by Melissa Haag
One moment he stood near me, the next he watched me from near the treeline. Only a slight breeze had marked his movement. As much as it impressed me, I didn’t like it. Blake could hide around a corner, grab me, and be gone in less than two seconds. Worse, he could grab Liam or Aden.
“Can you move as fast carrying someone?”
A strong heavy breeze lifted my hair from my neck as he abruptly scooped me up into his arms without warning and ran the perimeter of the front yard. Green flashed by in my peripheral vision. The wind stole my breath, and I buried my face in his neck.
The heat of his skin and the moisture in the air would have created an uncomfortable stickiness if not for the breeze he created. Even with me in his arms, he showed no decrease in speed or shortness of breath.
I felt his pulse against my cheek. Steady and slow. After a few seconds, I noticed how he smelled and leaned in a little closer, unintentionally touching my lips to his skin. He smelled like the woods after a storm.
Unexpectedly, the heat of Emmitt left me, along with the breeze, and I found myself sitting alone on the grass. The singing birds, who’d moments ago chirped out their happiness, quieted in the nearby branches.
Unhurt and confused, I set my hands on the cool grass and twisted around to look for Emmitt. I found him just a few feet away. He sat back on his heels, knees spread apart and fingertips touching the ground. His eyes were closed, and his jaw clenched. Fur rippled along the bare skin of his arms.
I had a clear view of his change. The bone structure in his face started to shift. As disturbing as I found the view of his body changing, another concern took precedence. Hadn’t Emmitt mentioned werewolves changed as a defense mechanism? My head swiveled around looking for a threat.
“What is it Emmitt?” I scrambled close to him, clinging to a furry arm as I scanned the trees and hoped Nana Wini and Jim had the boys close. “Did you hear something?”
He tried to speak but, with his mouth already too far out of human shape, the sounds weren’t intelligible. He took a slow breath. His face stopped contorting and began to move back into place. The fur slowly faded from his skin. Unclenching his jaw, he opened his eyes and looked at me with a hint of discomfort, but no alarm.
“What? What just happened?” If we weren’t in danger, then why had he started to shift?
“I had to set you down.”
“Yeah, the fur gave that away.” I waited patiently for a better answer.
“I was taken by surprise, that’s all.” He stood and offered a hand to help me up. I took it but didn’t let go once I stood.
“By what?”
“You were just a little close, and I wasn’t expecting it.”
I stared at him dumbly for a moment. “You picked me up, remember?”
He took another deep breath and looked down at our joined hands. “Michelle, Claiming is pretty serious stuff, equivalent to getting engaged in your world. If a guy would give you a small, velvet box, your first thought would probably be ‘it’s a ring’. Turns out, it’s tickets to a ball game. Guys know girls associate those little boxes with rings, so it’s cruel to use them for anything else, right? Claiming is a quick hard bite to the neck. We grow up knowing a werewolf’s neck is a special area that you don’t go near lightly. It’s the small, velvet jewelry box. Do you understand?”
Claiming...bite...neck. Several pieces of Blake’s speech fell into place. But why would Blake want me to become engaged to one of his men? I couldn’t picture biting any of them.
The vision I had where I bit Emmitt resurfaced, and I blinked at him. Engaged? My stomach did a wild flip, and my heart stuttered in panic. My nearness to his neck had caused the change to burst upon him. He’d had to put me down or drop me.
“But you said you thought of me as a friend.”
“If that’s all you can give me, then I’ll respect that.”
Our gazes held for several long moments as what he said settled inside me. I knew he waited for me to say something.
“Stay away from werewolf necks. Got it. Sorry.”
“No,” he said a bit forcefully then grinned ruefully. “You can get as close as you want to mine. Just avoid anyone else’s.”
His intense gaze pulled another blush from me before I looked away. Clearing my throat, I suggested the next test.
“How strong are you?”
“Strong enough that any display would catch the attention of Liam and Aden.”
