by B M Griffin
“No. It is Jared’s now that he is alpha. The house passes from alpha to alpha.”
She removed her hand from the phone’s mic. “We’re at Adam’s friend Jared’s house. We should be able to come home soon.”
Adam narrowed his eyes at her when she said that, but Shayla held up her hand to silence him before he said anything.
“Why have you been unavailable every time I’ve called, if you’re so okay?”
Shayla could hear the annoyance in Megan’s voice, but she could also pick up on the underlying worry that was really driving Megan’s inquiry.
“It’s a long story. One I think would be best told in person, and that is if you really want to know. You aren’t going to like it, Megan, but if you really want to know everything, then I will tell you.”
The line was silent for a minute and Shayla was afraid she was going to lose her friend, and considering Adam and Megan were the only friends she had, the thought had anxiety racking her body—or maybe that was the change she was still experiencing—either way, it wasn’t any fun.
Shayla was just about to start spilling details, when she heard Megan release a sigh. “You’re one of them now, aren’t you? A werewolf.”
Her eyes shot up to meet Adam’s. She knew he could hear everything Megan was saying on the other end of the phone. He nodded and she closed her eyes and spoke into the phone, “Yes, Megan. I am, or I will be when I’m finally done with this transition period.”
As if her body had been waiting for some sign from her that she was ready, Shayla felt a surge of power shoot through her like nothing she had experienced in her life. In that moment, she could feel her wolf—see it as clear as if she were standing face-to-face with it. She dropped the phone as her hands became large, fur-covered paws. She could still hear Megan calling out to her from where the phone landed on the bed. She moved off of the bed just in time. The power rushing through her exploded into a bright white light lifting her up off the ground, and when her feet landed again, she was on all fours. She knew she was large, judging by her current view of the bed. She was pretty sure her shoulders were at least a foot above the height of the mattress. The look on Adam’s face was priceless. He was looking at her like she was an Angel sent straight from Heaven. Like she was something he had never before seen.
She tried to speak, but a low howling sound escaped her mouth instead. Either way, it seemed that Adam knew what she was trying to tell him. He picked up the phone that she had dropped. She could still hear Megan shouting her name and demanding someone answer her.
Adam held the phone away from his ear when he spoke. “Megan. Megan listen, she’s fine. She just finished her transition is all.” Adam paused and Shayla could hear Megan shouting a string of profanities that made her cringe a little for him. When Megan’s rant went quiet, Adam went on. “Look, Megan, the final stage of the change is shifting into our wolf form. It’s not something we can control. It comes on suddenly and all we can do is let it. If you want to talk to Shayla, then meet us at our place tonight. Shayla said she wanted to talk to you in person, so if you want to see her or know anything else, then you’ll meet us there.”
There was a pause before Shayla heard Megan let out an exasperated, “Fine. I’ll be there at five and you both better not keep me waiting another minute.”
“We’ll be there,” Adam assured her.
The line went silent and the screen on Shayla’s phone went dark. Shayla knew that Megan was only upset because she cared about her, and she really did feel bad for leaving her friend in the dark even longer, but she had bigger things to deal with in that moment. She was a wolf! A werewolf to be more precise, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do now.
A thought popped into her head and Shayla felt the panic rising in her chest. She needed to talk to Adam, to ask him a very important question, but how when she was a freaking wolf? She looked at him and tried to speak again, this time she sounded more like a crying puppy than anything as tuff or sinister as a werewolf.
Adam pointed to his head and she heard his voice fill her mind, even though his lips never moved. “We can communicate telepathically with other werewolves. You just have to make the decision for me to hear from you and I will.”
That was a decision easily made, Shayla thought. She looked at him directly in the eyes and thought, “How do we know if it worked? If I belong to your pack or Kevin’s.”
Adam smiled slyly. “I’m pretty sure it worked.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Your eyes are glowing, and they aren’t brown anymore.”
“What?”
Shayla looked for a mirror. There was a dresser on the other side of the room and she made her way around the bed to check herself out. She expected to see blue eyes shining back at her, like Adam’s since he had changed her, but what she saw was even more beautiful. Her eyes were a bright, glowing shade of purple. She took the chance to check the rest of herself out. She was right; she was huge, but she had to say she was a beautiful wolf. Her fur coat was thick and shiny. It was a light grey and around her eyes and the end of her tail, there were hints of charcoal grey that gave her coloring something extra special. The darker color around her eyes further highlighted the purple that was reflected back at her.
“Wow,” she said.
Adam stepped up beside her. “Yeah, I’d say wow covers it. You make one beautiful wolf, Shay.”
If she’d been a human right then, Shayla knew that her face would’ve been ten shades of red. Luckily, wolves didn’t blush.
“Do you feel anything pulling at you in your mind,” Adam asked. “Like you’re being summoned away from here?”
“No.”
“Then it seems like it worked. We should go down and talk to Jared. He can issue you an alpha command to be sure. You won’t be able to deny him if it worked. An alpha’s command irresistible.”
Shayla cocked her head to the side. If she were in her human form her lips would be pursed, while she looked at him like he had forgotten his mind. “You can defy him, Adam.”
