Laurie's Wolves

by Becca Jameson

  Jaz giggled. “You definitely are.” She cupped her face again and leaned forward, setting her nose against Mary’s. “Recently released from the bounds of society. And all mine. Now stop fretting and let’s talk about something more uplifting.”

  Mary smiled. How did Jaz always make her feel so much better about herself? The woman knew just what to say to ease her mind. Or perhaps it was simply being near Jazmine that brought out the best in Mary.

  Chapter Eleven

  When Corbin pulled back into the parking lot of his apartment, he dragged himself out of the truck as though he weighed a ton.

  Laurie slid out behind him and took his hand. She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed him briefly. “I’m sorry. You know we support you one hundred percent, right?”

  “Yeah.” He slid his arm around her and headed for the door to his apartment.

  Zach led the way, his body blocking the view. “Hello. Can we help you?” he asked as he stepped onto the narrow concrete porch that stretched along the entire front of the multiplex.

  Corbin jerked his gaze up as he stepped around Zach. And he nearly swallowed his tongue. Veronica.

  “So it’s true?” The human woman leaned against the wall next to the front door, her arms crossed under her chest, her chin jutting out. Her wild curly dark hair was in disarray.

  His first thought was to wonder what he’d ever seen in her. Laurie was so much sexier. Whatever attraction he had for Veronica just over a week ago had vanished.

  Laurie wiggled out of Corbin’s arm and put a few inches between them. “This must be Veronica. Please tell me you spoke to her after we mated.”

  “Of course I did.” He didn’t glance at either mate. Instead he kept his gaze on Veronica and spoke out loud next. “Veronica. We talked about this.”

  Veronica pushed off the wall and dropped her hands to her sides. “We talked about this? Are you kidding? We so did not talk about this. You called me last Wednesday after totally not showing up for our date the night before and broke things off with me.”

  She stepped forward, pointing a finger at Corbin as she continued, “I’ll give you credit for not being an ass and ghosting me, but seriously? Now I find out that the night you were supposed to pick me up at my place for a movie, you were shacked up with these two in the mountains.” She glance at them both with utter distain.

  Zach stepped forward, pulling Laurie behind him. “No reason to get nasty.”

  “Don’t talk to me, asshole.” She yanked her gaze back to Corbin. “It makes me sick to think you were off fucking two people when you’d been with me just days before. Do you not have any morals at all? If I had known you were bisexual, I never would have slept with you. Now I’m going to have to get tested for any number of diseases.” She shuddered.

  Corbin cleared his throat, not wanting to give this woman a response, but knowing it would be best if he did. “I don’t have any diseases.” He didn’t. Shifters didn’t carry human diseases.

  She jumped back as if he’d struck her. “Whatever. How the hell would I know that? You probably gave me a VD, you asshole.”

  “That’s enough,” Zach said. “I think you should leave now.”

  Corbin didn’t bother to address the issue of him being bisexual. Let people believe whatever they wanted. He didn’t need to answer to any of them. His private life behind the bedroom door was not open for public ridicule.

  “Fuck you,” Veronica shouted at Zach before leaning around to meet Laurie’s gaze. “You can have him, you hussy. If this is the sort of thing you’re into, fine. But you should know he was with me less than forty-eight hours before he stuck his nasty dick inside you and Masters here.” She shook her finger at Zach. “I’d run if I were you.” She stepped back and then shook her head. “Oh, what the hell am I saying? Clearly you like having two men.” She rolled her eyes and shoved her way between Corbin and Laurie. Seconds later she had stomped to her car and sped away.

  Corbin opened the door to the apartment and stepped inside. As soon as his mates were in also and the door was closed, he dropped himself heavily onto the couch and set his face in his hands, he elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry.”

  Laurie kneeled in front of him, took his face in her hands, and lifted to catch his gaze. “Not your fault.”

  “She’s right, you know.”

  Laurie’s face scrunched up. “About what?”

