by Leela Ash
And then what? I don’t have a job or a future. I can’t live off this poor girl. I need to learn more about these Shifters and figure out what I’m doing with my life.
“Sure. Let’s visit the Wolf Pack.” Although in some ways it would be easier to just leave now. But if he were honest with himself he was glad to have an excuse to spend a little more time with her before their inevitable goodbye.
“Sage Pack is the closest. Why don’t we…”
His phone buzzed. Ash fell silent as he pulled it out.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Lucas.”
His grandfather’s rough voice cheered him at once. No matter how bad things got, he was always welcome at home. “Hey Gramps. What’s up?”
The pause that followed made him fear that Gramma had passed. Or Dodger, their ancient border collie, finally lost an argument with a coyote. “Had a visitor at the ranch last night. Son, I think she might be your sister.”
A queasy feeling, half excitement, half nerves, filled him at the thought. “I have a sister?”
“Said her name was Lily King.”
“Lily King.” Why the hell was he repeating everything Gramps said, like some broken tape recorder?
Ash’s eyes widened. Clearly that name meant something to her.
“Any chance you could stop by sometime soon? Don’t seem like the kind of thing to talk about over the phone.”
“How about this afternoon? My job ended so I’m free.” That was one way to put it…
“Good. We’ll see you then. Gram’ll get your room cleaned up.”
“Love you, Gramps. We’ll see you then.”
He turned to Ash. “Who’s this ‘Lily King’ that’s got you so excited?”
“She and her Dad are the Alphas of the Sand Pack. You come from nobility, buddy!”
Huh. Nobility. Him.
That was even weirder than having a family he’d never heard of.
He thought his mind might melt from overload at this point. Yesterday he was no one…a Monster…and now he was a …a what? A Prince? Well Go with the Flow had always worked in the past…so…
“How can there be two Alphas in one Pack? I mean, I think I know what an Alpha is – but there should be only one, right?”
“Normally, yes. Wolf Packs have two, however. One for the women, one for the men. The Sand Pack’s a little unusual. Normally the Alphas are a Mated pair but Aaron King’s Mate is dead.”
His mother. “What was her name?”
Ash’s nose scrunched up in a delightfully cute way that made him want to kiss it. “You know… I have no idea. She died ages ago. Probably right around when you were born.”
“So this Aaron King is my father?”
“Yeah. Maybe. I mean, if your grandfather is right about Lily. I just don’t understand how King would ‘lose’ one of his kids.”
Lucas could. Old man probably knocked up his side chick and didn’t want to confess. Could be he never knew he had a son. His own mother might have taken that secret to the grave.
Only one way to find out. “Want to come to my family ranch and hear what Gramps has to say?”
“Sure. And, if you want, we can pay a visit to the Sand Pack afterwards.”
Dodger spotted him long before his Honda rattled up to the Clay ranch. Grey hair speckled the collie’s muzzle and one eye had long since gone blind. Yet the old girl still fixed a fierce, unfriendly glare on his ‘strange’ car. This was her valley, and nobody messed with it.
Her soft growl cut off clean when he stepped out. Tail wagging, she ambled over on stiff legs to lick his hand.
Ash stepped out and gazed around. Probably not too impressed with the ranch’s weathered barn and faded paint. “What an old dog!”
Dodger’s tail slowed. She didn’t bark, but she did march over to the other side of the car to give this new woman a thorough sniffing.
“Lucas!”
Gramps wandered onto the porch. Not quite as decrepit as his dog, but showing his age. Every time he came home his grandparents seemed ten years older.
Guess I need to visit more often…
His clothes hadn’t changed one bit. Overalls and some damned flannel shirt, despite the summer heat. White hair sticking out in all directions, a fluffy mop that would put Albert Einstein to shame. When he spotted Ash, the old man ran a hand over it. Which didn’t help at all.
“Gramps. Hey, Gramma!”
Amanda Clay appeared in the doorway. She, too, noticed Ash right away, and her smile stiffened into a grimace of surprise. “Who’s your friend?”
