She shoved backwards away from him, and fell on the floor with a scream. Ranger was in the doorway and then on the bed immediately, telling her to go, but she only stood and backed into the corner, watching in horror as Mac turned into an animal, and Ranger coached him to remember who he was.
Jonathan came into the room, picked her up, and carried her back to his bedroom. He put her in bed with him and started telling her she’d had a bad dream, but she knew better. Her hip still hurt from falling out of the damned bed. She hadn’t dreamt it. Plus, she could still hear scuffling noises coming from the other room.
Finally, she said, “As much as I’d like to believe you, I didn’t dream it, Jonathan. If you want me to believe it was a dream then walk me into Mac’s room and show me his sleeping, human, body. You and I both know we can’t do that, because Ranger’s in there trying to remind him he’s Mac, and not the…whatever he turned into. If it didn’t sound so ludicrous I’d say werewolf, but…shit. I know what I saw, even if it was dark, and he turned into an animal. I’m positive of that much, just not positive it was a wolf. Could’ve been a coyote, I guess, maybe even a hyena, or something else along those lines. I can’t say what kind of animal, but I know it was a four legged animal, either a canine, or something a lot like a canine.”
He sighed, kissed her forehead, and said, “I know you heard her, Ranger. Time for Plan B.”
Bethany’s heart skipped as she realized what his words meant and she said, “So, Ranger’s one, too? How about you? Are you one? And if Plan A was to make me think I dreamt it, what’s Plan B?”
“Ranger’s also a werewolf. I’m a wereleopard.”
Bethany’s thoughts immediately went back to Jonathan on the dance floor, and she laughed. And kept laughing. She saw Ranger’s outline in the door, but didn’t stop laughing until Jonathan asked, “Bethany? You okay?”
“Yeah,” she breathed as the laughter stopped. A tear went down her cheek and she wiped her eyes and explained, “I thought you danced like a cat would, if they were two legged. How did I know?”
“Probably because he dances like a two legged cat,” Ranger told her. “It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see it. Wolves can usually manage to line dance, but we aren’t much good at anything else. Mac and I have had training so we’re good at it, otherwise we’d suck. Jonathan’s good at it naturally.”
Bethany had the idea they were trying to get her off on another subject. However, as tempting as it was to ask about Ranger and Mac in dance class, she asked, “Where’s Mac? Can I see him?”
“Do you want to?”
Duke had told them he expected to see her in one piece, tomorrow. She was a little concerned, maybe a touch scared, but wasn’t terrified. Ranger had been concerned when he’d realized she was friends with Gen, which put her under Duke’s protection. She had to believe they’d keep her safe. “If he won’t hurt me, then yeah.”
“He’s a new wolf, it’s been seven weeks since he was turned and he’s still learning control. He changed in his sleep, but within moments of waking up a wolf, he remembered who he was. He won’t hurt you, but I’d like you to treat him as you would a wild animal. No sudden movements, no yelling, and stay calm. He’ll be able to smell fear. Mac knows who he is, and who you are, but the wolf’s instincts are hard to control, sometimes.”
Bethany nodded and he turned, walked down the hall, opened a door, and Bethany heard two sets of footsteps coming back — human and animal.
Jonathan let her go as she stood beside the bed, naked and a little cold, but she was okay. No one had any clothes on, and after the evening they’d experienced she wasn’t embarrassed by her nudity, just a little chilled.
Mac was a beautiful wolf, and no longer monstrous looking. She looked into his eyes a few seconds to see if she could see intelligence, but Ranger said, “Bethany, can you look to the floor, please? He’s acting like you’re challenging him for dominance and I’d rather not go there right now.”
Bethany immediately dropped her gaze and said, “I was just trying to see if Mac was in there.”
“We know,” Jonathan said, “and Mac the human knows, but the wolf didn’t understand. It’s okay. Talk to him. He can understand you.”
“Hey, Mac,” she said, feeling a little silly talking to this magnificent, huge wolf. His eyes were a beautiful amber gold, though they’d been a muted green as a human.
