Outcast: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Pack Prophecy Book 1)

by R. L. Caulder

  A large variety of sliced meats was the main appetizer, as that's what they enjoyed the most, courtesy of their inner wolves. I managed to spend almost thirty minutes in blissful silence until someone burst through the doors to the main room. A strong pine scent wafted through the room, and I rolled my eyes without looking up.

  Jameson.

  "Hurry up, Kira. My patience is running thin with you today," he growled.

  "Isn't it always?" tumbled out of my mouth before I realized I’d voiced my inner thoughts.

  My eyes darted to him, and my hopes that I’d mumbled it quietly enough for him to not hear were dashed when I saw the anger simmering there. His pale skin, just a few shades darker than his white hair, caused his piercing eyes to be the first feature you fixated on when you looked at him.

  He looked like the embodiment of winter, the picture definition of what the season would look like if it came to life. Skin as pale as snow and blue eyes as pale as ice.

  So much anger radiated from them that I visibly flinched. Such bright eyes for such a dark soul.

  Why did they call to me?

  I found myself simultaneously mesmerized and terrified that he was going to kill me.

  "Speak when spoken to, Kira," he ground out between clenched jaws.

  Fuck that and fuck him. I had endured this in silence for far too long.

  I still held the knife from slicing meat and waved it as I retorted, "Did you not just speak to me? So guess what? I spoke back." I ended with a jab of the knife in his direction to punctuate my last word.

  The distance between us shrank in a span of seconds as his long legs ate up the space with ease.

  His hand shot out and twisted my wrist until the knife dropped from my hand and fell to the floor, precariously close to my exposed toes. My face turned to the side to look at the spot where his hold teetered on the line of cutting off the circulation to my hand.

  My hand tingled, and I was pretty certain that, if he tilted my wrist in any direction, it would snap like a toothpick.

  A hiss of pain slipped from my lips, and I attempted to turn my head back to face him, but suddenly his mouth pressed against my throat, and he growled. Actually fucking growled at me.

  As if this fucker was about to bite my neck with his blunt human teeth to assert dominance.

  Would he pee on me next?

  Instead of cowering as we both expected me to, with my body in a state of pain and shock, something clicked in the back of my mind and refused to let me submit to his show of dominance.

  “I’ll never accept you as my alpha, Jameson. In case you forgot, I’m human, so I bow to no one.”

  A threatening growl came from him before he moved his lips up to my ear and spoke with malice dripping from his every word, “When I’m Alpha, I’ll outlaw you from this pack in the dead of winter with no way of surviving, little human.”

  He meant it. There was no doubt in me that he’d love nothing more than to see me dead as a piece in his revenge plan for his mother’s death. Because somehow he thought it was my fault that the Daimona showed up that day.

  Somehow, it seemed it had never crossed his mind that I’d lost the only woman I remembered as a maternal figure that day as well.

  My jaw tightened as my teeth ground together, fighting the fear I felt. Sweat dripped down my brow, and my heart beat so rapidly that all I heard was the pounding of the blood in my head.

  In an instant, he strode across the room and headed back into the dining hall, leaving me gasping and wondering what the hell had just happened.

  Why did I speak back to him like that?

  It’s like I was asking to be buried six feet under. Wherever this new backbone of mine had come from, it needed to chill out before I had no life left to defend.

  I doubled over, placing my palms on my knees, and took a moment to just breathe deeply in an attempt to calm my racing pulse. My hair fell around me, and for just a moment, I let it cocoon me, relishing in the protected feeling it provided.

  As my heart settled, it also sent a pang through me at the memory of a little boy with the sweetest smile and dimples. The boy I had thought would be my best friend forever. I guess our paths were always meant to be entwined—but in the darkest of ways, with senseless anger and pain at its core.

  Straightening up, I spun around to turn on the sink faucet and splashed some water onto my neck and chest to cool down. Grabbing paper towels, I quickly wiped away the water, but not before a few streams managed to soak through the upper part of my white dress.

  Rolling my eyes, I pictured the snide comments the pack would inevitably make about me being a whore with a partly see through dress, even though all it did was expose my collarbone.

  Sooooo sexy, I know.

  They’d pounce on any little thing to try to drag me down.

  Centering my thoughts and heart, I grabbed the large platters of appetizers and plastered on the timid smile that seemed to work best when I was forced to interact with the pack in large group settings.

  It was amicable enough to not offend everyone with my resting bitch face, but not overly friendly so that I looked as if I were trying too hard to be liked. They didn’t like when my face expressed an ounce of hopefulness of their acceptance. The timid smile portrayed that I knew my place.

  And honestly, I had known my place almost the entirety of my life here. They’d made sure to drill it into me. But now, I felt like I didn’t even know myself anymore.

  The docile and subservient nature I’d adopted and accepted was getting pushed out of my body by an unknown force. I liked it.

  Heading into the literal den of wolves, I said a prayer to the moon goddess to help me keep my mouth zipped tonight.

  I would be stuck here churning out food until the newly shifted wolves managed to change back into their human forms. They’d be famished from the exertion of the merge and first run. It would easily be dawn before they all made it back.