Bummer. No proof of that one. Although, proof wasn’t really necessary. I trusted what he said. So far, he hadn’t given me any hope. Nothing I could use to put to rest my fears of Blake.
“So, how do you fight a werewolf?” I wondered absently.
Emmitt chuckled. “With another werewolf.”
I turned away before he could see my despair.
Chapter 11
After saying that I needed a break from werewolf information, Emmitt and I joined the others in the front yard just in time for sprinkler races. I let the rest run while I sat in the shade, thinking. My mental list of questions wasn’t any shorter than when we’d started. What could I do to stop Blake? Would he pick up traces of my scent and have enough of a broken trail to follow me here? Why did Blake want me to Claim one of his men? And if humans and werewolves didn’t have relationships, why did I feel a pull in my stomach when I looked at Emmitt?
After Emmitt’s explanation of my scent appealing to all werewolves, I really needed Nana Wini to clarify a few things for me. She’d said scent was how werewolves found their Mates but then hinted werewolves and humans didn’t work. So what did that mean for me? And why was biting even necessary?
Since it was too early for lunch, I struggled to come up with an excuse to invite Nana upstairs. But, I needed the distance and closed door to ensure we wouldn’t be overheard. I didn’t want to embarrass myself with my line of questioning.
Perhaps my repeated looks her direction gave me away because she came to sit by me without any manipulation on my part.
“Everything okay?” she asked after a moment. For having run through the sprinkler several times, she didn’t drip water. In fact, her shirt only sported a few wet marks.
“Could we talk?” I said it quietly, but Emmitt glanced up at me anyway. “In private?” Might as well send up the red flag for everyone.
“Of course. Let’s go inside. I saw you did a load of laundry. I’ll help you fold.”
I nodded, relieved. I hated folding laundry.
With a basket of freshly washed shirts and shorts between us, we sat on the couch in my closed apartment. The humidity and heat hadn’t yet seeped in, but it wouldn’t take long before it drove us back downstairs. Knowing I didn’t have much time, I took a calming breath and prepared myself for the possibility of the werewolf version of “the talk”.
“You and Emmitt mentioned a few things that I don’t really understand. I have an idea, but...what does Claiming really mean?” Her brows rose slightly as I spoke. “Please keep it cliff-noted,” I said desperately.
She laughed and patted my hand. “No details, I promise. I heard Emmitt explain that Claiming for our kind is a bite on the neck.”
My heart thumped heavily in panic and the image from the vision I had starring Emmitt and me resurfaced.
“That bite has a purpose. It establishes a connection between the pair similar to what I have with each individual—”
I opened my mouth to ask for clarification, but she held up a finger in the universal just-a-minute sign.
“—but at a reduced level. A Mated pair will know what each other is feeling if the emotions are strong enough. It can also be a way to sense where each other’s location. This is especially important to the pair as separation can cause anxiety.”
So it was more than a simple human engagement. It was a mental tie, an instant tracking device. A shiver of fear traced its way through my middle.
“Mating is the next stage.”
Whoa! That got my attention. I turned crimson and tho
ught about covering my ears. She laughed at my expression and held up her hands.
“As promised, no details. But I do want you to know that the connection the pair has because of the Claiming evolves when Mated. They will be able to send thoughts to each other. Complete silent communication regardless of distance.”
I felt as if she’d slapped me then caught the other cheek on the back swing. “Telepathy?”
“Yes. A Mated pair’s communication is much closer to what I, as an Elder, have with all werewolves.”
“All of them?” Fear clogged my throat. I could feel Blake’s hands around my neck again, and I gasped for air. I’d only wanted to know what scenting had to do with Claiming and how it applied to Blake. I didn’t want to know she communicated with him.
She nodded as she eyed me curiously. Someone knocked on the door just then, and I jumped slightly. Nana continued to watch me. Glancing over my shoulder, I called out in a strangled voice. Emmitt walked in, saw me, and flashed an annoyed look at Nana.