“I’m sorry I freaked earlier, but I didn’t know what was happening. I guess you went to bed alone for a reason, but I didn’t know. These two guys were squishing me, so I went looking for you.”
The wolf glared at first Jonathan and then Ranger, and Bethany laughed. “They didn’t do it on purpose. It was just too much, trying to sleep between them. I don’t sleep well when I’m hot.”
No one said anything, and Bethany finally asked, “Can I touch you? Is it rude to pet you like an animal, or is it okay?”
He stepped towards her, slowly as if to keep from scaring her, and she cautiously put her hand out. “If I smell scared, it’s from earlier, I think. I mean, I’m freaked and nervous, but not because I think you’ll hurt me. It’s the situation I’m afraid of, more than you, okay?”
“He could smell you from across the room,” Ranger told her. “The hand thing is more about manners than his need to smell you.”
Mac sniffed her hand, and Bethany understood this was about him touching her before she touched him.
His fur was rougher than a dog’s, as if each hair were courser. He was still soft, but she could clearly feel the undercoat, which kept her from reaching his skin as she scratched the side of his throat below his ear.
“It’s important you don’t get in bed with him again for a while,” Ranger told her. “In six or eight months he’ll stop changing in his sleep, but until then, if he accidently scratched or nipped you, it might be enough to turn you. If he changes when you’re around, get away from him without running. He’s still learning control, and you won’t be able to see him during the week surrounding the full moon for a while. He has good control around the new moon, but we’re still working on the rest of the month.”
“Seven weeks?” Bethany asked. “Duke mentioned something about seven weeks. He knows?”
“Yeah. Last night was Mac’s first adventure into a bar, and we arranged for VIP seating so he’d have a less crowded place to retreat.”
“No, that’s not it. I mean, Gen won’t let me whisper stuff to her when Duke’s around, or when any of the other MC members are around, either. She also refuses to talk to me about stuff when we’re at the clubhouse, makes me text to her instead of talking low, even when we’re in Duke’s room with the door closed. Ya’ll can hear really good, can’t you? That’s how you knew Duke said something to me about my wanting a harem.”
“Fuck,” Jonathan said, his voice full of dread, as if the worst possible thing had happened.
“He’s gonna have to be here to see the binding, now,” said Ranger, as if he were agreeing with Jonathan’s one word statement.
Mac turned away from Bethany and left the room, grumbling as he clicked his way down the hallway.
Ranger’s face turned to one of hope, and he looked at Jonathan and said, “Well, maybe we’ll have one bright spot out of this clusterfuck.”
“What’s the bright spot first, and then explain why it’s a clusterfuck, please?” Bethany said as she sat back on the bed.
“Letting go of the wolf so the human form can gain control is hard, and so far Mac hasn’t managed it. He has to go to sleep and then wake up human. He really wants to be part of this conversation, so it’s possible he’ll manage it for the first time.”
“As for the clusterfuck,” Jonathan continued, “we’re going to have to explain to Duke what happened, and he’ll have to be present when we—” His voice cut off, and the room was suddenly so silent Bethany could hear her own heartbeat.
“Humans aren’t supposed to know about us,” Ranger told her, his voice soft. “When yo
u do, there’s a way to bind you, so we’ll know if you tell.”
“It’s more than that,” Jonathan told her. “We’ll know if you’re thinking of telling. Penalties for planning to do so are bad, but the penalty for actually telling is death. Our world is harsh and cruel, and humans have killed us in large numbers in the past, when we haven’t been careful. Because we aren’t pack, and neither is Duke, he can demand to be in on the binding, so he’ll also know if you’re thinking of telling.”
“Why aren’t you pack?”
“I’m a pack member,” said Ranger, “but my Alpha is far enough away, and the link is a little degraded because I haven’t been back for a full moon run in a while, so he might not know I’ve had a hit, which means I could conceal it if I didn’t want to have to hurt you, which I won’t. If I were a pack member, everyone higher than me in the hierarchy would know.”