  Defying them while they were still processing their animalistic nature, plus ravenous, would be a kiss of death.

  And I didn’t want to die.

  Chapter Four

  Milo

  I’d never get over Kira’s effortless beauty. She swept into the room with a grace and assurance about her that reminded me of an alpha. Confident, kind, and commanding the room without trying.

  She wore the most simplistic dress in the entire room, but she still managed to capture every man’s gaze with her arrival. The attention she received did not go unnoticed by me, and it made my skin crawl. I had heard countless debates about how great a lay she might be while waiting to find their true mates.

  This also meant that I had gotten into more fights than I could count because of said overheard conversations. I would never allow someone to leave the room without pummeling them into the ground after such vile words crossed their lips.

  It caused dissent amongst the younger and unshifted part of the pack for a bit, but I had managed to remain undefeated, pulling up through the ranks, my position now only beneath that of Jameson and Seth. Kira thought I would be tossed out of the pack and turned into a lone wolf for defending her, but the only person with the power to do that was the alpha. And he didn’t give a shit about “the human”, as he referred to Kira.

  It was both a blessing and a curse.

  My gaze followed her as she made her rounds through the room, a soft smile on her face that none of these assholes deserved to see. Pain pierced through the cloud of my anger, and I relaxed enough to unclench my hands, opening them to see small cuts from my nails biting into my skin.

  For a second, I swore I saw my nails elongate, but when I blinked and looked again, they were back to their usual short stubs, and my skin was smoothed over with just a few drops of blood remaining.

  Was my wolf coming to the surface already?

  It was said that the strongest would shift first, the ability to connect with your wolf quickly signifying the ranking you would likely hold in the pack order among
st the full-fledged wolves.

  I was agitated and on edge, bouncing on the balls of my feet a bit, and could absolutely pick a fight right now just to expel this pent-up energy inside of me. However, I didn’t trust Kira being out of my sight for a moment with the shift coming so soon.

  Deep down I knew she was mine. My wolf would pick her.

  I needed to remain nearby to defend her if any of the others couldn’t get a grip on their predatory instincts at the sight of a human.

  Her cherry blossom scent teased my senses as she drew near, offering me a coy look with a real smile pulling at the edges of her mouth rather than the fake one she managed around the rest of the pack. She held the silver platter of assorted crackers, cheeses, and meats out to me, “Hungry, Wolfie?”

  Our easy banter, the playful energy, and the insane amount of sexual energy between us cemented the fact in my mind that she was meant for me.

  “Watch out, Kira, or else the big bad wolf will huff and puff and blow your door down tonight.” I teased, letting a flirtatious tone imbue my words.

  Her eyes widened a fraction in shock, and I focused in on the way her eyes dilated as her lips parted and her chest heaved in response. The most beautiful shade of pink stained her cheeks and chest as the unique smell of her arousal hit me like a ton of bricks.

  A few heads turned our way, most likely scenting her as well. Swiftly, I nabbed the platter from her and placed it on the table nearby, then grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to me. I felt her peering up at me, but I was too busy maintaining eye contact with each of the males interested in her arousal to look down at her.

  It took a few minutes, but I held each of their stares until they all glanced away, showing their submission to me. The primitive part of me wanted to claim her right now in front of them, to mark her as mine so they wouldn’t dare look at her again in such a manner.

  A light tap on my chest brought me back down to earth, and I looked down at her as she attempted to pull away from me. A light rumble spread through my chest as I tightened my arms and held her even closer.

  “Milo, I need to keep passing out food before Jameson notices and flays my skin.”

  Her soft voice broke through to me, despite my instincts screaming to keep her near, and I begrudgingly released her.

  Turning, I handed the platter back to her and grabbed my glass of whiskey—neat. Tipping the glass against my lips, I downed half of it in one go, gesturing with my other hand for her to lead the way.

  Confusion flashed across her face briefly, so I explained my motion. “If you must cater to these barbarians, then I shall accompany you until the time comes for us to shift.”

  Tilting her head to the side, she looked me up and down before shocking me with her question. “I wonder what your wolf form will look like. I’m sure he’ll be majestic. Do you think he’ll let me around him?”

  Fuck, she had no idea how hot that sounded.

  I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I placed my hand on the small of her back, propelling her towards the kitchen to refill her platter.

  As we crossed the doors into the kitchen and she set her tray down, I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her onto the nearest countertop in one swift movement. Stepping between her legs, I reached my hand to the base of her neck, pulling gently at the hair there to tilt her head up toward me.

  It took every ounce of restraint in me not to act upon her clear needs and wants, but I needed to make myself clear.

  Her breath faltered as I spoke to her with more dominance than I’d ever dared before. “Kira. Promise me you will stay indoors tonight while we go through our shift. You are mine to protect, but I can’t promise you how long I will be gone for my merge and first run.”

  “I...I promise I’ll stay indoors,” her voice trembled slightly.

  Bending to touch our foreheads together like we had done countless times, I inhaled her scent, feeling like I was at home with her. Shocking me, she wrapped her legs around my waist and lifted her head, sealing our lips together.

