by DD Prince
“Pictures?”
“Yeah.” I touch the icon.
I see several icons in the picture gallery app, so I touch ‘recent’ and there are 1600 pictures to scroll through.
“Show me,” he says, getting comfy.
“Okay,” I say. “That’s my sister, and her fiancé.”
“She doesn’t look like you.”
“She actually does,” I start to tell him. “She’s one year older than me, to the day, and---"
“You’re much more beautiful,” Tyson says.
I feel my cheeks heat up.
Truthfully, my sister is gorgeous. Movie starlet glamorous. And she knows it. She’s the Serena witch and I’m the Samantha witch. She’s dark haired and I’m blonde. But she’s also voluptuous and confident. She has assets and knows how to flaunt them. I wouldn’t say I’m the polar opposite, I’m not exactly a wallflower, but she’s just so much more out there with her personality. She’s definitely a Type A personality who knows what she wants and makes that crystal clear to everybody around her. “Here’s my brother and my parents and I at their engagement party.”
“Who’s that?’
“Ben.” Ben is on the other side of me, arm around me.
“The boyfriend you just broke up with?”
“Yeah. Don’t hunt him down and kill him.” I swipe to the next photo and it’s Ben and me in a snuggle at the table, so I swipe past it again, feeling Tyson tense.
“Forget this. Let’s do something else.”
“I wanna know more about you,” he says, and his voice has taken a more dangerous tone. He takes the tablet from me and swipes through some of the pictures, looking at mostly family Christmas pictures, which thankfully predate Ben.
“Okay, I’ll show you more later after I get rid of the pics of any men who aren’t blood related or completely platonic. You should put your eye drops in by now, shouldn’t you?”
He tilts his head. “How many men are in there?”
“Probably just a few. I haven’t been serious about anyone the last couple years.” Or ever, but I don’t want to reveal that much about myself.
“How many men have had you, Ivy?” His eyes are now bigger, and I swear his pupils look blown.
“Why?”
“Answer my question.”
“Are we about to have another fight?” I ask.
He clenches his jaw.
“Because I’m not down for that. I’m all happy and sleepy and have enjoyed most of the day in bed with a wild werewolf man and I’m not lookin’ to fight about something stupid.”
“Something stupid?”
“Yeah stupid, like men I no longer have relationships with.”
“How many?” he pushes.
“How many for you?” I return.
“No more than seventy,” he shrugs. “I’ve lost count.”
“Seventy?” I choke. “You’ve fucked seventy women?”
“There; I’ve told you. Now it’s your turn.”
How is that possible? He’s only a man a month per year and hasn’t been a man in years.
I stare in shock. “Fifteen. Well, fourteen, since that one barely counts. We drank too much, and he lost his erection two seconds after he was, you know, in there. I think it might not have counted so much because I found out later he was gay. I think he was trying to play hetero and it backfired, but whatever.”
Tyson’s nostrils are flaring.
I touch his hand. “Sorry, baby, too bad you didn’t catch me and abduct me when I was a virgin.”
He squeezes mine tight. “Too bad your parents moved out of the area or I’d have smelled you as soon as you were ripe to be plucked.”
My jaw drops. “That sounds so wrong.”
He shrugs. “I can’t stop my wish that no one but me has touched you.”
“You’re moving awful fast here with me, Ty, but I’m not blowin’ smoke when I tell you that you blow all of ‘em out of the water.”
“Meaning?” He looks genuinely perplexed.
“Meaning…” I lean forward and put my mouth to his ear. “You are so much better at sex than any of them were. Half those guys were terrible. A couple were okay. Only a few were what I’d consider good and even the best of them has nothing on you.”
He smiles big. Huge, even. He’s happy about that. I mean, what guy wouldn’t be? But I’m being honest here. He’s amazing at it.
He kisses the back of my hand. “Was the last boyfriend bad at it?” Tyson asks.
Sex was one of the things Ben had going for him.
