First Shift (The Wolves of Rock Falls Book 1)

by AJ Skelly

  Rev took one glance at me, sniffed the air as if for confirmation, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

  Mr. Wolfe stood heavily, nostrils flaring, shock widening his eyes as anger turned his face red. A vein pulsed in his forehead.

  “Samuel.” It was a thunderous statement that had my bones knocking together and the animal inside me cowering. Sam flinched beside me as his hand tightened around mine. My worry kicked up another notch as Sam subtly angled himself in front of me.

  Was I in danger? Too many thoughts swirled in my brain, and I felt dizzy.

  Chapter 7

  Sam

  Dad’s voice echoed around my head. He was even angrier than I’d anticipated. I instinctively angled Meg behind me, not that she was in any real danger, but it was a natural instinct—protect your mate at all costs.

  The vein in Dad’s forehead throbbed. Another stood out along the side of his neck.

  “What…is…this.”

  It wasn’t a question—it was a condemnation. Not only from a father to his son but from an Alpha to a subordinate.

  I swallowed and tried not to wither on the spot.

  “It was actually an accident,” I answered, thankful there was no tremor in my voice.

  “An accident?” Disbelief colored in his words. He jolted forward, intent on searching Megan’s neck for the bite.

  I was quicker and pulled her fully behind me, shielding her from my father’s angry face, but bringing me straight into the inferno of my father’s wrath.

  “How do you accidentally bite someone, Samuel? You’ve put the entire pack in disgrace! Have you no respect for the law? Show me the bite.” Steam seemed to rise off him as his rage was barely contained behind his clenched teeth.

  My feet rooted to the spot, planting me firmly between Megan and my leader.

  “Move aside.” I felt the words to my core. It was an Alpha’s command. I fought it for a few seconds and then felt my feet move against my will. I still gripped Megan’s left hand but now stood beside her instead of in front of her. I felt weak. Shame tasted bitter in my mouth.

  Dad stalked one step closer, his face inches from Megan. Slight tremors shook her hand, but I knew it wasn’t her wolf trying to come forward. Her wolf was probably cowered in abject terror in her first meeting with an angry Alpha.

  My throat was dry as I tried to swallow. Meg stared at my father, fear clearly in her eyes, but her back was straight. She was amazing.

  Dad searched each side of her neck and then hunted up and down her throat.

  “Where is the bite?” His frustration was palpable.

  Megan glared at him and raised her finger right in front of his face and pointed to the tiny slit already starting to heal on her forehead.

  My dad blinked and stopped short. He’d never looked so perplexed as the rage simmered down to a slow boil.

  “Perhaps I should take Megan to a different room while we discuss this a bit more privately,” Rev cut in smoothly.

  Without waiting for my dad’s permission—a statement in itself—Rev gently put an arm around Meg’s shoulders. She flinched but didn’t pull away. Her eyes found mine as her fingers squeezed my hand. My heart slammed in my chest, which was embarrassing because I knew the other three wolves in the room could hear it.

  “Are you okay for a few minutes?”

  She gulped. She was not okay, but if Alpha Dad wanted me to stay and talk, I couldn’t go with her. She nodded. I let her fingers slide through mine, and Rev led her to the stairs.

  I turned to face the wrathful judgement of my father.

  Chapter 8

  Megan

  “Rev, what are you doing here, of all places?” I demanded as he led me upstairs to a bedroom that I briefly processed as Sam’s.

  “There’s a lot of things you don’t know, Meggie-Girl,” he replied slowly. I scowled at the use of my grandpa’s nickname for me.

  “Are you one of them?” I had to clench my teeth to keep from snarling the words as betrayal churned in my belly.

  He ran a dark hand through his frizzy gray hair.

  “Yes.”

  The bluntness of his words shocked me more than his admission.

  I sagged onto the bed as raised voices carried up from downstairs.

  “If you think you’ll be all right alone for a few minutes, I should go back to…mediate.”

  What if I shifted again? I cringed at the sinew-snapping thought. But the overwhelming desire to have a moment alone in the middle of this crazy had me waving my arm stiffly at him to go.