“Actually, that was Mike I was able to overcome. Jared is stronger, so it would be more difficult, and it doesn’t mean I don’t feel the pull to obey, I just have the strength to fight through it. Oh, and so you know, when you witnessed me disobey Mike, well that was the first time I’d ever done so.”
“Really?”
Adam shrugged. “Never had a reason to before. I think my need to protect you gave me the strength to fight through the weight of his order.”
That made her smile, or at least she was pretty sure she was smiling. God, she loved him. She hated that it had taken her so long to realize it, but at least she had now. Heat rushed through her body again, but this time she knew it had nothing to do with her new wolf transition, and everything to do with wanting to be alone with the man currently in front of her.
“Let’s go see Jared and get this over with,” she told him with her mind. “I don’t know about you, but I’m suddenly dying to get home.”
Adam smiled bright and she was sure he knew exactly what she really wanted. “Let’s get this done. Some alone time sounds perfect right now.”
****
They found Jared downstairs in the meeting room where they had tried to convince Mike of the danger Kevin and his pack presented. Tried and failed. Shayla forced herself to cut off that train of thought. She didn’t want to think about how that had turned out.
As soon as they entered the room, everyone’s attention was on her. Jared had a wide smile on his face as he looked her over, but the rest of the guys looked like their eyes were bugging out of their heads as they took her in.
“Well, judging by those eyes of yours, Shayla, I’d say your plan worked,” Jared said. “That has to be a trait passed on to you by Adam.”
“I want to be sure,” she said.
“Can you give her an order, so we can see how it affects her?” Adam asked Jared. “We need to be sure you’re her true alpha.”
“Of course.”
Jared stood up from his seat at the head of the table and walked over to her. The mischievous smile on his face made her take pause, but she trusted him, so she stood still and waited. Jared looked her in the eyes and issued the order without speaking a word. She felt the weight of his power wash over her, urging her to do as she was told. She was also very aware of the fact that she was strong enough to resist him if she wanted to, but that wasn’t the point in that moment. Shayla let her body take over, let her instincts follow through on the command issued by her alpha, and she turned to Adam. Shayla pounced on him like an over-excited puppy, knocking him to the ground, and then she proceeded to cover his face with kisses. In her wolf form, this equated to Shayla licking his face until he was one wet, drool covered mess. Everyone in the room broke out into laughter, especially Jared who was clearly proud of himself. It sounded like she was in a room of hyenas with all the cackling.
When Shayla finally moved off of him, Adam got up and pulled his shirt off to use as a rag to wipe his face dry. He was laughing when he pulled the shirt away from his face and Shayla sat back on her haunches with a wolfy grin on her face. Once the laughing subsided, Jared looked at her, all humor gone from his face.
“Not that I didn’t fully enjoy that, but I know you could’ve ignored me if you wanted. I could sense your power like a force-field pushing back against me.”
Everyone was still looking at her, but instead of the humor that had been on their faces moments ago, they all looked at her with varying versions of shock and awe.
“It’s true,” she said. “I did feel your power urging me to do as I was told, but I also felt a resistance inside of me and I knew I could fight it if I wanted.”
Anxiety was creeping into her mind as she looked around the room at all of the shocked faces. Adam was smiling, but it wasn’t until she saw Jared’s smile return that Shayla was able to take a deep breath and relax again.
“We are going to get out of here for a while,” Adam said. “Shayla’s friend Megan is freaking out, and we promised to meet her for dinner, so she could see that I didn’t feed Shayla to the wolves.”
“Does she know about you? About us? Adam.” Jared had lost his smile again, and Shayla’s anxiety peeked back over her shoulder.
“She knows I’m a werewolf,” Adam said.
Shayla felt the urge to shift back into her human form. She wanted to defend Adam. To tell Jared it was her fault. That she had insisted Megan needed to know, and she wanted to say it to Jared’s face—out loud for the rest of the pack to hear.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Shayla felt a surge of power and she was no longer on all fours. She was standing on two feet, her view of the room and those in it from a higher vantage point, and then arms were flung around her and Adam’s body was plastered in front of hers. Adam’s growling brought realization to the forefront of her mind. She had just shifted in front of a room full of men-her werewolf brothers so to speak-and she was one hundred percent naked. The shift had happened so fast. The second the thought crossed her mind, boom, there she was in the flesh. Shayla covered her breasts with her arms, not that it did any good. She was sure everyone in the room had already gotten a full view of her birthday suit, despite Adam’s quick reflexes. A menacing growl rumbled deep within his throat as he looked around the room, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room.
Two women appeared in the room in the next minute, summoned by Jared. “Joanna and Kelly, this is Shayla.” Both girls glanced back in Shayla’s direction. “One of you should have something she can wear, right?”
“Sure, no problem,” Joanna said. Her smile was genuine and Shayla instantly felt more at ease.
“Good,” Jared said. “Shayla, just follow them and they’ll get you all set up.”
“Hold on a sec,” Kelly said, and left the room. She was back not a minute later with a blanket. She walked over to Shayla drooped the blanket over Shayla’s shoulders. “Don’t want ya traipsing through the house with all your goods on display. From the sounds of it, I think Adam would end up ripping all of the guys apart if ya did that.”
