SHIFT (Mackenzie Grey #1)

by Karina Espinosa

  “We wolves wear the bare minimum in case we need to shift. Would you like my pants as well?” His smirk turned into a full blown grin. I scoffed at his suggestion.

  “No thanks. I don’t have a magnifier with me.” I got off the bed and his shirt reached just above my knees.

  “Enough. I’m not here to oversee children. You received clothing, now let’s go,” Sebastian barked and Jonah fell in line, all joking forgotten.

  They walked out the room and my bare feet pitter-pattered as I tried to keep up with their long strides. My mouth hung open as I scanned my surroundings. I was locked up. We were in a goddamn warehouse. As soon as we exited the room, we were on a second floor landing that wrapped around the building. I peaked over the balcony to the main floor and it was scattered with cafeteria-styled tables. A few people lounged around until they heard the heavy thuds of Sebastian’s boots and looked up in our direction. I could see why I found him intimidating, he walked with an air of authority that would make anyone bow down to him. The silence echoed in the open space and I felt all eyes on me. Awkward…

  I followed Sebastian and Jonah down the steel stairs and ignored the stares as we crossed the main floor. The whispers that floated around the room made my hands sweaty. This could go two ways—either this was a welcome-to-the-club get together or I was about to be tortured. I know, I over exaggerate at times but this wasn’t one of my novels and there may be no happy ending in my reality.

  Sebastian stopped at an empty table. “Sit,” he ordered. Whether I was being polite or just scared to defy him in front of his people, I complied and my bare thighs made contact with the cold bench as Jonah’s flannel shirt hitched up. I hissed as goosebumps made me wrap my arms around myself.

  Sebastian pulled out a small notepad and pen from his back pocket and leaned forward on the table. “What family do you belong to?” The tip of his pen hovered over the blank sheet of paper.

  “Huh?” I couldn’t come up with a better response but I needed them to break this down for me.

  “Your family, Mackenzie, who are they?” He clipped out and I surveyed the looks of everyone around me. They ranged from curiosity to boredom and even some mild hatred if I read those glares correctly.

  “Uh…well my parents are Thomas and Joyce. My mom’s an accountant and my dad is—”

  “It’s Grey,” Jonah said as Sebastian was about to snap his pen in half. His nostrils flared as he tried to control his temper. He could have just asked for my surname instead, geez.

  “Grey? I don’t recognize that family. What pack do you belong to?” Sebastian asked as he scribbled on his notepad. I couldn’t imagine what he wrote, I hadn’t really said much.

  “Okay, I think this is where things got lost in translation. I don’t belong to a pack. I’m the only one in my family that’s a…a wolf,” I said and the soft whispers around me erupted into a mild roar. I looked up at the second and third floor and people were scattered all over, looking down on us.

  “Silence!” Sebastian barked and I jumped in my seat. The warehouse went quiet. “Who bit you?” He growled and it made me more nervous. He was getting angrier by the minute and nothing I said was making it better.

  “I wasn’t bitten. The change happened over three years ago…out of the blue,” I murmured and braced myself for Sebastian’s rage.

  “You never came in contact with a wolf?” Jonah asked in a softer tone that helped me relax a little.

  “You guys are the first I’ve ever met.” He gave me a small smile as Sebastian stood up and began to bark orders.

  “Jackson, get Charles on the line. Caleb, get me a Luna in here stat and everyone else is dismissed for the day. Speak of this to no one!” Sebastian listed off and even though there wasn’t more than a couple dozen people around, I felt claustrophobic. Everyone dispersed in different directions so quickly, I couldn’t keep track of where they all went once the room was empty.

  “Is something wrong?” I looked to Jonah who seemed like the more sensible of the two. All the witty banter between us was gone.

  “Nothing’s wrong, Mackenzie. We just don’t know how you’re a wolf.” He paused. “There’s only two ways to become a werewolf: You either have to be born into the family or you get bitten. They’re no other known options.” Damn, I was hoping there was another reason for this.

