t ignore the heat that sparked through her.

  She didn’t understand any of this, she thought, casting a dark frown at the back of his head. The last thing she wanted to feel for any man this side of the sun was attraction. Besides, Derek wasn’t her type. Her ex was the smooth, urbane, charming type; always in a tie and with a briefcase. But Derek was the macho Neanderthal who was more at home in the wilds. She wasn’t calling him Tarzan for nothing. He was wild, untamed and unpredictable−just like the Kenyan forests. An air of danger and excitement clung to him, the type that made normally sane women lose their composure and yearn for the burning heat of his touch. Every instinct in her warned that Derek wasn’t the sort of man to merely touch her; he would brand her as his and turn her into a wild, wanton woman, always on fire with need for him. But he would remain unavailable, and she didn’t need a soothsayer to tell her he was just the sort of man she didn’t need. Tom still cried himself to sleep every now and then for his absentee father. She was still trying to figure out a way to get past that. The last thing she needed was to confuse him with a revolving door of unavailable men.

  They drove toward the waterfall and when they drew near, the driver stopped, and they all clambered out. Kelly’s breath caught in her throat as all her senses were raided at once with the wild, primitive, natural surroundings. The scent of clean fresh water and untouched grass teased her nostrils; the air was cool against her skin, the sheer beauty of the waterfall and its surroundings could have made a poet weep and rhapsodize, and the crashing sound of the waterfall, which should have been frightening, was somehow soothing.

  “This is breathtaking,” Lee, the Chinese man, breathed, his arms wrapped around his wife.

  “My sentiments exactly,” Kelly confirmed, her eyes wide.

  It all happened so quickly: one second, Tom was standing beside her, next, he was bounding off to stand at the edge of the small stream running off from the waterfall, his little hands clapping in excitement.

  “Dammit, woman!” Derek growled.

  At the same time, Kelly lunged forward to catch her son.

  She caught him but surprise made him drop Dexter, his favorite toy, and the water promptly carried it off. Tom burst into tears at once, and Kelly’s heart constricted in her chest.

  Tom rarely cried; not even on the one occasion when Jason had hit him. But whenever he did cry, he cried until he got what he wanted, or he made himself sick; whichever came first.

  “Therese!” Kelly shouted, looking over her shoulder for her friend. The other woman had already materialized beside her and without having to be asked, she reached for Tom and carried him in her arms.

  Kelly raced off after Dexter. The slow-moving water seemed to have picked up speed in a nanosecond as it carried the little toy soldier.

  She didn’t hear Derek call out a warning as she went because the roar of the waterfall drowned out his voice. She disappeared behind a shrub in time to see the toy get wedged between a bit of grass. She laughed delightedly as she finally grabbed the toy and straightened to return to the group.

  And that was when she saw it: a pair of yellow cat eyes, watching her hungrily through the shrubs, their owner poised to spring.

  4.

  The bloodcurdling scream from behind the shrub was chilling, and Derek immediately broke into a run even as he ordered Murphy to “Get them out of here!”

  He didn’t have to say more. He had trained Murphy and his staff well enough, and they already knew the drill. They had come here with a small bike stashed at the back of the truck. Murphy would hurriedly usher everyone back into the truck and leave the bike behind so that Derek could return with whomever he had to save.

  The explanation was that the goal was to save as many of the tourists as possible, in case things got out of hand. Only, he knew the real reason: in case he had to shift form to save anyone, he wanted as few witnesses as possible.

  The truck started up almost at once and the driver drove off as though the bats from hell were after him, ignoring Tom’s cries for his mommy and Therese’s screams for her friend.

  As he ran, Derek began to shift form. Fur appeared on his body, his teeth lengthened, and his legs shortened. His eyes di
lated and became pure silver and as the panther leapt into the air to land on Kelly, he jumped into the air too and met it halfway, his transitioning complete as they collided and rolled.

  Kelly’s scream froze in her throat as a wolf joined the melee. In her fright, she had thought she had seen Derek for a split second, but it was actually a silver-furred wolf as beautiful as it was strong.

  The two animals began to circle each other, and she tensed, paralyzed with fright. The panther moved with a sleek, sinful grace; its gait sure, its steps measuring. Were they trying to duel to decide whom would eat her, she worried?

  The wolf threw her an assessing glance and to her shock, she felt a calm spread over her, felt her fear vanish and felt almost… safe. She felt as though she had seen the wolf before.

  That was crazy.

  Before she could analyze what she was feeling, the wolf had already looked away, facing its opponent. It emitted a low growl from deep in its throat as it and the panther sized each other up. Then, without warning, the wolf lashed out with one paw and scratched the panther right on the forehead. The animal howled in pain and immediately ran off into the brush, crashing through the bushes as it went.

  Kelly began to take a few steps back, as the wolf held her gaze. Awareness streaked through her as though she were communicating with the wolf and she frowned. It growled and she yelped. To her surprise, it tossed its head and ran off the same way it had come.

  “Kelly?” The warm, familiar voice made Kelly jump and then, with a glad cry, she dashed toward Derek and ran into his arms.

  “Der—Derek! A wolf! And a panther! I could — I could — I could have died!” She wept against his broad chest.

  His strong hand fisted in her hair as he held her head against his chest. “Shh. Shh. It’s okay. Take it easy. You’re safe now.”

  “Tom?” she asked, raising her tear-streaked lashes, panic lancing through her.

  “He’s all right. I sent everyone back to the resort,” Derek assured her.