by Celia Kyle
And what he found broke his heart.
Bethy huddled in the corner, his blood staining her mouth, neck and chest. That didn’t bother him, shifter sex could be a bloody business. It was the stark fear in her gaze that worried him. She had her knees drawn up, arms crossed over her shins, and trembles wracked her balled form.
“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” She repeated the word over and over again in an anguished whisper.
“Bethy.” He approached slowly, uncaring of the throbbing wound on his shoulder and the cooling wet spot on his jeans. Both of them were a testament to her, to their mating.
Wyatt dropped to his knees, his heart shattering at the anguish in her gaze. Doing his best to look non-threatening, he crawled toward her. Inch by inch, he eased forward, closing the distance between them until he knelt before her.
“I’m sorry.” Her tormented gaze met his. “I didn’t mean to. Please don’t hurt me.” She shook her head. “I would never have done that to you, but she’s so strong.”
“Sweetheart.” He reached for her, giving her plenty of time to voice an objection. When she didn’t say a word, he slid his palms along her arms, noting the sudden coolness of her skin. “C’mere.”
He shifted his position, sitting beside her on the floor while also lifting her into his lap. He cuddled her, rubbing her exposed skin while he enjoyed having her close. With each stroke, more of the tension in her body eased until she leaned against him, trusting him with her weight.
“I’m sorry,” another whispered apology.
“There’s no reason to be sorry.”
“I claimed you without permission. I didn’t ask. I just…” She sniffled, and it broke his heart. “I bit you.”
“Do you know what I’ve wanted since I was five years old?” He would get the words out. For her, he could do anything.
Bethy shook her head, and Wyatt took a deep, calming breath. The lion knew what was coming, but that didn’t keep the animal from being overcome with sadness. It whined, begging him not to revisit the past, but Wyatt persevered.
With a trembling hand, he stroked her hair, letting the repetitive action soothe him.
“My mother is human and my father is a lion. They met during a Gaian Moon and had sex, but she didn’t know he was a shifter.”
Bethy sucked in a breath.
He could understand her surprise. The last thing any shifter did was fuck during a Gaian Moon and not tell the woman about their animal or the chance of a shifter child.
The Gaian Moon was a time when shifters were driven to mate, to procreate and further their kind. Most sexual encounters on the night of the Gaian Moon resulted in pregnancy. Shifter women were more fertile while a shifter male’s cum was more potent. Everything in their bodies was in overdrive as they were overcome by the moon.
Wyatt continued. “After they spent the night together, he disappeared, leaving her pregnant with me.”
He paused, dreading the coming pain.
“We did okay. My father was just gone and my mom’s parents didn’t want anything to do with us, but my mother held two jobs and took care of me.” The cat dug in its nails, fighting to keep Wyatt silent. Bethy needed to know how much her bite meant to him.
“Children shift…” Bethy murmured.
“Children shift as soon as they can walk. Providing they’re taught how. I wasn’t, but when I was five we moved a few towns over to Stratton, and she enrolled me in kindergarten.” Wyatt grinned at the memories. “I made my first shifter friend…”
Memories took over for him then, he relived the events as he bared his soul to Millie.
Wyatt sat on the low wall that surrounded the playground, heels bouncing against the bricks while all the other kids played. He hated being the new kid. No one in the class talked to him. They glared at him. Whispered real low so he couldn’t hear. And he could hear really, really well.
The other kids laughed. Some of them pointed at him.
Stupid heads.
He looked around the big space and spotted the worst of the kids. Max. He acted like he owned everything. So Wyatt glared at him and Max glared back and they just kept glaring at each other.
Something in him told him to look away, but Max was the meanie.
But then, holy cow, then his eyes got all yellow. Max ran across the playground and all the kids got out of his way. He was coming right for Wyatt!
Darn, darn, darn. He wanted to say damn like his mom, but she’d told him it was a bad word.
