by S. L. Morgan
Dom jerked the guy’s head back when he stood up. “Next time you single someone out, you might want to think about who they really are. That kid could have messed you up pretty bad, but he’s a better person than I am.”
“Get out of here,” the other guy said, holding his friend like Dom damaged him for life. “You’re the damn douche bag.”
Dom folded his arms and nodded at them dismissively. “Get your boyfriend out of here. You two weak-ass bullies can go cry in the bathroom together.”
Dom never once moved as the two stormed toward where Scott and Ian stood, watching how Dom was going to handle the two assholes and waiting to step in.
“I’m shocked you didn’t kick both their asses,” I said to a furious Dominic as we turned and walked up toward the resort. “You should have,” I seethed, my anger still feeding off of his.
“You need to focus, Jenna. If I hurt the humans, I’m out of here. Your response to me going after them is the reason the school is keeping supernaturals locked in for another year.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I growled at his jerk, Master Dominic response.
“What do you think it means?” he stopped and faced me with the same angered expression he held for the two humans who were on a mission to hurt Ethan.
“Well, it seems like you’re taking their bullshit out on me,” I retorted.
“You think so, huh?” he pressed his lips into a fine line. “Whether or not the humans are assholes, we don’t step in and use our power to hurt them. I may have crossed my own damn line, but I’m not one for bullying behavior, and those assholes put thoughts into my cousin’s head that should never have been there.”
“Well, you beat them at their own game. I’m proud of you.” God, what the hell was I saying?
“Your brain’s all over the place, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?” I tried to defend my senseless words.
“I’m lucky I wasn’t yanked out of here since I went after those two while I was pissed off. We can’t screw with the humans, virtual or real. Does that make sense, or is that wolf of yours screwing with your thought process and you can’t think past all of the stuff we’re personally dealing with?”
I inwardly felt my wolf that Dom had picked up on already. She was still pissed that Dom didn’t handle it her way. In fact, it was a solid argument, and I was sort of agreeing with her.
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Dom said. “You’d better get the wolf under control.”
My head started pounding in response to him. A headache from out of nowhere had me gripping the sides of my head in agony. “Shit!” I seethed.
I felt Dom’s hands on my arms. “Jen, what’s going on? I can’t sense your wolf.”
“I have a splitting headache. Gah, this is…” A few breaths later, and it had vanished. I looked at Dom in confusion. “The wolf,” I said in disbelief. “She was following your rage, disagreeing with you, and then I got this headache.”
Dom’s eyebrows knit together. “You have to focus on putting her in her place. I’m sorry I let it escalate. I had no idea your wolf would jump in like this.”
“I wasn’t expecting that either. I have to get this under control.”
“How are you feeling now?”
“Like it never happened.”
“It’s the wolf,” he confirmed. “I sense her anger. You have to mentally shut her down right now.”
I tried to focus, but nothing was helping. Dom being here wasn’t helping either. My emotions were starting to surface from out of nowhere in attraction toward my shifter.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll be okay.”
“Listen, I sense the struggle, but you’ve got this,” he said softly. “Right now, I have to take off. Ethan’s not in good shape after that. That was pretty extreme for him, and I’m worried my cousin is going to suffer because someone spouted off BS that E will take as facts.”
“How will you help him?” I asked, in control again and centered in my mind.
“I don’t know. I have to talk to him, but I’m pretty sure that whole thing triggered my cousin to hide behind his beast, which is not good at all.”
“Like he’ll never shift back?” I asked. “Damn it.”
“Don’t get worked up again. He’ll shift back, but he’ll be uncertain of himself, his surroundings, and most likely shut off to all of us. This is my fault. I should have stopped those idiots sooner.”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
“I’ll be back later tonight, then I’m taking E across the island for a week. It’ll be me, you, Lus, Scott, and Ian,” he said. “I know he’ll need minimal human interaction. Come with us, and we’ll have some downtime together over there.”