“She’s fine, Emmitt. We’re asking her to take in a lot of information at a frequency that I would imagine makes it hard to assimilate everything.” Nana set her stack of folded clothes back into the basket and rose.
She didn’t understand the reason for my panic. I tried to calm myself.
Just because she had the ability to communicate with all of them, didn’t mean she actually did. Or perhaps she didn’t do so frequently. Maybe the last time she’d communicated with Blake, he hadn’t yet found me. It could explain why they didn’t know about my premonitions. But if he had been hiding me, amassing his fortune, where was his wolfie loyalty Nana mentioned? Shouldn’t he have shared the money with the rest of his kind? Maybe his loyalty only applied to himself. I wanted to believe that hopeful thought but couldn’t ignore the other possibilities.
My hands grew cold and sweaty at the thought of Nana inadvertently communicating my location to every werewolf in existence.
Emmitt stood beside me until she left then sank down on his heels, eye level with me.
“I can smell your fear.”
I didn’t look up. While staring at bare feet that glistened with water droplets, I tried to breathe through the dread that held me tight.
“I don’t know what to do.” The comment popped out without warning. Something about him just made me want to spill everything, to trust that he would keep me safe.
A gentle touch under my chin had me lifting my head and meeting his concerned gaze.
“About what?”
His fingers moved from my chin to feather along my jawline. Sighing, I closed my eyes and words spilled from my mouth again before I decided what I wanted to say.
“I want to tell you. I start thinking I should. Then I learn more, and I can’t.”
“I don’t know what else to do to prove you can trust me. I’ll wait forever if you need me to. There’s nowhere else for me to be, but by you.”
My eyes popped open. “That’s part of what I don’t understand. You talk about my scent. Nana talks about a pull. I see—”
I stopped myself just in time. Divulging that I saw the two of us together would lead to the fact that I had premonitions. I couldn’t say anything about that until I had a better understanding of how Blake played into their lives.
“Well, never mind about what I see. But Nana said that humans and werewolves don’t work, so why are you talking like I’m...that you and I...” I stopped, not sure how far I wanted to spell out my confusion. I already sounded like an idiot.
He tilted his head. Not like he usually did when I puzzled him, but as if he could hear something I couldn’t.
“Do you want Nana to come talk to you some more?” he asked softly after a moment.
Why would she need to come and talk to me again? Realization dawned. A shallow connection. Was that what this really was about? My legs started to shake with my embarrassment. I was wanted too much by one werewolf for the wrong reason and not enough by the other for the right reason.
I looked away, displacing his touch on my face. “No, that’s not necessary. I’m sorry I misunderstood. Like Nana said, it’s a lot to take in.”
He growled low, the sound reverberating deep in his chest. The noise reminded me of Blake, and my gaze flew back to him. He shook his head slowly, and his growl quieted.
“You’re getting me in trouble. Nana is scolding me for growling.”
She should. It had scared me. But how did she know? My eyes flicked to the closed apartment door. Was she just outside, listening?
“And I’m frustrated that we keep misunderstanding each other. May I please explain myself clearly?”
Heart still thumping from his growl, I nodded hesitantly. It couldn’t hurt to listen to more. Everything else I’d learned churned in my thoughts until they turned into mud. What was one more glop of sludge?
His hand slid into my hair, and he closed the distance between us. “I saw you in the diner and felt an instant recognition. When you walked in, you flooded my senses until only one word beat through my mind.” He leaned in until his lips brushed my ear. “Mine.” A slight growl roughened his voice when he said it, and I shivered.
“So, when I say I’ll wait forever to earn your trust, I will. My heart is yours. My loyalty, yours.”
He inhaled deeply near the curve of my neck. My insides heated, and I barely stopped myself from wrapping my arms around him.
