“How’s your arm,” Beth asked, her voice shaky.
Justin was shocked by the question at first, then couldn’t help but smile at Beth. “After all you saw, that’s your question.”
Beth shrugged her shoulders, “I’m not sure what I saw,” she said, her eyes locked on his. “If I saw what I think I saw, then the world is a much different place than I thought it was.”
Justin was shocked by her response; he’d never dreamed that she’d be so calm about watching him turn into a mountain lion. But again, he reminded himself that her calm might only be a cover for the shock she was in, that inside she was probably even now becoming afraid or worse disgusted by what he really was. Not sure how to answer her, he pulled onto the road and started for town, relieved to have the distraction of driving.
They hadn’t gone more than a mile before the silence in the cab of the truck became oppressive, and he realized that the longer he stayed quiet, the harder it was going to be to explain. As soon as he found a place, he pulled off the road and turned off the truck.
“I don’t know where to start, what to tell you, what you want to know,” he finally said, when he couldn’t find the words to tell her what she needed to know.
Beth looked over at him and asked the one question he was hoping she wouldn’t: “What are you?”
***Beth***
She hadn’t meant for the question to come out quite so harshly, but it was all she could think to say. Looking at Justin, she realized that he looked like the same person, but now she knew that he was something else entirely. Something she’d only read about in books, something that she’d never believed was real: only a monster created in the mind of an author.
Of course, like anyone else she’d heard of tribal cultures that believed in shapeshifting but she’d never bought into the phenomena. Shapeshifters were like witches and vampires: a fun distraction to scare you on a rainy night, nothing more.
Part of her wanted to believe that what she’d seen had only been a product of her fright, but then she remembered the mountain lion that had saved her that night not so long ago. Justin had been there then too, showing up right after the lion had disappeared.
She waited for him to answer, to tell her that she’d imagined everything she’d seen, that his arm had never been hurt and that he wasn’t a shapeshifter who preferred the shape of a mountain lion. But deep down she knew that she wasn’t going to hear those words, that what she’d felt from him, the power that seemed to radiate off him, was part of the ability.
He’d hesitated so long that she began to think that he wasn’t going to answer, when he finally said, “I’m a shape-shifter.”
The words echoed around inside the truck, making them both hold their breaths for several long seconds. “I don’t know what to say,” Beth finally said, searching Justin’s eyes. “I thought those things only existed in books.”
Justin winced at her words. “We’re as real as you are,” he said, the hurt in his voice clear.
Beth immediately felt bad, “I’m sorry, that was a poor choice of words, but this is almost too much to believe.”
Justin’s heart leaped with joy; she’d said almost too much, and that meant that there was hope she’d believe and understand. “My family has had this ability for as long as we can trace our ancestors; no one is quite sure exactly why we have this ability or how it works, but it’s been passed down for hundreds of years.”
“It was you that night on campus; you were the mountain lion I saw,” Beth said, still trying to cope with what she was learning.
“I couldn’t stop the change; sometimes I can’t control it,” Justin said, embarrassed.
“Like with the bear?”
“Yes, it’s like something, some instinct deep inside me takes over, and I can’t stop. That bear knew what I was; that’s why he came after us. I put you in danger taking you out there,” Justin said, the full weight of what he’d done coming to rest on his shoulders. “You could have been killed; I should have known better.”
The pain in Justin’s voice melted whatever resistance to the truth she’d been holding onto; acceptance washed over her as well as a feeling that took her breath away and left her a little dizzy. It took her a moment to realize that it was love she was feeling: an overwhelming, intense love that blossomed and grew with each breath she took.
Chapter Eight
***Justin***
Beth was silent for so long, he was sure that she blamed him too, but then she said, “But we’re fine, you got hurt, but it’s...” She trailed off, not able to say the words.
Justin held out his arm, which now only had four small scars where the horrible bite had been. “Shifters heal fast; it’s part of our gift,” he said, not sure how much more he should tell her right then.
When Beth looked up from the scars on his arm and met his eyes, he could see that she’d had too much for one day and there was still so much he’d have to tell her if she accepted what she already knew. Instinctively he knew that she needed time before that happened, so he pulled back on the road and headed for campus.
When they got back to the dorm, he walked her to her room, not sure if he should kiss her or not. But instead of kissing her, he took her hands in his and said, “I know it must seem like you’ve stepped into a bad horror movie, but I want you to remember that I’m still me, nothing about me has really changed. I care a lot about you Beth, and I hope you can look beyond what you’ve discovered today and see the real me. I’m not a monster, just a little different than everyone else.”
Beth didn’t say a word, simply stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “I never thought that you were a monster, Justin, but this is going to take a little getting used to. I might need a little time.” Then she slipped into her room and shut the door, leaving him standing in the hallway confused.