  His deep brown eyes locked onto mine. “You’re sure you’re okay? I’ll stay if you’d rather.”

  I shook my head. The sudden desire to be alone was tremendous. I nodded. “I’ll be fine,” I squeaked.

  Rev’s eyes took me all in again and then left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

  I wilted to the floor the minute the door was shut. I took a few shuddering breaths and glanced around the room, a little bewildered. What was I supposed to do now? There were a surprising number of books on a floor-to-ceiling shelf against the far wall—a lot of sci-fi and histories, I noted absently. It was next to the window, but I was on the second story, so escape seemed unlikely. Besides. Where would I go and what would I do? I was stuck here. I would shift again, according to Sam, and right now, his word was all I had.

  Plucking absently at the beige carpet beneath me, I desperately wanted my grandpa to tell me everything was going to be okay and have him wrap me in a hug. He had always been my rock—my fortress against the world. But I could hardly call him and tell him what had happened. The shock of it all might kill him! Crap. My phone was still in Sam’s car. I felt tears threatening. This whole situation was so completely impossible.

  More shouting sounded from downstairs. I wondered what kind of trouble Sam was in. And what kind of trouble I was in. Wrapping Sam’s jacket tighter around me, I almost jumped in excitement when I felt something heavy shift in the pocket. Nearly yanking the pocket from the jacket, I snatched the phone out.

  Please don’t have a passcode, please don’t have a passcode, please don’t have a passcode, I thought as I powered it on.

  It opened to the main menu screen!

  I couldn’t call my grandpa, and there was only one other person on the planet that I trusted with my life. I dialed Rachel’s number with shaking fingers.

  She picked up on the third ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Rachel,” I choked.

  “Meg? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  I cleared my throat. “Rachel, listen to me. I swear on Grandma Elsie’s grave what I am about to tell you is true.”

  “Okay—Are you hurt?”

  “Yes—no—Sam is a werewolf, and he turned me into one, too!” I whispered fiercely into the phone.

  “Did he slip you something?” Anger laced her voice. “Where are you? I’m coming right now.” There was clanging, and I knew she was literally getting her keys out to come get me.

  “Rach, don’t. No, he didn’t slip me anything, he didn’t even mean to—the game—we collided. His teeth and I—changed.” Tears slipped down my cheeks. “Fur and claws.” I had to stop talking so I didn’t completely sob into the phone.

  “What can I do?”

  Just like that, Rachel accepted what I’d told her was the truth. I could hear it in her voice. She believed me. I breathed a little easier.

  “I don’t know. But I…I just needed someone to know.”

  Sam’s door slammed open, nearly coming off its hinges. There stood Mr. Wolfe, red faced, quivering with silent rage—and maybe terror—at the phone in my hand.

  With two steps and a cry of animalistic fury, he stormed the room and yanked me to my feet, dragging the phone from my fingers, nearly crushing both the phone and my hand in the process.

  “Meg?” Rachel was still on the line. Mr. Wolfe turned murderous eyes on me.

  Before I even had time to cower, Sam, faster than h
umanly possible, darted through the door and around his father and planted himself right in front of me. I’d never been so grateful for anything in my life as I was for Sam standing between me and his dad in that moment.

  “Who did you tell?” Mr. Wolfe ground out. His eyes bugged out from his head.

  More moisture could be found in the Sahara than in my mouth while my heart beat out a rhythm far faster than was healthy. The pounding in my chest grew and the tingling started. Crap, crap, crap! I was petrified I was going to shift—leaving me more vulnerable than ever, right in front of this man I was certain wanted to kill me! I was losing it. In every possible way.

  I felt bones creak, and then, through the haze of red covering my vision, Sam turned to me. He kissed me. Hard. His hand firmly held the back of my head as his lips locked on mine, shocking me to my core. So momentarily stunned, I didn’t even register that my bones stopped creaking, that my digits quit tingling. The shift stopped leaving me panting, cold, and sweating, but still human.

  He broke away without making eye contact and angled his body in front of mine again, taking hold of my hand.