He crawled off the wall and looked for a teacher, scared that Max really was gonna hurt him. Except Miss Walker was just watching the other kid run at him and she wasn’t stopping him and…
Max was in front of him, but his eyes really, really were yellow and there was gray stuff all over his face.
Something inside Wyatt yelled and it sounded like a cat hissing and then Wyatt had yellow hair on his arms.
“We don’t want a cat in our town,” Max growled at him.
A cat? What was Max talking about?
“I’m not…” Wyatt stuttered and stared at his hands. His fingers were black.
The other boy pushed him and he noticed that Max’s fingers were black, too.
“Miss Walker!” Wyatt didn’t get much more out because then Max was hitting him and it hurt and he hit back and…
Bethy shifted his hold, reminding him he still held his mate. With his free hand, he rubbed the small scar that bisected his eyebrow. “Max tore into me.” Wyatt’s cat chuffed at the memory, the first time they’d connected. “There’s fur and claws and I’ve got no idea what’s going on, but then something in me comes to life.”
“Your lion.” She nuzzled his chest.
“My lion. It tore through me so fast.” He shuddered at the remembered pain. “I didn’t have any training, didn’t know about shifters, and then I was one.”
He quieted for a moment, gathering the courage to finish his story. His lion whined, nudging and pulling him away from the memories, but she needed reassurance, and he needed to give her his trust.
“Max and I got into it, but he’s an Alpha. Even then, he was the strongest on the playground. A new shifter doesn’t have much of a chance against a wolf pup who’s destined to rule a pack.” He grinned, remembering the scratches and scrapes. “I held my own though and when the teachers finally separated us, we got hauled into the principal’s office.”
This was where his story took a dark turn, but he pushed on.
The school’s main office was stuffy. Stank like Missus Carmichael’s old lady perfume and nasty towels when his mom left them in the washer too long. Blech.
Wyatt picked at the wood on his chair, feet swinging and banging against the legs while he and Max waited to see Mister Simons.
“Do you think we’re in lotsa trouble?” He whispered to Max and the boy shook his head.
“No, my dad’s the Alpha. He’ll tell Mister Simons to leave us alone.”
“What’s an Alpha?”
Max groaned. “Don’t you know anything about shifters?”
Wyatt shook his head. “I didn’t know until I did this.”
He held up his left hand. It was still covered in yellow fur and his fingers were long nails.
The office lady, Missus Laurens, glared at him. “Wyatt Dane, put those claws away right this second. This is a no claw school, young man.”
He shook his hand. “But I dunno how.”
“I’ll tells him Missus Laurens.” Max puffed out his chest. “Whatcha gotta do is…”
Wyatt was happy Max was helping him with his hand. It kept him from thinking about his mom coming to get him.
She was gonna be so mad. He always did good in school, though. So maybe she wouldn’t be super mad. Maybe a little mad.
Max kept talking about a cat and a wolf and some sorta animal.
He hadn’t ever been in trouble before. His mom always told him he was her bestest boy. He hoped he still would be when she finally showed up.
�
�Are you listening?” Max pushed him.
Wyatt snarled. He opened his mouth and showed his teeth to the other boy.
“Wow.” Max pushed at his lips. “You gots big teeth. I bet you’re a lion. Missus Laurens, do you think Wyatt’s a lion? I bet he’s a lion. Why are you going to school in Stratton and not in Ridgeville? Ridgeville’s the lion town and we’re the wolf town and—”
“Enough, Max.” Missus Laurens interrupted his new friend. “Finish teaching him how to shift back. His mother is human, so he doesn’t know.”
Max looked at Wyatt, a frown on his face. “I’m sorry your mom is human. That’s so sad.”
Bethy rubbed her cheek on his chest, reminding him he wasn’t five years old anymore.
“I was scared as hell, but I thought it was so cool. I sat in the office staring at my hand, trying to figure out how to get my claws back. Max and I spent an hour together where he taught me how to partially shift. How to talk to my cat.” He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and let his lips rest there as he drew in Bethy’s scent. The flavors of their sex still lingered, and he inhaled them. “I had my fangs out and one hand shifted when my mother walked in.”