“If all you can give is friendship, I’ll take it. For you, I’ll take anything. Do you understand?”
I nodded, but the mud in my head remained.
“Liar,” he whispered pulling me up off the couch. He looked into my eyes. “What don’t you understand?”
“Nana said humans and werewolves...”
Emmitt distracted me. Freeing his hand of my hair, he trailed his fingers down the curve of my neck then traced my collarbone to the base of my throat. Tiny shivers followed their paths.
“You’re different. Special. That rule doesn’t apply to you.” Like a bucket of ice water, his words penetrated the fog his fingers had made.
“Different?” I feared I’d found out their lie, that they already knew.
He continued to trace his fingertips along the collarbone to the other shoulder, and I struggled to stay focused.
“There’s nothing wrong with being different. My mom’s different. Human like you.”
Hope flared. Could she really be like me?
“I’ll make you a deal. You tell me a little bit about your past, whatever you can trust me with, and I’ll tell you about my mom.”
I considered his offer. He politely kept his fingers still so I could think, which told me he knew exactly what he did to me.
“I think my mom was killed. My stepdad, too. If they catch us, they’ll hurt one of my brothers. Bad. To teach me a lesson. Their safety kept me there, a willing prisoner, until I realized the boys were only useful young. Their lives would end like my mother’s and their father’s as soon as they were no longer useful.”
He pulled me into a tight embrace. Comfort radiated from him, and I gave into the urge and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face in his chest. I felt safe and protected. I wanted that feeling to last forever. To trust it.
“I have two big secrets.” It came out muffled, but he didn’t let me go. “One will test the sincerity of what you just said, and the other will give you power over me.”
“Then tell me the first one. Test me to see if I’m worthy of the second one,” he said, his breath warming my hair.
“I want to, but what if you’re wrong. You’ll hand me back over—”
“Never,” he growled. His arms trembled against my back.
I looked up in time to catch the bones in his face shifting under the surface of his skin. Eyes closed, he struggled to control it.
“Mine,” he reiterated, tightening his hold.
I couldn’t keep living here, wanting to trust yet unsure where I stood with him, with Nana, with the werewo
lves in general.
“Blake killed them. My mom, Richard.” I took a breath and whispered the words that I knew would seal my fate.
“He’s one of you.”
The words barely left my mouth when Emmitt’s body gave a huge lurch. Bones didn’t just move, his shape exploded into his other form. His sudden shift bumped me backwards. He fell to all fours, facing me. He tipped his head back and started yowling. Eyes wide, I listened for barely a moment before the door swung open.
Nana and Jim rushed in. Nana, looking stern and concerned, planted herself in front of Emmitt. Jim picked me up from the couch and dashed down the stairs.
“Control is...”
I only caught those two words. The rest faded as we reached the second floor landing.
“We left the boys outside,” Jim said. “They can probably hear Emmitt.”
He set me on my feet before we reached the door. I wobbled a bit, and he had to steady me. We stood in the shadowed entry. The boys still played on the swing set, though I saw Liam glancing up toward our apartment.
“What happened?” I asked, looking up at Jim.
He chuckled a little. “We’ve talked about your secret and tried to guess what it might be. You’d mentioned Blake a few times. Emmitt thought he was your stepfather until you corrected him. Then he was sure Blake was a controlling boyfriend from your past. Human. Easy to deal with. Finding out one of our own mistreated you, someone we consider rare and special, well, it put him over the edge. He’s still swearing.”
“Swearing?” I couldn’t believe that noise had been swearing. It’d been more like a one-sided dog fight. “Then why did you guys rush up there?”
Jim’s face lost its humor. “After your admission, Nana thought his sudden shift might turn your fear to include us. She wanted to put some distance between the two of you until he calmed down.” His gaze flicked to the steps behind me. I caught his lips twitching before he turned away. “Let’s go check on the boys and give Emmitt a minute to get dressed. Our clothes don’t shift with us.”