‘Friend.’ Said, of course, with a little lilt that scolded, ‘You didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend!’
“This is Ash Anderson. Ash, these are my grandparents, Jeffrey and Amanda Clay. The dog trying to decide whether or not to run you off the property is Dodger.”
“Pleased to meet you,” the woman said. Her formal courtesy made the Monster twitch with irritation, like it felt a flea burrowing under its fur.
“Likewise,” Gramps rumbled.
“Lucas didn’t tell us he was bringing a… friend.”
There. Now Gramma had the complaint out in the open. In five minutes, she’d demand to know when the wedding was and how many babies they planned to have. Lucas loved his grandparents but they treated him like some prize bull that needed to be bred ASAP. Made him want to hop back in the car and flee for the hills.
Time to squash their hopes. “We’re not friends.”
Now Ash shot him a wounded look.
Oh Shit, he thought. Maybe that was too far. Dammit, he never said the right thing. But he knew he couldn’t stay. Yeah, they’d had fun last night, but better to not get in deeper. That had always been his way in the past…
To his mind, that was just common sense. But for the first time in his life, his heart rebelled. It whispered that maybe things had changed last night.The Monster whined, unhappy with him.
Maybe a little flattery would calm her down. “Ash is an expert. A professor.”
“Grad student,” she muttered.
So much for flattery. This is why he avoided people. He sucked at conversations. “But she knows a lot about things like… my problem. The Monster.”
That admission didn’t shock his grandparents as much as he expected. Both of them knew about the Monster. His first Shift hit when he was fourteen and it nearly scared them to death. But their love had survived that shock unscarred. He’d always known that he shared no blood with the Clays. Despite that, they gave him a name and a home and more love than most people found in their whole lives. Through the years, as he struggled to understand and control the weird, animal impulses that drove him, his grandparents watched his back. They protected him. They shielded him. They loved him.
As they did today. “Well come on in then, young lady. I figure Amanda can get the guest bedroom tidied up for you.”
“Of course.” Gramma held the screen door open for all of them, and Dodger. “There’s plenty of lemonade.”
Small talk wasn’t Lucas’ strength. Polite questions and fake pleasantries jabbed his Wolf like a sharp stick. Every little nicety made him long to Shift and bolt for the hills.
Not today. Today, the Monster lay beside him, as content as a big dog. He himself didn’t join the talk, but it didn’t drive him crazy. Why the change? Maybe it was Ash, who seemed genuinely interested in his life and his grandparents. Or perhaps it was a matter of time. Every second of chit chat was another moment he could spend with her. Another tiny reprieve before they split apart, forever.
In the end it was Gramps who cut things short. Setting his glass down on the table, he stared somberly at Ash. “So you know my grandson is… is…”
“A Wolf. They call themselves ‘Shifters.’” Her smile was warm and reassuring. “Normally I wouldn’t talk about this with anyone. But – because you’re related to a Shifter – you’re Kin. Like me. So I can talk freely. Do know that you shouldn’t share this information with regul
ar people.”
“Why would I?” Gramps grumbled. “They’d lock me up in a loony bin.”
True enough. Lucas found himself twisting his ring, the one his mother had ‘left’ him. An annoying nervous habit. He forced his hands to abandon that aimless fidgeting. “You said that someone showed up claiming to be my sister.”
“No, she came here looking for information about your mother. Apparently her father – your dad too, I suppose – carried her out to the highway. He died there and a man called Aaron King took her in and raised her. Like we took you in.”
After his mother carried him here. In the opposite direction from where her husband went.
Why would they split up, each with one baby? That makes no sense.
The Monster rumbled its disagreement. It knew when a Pack split up.
Something hunted them. One thing. They took their pups and scattered. It couldn’t hunt them both.
A chilling thought to Lucas. Was something still out there, looking for him?
“Did you tell this Lily about me?”
“No.” Gramps shook his head sharply, sending a lock of white hair bouncing. “Not our place. If you want to do that, that’s your business. We’ll back you, whatever you choose.”
As they always did. Lucas smiled at his grandparents and even the Monster’s endless pacing died away.