He was tempted to knock on her door, to demand to know if she was breaking up with him. But he knew that might only make things worse, so he walked away feeling like his heart was breaking. All he could do now was wait and hope that she came to him, that she could accept who he was and what he could do.
Instead of going back to his room, he headed for Penny’s, knowing that his sister was the only one who might be able to cheer him up. He’d hardly seen her since he’d started dating Beth and she’d been calling him relentlessly for the last week. It was time he admitted to someone that he’d screwed up and fallen in love with a human, and Penny was the perfect person.
As his twin, she’d understand how he felt, in fact, thanks to her uncanny ability to know what he was thinking, she probably already knew that he was in trouble. So, it was no surprise when she opened the door before he’d even knocked.
“What have you done now?” she asked, opening the door wider to let him in.
***Beth***
Beth walked into her room and went straight to the mirror over her dresser and looked at herself. She looked completely normal; in fact, there was a blush to her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. Up until just a few hours ago, she’d been happier than she’d ever been in her life, all her dreams finally coming true. But those dreams had been shattered by something she was still trying to come to grips with. Justin was a shifter.
She’d never imagined that the day would end this way, that her perfect love affair would turn into something that she’d only read about in books. Growing up, her favorite book had been Beauty and the Beast; she’d made her mother read it to her over and over until she had every word memorized and the pages were falling out. Now she was living it, or a very similar version of it, and suddenly their Halloween costume didn’t seem quite so cute anymore.
Sliding up in the bed, she grabbed her computer and began to search, but the longer she searched, the more questions she had. There were pages and pages about specific shifters, plenty of information about skin-walkers and similar religious men from all over the world, but nowhere could she find any information about what a shifter’s life was like.
Exhausted from the struggle of coming to terms with what she’d just learned about the man she loved, she closed her eyes and let sleep take her, promising herself that tomorrow she’d talk to him, make him explain more. Her dreams that night were filled with nothing but Justin, the feeling of him kissing her, the way his green eyes sparkled when he laughed, his wry sense of humor and the way he could make her laugh. But there were also images of the mountain lion with the glowing green eyes, eyes that were more human than animal.
When she woke the next morning, the remnants of her dreams still floating in her mind, she knew that it didn’t matter if Justin was a shifter, a vampire, or just a regular man: she was in love with him. For more than half her life, she’d existed on the edge of death, not knowing if she’d live to have the life she dreamed of. Falling in love with a shifter had never been in those dreams, but a man like Justin had been.
Feeling all the confusion and doubt melting away, she jumped out of bed and threw open the curtains. The sun was shining, the trees were still wearing their colorful fall colors, and Justin was still the same wonderful, caring man he was the day before. Now that she’d come to terms with the truth about him, she knew that there was no turning back and that her questions could wait until she told him how she felt.
As much as she wanted to see Justin right then, to fix the divide that her learning the truth had put between them, she had classes she couldn’t miss. But her night was free, and she knew that his was too, so she picked up her phone and sent him a text message to meet her before dinner in her room.
She knew that she should have called him, but she just wasn’t ready to talk to him yet, she’d made a decision that would affect both their lives and talking to him might make her change her mind. Justin needed to understand that she accepted him for who he was, that he wasn’t a monster and she was going to tell him that in the most direct way she knew how to.
***Justin***
As soon as she shut the door, Penny was on him. “What’s going on? Why have you been avoiding me?” she asked, pretending to be hurt, but it was really anger simmering below the surface.
“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been busy,” he said, immediately on his guard.
“With your new girlfriend I suppose,” she said, then grinned at him. “Did you think I wouldn’t know that you were falling for someone? If I hadn’t felt it, campus gossip would have told me that; everyone in the dorm is talking about it. It’s about time you found someone. Who is she? Do we know her people?”
Justin sighed; he’d known that Penny would give him the third degree, but he wasn’t sure how she was going to take the answers she was going to get. “No, you don’t know her, and yes, I’ve been spending a lot of time with her.”
Penny could instantly sense that he was hiding something. “What aren’t you telling me? Spill it. Have you gotten her pregnant already?”
Justin jumped up from the chair he’d been sitting on suddenly uncomfortable; Penny held up her hands. “Okay, sorry, I guess that was a little crude, even for me.”
He sat back down again and said, “I think I’m in love with Beth; she’s wonderful, makes me feel… Oh, I don’t know, you know what I mean.”
“But?” Penny knew that there was more.
“She’s human,” Justin spit out, then waited for his sister’s reaction.
This time it was Penny who jumped and began pacing around the room. “What do you mean she’s human? Have you lost your mind?”