“Well, he wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t as good as you are.”
“I wish he was bad at it.”
“I mean, nobody has a penis that does that magical throbbing thing inside me that yours does.”
He smiles.
“Besides,” I add, “It doesn’t matter. I ended it with him. I don’t want him.”
“You want me?”
“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Because I won’t let you walk away or because you want to be?”
“Because I’m here. I’m here and I’m enjoying this time together with you. Let’s just focus on now, how about that?” I decide not to focus on his chosen words because otherwise his ‘let you walk away’ phrasing will piss me off.
“We have a future, too, Ivy. I’m not letting you go.”
I smile. “You’re so fucking sweet.”
“I’m very serious,” he warns.
I wave at him dismissively as I stuff the iPad back into the bag.
“Why did you end things with him?” he asks, pulling me close.
“I didn’t miss him when he was gone.” I shrugged. “There just wasn’t that… spark.”
He stares at me a moment.
“You said you didn’t feel anything until me. I guess…” I stop. Wait. Is that it for me, too?
“You’ve felt nothing until me?” he tries.
Whoa. It’s way too soon for a declaration like that.
I say nothing. I’m like a deer caught in headlights.
His eyes bounce back to the bag. “I’d like to see more pictures,” he says.
“I’ll show you some more later. Can you take me to the bathroom so I can pee and then get me some ice cream?”
“You said you were full.”
“I’ve always got room for a little ice cream.”
***
We avoid any further heaviness the rest of the evening. And I loved the night we spent talking. I talked about my job, about my family, about my roommate and her boyfriend and how they were in Jamaica right now and that I would bet money he was going to propose to her while they were gone. I then filled him in on the nightmare of the cabin of ill repute with Megan and her bucket list and told him I didn’t like the vibe in there with those guys, that some of them reeked of ‘sexual predator’.
He told me that when we passed by the cabin the night he caught me, she smelled like three of the men had fucked her, not just two. I wondered if she’d been through all five of them by now. I wondered if she was gone home and whether or not she gave two shits about the fact that she’d fucked me over. I wondered if she knew about the fire at the boutique.
“Then again, if she hadn’t screwed me over, I wouldn’t know werewolves exist.”
“Yes you would’ve. I would’ve taken you from that cabin. I was hunting for you, little one.”
I smile.
“Do you think of me as a sexual predator?” he asks.
“No,” I say without hesitation.
He looks relieved about that and that says something. I mean, the way things happened didn’t feel like that. I know they were far from conventional, but based on who he is, based on how he’s been since then, it’s just not the same.
“What happened with us, I now know it was instinct, Tyson. I don’t blame you for being what you are.”
He stares thoughtfully at me. “Anyone else who I was with was with me willingly, Ivy. I never took someone with me agains
t their will before.”
“I believe you.”
He looks concerned, like the fact that I might think of him as my kidnapper is upsetting. It kind of is that way, but it’s also not. He believes I’m his perfect mate for some reason and I can’t say I understand it, but I do believe that’s what he thinks and I also have some pretty gripping emotions developing for him, too, though I don’t know what it means so far. I decide to change the subject. I don’t like the look of concern in his eyes. “Too bad about my car, then. If I’d just stayed put, you would’ve found me and taken me to your lair without my car gettin’ trashed.”
“Your car was pulled out of the valley and is being fixed at a repair shop in the closest town. They did that while we were at the clinic.”
“Your pack did?”
He makes a face.
“What?”
“My pack.”
I smile. “That’s the right term, isn’t it?”
He nods. “It would be if I were part of that pack, yes.”
“They could be, you know. Your pack. Your family.”
He shrugs. “We’ll see.”
He looks like the weight of the world is on his big shoulders suddenly as he stares into the fire.
My hand finds his. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be,” I tell him.
“Like us. We’re meant to be,” he says, eyes bouncing from my face to our fingers. He stares at our joined hands a moment.
“Are we?” I ask with a smile.