“I think it might be best for me to stay here with Vannah and work on myself, you know? You said it already, my wolf needs to be put in her place.”
“It’s critical you stop feeding that wolf, Jen. I told you that when we first met.”
“I know. Being this close to you isn’t helping, though.”
“We already talked about how dangerous it would be to split the wolves and us up,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t like this idea.”
“How far away will you be?” Vannah asked, approaching us from behind.
“Half an hour into the trees over there. I need Ethan isolated before I bring him back.”
“How long do you think?” I asked, knowing Dom was right, these wolves couldn’t separate for long, or we’d be as screwed as Dom thought Ethan was at the moment.
“If you want to stay here, we’ll be back within a few days. If you start feeling weird or anything, you let Vannah know immediately. You got me?” he rubbed my shoulder. “I’d really rather you came with me, though.”
“You won’t be gone long or far. Vannah and I have got this. Please let me try to work on putting my wolf in her place. You know I need to. After her feeding off your aggression like she did, I’d rather try this alone first.”
He nodded. “Swear to me, even the slightest upset from that unpredictable wolf of yours, and you both will let me know.” He looked at Vannah, “You can instantly find our location if something happens, right?”
“Jenna’s strong attachment to you will make it easy,” Vannah answered.
“Alright.” Dom looked at me, “I’ll be back in a few days, then.”
“Dom!” Lusa shouted with a trembling voice. “He needs you.”
“Shit!” Dom said. “Anything unusual, you swear to me.”
“I’ve got this, Dom. Go help Ethan.”
A kiss to my forehead and Dom was racing up through the trees, away from Vannah and me. I already sensed my wolf was fired up and pissed off I wouldn’t go with him, and this is where I had to shut her down. I couldn’t have my wolf thinking she shared equal control.
It was a dangerous game to give my inner wolf power like this. I just hoped I could whip her into shape and fast. If this wolf had plans to fight me back, it could possibly backfire on me, but I had Vannah, and we’d get Dom’s alpha wolf involved if I ran into trouble.
I hoped that Dom was wrong about Ethan, but it seemed like he knew more than he was saying, and this stupid bullying event was more than the poor owl shifter could naturally process.
Ethan was too pure, sensitive, and kind to lash out. Instead, he dangerously must have pulled all of the hatred in, and from what Dom was alluding to, hurting himself internally now. This was yet another reason I hated most fairies. They couldn’t even create a human environment without purposely making a few of them problematic. I wouldn’t have minded those humans messing with anyone else, but Ethan? Not cool. Ever.
8
During the time Dom, Lusa, Scott, and Ian were gone, I tried to use my time outside of being so close to Dominic wisely. I spent my first evening under the stars, trying to block the sudden absence I felt without my intended mate.
I needed to get back control of myself from the wolf and what she seemed to w
ant more than anything else. I had to be in control for her and me both so we could be one healthy, shifter supernatural. Right now, she was suddenly driving all of this, and I wasn’t going to be a shifter who was stuck with her wolf running the show.
“Jenna,” Vannah’s voice cut through my intense thoughts as I stared out at the ocean. “You’re not eating like you normally do.”
I looked over at my witch friend and smiled. “I’m fighting this stubborn wolf of mine. I can’t believe how bad this whole thing really had gotten.”
“You’ve hardly talked this last week since Dom’s been gone. You’re distant and not acting like yourself. Let me help.”
“Exactly how are you supposed to help, Vannah?” I snapped—freaking wolf temper. “Are you going to work some magic spell outside of school rules and get transported back to the academy like Tanner did when he shifted to get some human chick to think he was cool?”
“Do I look that stupid to you?” she gave me that witchy, authoritative Vannah look. “We were going to work together on this. You don’t meditate, you don’t talk, nothing. So, this is a problem. I need to step in and get through to the wolf, maybe calm her.
“Then, what? How are you supposed to fix this?”