Shayla pulled the blanket around her shoulders and covered herself, gripping the blanket tight to make sure it wouldn’t fall off once she started moving. She followed Joanna and Kelly out of the room, motioning for Adam to wait when he tried to follow behind her. His pouting lip made her smile despite her embarrassment and her nerves loosened up a bit.
She followed Joanna and Kelly upstairs and into another bedroom. Joanna walked over to one of the two dressers in the room and pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She walked back to Shayla and held them out to her. “You look about the same size as me. These should fit.”
“Thanks.”
Shayla took the clothes and looked around hoping that there was an attached bathroom where she could get dressed. She was hoping to keep some semblance of privacy intact.
Kelly chuckled, “Oh hun, we’re all ladies here.”
Shayla’s face lit up like a stop light. She knew Kelly was right, but until her unplanned shifting in the meeting room a few moments earlier, the only people who’d ever seen her naked were her mom and Eric—oh, and probably the doctors who saved her life when Eric—nope, she wasn’t going there.
Joanna pushed Kelly’s shoulder, making Kelly take a step back. “Oh, stop antagonizing the girl, would ya. She just went through her transition and wound up naked in front of a bunch of guys she barely knows, letting them all get a good look at her goodies. She could use some privacy right about now.”
“I guess I didn’t think of it that way,” Kelly said.
“That’s because it didn’t happen to you,” Joanna said. “We’ll be out in the hall if ya need us, Shayla.”
“Thanks,” Shayla said.
She waited for them to shut the door, then she shut her eyes and took a deep breath and counted to ten. She let the blanket fall to the ground and put on the clothes Joanna had given her. Shayla decided that she would need to make sure she kept spare clothes in her car in case she ever had another accidental shifting experience.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Adam
Adam watched Shayla leave the room itching to go with her, but he could tell she needed a minute to herself. Her absence removed the distraction that had kept Jared from ripping him a new one, and when he turned to face his friend, Adam resigned himself to the lecture that was coming. Jared’s back was rigid, his bulky arms were crossed over his chest, and the scowl on his face would make young children cry for their mothers.
“You told someone else about us? Adam, what the hell were you thinking? Shayla, I understood—she was in danger—but you can’t just go around telling everyone what the two of you know. It puts us and them in danger if they can’t keep their mouths shut.”
“You think I don’t know that? I wish I’d never had to tell Shayla, but Kevin fucking Hall took that choice away from me when he decided to use her as a bargaining chip, hoping to make me his personal assassin. Unfortunately, that move also put Megan in danger because they were both supposed to work with him. The only way to convince her to drop the client of a lifetime was to show her what I am. She had to understand the danger ignoring my warning would put her in.”
Thinking about the danger that asshole had put Shayla in all over again, made Adam’s blood boil, and he knew that his eyes were back to being blue rings of fire.
“He’s right,” Shayla’s voice came from behind him, and he turned to see her walking back into the room with Joanna and Kelly right beside her. “Megan wasn’t going to believe that working with Kevin’s company was dangerous. We had worked really hard to get that account for our marketing firm, and giving it up meant committing career suicide. She needed to fully understand the gravity of the situation if I was going to convince her to give up Hall Global as our client.”
Jared stared at Shayla for a minute before releasing a deep breath. “I understand why you did it, and I can’t sa
y I wouldn’t have done the same thing if I’d been in your shoes. Just, try not to tell anyone else, okay?”
“That’ll be easy,” Shayla said. “I don’t have anyone else to tell.”
Sadness wrapped around Adam’s heart when he heard Shayla say things like that. It was true, she only hung out with him and Megan, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t loved. He’d told her time and again, when it came to friends, it wasn’t about quantity but quality.
Jared sensed her sadness too and he let the scowl completely drop from his face. He walked up to Shayla and put his hands on her shoulders. Adam had to fight the instinct to rip Jared’s arms from their sockets for touching what was his, but he knew Jared was only offering her the support any good pack alpha would.
“You have a whole pack now, Shayla,” Jared said, “and the pack is one big family. Family that will love you like a sister and fight to protect you. Understand?”
Shayla’s eyes were brimming with tears when she nodded at Jared. Adam was grateful for his friend’s kind words, he could see they had meant a lot to Shayla, but his wolf had tolerated Jared’s hands being on her as long as he was going to. Adam put his arm around Shayla’s waist and pulled her into him, effectively relieving her of Jared’s hold. Jared looked at Adam out of the corner of his eye and smirked. He knew exactly what him touching Shayla was doing to Adam, and he thought it was funny. Adam clenched his fist, resisting the urge to plow it into Jared’s face because he knew that it would only upset Shayla further.
“Y’all go ahead and get out of here. I don’t think any of us will have a lot of time to enjoy our time in our own homes, once Kevin decides to show all of his cards, so you should take this time while you can.”
“Thank you,” Shayla said.
“Of course,” Jared nodded, “and Adam, make sure Megan knows that she can’t tell anyone. Got it?”
“Yeah, I hear you. I’ll make sure she understands.”
****