Justin told her everything, from the way he felt when they were helping her move in to the night he stepped in and saved her from the drunks. Then when Penny sat down thinking he’d told her the worst, he recounted what had happened earlier that day.
“I love her, Penny, and she wasn’t too freaked out about it. She said it might take her some time to get used to the idea, but she didn’t run away from me,” he finished, sending his sister a pleading look.
Penny stared at him. “I don’t know what to say except you have to stay away from her. What has dad always taught us? Humans are dangerous; they don’t understand us; they’re afraid of us. Do you really think Beth is going to be any different?”
“But don’t you see, she is different? She didn’t freak out; she didn’t run away; she was more worried about my arm than anything else,” Justin said. “Just because a few humans have acted badly in the past that doesn’t mean that Beth will.”
Penny was becoming exasperated. “Okay, fine, let’s say that Beth accepts you and all of us, that she has no problem with the fact that we can become a dangerous animal at will. What happens then? You build a little house for the two of you and live happily ever after?” she said, sarcastically.
“I don’t know; I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. I just know how I feel and I think she feels the same way. Am I just supposed to walk away from that?”
“Yes, because it’s the right thing to do. Do you really think that Beth is going to be happy sitting at home while you roam all over the countryside? How do you think she’s going to take the fact that she’ll be living surrounded by people just like us? Eventually she’s going to feel singled out, like she is the one who’s different. You and I both know how uncomfortable that can be,” Penny said, then threw her hands up in the air when she saw the stubborn look on her brother’s face. “I can see that you’re not going to listen to me, but let me remind you of one thing: humans don’t live as long as we do, and someday she’ll be gone, and you’ll still have years of your life left. Are you really willing to set yourself up for that kind of pain?”
Penny’s words echoed in his mind for hours after he left her room, but no matter how much sense they made, he couldn’t change the way he felt when he was with Beth. She brought out the best in him, calmed the restlessness inside of him. Deep down he knew that she’d learn to accept him for what he was, that she would never betray him or purposely hurt him.
He fell asleep with thoughts of Beth on his mind. Penny had made some good points, but his heart just wasn’t listening to reason. His father had always taught him that life was full of challenges, that facing those challenges was part of being alive. If loving a human was going to be his challenge, then he’d gladly take on that challenge. They’d find a way to make it work, find a way to share a life together, and if that life was a short one, then he’d make the most of every day they had together.
Chapter Nine
***Justin***
Justin didn’t think that he’d ever been so nervous in his entire life. When he’d gotten the text message from Beth, he was a little disappointed that she hadn’t called. But instead of taking it as a bad sign, he chose to take it as a positive sign; at least she wanted to see him. But now standing in front of her door, he began to worry that what it really meant was that she didn’t want to see him anymore.
Last night he’d been so sure of her feelings, but in the light of day, that confidence had dwindled, and with each step he took closer to her room, it had withered even more. Now he wasn’t as sure of her feelings as he’d been the night before. Penny’s words were still echoing in his brain, talking to the part of him that couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be for the best if they did stop seeing each other.
But when Beth opened the door and he saw her, his doubts fled, replaced by a certainty that what was between them was meant to be. His heart swelled with affection and love when she smiled at him nervously, and he knew that no matter how much time he had with her here on Earth, it would never be enough.
They stared at each other silently for a few seconds, neither sure what to say, but then Justin fou
nd his voice. “You look wonderful tonight.”
Beth blushed, pleased that he’d noticed, then stepped back to let him into her room. “I thought that we’d have dinner here tonight; it’s a little more private than the dining room,” she said, her voice trembling.
Justin looked around, immediately reassured that everything between them was going to be okay. Beth had moved the bed back against the wall and set up a table in the middle of the room, covered with a white tablecloth complete with candles; it reminded him of the steakhouse they’d gone to on their first date.
She was clearly as nervous as he was, and he wished that they didn’t have to go through this, that he’d been able to tell her instead of her finding out the way she had. There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much he wanted to explain, but most of all he wanted to kiss her, wanted to kiss her until it didn’t matter any longer.
Instead, he took her hands in his and said, “I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did. I wish it could have been different and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for almost getting you hurt.”
Beth finally looked him in the eyes. “I know you didn’t mean to put me in danger, Justin, and I wasn’t hurt. I’m not upset about it, and you shouldn’t be either,” she said, then reached up and caressed his face.
Justin was so relieved his knees almost collapsed under him. “I should have told you that first night. Instead I made you think you’d been seeing things,” he said, pulling her into his arms, so happy he thought he might burst.
“I can understand why you didn’t tell me,” she said, then added, “And I’m not sure I would have believed you anyway.”
“But you do now?” he asked, needing to hear her say the words.
FairPlay Shifters Prequel: (A Paranormal Romance Story) Page 5
