Alaric looked at Deane and Emery. “I expect you both will spend all of your time on this case until we have answers. Aerilyn may be teaching him our ways for now, but keep your eye on him and ensure my daughter’s safety. I am to be notified of any new developments—immediately, you hear?”
The two of them nodded and muttered, “Yes, sir.”
Emery backed toward the door and gestured for Jax to follow. Deane said to his partner, “I’ll be calling ye in a bit with a plan. For now why don’t ye follow her home, and while she’s at work tomorrow, I’ll help ye bring your things over.”
Aerilyn loved the sound of Deane’s Irish accent. He’d been a member of their lodge for as long as she could remember—he was even older than her dad. When she was in preschool and his accent was thicker, she'd been the only one who could understand him when he was upset, which wasn’t ideal for a five-year-old’s ears.
“Night, Deane,” Aerilyn called over to him.
He winked at her. “Night, love.”
She crossed the room to her father and reached up to give him a hug. He held her tight, lifted her from the floor and whispered in her ear, “Don’t put yourself in danger. I know I taught you to listen to your intuition, but I don’t like this guy. Be careful.”
“I will, Dad.” She kissed his cheek, and he set her back down. “Give Mom a hug for me.”
“Will do.”
Aerilyn hurried to follow Emery and Jax out of the room. She breathed out in relief as she latched the door behind her.
Emery was already slinking down the shadowy stairs, her hips swaying back and forth. She flung her hair over her shoulder and muttered, “That’s the most excitement we’ve had for a while, but I wish I could have shifted for a fight.”
“Don’t go wishing for things like that.” Aerilyn grasped the banister and hurried to catch up. “We don’t want trouble. Peace and quiet—that’s ideal.”
Emery sighed and muttered, “Boring.”
When they reached the bottom floor, Aerilyn felt Jax’s eyes on her. He was watching her out of the corner of his eye and listening to everything they said. That was fine. The revelation of the existence of a clandestine world greater than oneself was jarring to newly discovered shifters. It would simply take time for him to begin to understand the Society was a benefit, not a burden.
Emery paused before walking into the community room. “So, I’ll follow you home then? Want me to take him back to his place?”
“No,” Aerilyn answered. “If I’m teaching him our ways, we need to get to know each other and come to an understanding.”
Jax followed her as she silently led him to her car in the back alley. She hit her fob, and a Camry’s lights flashed.
Jax got in the passenger side. He looked over his shoulder at the box sitting in the backseat. Papers filled it nearly to the top. Two large binders were stacked on the floor space behind Aerilyn. She glanced at him and explained, “I’m a high school teacher.”
She looked too young for the job, but he wasn’t going to question her. It seemed a minor puzzle next to mountain of questions that had arisen in the last few hours.
Aerilyn started the car without another word. Its headlights illuminated the dark alley, and she reversed and drove down the back street.
In the aftermath of the evening, he was disoriented and confused. There was clearly more to the world than he’d ever realized. After being treated like a foolish child, he was angry as well. He’d been given a babysitter, no matter what they called it. He was being put on a short leash. But they’d learn he wasn’t someone to tether.
Aerilyn pulled up to a red light and brushed her wavy hair behind her ear. She spoke to him with a softened voice. “I feel I owe you an apology. This was probably one of the worst ways to find out you’re not alone.”
He stared out the front window at the cross traffic. Bright headlights moved past, disrupting the peaceful dark of the night. He simply nodded in response.
She looked at him. “I had no idea you didn’t know about the Society. When I sensed your energy, I knew you were a shifter, and after what happened to KT, I was immediately suspicious.”
The light turned green, and she pulled onto the busy street, casting him a worried glance. “I’d sensed something was off, and I wasn’t wrong. But I may have been wrong about you.”
“Not sure your daddy agrees with you.” He finally found his voice, but it came out bitter and angry. At least she wasn’t hiding the fact she’d turned him in, although it didn’t make him trust her any more than he did the rest of them. What would have happened if they’d decided he was guilty of attacking KT? He shuddered to think.
Aerilyn sighed. “Listen, my father has a lot of people to protect, and he takes the job seriously. But he can be a bit judgmental at times. That’s why we need to get to the bottom of this. To prove your innocence.”
“We?” he asked with a frown.
She sped up as they looped around onto the highway. She shot him a guilty smile. “Okay, that’s Deane and Emery’s job, but we can help it along a little. I’ll be teaching you all the things you missed out on in your youth—what you should have learned when you came of age. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes undocumented shifters slip by guardians.”
“Sounds like you have quite a system.” He wondered how he would have felt about someone approaching him when he was seventeen after he’d first changed form. Would it have helped him feel any less of a freak? Maybe, but he doubted some stupid after-school club would have improved his crappy life.
Aerilyn rested her elbow on the side of her door and pressed her fingers to her temple. She kept her eyes on the road, which made it easier for him to watch her from the passenger seat. Her thin lips moved in the shadows. “Well, clearly it’s not perfect, but it works. I knew in elementary school I wanted to become a teacher—a guardian. Once I came of age I discovered just how powerful my intuition was. It’s a useful tool I use to detect youngsters who are nearing their first shift. It’s what I used to figure out you’re a shifter.”