  Mr. Wolfe still shook, the veins in his neck and forehead still visible. He clenched his fists but said nothing.

  “Dominic, it’s done,” Mrs. Wolfe said softly from the hallway. I glanced over. She and Rev stood right outside the bedroom door.

  “Sam, pack up. Take her to the cabin while I figure out a way to clean up your mess.” He dragged a hand through his dark hair before pointing accusingly at Sam. “You take care of that phone call. Any means necessary.”

  The door slammed so hard the wall rattled. Sam and I were alone in the room. Tremors shook my body from head to toe, and this time when Sam offered, I let him touch me. He held his arms out, an invitation without pressure, and I willingly fell into them. He’d suddenly become a safe haven.

  I had no idea what my future held, but at that moment, regardless of what else happened, I knew Sam was on my side.

  “Are you all right?” he whispered. One arm was wrapped tightly around my shoulders; the other hand softly brushed down the length of my hair.

  I shook my head. I was definitely not all right. The trembling slowly started to fade as Sam held me.

  “I’m sorry, Meg,” he whispered against my hair. I sniffed and belatedly realized my face was pressed up against his still bare, and rather nicely sculpted, chest. Despite the fact that I had turned into a wolf, Sam’s dad was on the warpath after me, and that my entire life had been radically altered, my face heated at my nearness to Sam’s chest. I could feel the heat blooming across my cheeks, and I quickly struggled to put some distance between me and Sam’s skin. My eyes blinked rapidly a few times. Embarrassment, anger, regret, and exhaustion all battled for prominence. Anger was the easiest of the emotions to deal with, but Sam’s dad in Alpha-action had sucked the energy to be angry right out of me. It left me bone-weary tired.

  “Yeah,” was all I could manage in reply.

  “Okay. Let me grab a few things, and we’ll get out of here and to the cabin before you need to shift again.”

  Shifting again terrified me. Adrenaline and panic suddenly replaced the fatigue. My hands gripped Sam’s forearms.

  “Will…will you stay with me?” My voice was tiny in the stillness of the room. I didn’t know if I could handle shifting on my own after everything I’d just survived, even though it hadn’t seemed so bad only moments earlier.

  Sam’s blue eyes warmed even as his brows drew together. His hands lightly cupped my face and some of my fears stilled.

  “Megan, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

  The pads of his thumbs brushed over my cheeks, and the intimacy of it both kindled something in my belly and made me uncomfortable. There was a restlessness in me that quieted at his touch, basking in the attention, while another part of me wanted to jerk away.

  Before I could decide how to respond, he spoke.

  “I’m going to throw a few things in a bag, and then we’ll go.”

  Chapter 9

  Sam

  My fingers tingled where they touched Meg’s face. Her fear was written plainly across her features, but some of my own anxiety lessened as she let me touch her. My wolf was desperate to be near her, touch her, protect her. One more inhale of her sunshine and roses scent, blessedly now free of Brody’s lingering smell after her shifts, and I released her, relishing the last brush of her skin on my hands.

  I shoved clothes in a bag haphazardly, knowing Meg didn’t have long before she’d need to shift again. My kiss—that magnificent, instinctual moment—wouldn’t stave off her change for long. I threw a shirt on over my head and checked on her. She hadn’t moved at all, just watched me with large dark eyes.

  I held my hand out, not sure if she’d want me to touch her again after everything my touch had brought her tonight. Much to my relief, I felt her cool fingers slide into my warm palm.

  Rev met us in the hallway by the stairs. “I’m going to go check a historical account of a—” He cleared his throat, his eyes darting to Megan. “—biting incident involving two humans, rather than the more traditional wolf biting a human.” He stopped as Meg’s face grew noticeably whiter. “At any rate, I’ll come up to the cabin as soon as I’ve completed my research. We’ll both be here to help you through these first difficult days, Meggie-Girl.” He patted her shoulder. Her fingers gripped mine harder, and I squeezed back reassuringly.

  “Rev, what, what about Grandpa? I—what am I going to tell him?” she asked. The old man’s brow wrinkled heavily.