  “I was with her two nights before you.”

  “And you think I give a fuck about that? It doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t have mattered if you had screwed her ten minutes before we met. We’re shifters. We can’t control that sort of thing. We meet our mates when we meet them, and the rest is history.

  “Sometimes other people get hurt along the way. It’s unavoidable. And it can’t be helped that Veronica is human with no understanding of our ways. What I’m more worried about is your reputation in the community and at work.”

  “What are you talking about?” Zach asked, sitting next to Corbin.

  Corbin grabbed her hands and held them in his lap. “My reputation.” He snickered. The woman is worried about my reputation? “Babe, I’m so much more worried about your feelings than mine, it isn’t funny. You’ve worked your tail off to get a job and taken flak from nearly every person we’ve come in contact with, including my parents and my ex-girlfriend, and you’re worried about me?”

  “Yes. This is your hometown. You’ve lived your entire life here. You’re a respected member of the community. And now, since I’ve shown up, you’re taking heat from everyone in a fifty-mile radius.” She jerked her hands free and stood.

  Corbin hated the feelings he sensed coming off his mate. She was actually shaking.

  “I’m miserable.”

  “Baby,” Zach stood, but didn’t advance. “We don’t want you to feel like that.”

  She stared at him, her mouth a thin line. “You can’t do anything about it. I’ve been put in my place a few too many times today. Forgive me if I’m a little off-balance.” After a pause, she turned around and stomped to Corbin’s bedroom.

  When the door slammed, Corbin flinched. “That went well.”

  “Let’s give her a few minutes. She’s hurting.”

  Corbin stood. “I need a beer.”

  “I hope you have two.”

  “I have a case.” Corbin stepped to the refrigerator, pulled out two bottles by the neck with one hand, and turned around to hand one to Zach.

  “Good.”

  Both men twisted off the tops and took long swigs before facing each other again.

  Zach broke the silence. “Sucks about your parents. I had no idea you had lived with that hanging over you.”

  “My entire life.”

  “How did you turn out the way you did?”

  Corbin smiled. “How do you know I did? Maybe I had no choice but to change my opinions when I stepped into that cabin.”

  Zach shook his head. “Not buying it. You would have balked and put us off if that were the case.”

  “I was stunned, if you recall.”

  “Yeah, but I could feel the emotions warring inside you. You were shocked, yes. But only because mating hadn’t been on your agenda for this year. You didn’t flinch at the fact that there were two of us or we were white. Or half-white in Laurie’s case. I would have caught that vibe.”

  Corbin blew out a breath. Zach was sharp. “I’ve never agreed with my parents. They’re bigots.”

  “Apparently half the population of both Cambridge and Sojourn is racist and closed-minded.”

  “What should we do?”

  Zach shrugged. “Nothing we can do. Live our lives and hope people come around.”

  “And you think that’s going to happen?”

  “You have another plan?”

  Corbin shook his head. He didn’t have a clue.

  »»•««

  When the door to the bedroom opened, Laurie wasn’t surprised. Even though her mates had remained quiet in the kitchen and living r
oom area of the apartment for the last half hour, blocking her of the majority of their thoughts, she knew they wouldn’t give her much time.

  No matter what, she had to admit they were dedicated to her. But at what personal cost? She’d brought them nothing but strife. Since the moment she’d met Zach, she’d caused problems. Hell, she may have even affected the weather.

  Was it her fault the spirits were in town? What if her presence brought the black auras back down the mountains? Melinda said no one had claimed to have spotted a single vision in months. Maybe the Native American spirits weren’t warning of impending doom for the community or something to do with the weather. Maybe the black shadow she’d seen twice now was warning her specifically to get the hell away from the area.

  She flipped onto her back and stared up at her mates as they stepped toward Corbin’s bed and stared down at her.

  “I don’t like the vibe I’m getting from you,” Zach said.