“Lucky me,” he mumbled.
She asked, “So, how old are you? Age is deceptive with shifters, if you hadn’t already guessed.”
It hadn’t slipped his notice that he hadn’t aged much over the last one and a half decades. Jax felt some of his tension ease the closer they got to the foothills. “Thirty-one. You look twenty—you’re not a hundred, are you?”
The sound of Aerilyn’s laugh bounced off the windows. “No, I’m thirty-three. But my dad and Deane crossed the century mark decades ago.”
He couldn’t keep the wonder from his voice. “No kidding?”
“You don’t know how tiring it is, trying to convince my students I’m their teacher and not someone they can take to prom. They love to tease me about my size.”
“I bet.” He'd heard her voice rise and knew he’d struck a chord. “You must get hit on like crazy.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not the worst of it. It’s the single dads who think I’m underage and ask for dates.”
“Nice.” Jax felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, so he pulled it out and looked at the screen.
A long string of texts had been sent by KT over the last hour. A pang of guilt and anger swept through him. If he hadn’t been taken to the lodge to straighten things out, he might have been there for her when she needed him.
“What’s wrong?” Aerilyn asked.
He grumbled back, “It’s not your problem.”
“It’s KT, isn’t it?” She glanced at him after changing lanes. The light from oncoming traffic shined on her concerned eyes. “Is she okay?”
Jax sent a text back, letting his boss know he was on his way home. He frowned. “Yeah, but she’s wondering where I am. She took her meds but hasn’t eaten. She’s not supposed to take them on an empty stomach.”
“I know what she’ll want,” Aerilyn said and touched the screen on her dashboard. She scrolled through her contacts until she stopped on on
e. It took only a moment for the sound of ringing to pour from the speakers in the car.
A woman’s voice answered, “The Rusty Tack.”
Aerilyn spoke up and ordered four burgers and fries to go. When she hung up, she said, “I hope you eat meat—I’m guessing you do.”
Jax raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
In a matter-of-fact way, she responded, “With time, we tend to share many of the traits of our animal halves.”
“Well then, what’s your form—a mink?” He said with sarcasm, knowing she was sensitive about her size. In truth, he couldn’t imagine her turning into anything very large at all.
A disconcerting smile slid across her lips. Not at all the response he’d attempted to get from her. “We’ll leave that for another time. There’s a lot to go over, and I know you must have a lot of questions, but we pace things out of purpose, so it’s not overwhelming.”
“Right,” he said dryly. “So how’s this work, then?”
He wished he’d gone to South Dakota instead of Colorado. If he’d only made the choice to head east, he might’ve avoided all of this trouble. He wouldn’t have been pinned down, unable to leave if he wanted, and boy did he want to leave.
Aerilyn turned on her phone and handed it to him. “Add yourself as a contact. I need to be able to call you if needed.”
He considered putting in the wrong number. He even thought about making a snarky comment about her moving too fast, but neither would get him closer to leaving town. Not really. Not when he believed Alaric might just send an army of shifters after him—people he suspected would have no trouble tracking him down.
Jax typed in his name and number, saving it on her phone. She glanced over at him and said, “Good. Now call yourself so you have my number.”
He sighed and did as he was told. She was his babysitter, just like he thought.
“It’s not so bad.” She must’ve picked up on his not-so-subtle body language. “I’m not going to be watching your every move even if Deane and Emery might. Think of me more as a big sister.”
He raised his eyebrow at her petite form. He'd never had a sister, but she was way too attractive to think of in that way. Was she being serious?
“Fine, a friend then,” she retorted, again clearly observing his mood. “You can call me anytime with questions that can’t wait in between our trainings, which we should start right away. Are you busy tomorrow night? We can get to know each other a little better, maybe meet on a weekly basis for now. Our relationship should be built on trust.”
Well, then, this would take a while, he thought in defeat. “If KT doesn’t need me, I’ll be at the shop until closing, six o’clock.”
She exited the highway and began the slow drive into the tiny foothill town of Morrison. “That works for me. You been to the Rusty Tack yet?”
KT’s auto shop was at the end of the main street in town. It was such a small town, it was hard not to notice each of the few shops and restaurants that stretched the single block. He’d observed the rustic wooden sign hanging over the bar and grill, but he shook his head. “I don’t go out much. Keep to myself.”
She pulled over in front of the very place, parallel parking on the narrow street. Before opening her door, she grabbed her purse. “Stay here—I’ll be right back.”
He watched her disappear into the dimly lit bar, rested his head against the headrest and tried to find comfort in thinking about returning to his trailer. He must have been lost in thought because he was startled when Aerilyn opened her door and climbed back in with two bags of food.
She dropped both in his lap and said, “One of those bags is for you and KT. Meet me here tomorrow night at six when you get off work. I’m not much of a cook, and they make the best burgers.”
Their drive into the foothills was filled with silence. The aroma coming from the bags woke his hunger, which had gone dormant during the excitement of the evening. He’d had enough contact for now with the outside world—one that was far larger, or maybe smaller than he’d once thought.