  Four years ago when the first change happened, I had asked my parents if “hypothetically” I turned into a werewolf, what would they do. They brushed it off like I had a wild imagination. Which only made me more frustrated. It got to the point where I was begging Amy to lock me up at a psych ward. I thought I was losing my mind. But after much calming and a crap ton of Chunky Monkey ice cream later, I accepted my fate. To have all my insecurities rehashed by these people was not something I wanted to go through again. I didn’t want to wonder why or try to figure it all out. If I dwelled on it, I knew I’d fall into a depression that I may not be able to pick myself up from again. I was lucky I had Amy. But this was senior year, I had one semester to go before graduation. I couldn’t deal with this now.

  A curvy woman around her late twenties, walked over to us. She wore tight jeans and a sweater that showed off her assets. But she wasn’t like Diana Stone. She looked classy.

  “Is this her?” She questioned, raising a perfectly plucked brow. The boys nodded and she rolled up her sleeves as she sat next to me. “And you guys didn’t bother to give her some clothes?” She yelled at them as she took in my attire.

  “I asked but they wouldn’t give them to me,” I tattled on the two wolves who were now glaring at me.

  “What are you two baffoons still doing here? Go into the laundry room and get me her clothes!” She yelled at Sebastian and Jonah, who scurried off before she finished her sentence. She giggled. “I’m sorry about that. They don’t know how to act around pretty girls.” Her smile seemed sincere but if there was one thing I am, it was untrusting. I’m a glass-half-empty kind of girl. “My name’s Blu.” She extended her hand to me and being the semi-polite person that I was, I shook it.

  “I thought you were Luna. They said she had my things.” She chuckled at my comment and I didn’t understand what was funny.

  “Luna is the name for a female wolf, so technically, they weren’t lying,” her warm eyes sparkled as she gave me a radiant smile that left me wanting to smile back. “There aren’t many of us but the few that are, take care of the pups and house duties,” she said it like it was supposed to be the greatest title in the world. What are these people smokin’?

  “So you sit here all day and clean and change diapers?” I didn’t hold back on the sarcasm but they might as well know that I wasn’t going to be drinking the Kool-Aid.

  “Well, yes and no,” she paused. “I’m guessing that isn’t your thing, huh?” she scrunched her mouth to the side.

  “Hell no. If you think I’m just going to throw on an apron and start breeding, you’re out of your mind. You might as well just give me my shit now and show me the door.” I stood up from the bench and started to leave—only God knew where because I didn’t know which door lead to the exit—when she grabbed my wrist.

  “I’m sorry, Mackenzie. I didn’t mean to dump that on you now. Of course you’re not expected to do that yet.” Oh, hell no.

  “Yet? Try never. I’m not part of this…this thing you guys got going on here. I’ve been fine on my own for over three years now and to be quite honest, I’m not sticking around.”

  “But you have to stay—”

  “The hell I do.” I snatched my wrist back. “You can’t make me do shhhhiiii—,” I slurred as I felt a pinch on my neck. Where the hell did they come from? My head felt heavy and my mouth went dry before I was consumed by darkness and a familiar pair of arms. The bastard!

  Chapter Six

  The pounding in my head was like open mic night at Pete’s—just a bunch of idiots banging on their instruments. Serious eye boogers glued my eyes shut so I couldn’t see well but I worked my jaw o
pen and closed since it was so stiff. I must have been grinding my teeth while I slept. As I rubbed my eyes open, I came face to face to what was becoming a regular nightmare: Jonah.

  “Ugh!” I rolled over and turned my back toward him. I felt a weight push the mattress down and Jonah was climbing over me so he laid on his side, facing me again. I pulled the covers over my head to hide. “Go away!” I mumbled.

  “Oh come on, Mackenzie. Let me explain,” he said and pulled the covers back down. “I didn’t mean to knock you out again, but you…uh…you’re not as easy to manage as we thought.” He diverted his eyes and that only made me narrow mine.

  “What do you mean manage?”

  “Nothing. Look, we’re sorry but you have to understand that our community has a set of rules that need to be followed—even if you’re not Pack. It’s just the way things are,” he said and his soft brown eyes were so apologetic, I almost forgave him for shooting me up with a sedative—twice—but I’m not that forgiving. I was about to give him a piece of my mind when I realized our close proximity and the fact that we were in bed together.