  She tried to smile, knowing she failed miserably. “Sorry. I’m thinking.”

  Corbin crawled onto the bed. “Quit thinking whatever is making your face contort like that.”

  She licked her lips and reached to pull him down alongside her. “You can’t tell me how to feel,” she teased.

  Zach took up a spot on her other side. “We sure are a bucket of laughs tonight.”

  She wanted to giggle at his quip, but she couldn’t bring herself to even smile.

  “It’s late,” Corbin said. “Let’s get some sleep. I bet it will all look better in the morning.”

  “It can’t look worse,” she muttered as she closed her eyes. At least now that they were next to her, she had a better sense of peace. It wasn’t perfect. There was a distinct unrest hovering like a black storm cloud in the air, and not the kind of cloud that brought spirits in its wake but a real actual storm that threatened to bring torrential results.

  It took a while for her body to calm enough, and finally sleep sucked her under.

  »»•««

  A loud crash made Laurie bolt upright in bed. Her gaze darted to the window. The blinds were disheveled, several of them broken. The entire apparatus fluttered back and forth.

  Zach and Corbin jumped to their feet next to the bed.

  Corbin yanked open the drawer to the bedside table and pulled out his gun.

  Shit. It hadn’t occurred to Laurie that the man had weapons in the house. Duh. He’s a cop. Of course he has guns. Probably several.

  Zach was closest to the window. He stepped forward. “Fuck. Ouch.”

  “What?” Corbin asked. He cocked the gun.

  Laurie flinched.

  “Glass.” Zach kept moving forward anyway, heedless of his injuries.

  “The window’s broken. Someone must have thrown something through it.” Laurie leaned forward. There was a brick on the floor in the middle of the room.

  Someone shouted from outside. “You don’t belong here. This is Indian land. We don’t want your kind here.”

  Laurie shuddered. Jesus.

  Zach stepped forward more gingerly. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered, picking up his feet and setting them down with more care. He yanked the damaged blinds to the side and stuck his head closer to the broken window, peering in every direction.

  “Get back, Zach. Are you crazy?”

  “Baby, I’m fine.”

  Corbin eased around to the other side of the window. “Are they still out there?”

  Another loud crash sounded from the front of the apartment.

  Corbin spun around and fled the room.

  Laurie swung her legs over the side of the bed.

  Zach was on her in an instant, tugging her to the floor next to the bed. “Get down. Please. Just in case.”

  She followed his orders, hunching next to the bed, as far away from the window as possible.

  Zach stayed in the room, but crawled toward the door and poked his head out.

  Sirens wailed in the distance.

  More shouting, this time from the front of the apartment. She couldn’t make out the words. Just as well.

  Corbin came back to the room as Zach stood. “They’re gone.”

  Laurie pulled her shaky body to standing. “Who was it?”

  Corbin shrugged. “No idea. But they were my people.” He had shoes on now, and he stepped to the window and looked out the back. “Probably my parents or Veronica rallied the troops.” He visibly shuddered. “I can’t believe it. My own people acting like fucking idiots over who I choose to mate.”

  “Humans, you mean, right?” she asked. “You mean Native American humans, right? Not shifters?”

  “Maybe. Though, with my parents involved, there could be some of each. They didn’t come close enough for me to scent them, but I’m betting they were both shifters and non-shifters. Natives.”

  “I’m surprised after everything that went down last year with Rebecca there are still people, human or shifters, in the area who would be willing to publicly profess such hatred.”

  “The only reason I’m here in town at all is because my mother believed it was safe to return. Apparently she was wrong.”

  The sirens grew louder until Laurie knew they were right outside.

  Corbin left the room to open the front door.

  Several voices reached the bedroom.

  Thank God they had fallen asleep in their clothes. If it had been a normal night, they would have all three been naked.

  Laurie followed Zach out of the bedroom and down the short hall to the living room. Corbin had turned on the lights.

  Two deputies stood in the entrance.