“For starters, cram some food down your throat. You and I both know that shifters need a million calories a day to function and not wither away. You’re hardly eating.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. A million calories a day? Get real, Vannah.” I felt it. I was moody, distant, and I wished I could snap myself out of this.
“You know what I’m talking about. Your metabolisms are on hyperdrive. You need to eat. I’m going to send for Dominic. You’re not doing well.”
I shot up from my relaxed position on the lounge chair. “I don’t need him up my ass. I’ve got this.”
“No, you don’t,” she said in a low voice. “Have you looked in the mirror lately? You look like death.”
“This is insane,” I said, feeling weak from sitting up. “Fine, I’ll eat. Just leave Dom alone. I seriously don’t need him telling me what to do.”
“He can help you, and you know it.”
“Really? By giving me his wolf’s power? Can’t happen or we wake up the evil lurking at our stupid school. Remember that little snag that is stopping Dom and me from getting together and letting fate have its way with us?”
“If you want to act like this, then fine. I can sense Dom getting closer anyway. If you don’t eat and recover like shifters do, then I’ll tell him you’re out of control.”
“As my best friend, I need you to have my back on this.”
“If it’s going to cost us our friendship to tell Dom everything, then I don’t give a crap. This isn’t the Jenna I know. It’s scaring me.”
I waved down a waitress and ordered food from the menu. I ate enough to replenish my health. I’d tried doing this before when I’d noticed my inner wolf was fighting me from putting her in her place, but every time, I’d end up throwing it all up when Vannah wasn’t around. This time, the wolf conceded, and I kept all the food I ate down. Thanks to shifter healing speed, I was looking and feeling stronger by the time Dom showed up with everyone.
My inner wolf became silent as if she were hiding the fact that she had been starving me out because she was trying to have it her way. The worst part was that this crap was scaring me too. I was starting to feel like I was oddly losing to my inner wolf, and she was about to take over. This was the most dangerous situation a shifter could ever be in, and it was precisely what Dom was worried about with me giving her equal mental power. If she took over, there was no coming back, ever. That’s what got shifters locked up…because their inner beast was in control of their mind.
“You look great, but Vannah told me you’ve had a rough week.”
I eyed Vannah dangerously as I hugged Dominic. “I’m fine, but yeah, beating my wolf into submission hasn’t been easy.”
He stepped back and lifted my chin to study my face. “I said to send for me if you were having any trouble. I’m glad you got through it, but I can sense a struggle even though it feels like you and the wolf are closed off to me. Why is that?”
“Don’t interrogate me like I’m one of your students, Master Dominic!” I countered, but I really didn’t know where my response came from.
Dom’s eyes grew severe. “If you act like one of my oblivious students who are in danger, then I might,” he said in a low voice. “Listen, it’s been a long week with E, but we finally have him communicating with us again.”
My mood shifted from wanting to fight back with Dom to my concern over Ethan. “Oh my God, how is he?”
Dom looked out to the tropical forest behind us. “He’s coming around, but he’s regressed. I’m glad we have at least another week here to work with him.” Dom rubbed his forehead, and I could sense the burden he carried, worrying over the owl shifter. “I can’t lose you in the process of being distracted with E. I won’t lose you, period.”
I went to speak the words and fill Dom in on everything about my battle with the wolf inside me, but it was as if she’d silenced me herself and was speaking her words through me. Shit! “You focus on E. I’ll be here working on this bond thing.”
“Is it still difficult for you?” he ran a thumb along my jawbone. “Babe, you’ve got to tell me. Damn it, I hate that Ethan’s in this state and you’re battling this stuff.” He rubbed his forehead, “No more going without eating. If you want to work on the bond stuff, I’m around, and your wolf will pick up on mine while I work with E. That’s when you need your mental strength to put her in her place. Just like you control shifting and not shifting into the wolf. It’s the same process. You control everything. Control her trying to reach my wolf when it’s not allowed. She’ll find her place, but you have to eat to keep up your strength. Miss one meal,” he smirked and kissed my lips for the first time since coming directly to me when he got back, “and you’re going to have me up your butt, Silvers…and I won’t be nice about it either.”