The click of her high heels reached Wyatt first. He knew that sound, how his mom walked. He was super scared, but super excited too. She’d be really mad, but look at the cool things he could do now.
“I wanna do my teeth and one hand,” he whispered to Max.
Max rolled his eyes and sighed. “Then tell your cat you need his help to do teeth and one paw. You gotsa talk to it.”
His mom was getting closer. Click clack, click clack. Wyatt closed his eyes and went looking for his lion. It was still puny and small, but Max told him it’d get bigger when Wyatt got bigger. So that was okay.
He thought about what he wanted to look like and showed it to his animal. The lion made happy sounds and then he felt the tingle in his hand and his teeth hurt a little bit. But it was okay if it hurt because it was really cool when it was done.
By the time his mom came in the room, he was all shifted, and he waved to her, making sure she could see his cool new claws.
“Hi, Mommy!” He shook his hand harder. She needed to see how awesome it was. He opened his mouth wide and showed her his teeth, too.
He wanted to bounce in his chair, but Missus Laurens already yelled at him and Max about that. So he didn’t.
But… but Mommy didn’t smile.
Well, that was okay. She was super mad because she had to leave work and come and get him. She’d be happy about it later.
Except, she wasn’t frowning at him anymore. She was… Well, her eyes were real, real wide and her mouth was open and she was real white. Something burned his nose, the stench hurting him from inside out.
“Max, what’s that?” He’d been smelling things more and more since Max started teaching him about his lion.
“Fear. She’s afraid of something.”
“Mommy? I can take care of you if you’re afraid.” Wyatt kicked away from the chair and jumped to the ground. “I’m a lion now, and I—”
His mom held her hand out. “Stay back!”
More of that icky scent hit him. “But I can make you not afraid. Missus Laurens, tell her about my lion and—”
“Sit down, Wyatt!” the office lady yelled at him and he listened.
Max told him that even if he was a lion and stronger than other wolves, he still had to listen to grownups.
Then Missus Laurens grabbed his mommy and took her into Mister Simons’s office.
“What have you done to my son?” his mom screeched and he couldn’t hear what Mister Simons said. “A what?”
“Didn’t your mom know about your lion?” Max whispered to him.
“No,” he answered back and then was quiet. He wanted to hear what was going on in the principal’s office.
“A shifter…”
“No, he is not whatever that is. He’s a boy. You people at this school did something to him. What did you do?” His mom was really, really afraid and that made him afraid.
The thing inside him whined and scratched.
Mister Simons talked some more, but Wyatt couldn’t hear what he said.
“No, he’s not one of those things. I don’t care what you say.”
“Now, Miss Dane…”
“I did not give birth to that.” His mom was hissing like Wyatt’s lion. “Where is my son?” He was right here. Right on the chair and waiting for her. “I did not give birth to that.”
Wyatt’s eyes hurt. Like he was gonna cry. But big boys didn’t cry unless they were bleeding and he wasn’t so… He sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve.
“Why don’t you sit and I’ll explain, Miss Dane.” Mister Simons sounded nice. Like he was trying to help.
“I’ve heard of you people. Of you things. I’ve heard whispers in town.” Wyatt had never heard his mom that mad before.
“We’re regular people like everyone else, ma’am.”
“No. You’re not. You’re a bunch of demons and that… demon out there is just like you.”
His eyes hurt some more and his cheeks were wet, but he wasn’t crying. His mom was just mad about him getting in a fight. She didn’t really mean those things. She couldn’t. He was her bestest boy and sometimes he did bad things, but she said she’d never stop loving him. That’s what moms did. They loved their kids.
“Look, his father was a piece of shit and left me and now I find out that thing is no better?” His mom stomped across Mister Simons’s office and the door knob jiggled. “If he’s so special, you keep him. I don’t want him, and I doubt anyone ever will.”