  He’d put on a shirt to replace the one he’d given me, but I could still see the finely cut ridges of his body and the taut muscles of his broad shoulders. He was quite a sight to behold and I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts. They were going down a road I wasn’t ready to go through and our closeness wasn’t helping.

  “Can you back up, you’re in my bubble,” I snidely said.

  He smirked. “Your bubble? Am I making you nervous, Mackenzie Grey?” he scooted closer to me and I held my breath. He placed a hand on top of my hip and leaned forward to whisper in my ear; his neck inviting me to nibble on it. “You should know that werewolves have a very keen sense of smell, and you, Mackenzie, are drenched in fear,” he said and I felt his very soft lips brush my all-of-a-sudden, sensitive earlobe.

  Someone cleared their throat from the door.

  “Am I interrupting?” I pushed away from Jonah and he climbed off the bed and met our visitor. It was none other than his douche bag of a brother.

  “Nah, we were just chatting,” Jonah said and winked at me. “Mackenzie, I’d like to formally introduce you to my twin brother, Jackson.”

  “Twin?” my eyes bugged out as they switched back and forth between the two. I mean they resembled each other but Jackson seemed a little older. I tilted my head to the side and tried to get a better look.

  “Like what you see?” Ugh, and he had the same (if not bigger) ego as his brother Jonah.

  “Actually no, Douche. What I’d like is to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” I screamed the last part so they’d get the picture. While it may be a single girl’s dream come true to be stuck in bed surrounded by a ton of hunks—it just wasn’t one of my fantasies. “I’m tired of being jerked around and sedated. Can someone please show me the goddamn exit so I can go home? I promise I won’t tell your freakin’ secret to anyone,” I said and slammed my hands on the mattress like a child throwing a tantrum.

  “It’s not about you telling people our secret, it’s about finding out who the hell you are. There are very detailed documents about wolves and our family lines—and you’re not part of it,” Jackson said with a scowl.

  “But do I have to be here for you to find out?” Seriously, what was the point of keeping me? It’s not like I was doing anything, they might as well let me leave.

  “What, let you leave so you can skip town? No way, your cute little ass is staying right here,” Jackson said and I felt gross at the fact he thought my ass was cute. He wasn’t ugly but he was such a jerk.

  “Skip town? First off, this is the city and secondly, my research paper is due this coming week, there’s no way I’ve slaved away on it just to not turn it in,” I said with a humph.

  “A paper? Like schoolwork?” Jonah asked and I rolled my eyes. “What are you going to school for?” he said it like it was a foreign thought.

  “Criminal Justice.” The bothers exchanged a look of disbelief between each other. “What?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “How far along are you in your field?” Jackson asked.

  I scrunched my eyebrows together, wondering where they were going with this. “I’m in my last year. I intern at One Precinct Plaza.”

  “Shit,” Jonah mumbled. “When do you go?”

  Now I was catching on. They were scared if people found out I was missing and I’m sure if Amy wasn’t here with me, she’d gone down to the precinct and told them. I’d have the whole squadron looking for me soon. “I go weekdays after class,” I said with a smirk. Suck on that, losers!

  Jackson straightened and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe you. You’re probably some English major or something wacky like that.”

  I scoffed. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. If you keep me here any longer, you’re looking at all of 1PP crawling up your asses!” I was embellishing but desperate times…

  “Whatever,” Jackson waved me off.

  I threw the covers and jumped off the bed, pulling Jonah’s flannel down to cover my rump.

  “Sebastian!” I yelled as I stomped over to the door. If they weren’t going to let me leave, then I was going to make their lives miserable. Time to find my inner chick and cry and whine about everything.

  Jonah grabbed me from behind, his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back against his chest. “Not so fast there, smarty pants. The big guy is busy. I’m sorry if Jackson hurt your feelings,” he whispered softly in my ear and I huffed out, trying to ignore the tingle in my belly.