His hand tightens.
I really wanna keep things light tonight. I’m enjoying my time with him and I don’t want to do what I tend to do --- overthink things.
He nods and then his lips find mine. “I’m happy, Ivy. For the first time in my life, I’m happy. And it’s only the beginning with you. I feel like it might be too much to ask that I also have a family, a pack. And you.”
“You don’t wanna be alone anymore,” I tell him.
“I don’t know how to not be alone.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
He squeezes my hand and then reclines on the bed, pulling me to his chest.
“I also know in my gut that I’m supposed to be with you.”
I say nothing.
“How’s your ankle feeling?” he asks.
“It’s not bad. But it’s time for my medicine. Maybe I’ll take it. It’ll make me sleepy again, but sleep is good for healing.”
“I’ll get it.”
“Can you get me my phone, too?” I ask. “And bring your eyedrops, I’ll put them in for you.”
I watch him, appreciating every inch of his sexy body as he walks out.
I hadn’t checked my phone at all. Hadn’t thought about reconnecting with civilization even though it’s been charging for seven or eight hours. Surely by now my family got my message about the snake bite. There are probably texts and phone calls to return.
Tyson brings it to me and it’s off, but I see the screen show the notification of 100% charged before the screen goes dark. I put it on the table beside the bed and decide that civilization can wait another day.
He comes back with all four tubs of ice cream and two spoons.
I laugh as he sets them up between us.
“What about your eyedrops?” I ask.
He wrinkles his nose.
I laugh. “Don’t be such a baby. Go get them or no ice cream for you!”
30
Tyson
I hate having eyedrops put in, but I like ice cream. Especially the brown one with the darker brown bits and soft and spongy white things in it. I liked the food we ate today, most of it, except the dry brown sticks with all the salt. They didn’t do much for me until she showed me that I could dip them into the cheese container with all the herbs in it. I loved when she fed green grapes to me from her fingers while half her body was sprawled across my torso and she told me funny stories about her family. I’m full and happy with her here in the bed, sleeping on my shoulder.
“Someday, we’ll have funny stories to tell about our family,” I said, and she laughed and said, “We already have one… you slipping on that banana peel!” And then her face changed, and she looked remorseful for something.
She doesn’t want to admit we have a future. She’s trying to be casual with me.
I’ll make her want to stay. I’ll make it so she can’t imagine being happy anywhere but with me.
I love her so much.
Tomorrow, I want to start making this place better for her and then maybe she’ll feel like it’s her home. I’ll ask her to choose things she likes. The few pictures I saw on her screen showed she spends time in much nicer places than this.
***
I’m awake, thinking about all I’ve seen and experienced in the few days since I’ve shifted back to man form when I have the urge to check on things. I carefully slip away from her and check on the house, feeling like something isn’t right.
No sooner than I have that thought, I catch the scent of a shifter, a shifter I do not know. I smell another person. I know that smell but can’t place it. I’ve smelled so many individuals in the past day without being told which names go with which scents.
I quickly move outdoors to find out who the fuck this is and what they want.
When I step off the porch, I see a male and female approaching from near the willow tree where they’ve parked.
They stop when they see me and wait there, so I make my approach.
He’s tall and dark-haired with dark eyes. She’s short and curvy, with long light brown striped with blonde hair. She’s wearing eyeglasses and she’s related to him.
“Tyson? I’m Grey. Greyson Blackwood. Fourth alpha. I just got back, just heard, and wanted to come by and meet you.”
“Fourth?” I inquire as I nod to her.
She smiles and wiggles her fingers beside her face.
“Yes. Born fourth that year,” he says. “This is Bailey Blackwood, my sister.”
“I remember seeing you,” I say, still unsure of why the fact he was born fourth on some year is relevant, but I don’t ask questions.
The young woman speaks up. “I told him you wouldn’t welcome an unannounced visitor, but he insisted, so I came along so that you’d recognize one of the two scents coming to your house in the middle of the night. You recognize my scent from the clinic?”