She took him all the way to KT’s house, and when the Camry crawled to a stop at the garage, he was quick to open his door and get out. He reached into his back pocket to grab his wallet, and she leaned across the empty passenger seat to say, “My treat—it’s my way of apologizing for everything.”
He sighed and rested his hand on the open doorframe. “Right.”
“Say hi to KT for me,” she answered with a wave.
After she’d backed down the driveway and left, he stood under the star-filled sky, holding the bag of food. He let the quiet night soak into his pores while he tried to cast off the anxious feeling that his life had changed. He no longer had the freedom that meant so much to him.
Six
Sophomores and juniors filtered into the classroom as Aerilyn gazed out the window at the yellowing lawn outside. She hadn’t gotten much sleep after last night’s excitement. Plus, Emery had stirred up Petey so he'd been too excited to lie down. He'd wanted to go play with her houseguest whenever he heard movement, which occurred every fifteen minutes until three in the morning. Aerilyn could see how Emery had frayed her prior roommate’s nerves.
The last of her students walked into the room and sat down, so she turned on the Smart Board. It was time to give these kids everything she had, even if she wasn’t at her best. She told them about that month’s book assignment and handed out copies to everyone.
When she made her way to the back of the room, a dark-haired boy blinked up at her. She noticed the bags under his eyes and thought he looked paler than usual. “You okay, Riley?”
The junior yawned and stretched. He rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, Mom came home late last night, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Sounds like you had a night similar to mine.” She handed him a book and leaned closer. “I think you’ll like this one—the author uses symbolism throughout.”
Riley gave her a lopsided smile. “I’m on it.”
He was one of the few who had a depth of knowledge and passion for writing that was reflected in his work. She would not at all be surprised if he grew up to become an author or reporter. If the rest of her students were half as invested as he was, she’d be happy.
Aerilyn finished distributing copies of the book and asked the class to read the first few pages in silence. She sat at her desk and glanced at a girl sitting near the window. Becca was oblivious of her teacher’s attention, for she had already started chapter one and was winding a strand of hair around her finger. Aerilyn reached out with her energy, seeking an electric spark, a buzz of power, but felt nothing.
There was a reason Aerilyn had taken a job as a teacher. As a teacher, it was easier to monitor adolescents during their time of transition. The change in hormone levels was what triggered or awakened a shifter’s abilities. Between the age of fifteen to eighteen, their energy well grew until it couldn’t be contained any longer, resulting in their first shift.
It was the twenty-first century. These days, nearly all shifter families were registered members of the Genus Society, so it was entirely expected when offspring joined their ancestors in this secretive world. The Society’s database of genealogy surpassed any public knowledge base, although not just anyone had access to it. Families whose magic had nearly been bred out of their gene pool were watched for a resurfacing of power. It was a rarity, but one popped up on occasion.
That was what Aerilyn was searching for in Becca. One of the girl’s ancestors had been a shapeshifter. This was Aerilyn’s second year teaching, and she’d yet to locate a youngling, a shifter transitioning into their powers, who was more than once removed from a Society member. Not that she had much experience to go on.
Two families from the Denver lodge sent their children to her school. Naturally, she’d been assigned to their younglings—looking after them, teaching them. One had already gone through his first shift over the summer and was transitioning smoothly. The other, a freshman,
was expected to go through the change within the next few years.
At the sound of the bell, the kids slid from their desks and sauntered from the room with an air of detachment and social paranoia that only teenagers master. For the rest of the day, Aerilyn thought about the best approach with Jax. She’d detected similarities between him and the adolescents she taught. His defiance was clear. He didn’t appear fond of the constraints born from rules. However, he was a grown man.
A very handsome man with alluring blue eyes. Every time she’d felt them on her last night, her breath had caught in her throat. Not the kind of response she should have with a friend. She needed to keep things professional.
Her father was confident Jax was trouble, yet she sensed the opposite. If he could set aside his misgivings about the Genus Society, maybe he could become an asset to their world. And maybe, since he was their only witness to what happened the other night, he could help them determine what that blood-sucker, as her father had put it, was up to. But she needed to build his trust in her if they were to get anywhere.
Aerilyn hurried home from school to find Emery stretched out in her carpeted living room with Petey curled up beside her. The black Lab barely acknowledged her arrival, which she couldn’t help but take personally.
“What, you won’t come say hi to me?” she asked with her hands on her hips. Petey arched his droopy eyes to blink at her and thumped his tail on the carpet once.
Emery smacked her blood-red lips together and patted his head. “He’s too tired after following me around all day. Deane’s bringing the last load over now.”
Aerilyn looked around the room at the boxes piled against the walls. She liked her place tidy and spare. Her anxiety level began to rise, along with her eyebrows.
Emery got up from the floor and put on her heels. With jeans so tight you could see every curve and with a blouse tied at her waist, the dolled-up woman didn’t look nearly as tough as she was—although her toned arms, tattooed chest and fearless demeanor gave it away.
Half-Blood Descendant: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 1) Page 4