  A dark and looming figure stood under the door and the room shrank once he stepped in, clouding the entrance. Sebastian stood there, hands on his hips and he was pissed. Would he ever look at me differently?

  “What’s going on here?” he asked—no, demanded.

  “Nothing, Boss, we’re just chatting,” Jackson said, all joking aside.

  “No, they were harassing me,” I said and Jonah’s grip tightened around my waist. I forgot he was still holding on to me and I frowned. Sebastian looked at the three of us and then down at Jonah’s arm and his eyes narrowed.

  Not wanting to stir the pot, I plucked his arm off me and stepped aside. I could see where this might look…suspicious. Jonah snapped his head my way and gave me such a stern look that was the complete opposite of the jokester I’d come to see him as. I shrunk under his glare and I was starting to think all these wolves had some air of dominance to them.

  “Come with me,” Sebastian said and jerked his head outside the room. He didn’t wait for me to respond or to see if I was following. I looked back at the brothers—who were both glaring at me—and hurried to catch up to Sebastian.

  I ran out and saw Sebastian going down the stairs to the main floor. Barefoot and cold, I hustled to catch up and shivered as my feet came in contact with the steel. It’s rare to ever feel anything other than hot. They must have the AC blasting in here.

  “You’re cold,” he stated and peered down at me once I was walking next to him.

  “Y-yes,” my teeth chattered and his face darkened. He might have been upset with me for being so weak—because I doubt he was upset at anyone else for not taking better care of me. If only…

  “Luna!” he barked and I jumped at his unexpected raised voice. “Get Mackenzie a pair of sweats and some shoes.” The woman who was mopping the main floor nodded at Sebastian, set the mop against the wall and hurried to get what he asked for. “Damn Jonah can never do what he’s told,” he mumbled.

  “Are they all at your beck and call?” I mumbled and he jerked to a stop in front of me, almost making me run into him.

  “Do you always have a retort for everything?” he said and those ice-cold blue eyes froze me in place.

  “It wasn’t a retort, I was just saying, it seems like everyone runs to your every whim,” I said and met his stare, matching his dominance. I refused to cower under his intensity and run away with my tail in between my legs, no matter how scary
he might be—or good looking. Ugh, I had to stop thinking about him that way. Jonah was able to smell my fear so they might be able to smell if I was aroused. Does that even have a smell? That was so trippy and kind of gross.

  “They do as their Alpha says, like they should,” he said. “Soon, you will as well.”

  “Not happening. I’m not joining your little club.”

  “We’ll see,” he said and turned around just as the Luna came up to us with the items he requested. He handed me grey sweatpants that tightened at my ankles and a pair of pink, fluffy slippers.

  “Uh…can you turn around?” I asked, but he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes more intently. Asshole.

  With Jonah’s flannel still on, I tried to discreetly pull up the sweats but I’m sure I flashed my undies either way. Once I slid my feet in the slippers, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh that was mixed with a moan. Not one of my finest moments but the softness was a much needed reprieve from the cold that was making my toes into little popsicles.

  “Better?” Sebastian asked huskily. I raised an eyebrow at him but he continued, “Come on, I was in the middle of a phone call when you cried wolf,” he said and I chuckled. I guess he did have a sense of humor.

  I followed him down a hallway across the main floor and down another pair of stairs that I think led to the basement. There was nothing really special about it, it just looked like another floor. We made two lefts and a right until we stopped in front of a door and he opened it without knocking. It was an office and there was someone already waiting for him. In the middle of the room was a large oaken desk with a laptop and papers scattered around. Two chairs sat in front of it and the small space was surrounded with bookshelves.

  A woman with long, silky blonde hair that reached below her butt, was sitting on top of the desk with one of her bare legs across the other and red pumps on her feet. She had cat-like eyes that narrowed once she saw me behind the giant that was Sebastian. This whole scenario looked like a really bad porno. She was wearing a man’s white button up shirt that wasn’t even buttoned, with no bra on. And yes, this was my inner prude talking. This chick was ready to do the nasty and I didn’t think she was expecting anyone—much less me—to mess up her plans.