  “Doug. Pete. This is Laurie and Zach.”

  The man on the left with deep red hair nodded at Laurie. “Sorry, ma’am.” This was Doug. He was a human.

  “Not your fault.” Laurie rubbed her arms.

  The man on the right, taller with nearly black hair, reached out a hand. “I’m Pete. I’ve known Corbin my entire life.” He winked as she took his hand.

  Instantly, she gasped. A jolt went through her that shocked her so badly she jerked her hand away as fast as she’d set it in his. She stepped back, unable to control her strange reaction.

  Pete tipped his head to one side. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Must have shocked me.” She forced a smile. Pete had shocked her all right, but not in the way she implied. Somehow she’d seen into his soul. And it wasn’t pretty. She’d never experienced anything like that in her life.

  “Melinda?”

  “Laurie?” She could hear the sleep in her sister’s voice even through the connection. “What time is it? You okay?”

  “Not even close. Sorry to wake you.” Laurie stepped away from the men and headed for the kitchen area as she communicated with Melinda. “A group of people threw bricks through the windows in Corbin’s apartment and screamed their displeasure at our arrangement.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, that’s not the half of it. There are two deputies here now, and I just had the weirdest thing happen.”

  “Did you touch them?”

  “How did you know?” Laurie stopped in her tracks, grabbing the counter in the kitchen and staring at the backsplash of the sink without moving.

  “I can feel your abilities growing stronger with each passing day. I have the uncanny ability to read people when I touch them. It’s not always clear, but I can tell if they are evil or basically good. Makes me wish I hadn’t touched people quite often.”

  “That’s exactly what happened. This man made me jump out of my skin. He reeked of bad news.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Pete something. He’s a shifter. He said he’d been friends with Corbin since birth.”

  “Pete Sandhouse. I know him. He’s been at the sheriff’s office for over ten years. I’ve known him as long as Corbin, though not well. I don’t believe I’ve ever touched him.”

  “Well, don’t. Unless you like to feel the darkness of a person’s soul.”

  “Sor
ry, hon. I know that’s shocking, especially since I didn’t warn you it might happen.”

  “Should I touch him again?” Laurie cringed at the idea. “To see if I can get more information?”

  “No. Won’t do any good. Don’t put yourself through it. I almost never get anything specific. Just a feeling. Which you already have. No need to torture yourself. I've even vomited on occasion.”

  “Shit.”

  “I’ll come over first thing tomorrow morning. We can talk. Or better yet, meet me at Mimi’s. Let’s see what we can hash out between the three of us. You’ve hardly spent any time at all with Grandma. It’s time we rectify that. She’ll rock your world. The woman can pack a punch for such a small frame.”

  “Okay. I doubt we’ll stay here tonight. Both the front and back windows are smashed. I’ll meet you at Mimi’s in the morning.”

  “Perfect. And Laurie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m so sorry. I know your world is upside down. It must seem like a mess right now, but trust me, you’ll get used to all this. Eventually it will be second nature.”

  Laurie didn’t comment. She let the connection sever and gripped the counter harder with both hands, wondering how she was going to live through this ordeal. Melinda was right. Her world was upside down. She hadn’t asked for this. Any of it. And she was growing increasingly convinced it was her that was causing the shit storm. If she left town… Maybe people’s lives would go back to normal…

  “Babe?” She flinched when Corbin set his hand on her lower back. “You were a mile away.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. What happened?”

  She turned and found they were alone. “The deputies left?”

  “Yes. There wasn’t much else to do tonight. They’ll come back tomorrow and look into things further.”

  Zach came into the kitchen from the back room wearing his shoes and holding his coat.

  “We’re going to go back to your place, aren’t we?”

  “Yep.” He grabbed her coat from the back of the couch and brought it to her.

  She shrugged into it and turned toward Corbin who leaned against the counter now, his legs crossed at the ankles.

  She shook her head. “You’re not staying here.”