“I do,” I confirm.
“My sister wanted to show respect. I hope you don’t consider my visit disrespectful. I know you’ve met Riley, Jason, Joel and Linc. I wasn’t around, but just got back, so…”
“Who’s missing?” I ask.
“Missing?”
“I was told there are supposed to be seven and what you’ve said adds up to six.”
“Mason. He just got back, too. He’s not ready to approach.”
I notch a brow.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Grey says quickly. “He’s not at his best. He’ll meet you soon. When he’s feeling 100%.”
“Your sister is right; an uninvited approach was a bad idea.”
“Riley needs us,” he interrupts. “He needs you. We all do.”
I wait for him to expand on that.
“He’s lost. He’s been excellent as second alpha sitting at the top and though we have always felt your absence…” He stops speaking and stares deep, as if to add emphasis to what he’s just said, before continuing - “I know he’s coming to see you tomorrow. Watch for it, you’ll sense it if you pay attention. He needs you in the first alpha position so he knows he can take time to fix what’s wrong in his life. He’s very wrong inside. His wolf. Himself. The sooner you’re with us, the better.”
I already sense this thing he talks about. I don’t reveal that though.
Bailey speaks up. “Grey’s the one with the strength of insight. They all have it, but Grey has it in spades.”
I don’t know what she means so I stare at her.
She squats, her back against a tree and sits cross-legged. “I can
fill in some gaps about things if you want information. I don’t know how much you know about our way of life.”
“Assume I know nothing.”
“Do you know anything?” Bailey asks. “I’m the walking Wikipedia of the pack, but I don’t want to come across as a know-it-all.”
“Do you know it all?”
“Well…no, but more than most.”
“Then tell me what you know. What I know might or might not be truth. My source of information about this pack was Cornelius Savage.” For some reason, I feel at ease talking to Bailey Blackwood. “I don’t know what was truth and what wasn’t. But I also don’t know if I trust any of you – so bear that in mind with whatever you say to me.”
“I can understand that,” she says, nodding slowly. “Trust is a rare commodity for many lone wolf shifters who don’t have a pack at their back. But, you should know, your instinct about people will be right. It’s one of your strengths. Maybe you have or haven’t quite learned how to tap into that instinct but it’s there. I mean, unless you already know this about yourself.”
I say nothing. I wait and she looks quizzically at me for a beat before she continues.
“In our community structure, the pack protects the territory, leads the youth, protects the secrets, and shares our history. We live together as a community and we support one another. Our pack has a great reputation as a group that’s happy to lend a helping hand. Having a diverse community with a whole lot of alphas in it means we’ve got a lot of strength and smarts. Our pack is unique. Because of our location and because of the presence of a lot of magic in this region, it grew from shifters settling here from elsewhere. Shifters from different packs moved here because it was a shifter haven for a time. The way it grew, how big it got quickly, instead of choosing just one alpha, a group of alphas decided to work together as a team. As time went on, it became a birthright for some, though not everyone. Sometimes leaders had sons who became leaders. Sometimes leaders would emerge from other families within the pack. With so many in close proximity, the community grew. We have several hundred people in our pack. And every alpha on our leadership council has some inherent qualities or certain heightened senses or skills that add up with the other alphas to form a well-rounded team. Some characteristics are essential for a pack council member. But to be our top alpha, our first alpha, you’ll have all of the core qualities, so you know. For the past three generations, it’s somehow worked out that each generation of pack alphas emerge in the same calendar year and the eldest tends to take top spot. What began as a measured decision transitioned to watching the youth to determine which age group had those inherent qualities. Three rounds of councils had the top alpha come from the same family, yours, and also have had the rest of the pack fall into place in birth order. The eldest born in a particular year has held all the vital traits and become the lead alpha on the council. In your birth year, you’re first, Mason is second, Riley is third, Grey is fourth, then Jason, Linc, and Joel in that order.”