  At first I didn’t respond, shocked at her initiative after her countless proclamations that nothing could come of this attraction between us. As she pulled away, probably thinking I didn’t want this, I grabbed her face between my hands and melded our mouths together in the most heated kiss I had ever experienced. We came together in a clash of lips, teeth, and tongue, as years of sexual tension poured out of us. There was no telling where one of us began and the other ended. We were one.

  She ran her hands up and down my back, her fingers digging into my skin deliciously. Moving my hand to her neck, I used a small amount of pressure to hold her still as I pulled back and gazed into her eyes, breathlessly stating, “Mark my words, Kira. You’re my mate.”

  I’d thought we were on the same page, that our intentions aligned, but the effect of my words seemed to prove the opposite. She pushed me away from her and hopped down from the counter, smoothing down her dress before looking at me with so much grief in her eyes that I wanted to grovel at her feet for putting that look there.

  “I kissed you because I knew it would be my last chance before you found your mate. I couldn’t deny myself a few seconds of bliss, forgetting the gulf that lay between us, and simply finding a moment of happiness in your touch.”

  I reached for her, confused and wanting to comfort her, but she held a hand up to hold me off. “No, please stay back. Maybe it was selfish of me to give in this one time, but in all my years in this pack, I’ve never allowed one selfish moment for myself.”

  Tears gathered in her eyes as she whispered, “I’ll always cherish this moment.”

  Motioning between us, I couldn’t help but protest her words. “Kira, this electric feeling between us—it isn’t nothing. It’s special. You might not believe in us, but that’s okay, because I believe enough for both of us.”

  The tears flowed freely down her face, and I ached to hold her to me and murmur sweet nothings in her ear. Her tense body showed me that she didn’t want me to push this further right now. To demonstrate I respected her boundaries, I put some distance between us before speaking again so she could relax a little bit.

  As I’d expected, her limbs went a bit more slack, and she wiped the tears from her face. I had one more thing to say before I left her to collect herself.

  “I swear to the Goddess that this won’t be the last time we experience happiness together, Kira.”

  For a few minutes, she only offered me a solemn smile and a humorless laugh in response. She stared at the ground, fixated on wherever her thoughts had wandered.

  She spoke without looking up at me, “You owe it to your future mate to go into tonight with an open mind.”

  Shock blanketed her features as I grinned at her and winked. “Whatever you say, future mate.”

  She rolled her eyes and moved to the fridge, pulling out more supplies to restock the appetizer platter. Walking quietly, I approached her, and she tensed briefly as I took the food from her.

  “I’ll work on replenishing this if you want to go check on the meat in the smoker outside. Take a minute and breathe.”

  Without waiting for her response, I set to work on slicing more meat and cheese as she stood there in surprise for a moment before walking out the back.

  Softly, I hummed an old tune that my mother used to sing to me about finding your true love.

  Seemed fitting.

  Ten minutes later, the platter was ready, and she walked back in and grabbed it, heading out to the dining hall without a word to me.

  Grabbing my whiskey, I downed the remainder of it, enjoying the burn it left in its wake, and smiled. In my heart, I knew my words to her rang true, or else I wouldn’t have made such a proclamation. I was ready for this shift to happen already so I could kiss her senseless once more without this chasm between us that her fears kept in place.

  Fireworks would explode when there was nothing separating us any longer.

  Chapter Five

  Kira
>
  That annoyingly amazing man managed to light a spark of hope within me with his words before reality crashed back down on me with the weight of the world behind it. That brief moment of imagining the life we could build together, before reminding myself it could never happen, practically tore my heart open to bleed all over the floor between us.

  I felt the conviction in his words when he spoke them, so I knew he truly believed it possible. Unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten that a human has never been a fated mate for a wolf. That just isn't how it works.

  My mind reeled, thinking about everything I had picked up along my life in the pack about mate bonds, all of it conflicting with Milo’s confidence in us. Though, if I was honest with myself, everything I felt for Milo was what the wolves said fated mates would feel for each other.

  I couldn’t maintain my fake smile any longer with all of this on my mind, so I hurried to make my rounds again, ignoring the sneers from the women and the leering looks of the men.

  What’re they going to do, kill me? Yeah right. Jameson wouldn’t let anyone rob him of the pleasure.

  A light scoff escaped my throat, before my thoughts drifted back to mate bonds.

  The way I’d heard it described was that each shifter was born with dual souls—one being their human one, and one belonging to their wolf. A shifter’s wolf soul was always within them but stayed dormant until their twenty-first birthday, when it merged with their human soul, the two becoming entwined in harmony.

  The Goddess always blessed the packs with a fertile period of the year, so that each generation was born within the same month. This allowed each generation to go through their shift under the same full moon and establish the pecking order immediately amongst themselves. And tonight was the shifting moon for our generation.

  I sighed wistfully, lost in thoughts of first shifts and fated mates as I walked back into the kitchen, my tray empty once again. The sudden appearance of a rock solid chest in my path knocked the breath from my lungs as I smacked into it. Strong hands gripped my shoulders to steady me, and my free hand flew out in front of me, landing on a chiseled abdomen.