“So, the RTMC is a pack?”
“No,” said Jonathan, “but please don’t ask us any more questions about them, okay?”
“I’ll call him,” Ranger told Jonathan. “You explain the binding process to her.”
Ranger left the room, headed towards Mac, and she was glad someone was going to check on him.
“Ranger will need to ingest some of your blood as you swear to not divulge our secrets. You’ll say it with the understanding that you can’t leave hints, can’t write notes, can’t in any way do anything that might make someone think you’re telling them shapeshifters exist, or that we aren’t entirely human.”
“Can I see you change?”
“Yes, but not now, and probably not tonight. Maybe in the morning, we’ll have to see how things go.”
“This binding thing, what will it do, besides keep me from telling someone?”
“If you drink each other’s blood it can do a lot more, but with him only taking in yours, he won’t have any kind of control over you. Ranger’s strong enough to be an Alpha, if he wanted, but he doesn’t want to lead a pack. Sometimes Alphas can learn more about the person, see into their thoughts and memories as the link takes place, and during intense periods of emotions sometimes pick up on thoughts or images. It doesn’t happen all the time, and is almost exclusive to Alphas, so it isn’t likely, but you need to be aware of the possibility.”
“Duke’s an Alpha though, right?”
“No, but he’s closer to being one than Ranger.”
Ranger stepped back into the room and said, “No more questions for us about Duke. He’ll be here in around thirty minutes. His woman knows, so he’s bringing her, too.”
“Gen knows? But, she tells me everything!”
“Then she’ll probably be really happy to finally be able to talk to you about it,” Ranger answered, “but she couldn’t tell you before, babe. Remember? The whole blood bound thing?”
“Yeah, and I told you I don’t like being called babe.”
“Did whoever hurt you call you babe?”
This from Mac, standing in the doorway in all of his human glory.
The fact he was right, combined with her relief of seeing him as a man again, along with everything else, made her burst into tears.
Jonathan reached for her, but she sidled away from his reach and ran to Mac, who opened his arms, embraced her, and then went to the floor with her, sitting with her in his lap as he held and comforted her.
“You’re safe with us, my little fiery vixen.”
Bethany laughed through her tears, and a few minutes later Mac stood with her still in his arms, and the next thing she knew they were all in bed. She was still in Mac’s lap, but the other two were there — close enough to comfort her, but far enough away she didn’t feel smothered.
At some point she was transferred to Ranger’s lap, and Mac went to his room. He returned a few minutes later wearing sweatpants cut off just above the knees, and handed her one of his shirts. “This’ll be enough for you to wear when Duke gets here. It’ll probably come down to your knees.”
“Yeah, and he wants you to smell like him,” Ranger said as he helped her into it.
Jonathan put some boxers on, and Ranger eventually left to put jeans on. None of the men wore shirts, and the four of them probably looked like they’d spent the night fucking.
When the doorbell rang, Bethany excused herself to the bathroom. She couldn’t find a brush, and did the best she could with the comb she found in the drawer. She rinsed her mouth for thirty seconds with the mouthwash, and then joined the men.
The only furnished room downstairs seemed to be the man-cave of a den — done all in a thick leather suede, with a huge flat screen television hanging on the wall. The floor was made of mountain stone, and huge pet beds occupied three of the corners.
“How irresponsible could you be?” Duke was saying as she walked in, and when he saw her, he stepped to her and pulled her into a hug. “You’re okay? His claws didn’t catch you? Even a tiny nick?”
“I’m fine, Duke. I freaked and fell out of bed and my hip might be bruised, but that’s my fault, not his. No one knew I changed beds, and they tried to keep me in bed but I told them I had to pee, which I did. I meant to come back, but decided not to after I used the bathroom.”
Bethany smiled at Gen sitting on a sofa. Her friend gave a worried smile back, but then looked to Ranger as he said, “Which explains why we let her go and fell back to sleep without waiting for her to come back. She told us she’d be back, and she smelled like she was telling the truth.”