Throughout this, Ash sat quietly, sipping her lemonade. Now, she cleared her throat. “Aaron and Lily King are the leaders of the Sand Pack, a local Wolf Pack.”
“People like my boy.” Gramps’ voice grew rough.
“And girls?” Gramma added. “There are girl Wolves, right? I mean, there must be. This Lily was a girl. Very, very pretty, if you ask me.”
“Gram,” Lucas muttered, “tell me you’re not trying to hook me up with my sister.”
“Oh, no, no, I…”
Everyone chuckled at her blush.
Except Ash. She sat, clutching her lemonade, a bright, stiff smile plastered across her face.
Sadly, Gram was on a match-making roll. “I just think you’d be so much happier with your own kind. With girls like you. Why…”
“Gram, stop.”
Poor Ash. He was in no position to seriously consider a relationship. He had too much shit he needed to get together in his own life first. Still, this was a hell of a brutal way to burst any illusions she had. He hated to see her in pain but the faster you pulled a bandage off, the less it hurt, right? Break-ups were the same. It was kinder this way. He tried to convince himself of this at least.
Only he didn’t feel kind. He felt guilty. Treacherous and low, like he’d destroyed her life. Their lives. Even the Monster glared at him, eyes smoldering with fury. The Wolf that never gave a damn about any woman had grown freakishly possessive about this one.
Ash was amazing, he’d give the Monster that. Smart, beautiful, kind, resourceful. Someone he could spend his life with.
Maybe. If he actually wanted that.
Which he didn’t, he reminded his Wolf. Especially not now, when his life was a complete shit-show.
The Monster turned away in disgust. It wasn’t buying his excuses.
Ash’s soft voice drew him out of those thoughts. “If you want, I can introduce you to the Sand Pack.”
“Sure.”
“Are you okay?” She peered closely at his face, scanning it for… something.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“This is a lot to process. Finding out about Shifters… learning that you have a family you never knew…”
Women. Always going on about the ‘feels’. “I’m fine. I always knew I was adopted, so no surprise there. And it’s kinda nice to know I’m not some lone monster.”
“Okay. So you’re not upset? At all?”
Honestly, he didn’t know what he felt. Agitated… excited… a case of the jitters so bad it almost seemed like anger.
Not that there was any point brooding over that nonsense. “Nope. I’m fine.”
“Alright.” Disbelief plain on her face, Ash rose to her feet. “Let’s go meet the Sand Pack then.”
Chapter 6.
Even an hour later, the speed with which Lucas had ‘gotten over’ her still stung. So, when they arrived at the Den of the Sand Pack, Ash took a wicked delight from his horror.
“These are ‘my people’?”
Overhead, a rusty sign that read ‘Ringo’s Spread’ creaked in the wind. Beyond it lay a cluster of ratty trailers. Junked cars littered the scrub. The remains of a bonfire smoldered, filling the air with the stench of old smoke. A dozen leather-clad bikers lay passed out around it. Beer cans sparkled gaily in the sunlight.
Ash stepped around a puddle of vomit. Looked like the Sand Pack held one hell of a party last night!
Still stunned, Lucas refused to follow her. Something dark stirred within her at the sight of his disgust.
Aw, what’s the matter? You’ll fit right in! Why, I bet these guys will be impressed as hell with how fast you can ghost a girl.
Okay, that wasn’t fair… but it was how she felt. Yeah, technically they weren’t an item. Nobody made any promises. Heck, neither of them really knew the other. Still, last night felt special. To her, anyway. Passionate, intense, and, well… loving. Lucas seemed to know her deepest needs, intuitively. That had to mean something.
Yeah, he’s good in bed. So what? He’s still a jerk.
“Clearly, the Sand Pack is not at its best this morning,” she murmured.
“Ya think?” His nose wrinkled as he, too, edged around the vomit.
A trailer door banged open to reveal the first clean thing in the Spread. Dressed all in black – black pants, black shirt, black blazer – an elegant man emerged, staring at them intently. With his high cheekbones and perfectly coifed hair, he looked like an aristocrat slumming at a biker bash.
