by Amy Lamont
I nodded and pasted on a smile. It came as a shock to realize it was the first time all day I’d pulled out the smile I reserved for customers, broad but not quite genuine.
“So how did you manage to convince Kaden to change you?” she asked.
“Change me?”
She smiled the smile of someone with a secret. Or maybe the smile of a serial killer. I had no frame of reference, but if I had to guess it was the second one.
“Your mother would die if she found out you’d finally managed to convince one of our men to give you what she wanted all those years,” Krista said.
I froze in my spot and everything inside me turned cold and brittle. When I spoke, I could do no more than whisper. “What?”
Krista rolled her eyes. “Come on. You know what your mother was after. God. Everyone in town knew what she was after. She couldn’t have made it any more obvious, could she?”
Confusion clouded my mind. “My mother had a thing for shifters.”
If possible, Krista’s smile widened. “Right. Like you don’t know what she was really after. It’s like the biggest non-secret, secret in the shifter world. I mean, we’re forbidden from talking about it in mixed company, but…” She paused to look around, presumably to make sure nobody was in hearing distance. When she’d assured herself none of Kaden’s guests were paying us any attention, her voice dipped to just above a whisper as she went on. “…everyone with two eyes can see that we live longer than humans and the aging process goes much slower.”
Somehow I managed to keep my jaw out of my lap. Her words played over and over again in my mind and it was like watching a series of dots connecting. Of course, now that she’d said it, the truth seemed obvious. I’d worked for Pete for seven years. He’d always looked a little rough around the edges, but his wife was beautiful. How many times had I admired her flawless, unchanging skin?
And even Kelly at the bar. The way she lived her life should have shown on her face. But I knew she was deep into her forties and not a single age spot marred her skin.
And my mother, never the sharpest pencil in the box when it came to books, but always the quickest on the uptake when it came to working an angle…
“We all laughed at your mother’s attempts to get one of our men to turn her. She was dying to take a dip in the fountain of youth.” Krista tossed her hair over her shoulder and widened her already big blue eyes. How could someone look so angelic while spewing venom? “So we’re all dying to know now how you managed to ensnare Kaden. How did you get him to start the change?”
“The change?” I whispered, still not completely clear on what she was telling me.
“The change.” She shot a pointed look at my exposed collarbone.
My hand shot to the spot, covering it with my hand, like I’d be able to protect something intensely private and personal from her prying eyes.
“He bit you. He started the ritual of bringing you into the den.”
The light dawned at the same time I caught sight of Kaden over Krista’s shoulder. He was walking toward us, concern clear in the narrowing of his eyes and the tilt to his head.
“He can change me into a shifter?” I asked quickly. I suddenly felt the need to get as much information as I could before Kaden got to us.
Krista’s laugh sounded more like disdain than humor. “Like you don’t know. Okay, I’ll play along. Yes, Alyssa, Kaden can change you into one of us. Is changing you. He’s already started it.”
I stood up just as Kaden arrived at my side.
“Everything okay, sweetheart?”
I nodded, but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. I had to get out of here, away from Krista and away from him.
“I’m fine.” Somehow I managed to dredge up a smile. “I just need to use the powder room. Excuse me.”
With my excuse made, I fled. But I didn’t flee to the powder room. I ducked into the entryway, grabbing my jacket and purse from the coat closet there. I slipped out the front door as quietly as I could manage and counted my lucky stars none of Kaden’s relatives seemed to be out and about.
Probably because they were all in his house right now. Waiting to welcome me into the fold.
That thought caused a powerful surge of energy to rush through me. I hurried down the porch, and after quickly assessing my options, hurried down the single-track road to the turn off to the main road. There was no use trying to hide myself by walking in the woods. The werebears would find me no matter where I went. I had to count on Kaden not noticing my absence for a little while longer.
Too late, I heard the sound of a vehicle coming up behind me. Crap, crap, crap.
But when I turned, it wasn’t Kaden pulling the compact car alongside me. It was Krista. And that smile was back. “Need a lift someplace?”
I wasn’t stupid. I’d lived with a manipulative mother for far too many years not to realize Krista’s tricks. Whatever her reason for initiating the conversation back there, she had her own agenda.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t use her vile plan to my advantage.
“Can you give me a ride to my apartment?”
Surprise flared in her eyes. Guess she didn’t expect me to take her up on her offer. But she rallied quickly. “Hop in.”
I figured Krista had done what she set out to do because the ride to my apartment was silent aside from me giving her a few directions.
When we pulled up in front of my building, I flashed her a great big, bright smile. I’d be damned if I’d let her think I was a second away from bursting into tears.
“Thanks for the ride.”
Her perfectly shaped eyebrows pulled together. “No problem.”
Judging by her perplexed expression, I’d manage to deprive her of seeing the results of her maneuvers. Score one for me.