Duke sighed, sniffed her, and then glared at Mac. “She’s wearing your shirt. I can’t tell if you nicked her or not.”
“I didn’t. Ranger, Jonathan, and I all checked her before she had my shirt on. She’s fine.”
“She’s one of mine,” Duke told them. “I’ll do the binding.”
Ranger shook his head. “Because he was turned as part of an op, Aaron considers Mac one of his. And, since I turned him, Mac is mine. This makes her our responsibility, so I’ll need to bind her. Not to mention, last night was kind of special and we’re hoping she’ll agree to be ours, at least for a time.”
Bethany walked to the sofa and Gen stood to hug her, but the women didn’t talk as they listened to the men.
Duke nodded, thoughtful. “You’re pack, right? Not local, but if you do it then we’re legally okay to do this one direction?”
“Technically, yeah. Fair warning, though. She’s jumping to a lot of conclusions about you. We’ve asked her to refer all questions about you, to you.”
Duke turned to Bethany, now sitting on the sofa with Gen.
“Ask away, Bee.”
“Gen wouldn’t let me whisper secrets around you, or even talk to her about stuff the night we were in your room and you weren’t. She made me type it out on my phone. Are you a werewolf? Or something else?”
“Werewolf.”
“Are you the only one? Or is it all of your club?”
“Most werewolves choose to join their local pack. If they don’t like the local pack, they move and find one they like. Some of us have issues with being in a pack, and we’re called lone wolves. I’m a lone wolf, but I get what I need of the pack brotherhood by being in a motorcycle club. Whether there are others who feel as I do and join a motorcycle club, I can’t say.”
“I’ve moved around a lot, but for various reasons I can legally remain a member of the pack I grew up in,” Ranger told her. “While in the military, I was given leave to miss the three mandatory full moon runs a year. Since I’ve been out, I’ve made it to two full moons, but it hasn’t been enough to fully reincorporate the pack bond from a distance. I’m legally pack, but in reality I’m probably closer to a lone wolf.”
“Mac will be bound to Ranger for a while, since Ranger turned him,” Jonathan explained. “Their relationship is as if Ranger is his Alpha. If Ranger’s Alpha was around, things would be different, but under the current circumstances Mac has another six or eight months until he’ll have to decide whether he wants to find a pack or stay a lone wolf.”
<
br /> Bethany pulled her legs onto the sofa and stretched the t-shirt over her knees, suddenly cold again.
Mac immediately walked to her, sat beside her, and pulled her into his lap. Jonathan left the room and returned with a blanket, which he draped around her.
“They know what you’re feeling,” Gen told her. “They know when you lie, when you’re telling the truth, when you’re scared or nervous. It’s a little disconcerting at first, but don’t start assuming they’ll know what you’re thinking. Sometimes they do, but it’s a guess based on the emotion they smell. You have to keep talking to them, so they know what’s going through your head.”
“What’s the binding like?”
“Hers was different than yours will be,” Duke told her. “Since I’m not pack, her binding is two way, and physically keeps her from telling our secret. She couldn’t if she wanted to — the oath is bound into her subconscious. Since Ranger’s pack, we can do this one direction with you.”
“What’s the difference?”
“It means my connection to you won’t be as strong,” said Ranger. “With a two way binding, both parties drink the blood of the other, and the connection is stronger, the binding tighter. Since I’m pack, anyone higher in the hierarchy should know if I get a hit from a binding, so I can’t ignore it. If my connection weren’t degraded then others would see to it you were stopped before you had a chance to follow through on your plans. We’re legal doing it one-way.”
“There are a few things you need to know, before we do it,” Duke told her. “There’s a chance we’ll see some of your memories and catch some of your thoughts during the binding ritual. The risk is quadrupled for a two-way binding, but it’s still there. Also, if there’s an emotional connection, sometimes it can be strengthened. You and I have one, through Gen. I don’t know if you and Ranger managed to form one overnight, but I think I saw one forming with Mac, and since Ranger and Mac are pretty tightly wound right now, so soon after changing him…”
Every Which Way Page 30