  “We’ll talk more when I come up to the cabin. Rest assured though. Your grandpa is one tough devil. He’ll understand.”

  She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  Mercifully, my parents were nowhere to be found as I led us out to my car, snagging another jacket on the way out.

  I opened Meg’s door for her, and she crawled in stiffly. Her joints must have still been aching pretty badly. I shrugged into my jacked and zipped it up as I opened my door and slid in.

  “Where are we going?”

  “The cabin. It’s our family’s cabin out in the woods—mine, I guess. It was actually deeded to me on my last birthday. It’s kind of the teen wolf hangout for the pack. We meet up there most nights for a pack run.” I glanced over at her as we pulled onto a gravel drive that would take us out of the subdivision and into the woods. Her face was white, her jaw clenched. “Meg?”

  “It hurts,” she bit out.

  I reached for her hand again, but she flinched away like my skin was acid. I swallowed and tried to ignore how bad that minor rejection stung. My wolf didn’t take well to rejection, especially from his mate. I wasn’t a fan either. Taking a quick breath to calm the wolf, I tried to explain.

  “It might lessen the pain a little if I’m touching you.”

  Her left eyebrow raised. “Why?”

  “Your wolf reacts to mine,” I hedged. “Proximity to me should quiet your wolf for a little bit.”

  “Like when you kissed me?”

  I winced. “Yes. Sorry to spring it on you like that.” Especially after what happened at the game. I thought. “I didn’t know any other way to keep you from shifting right there in front of my parents, and I promised you I wouldn’t let that happen.” I tried for a grin, but it might have come across more like a grimace. I briefly wondered if she’d let Brody kiss her.

  She processed for a minute.

  “All right,” she conceded as she put her hand palm up on the console. I slid my hand on top of hers, and she sighed softly.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” I was genuinely puzzled. Could she warm up to the thought of being a wolf so quickly? My heart sped up at the thought.

  “For not letting me—shift—in front of your parents. And I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier.”

  “Oh. You’re welcome.” I quashed my hope and squeezed her hand again. Another sideways glance told me Meg wasn’t so angry anymore—not th
at she was happy, but she wasn’t spitting bullets. I needed to get to the next part of my orders from Alpha-Dad.

  “Meg, who did you call earlier?” I ventured, desperately hoping it wasn’t Brody.

  “Rachel. I had to tell someone, and I couldn’t very well tell Grandpa. The shock of it all might be too much for him.” Her shoulders shook as a light shudder went through her at the thought.

  Squeezing her hand again as my shoulders sagged in relief, I tried to delicately phrase my next question. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but did she believe you?” Rachel and I were casual acquaintances, friends, but we weren’t close. I didn’t know her that well.

  “She did.” Meg bit her lip. “That’s bad, isn’t it? I mean, the way your dad reacted when—” She dropped off and her eyes got huge. “Oh! I have to call Rachel back! I was mid-sentence when your dad grabbed the phone! She’s going to kill me!” She bent over to search for her phone in her purse. “Or march herself over here and get herself killed,” she muttered.

  Rachel picked up on the first ring. She was yelling loud enough I could hear the entire conversation.

  “Megan Elizabeth Carmichael! Where are you? Who do I call? The police? The National Guard? National Geographic? The Yeti Seekers? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

  “Rachel, calm down.” Meg hiccupped. “No, don’t call anyone.”

  “Are you okay?” Rachel interrupted again.

  “No, I’m not okay, not at all, but I’m…safe.” She glanced at me. “For the moment.”

  “You’re sure? You’re absolutely, one-hundred-percent-sure you’re safe?”

  “Yes. I’m here with Sam.”

  “Well, isn’t he the jerk-face that turned you into a werewolf in the first place?” Rachel sounded incensed. I could imagine her wild red curls bouncing around as she waved her arms in the air to explain her displeasure with my fangs. I winced.

  Megan sighed, her eyes closing. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yes, he’s the jerk-face who turned me into a werewolf, but he didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

  “An accident.” Suspicion dripped from the other end of the phone.