“Promise, I won’t skip meals.”
Damn it! I wanted to tell him everything, but my responses were being driven by my wolf. How the hell was she hiding the fact she was controlling me to Dominic, who’d apparently heard all my thoughts up until now? “You focus on Ethan, and I’ll focus on my wolf.”
Dom licked his lips, and his soul-searching eyes were doing just that, searching into my soul, though I could tell my inner wolf had put up some façade for him to see. He let out a breath and smiled.
“Alright. I love you.”
“Sounds so weird, but I like it.” Thanks for your narrative, lovestruck, voice-stealing inner wolf.
“It sounds weird saying it, but it’s how I feel. I’m just speaking the truth, unafraid to hold back. We’re fated mates, Jen. We might as well get used to saying how we really feel.”
If I could only tell you how I really feel, and how this damn wolf is controlling me like a puppet master right now, I thought it all as hard and as loud as I could since the words wouldn’t come out.
Dom’s lips tightened. “Weird. It feels like I should hear your thoughts because of your expression, but I guess you’re just lost staring into my eyes?” He chuckled. “Come on, let’s get something to eat. I’m starved, and Vannah told me you just started recouping from this weird starvation thing you went through while I was gone. You sure you’ve got this?”
“Yep. If I lost the battle to the wolf I’d fought all week, then I wouldn’t have eaten earlier and healed this quickly. I’m glad Vannah noticed it while I was busy trying other methods to put my wolf in her place.”
“Me too. I still feel like we’re going to need to work on this together. Once I’m confident E is better, you and I are going to work on that wolf. I don’t like how the wolf pulled dominance on you and starved you. That’s dangerous and crossing serious lines, babe. You and your wolf are different. I don’t trust her power, especially now, but I’m glad you overcame the wolf.”
<
br /> “Me too, you need to give me a little bit more credit. You’ve seen how awesome I am in the training and skill courses I’ve run. Always number one and right behind you.”
Dom eyed me. “Arrogance isn’t your best friend right now. You’re feeding an unstable wolf that emotion. Now’s not the time to give that to her.”
“True, but you have to trust I’ve got this.”
“I am trusting you.” He brought me into his side. “That’s what makes me nervous.”
Dom and I used the night to our advantage, but the wolf blocked my senses to him while we were close. It was somewhat nice because I wasn’t wanting to rip his shirt off and tempt him to go farther in sealing our bond, but the problem was that it wasn’t me who was controlling anything now. My wolf was pulling this whole trick on Dom too. He didn’t once pick up on me not being into the making out part, and when all was silent that night, the wolf wasn’t.
I was back to square one after I was woken up from dreamless sleep, and I threw up everything I’d eaten for dinner. Damn it! I was scared, and now the wolf was taking full advantage of me in this state.
I was fighting back, though. I was stronger than this, and I knew I had it in me to beat this wolf down and take my life back from the inner beast that had turned on me for some strange reason. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I was going to figure it all out.
My wolf had won. I sat here in thought because that’s all I had left of who I was at this point. Dom was so consumed with E that we hardly saw each other. The wolf had this game in full effect. Vannah couldn’t even pick up on the fact that the wolf was in control, and it was a matter of time before Jenna was a memory.
The only reason I could think that my wolf was fighting back like this was that she was pissed at me for trying to put her in her place and mad at Dom for advising it. She was not only strong, but I sensed she had an evil streak in her also. This was not normal. My inner wolf was turning dark on me.
I shook my head away from the feelings that scared me about my future and focused on one of the coolest things I’d watched all week while I was in this state. Late at night when Dom, Ian, and Scott got out on surfboards, if they timed it right, they would jump on the board as the wave was starting to break. The high waves came the night after Dom got back with E and everyone. They were so large that the lifeguards would only allow those who were advanced surfers to tackle them.