I marched up the much-less-rickety stairs to my apartment and tried not to think about how Kaden looked with his tight white T-shirt stretched across his chest as he repaired the steps.
God, was that just this morning?
Just the thought of him, of what we’d shared the last two days, made tears prickle behind my eyes, hot and stinging.
I squared my shoulders and slid my key into the lock. I couldn’t think about the time I’d spent with Kaden. I should have known better. I did know better. That was the reason I’d started thinking about moving sooner when I heard the news he was coming home.
I knew Kaden Black had the power to destroy me. One way or another.
Not that the idea of being changed into a shifter ever occurred to me. That came from out of left field.
But after years of my life spent avoiding anything but the most casual relationships with the local werebears, of feeling looked down upon, or worse, pitied by them, the thought that Kaden would force me to become one without even considering my feelings…it felt like a waking nightmare.
I marched over to the bed and slid my large, wheeled suitcase out from underneath. I also grabbed some folded boxes I had under there. I’d been dreaming and preparing for the day I got to leave Kodiak for a long time. I had my plans in place for quite some time now, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Looked like that moment had come. If I had my way, I’d be putting Kodiak, Alaska and the rugged werebear who had somehow managed to break my heart in two short days behind me.
Time to put my plan into motion. Funny how the elation I’d expected to feel when this day came never hit me.
Chapter 11
Alyssa
Half an hour into my frantic packing, a car door slammed right outside followed quickly by heavy footsteps pounding up my stairway.
I froze like the prey of any large predator would do. I’d mostly convinced myself that Kaden wouldn’t bother coming after me. That what happened between us was all some kind of game. Something cooked up by the shifters to pay me back for the way my mother had treated their men like less than human and their women like their commitments to those men meant nothing. I figured he’d be happy to see the last
of me.
A fist hammered on my door. “Alyssa, you have about two seconds to open this door before I bust it down.”
Funny. He sounded more like the big, bad wolf than any bear I’d ever heard.
My head dropped forward and my eyes squeezed shut. Guess I’d figured wrong.
“I mean it, Alyssa.”
I picked my head up and a quick glance around the room reminded me the only way out was through the door currently being blocked by Kaden. Might as well let him in.
I stepped over to the door and turned the lock on the knob and the deadbolt. Before I’d done more than twisted the knob, Kaden pushed his way inside.
And suddenly my apartment was filled with one big, pissed off bear shifter. He paced down the length of the room and I swear I heard a growl escape him. For the first time, Kaden seemed more animal than man. I wouldn’t be surprised to see his limbs twist and his body curve in on itself as he transformed into a bear.
I stood stock still by the door, my hand still on the doorknob.
“For fuck’s sake, Alyssa, I’m not going to hurt you. You can close the door.”
I glanced outside and saw the street around my apartment was empty. Not that too many of the locals would come to my rescue should I start screaming bloody murder like I was tempted to. Let’s face it. I hadn’t done a lot of fostering of friendships over the last years.
I shrugged and closed the door, taking my time in turning to face the angry werebear.
When I finally did, I almost whirled back around and tried to make an escape. Kaden’s eyes blazed at me, almost totally gold now. His jaw clenched and I could see just how close to the surface his bear was. The only thing that kept me from running was the fear of what he’d do when he caught me.
And there was no doubt he’d catch me.
“What the fuck, Alyssa? I spent the last half hour searching every corner of my house for you. Most of my relatives spent that time searching the woods around the house. If Nash hadn’t gotten there and told us he passed you on the road, loaded into Krista Phelp’s car, we would all still be there looking for you. Because for some reason it never occurred to me that you left me.” His voice rose from rumbling to something just below a roar as he spit the last two words at me.
It took every ounce of courage I possessed to respond to him. “I didn’t realize I had to disclose that information to you since you didn’t feel the need to explain things to me.”
He rubbed a hand over his short hair. “What didn’t I explain to you, Alyssa? Because I think I made it pretty clear that you’re mine. If my telling you right out didn’t make it sink in, making you scream my name over and over again should have done the trick. And if you were too thick to understand after all that, the fact I introduced you to my entire family today as my woman should have clued you the fuck in.”
I shook my head and felt my own temper rising. Angry bears be damned. He wasn’t going to stand there and act like the wounded party here. “Maybe if you clued me in on a few other things, you wouldn’t have to stand here shouting at me, Kaden Black.”
“What are you talking about?”
My hand went to the red mark on my neck. The mark he’d left on me when he sunk his teeth into me while we made love. “How about the fact you started changing me into a shifter without even telling me what you were doing? How about that? Do you think it might have been appropriate for you to clue me into the fact you were thinking of doing that, I don’t know, before you started doing it!”
His face cleared and his eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Krista filled me in. She told me why my mother was so desperate to trap a shifter. And how everyone thought I was just like her except I’d finally succeeded where she’d failed. I managed to convince you to change me into a shifter. Only I never asked to be changed, Kaden.”