“Holy hell,” Lucas whispered. “You weren’t kidding about Dragons…”
A Dragon? Here? Not for the first time, Ash cursed her lack of Shifter sight. “Does his spirit have horns?”
“Yeah. Curvy ones.”
Flight of the Snows, then – not the First Flight. Very important to know which of the two feuding Dragon bands you talked to. From what Mom said, his Flight was extremely formal. She struggled to recall the proper honorifics for such a meeting.
“Greetings to you, O Brother of the Wind!” Ash called out. Several Wolves jerked awake at her yell, staring with bleary malevolence at the woman who’d interrupted their sleep.
However the Dragon smiled – and that was all that mattered. Picking his way neatly through the garbage he strolled over. “Greetings as well, traveler unknown to me. I am Casey Briggs. Be welcome at Ringo’s Spread.”
Which was the last place on earth she expected to find a member of the Flight of the Snows! “I am Ash, daughter of Magdalene Anderson of the Sedona Warren. Kin, not Hare. This is Lucas Clay…”
An energy filled the air, an electric charge like the calm before a storm. Casey straightened and his gaze bored into her companion.
Congratulations, Lucas. You have a Dragon’s full attention.
“Lucas Clay. Grandson of Amanda and Jeffrey Clay. I remember your picture.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Only a faint pallor beneath his tan betrayed the Wolf’s nervousness.
To be fair, if I saw a 60 foot-long predator staring at me, I’d be sweating up a storm.
Some days it was nice to be Kin, not a Shifter. Much easier to talk rationally when you couldn’t see the t-rex looming over you.
Nope, she was as cool as ice as she explained the reason for their visit. “You visited with Lily King? Then you know about the strange woman who died at the Clay ranch a couple decades ago.”
“Liliana. Mother of Lily King. And, I assume, of you, Mr. Clay.”
Lucas nodded slowly. “My mom’s name was Liliana? Who was my dad?”
“We do not know yet. We only spoke to the Clays yesterday and, well, after that visit the evening spiraled
out of control.”
Ash paused, hoping he would explain. Instead the Dragon gave a curt bow. “Excuse me. I should wake Lily. You will want to meet your sister.”
All the talking had woken more Wolves. They stretched, scratched, and scowled, filled the Spread with grouchy, drowsy glares. Immune to their glowers. Casey strode off.
Lucas stared after the Dragon, stiff and silent. Ash squelched an urge to ask him if he was alright.
Of course he is. He’s fine. He’s a guy, after all, and they’re always fine. Or so they say.
Two minutes later Casey returned – with a woman that made Ash gulp in shock.
Lily King was gorgeous. Lean and strong, she moved with a greyhound’s grace, trotting across the Spread in her bare feet. She’d pulled on a pair of jeans and a ‘Made in America’ t-shirt. Wisps of brown curls surrounded an angelic face, with full red lips and a delicate chin.
Oh my word, what I wouldn’t give to roll out of bed looking like that!
She also wore a lovely silver necklace – completely at odds with her I-just-woke-up grunge vibe. Ash didn’t recognize it. Perhaps it was some kind of status symbol in the Pack.
Wolves circled close to listen as their Alpha walked up.
“Lucas Clay, Ash Anderson,” the Dragon said, “this is my Mate, Lily King.”
Mate? Holy crap! Mom would be horrified; only Hares were ‘good enough’ for Dragons, in her book. But Ash thought it was kind of sweet to know that love didn’t discriminate the way her mother did.
“Lily, this is Lucas Clay. Your brother.”
The Wolf’s eyes raked him up and down. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Lucas growled back.
Ash and the Dragon both winced. “Lily…” he sighed.
“What?”
“Be nice.”
“Nice? Me? That’s a stretch. I’ll need a lot more caffeine before you can squeeze ‘nice’ out of me.”
Looked like it was up to her and Casey to smooth things over. “Ms. King…” Okay, that was a mistake! Lily scowled like she’d just walked up and tweaked her nose. “Lily. Up until yesterday, Lucas didn’t know he was a Shifter.”