The door swung wide, then his mom stepped out. She stomped toward the other door, the one that led to the hallway, and she didn’t look at him. Her face was all red, but she wasn’t crying. No, his mom was super mad.
“Mom?” Wyatt hopped from the chair and stepped toward her. “Mom, I’m really sorry for fighting.” She stopped and looked at him. She still looked upset, so he smiled. His mom couldn’t ever stay mad when he smiled.
Except that made her madder. “This is what his father was? On the inside?”
Mister Simons answered her. “Yes, Miss Dane. I’d like you to perhaps take some time—”
“No,” Wyatt’s mom glared at him. “If I would have known, I would have aborted him.”
“Mom…” What was she saying? He stepped toward her, holding out his hand. She always held his hand when they walked. She didn’t want to lose him ever. He was her bestest boy.
But Mom… Mom scooted back and then she was in the hallway and she was running and…
“Mom? Mommy?” He didn’t know what aborted meant, but she was his mom and she was leaving. Mister Simons reached out for him, but he was faster. He ran past the principal and into the hallway, yelling after his mother. “Mom, wait. I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” She got to the door that led to the parking lot and flung it open. The sun lit up the hallway and then it slammed closed behind her. “Mom!”
Large hands grabbed him, stopping him, but his mom was leaving without him. She was supposed to pick him up. “I’m sorry, Mom!”
His eyes hurt really bad now and his cheeks were all wet and he didn’t care if Max saw him cry because his mom left him and said he was a demon, but he wasn’t. He was a good boy. He was!
“Mom!”
Bethy’s small hand sliding over his chest pulled him from the painful, horrifying memory. “Wyatt?”
Wyatt wiped away the tears on his cheeks. Damn it, every time he let the memories come through, they made him fucking cry.
He took a deep, shaky breath. “It took my mother an hour to go from loving me to loathing me. Sixty minutes.” He’d remember that last look for the rest of his life. “Bethy, my own mother didn’t love me. She was disgusted by me. Hated me for what I am. Told them I was a piece of shit like my father and simply gave me away without a second glance.” He tightened his hold, the old pain surging inside him once
again. “Gave me away like I was nothing. Mister Simons didn’t explain abortion to me then. It took years to finally realize what she’d meant.”
Wyatt voiced the same question he’d asked himself over and over again throughout the years. Every time he got close to a woman, every time he was tempted to enjoy himself on the night of a Gaian Moon, he voiced the question.
“How can I be a mate or a father, when I couldn’t even be a son?”
Bethy’s full weight slumped against him as if she deflated and then she moved, changing position until she straddled his lap. Small hands cupped his cheeks, and he allowed her to move his head.
“Wyatt, I don’t ever want you to think that again. Ever.” He noted the single tear trail its way down her cheek. “You,” she sniffled. “God, you don’t even know.” She shook her head. “Even when I told you I was dangerous, you didn’t care. You just wanted to be with me. Even when I sent you away, you came back.”
He eased her hands from his face and stroked her cheeks, catching the next tear that fell. “To be fair, you came back first.”
She sniffled. “Shaddup. The point is, any other man would have walked away. Hell, most of the pride won’t come within a hundred feet of me. I only got to go to the picnic because Maya promised everyone they’d be safe. And you chased me down…”
“I didn’t know you could kill me,” he countered.
This time she growled and his cock twitched in his jeans. Hell, he came a handful of minutes ago, and he was ready to go again.
Bethy glared at him, and her fangs grew to peek past her upper lip. In a lightning fast move, his hands went from wiping away her tears to pressed against the wall beside his head, her grip holding him captive. “Stop it. You’re mine. You’ll always be mine. If I fucking say you’re the best fucking mate, you’ll listen. Your mother was a bitch—period—and you are so much better than her sorry ass.”
“Sweetheart,” he grunted because then a set of white fangs flashed before sinking into his uninjured shoulder. She bit down, and the scent of his blood permeated the room in an instant. His dick hardened fully, coming to attention with the feel of his half-nude mate pressed against him, her fangs in his flesh.