I could see the anger leave Kaden as clearly as I could see the sun up in the sky. His jaw relaxed, his shoulders lost their tightness, and the gold moved out of his eyes only to be replaced by a softness that made me want to beg him to give me another chance.
“Krista Phelps is a bitch, sweetheart.”
I knew that. “I know that. Doesn’t mean she’s lying. At least not all the time.” I rubbed a finger over the mark on my neck and my voice dropped to a whisper. “At least not about this.”
He moved toward me slowly, his posture reminding me of someone approaching a wounded, cornered animal. I had nowhere to run and it wasn’t like I could overpower him. I stared at him with wide eyes, wrapping my arms around my middle.
He took in my protective stance with a glance. “I would never hurt you.”
I shook my head. “There’s more than one way to hurt someone.”
He stepped closer and I sank my teeth into my bottom lip. My body began to react to his nearness. I could feel my heartbeat pick up its pace. Heat coiled in my belly. Every nerve ending went on high alert and goose bumps rose on my skin.
I started trembling in reaction to my conflicting desires. Part of me wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run. The other part of me was all for running, too—straight into Kaden’s arms.
“Alyssa, tell me what you think that mark on your neck means.”
“It means you’re changing me into a shifter. It means everyone in your family thinks I’m just like my mother.”
He shook his head and a gentle smile touched his lips. “No, sweetheart, that’s not what it means.”
I lifted a hand to rub the mark again, and for the first time I noticed it was tingling. The sensation got stronger with every step Kaden took toward me. “It’s not?”
“No. Shifters can change their human mates into shifters. But you have to know, I would never do that to you without discussing it with you first. Making sure it’s what you wanted.” He stopped and grinned. “Well, you’d get to choose until we decide to have kids. Most human women are changed when they carry a shifter baby.”
Every thought about shifters and my mother and feeling betrayed by Kaden flew from my mind. “Kids?”
He chuckled. Chuckled. Like I amused him. Obviously he failed to see the seriousness of this situation.
“Kaden,” I snapped, “there’s absolutely nothing funny about all of this.” I waved my arm around, gesturing between the two of us.
“Oh, sweetheart, if you could’ve seen your face when I mentioned kids, you’d see exactly what’s so funny about this situation. You flipped out more at the idea of having our kids then you did at the idea of becoming a werebear.”
Our kids. He said it again. I stamped my foot and crossed my arms over my chest. “Stop saying that!”
“Saying what?”
“You know what. What you said. About...” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “…kids.”
He burst out laughing and closed the distance between us. Before I knew it, he swung me into his arms and tucked his face into my neck. His entire body shook with his laughter.
I rolled my eyes and tentatively slid my hands up over his shoulders. After several long moments, Kaden pulled his face from my neck. The laughter subsided, but a big smile remained.
“You ready to talk?”
“You really weren’t trying to turn me into a werebear without telling me?”
“I promise.”
Relief spilled through me and I tightened my grip on his shoulders. I wanted to cry as a weight lifted from my shoulders. How was it possible that what this man did had such an impact on me after such a short time?
Kaden cradled me to his chest and moved us over to the floral-print club chair in the corner of what made up the living room of my studio apartment. He sank into it, settling me on his lap, his arms tight around me.
“Why did you run, Alyssa? Why didn’t you come talk to me about everything?”
I stared into his eyes and searched for an answer, but all I could do was shrug.
“When we have a problem, I need you to come talk to me. Don’t jump to conclusions, don’t run awa
y. Come talk to me.”
I wrinkled my nose. Kaden’s words told me he knew we’d have problems to overcome in the future. Which meant that Kaden thought we had a future.
My chest ached as hope caught it in a tight grip. “You-you want a relationship with me?”
Even I could hear the disbelief mingling with hope in my voice.
“Baby,” Kaden said patiently, “you’re mine.”
“I’m yours?”
“Yes.”
He’d said it before. At the time it had set my pulse pounding and the blood thrumming through my veins. But since he was usually in me or had just pulled out of me when he said it, I hadn’t really trusted that he meant it. Didn’t guys say stuff like that during sex?
I searched his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re mine. My woman. My mate.” He raised his hand from where it rested on my hip and brushed his fingers over the mark on my neck. “I’ve been waiting to claim you since I realized you were the only one for me. And now, I’ve finally done it.”
The pride in his voice left me breathless, but my mind caught on something else he said. “You’ve been waiting to claim me?”
His gaze moved from his mark on my neck to meet my stare. A soft smile curved his lips. “I’d seen you around town when we were kids. As I got older, started going to the bars in town, I knew who you were, Rena’s kid.”
I cringed internally, no longer sure I wanted to hear the rest of what he had to say.
He cupped my jaw and ran his thumb back and forth down my cheek to the corner of my mouth. “Don’t look like that. Nobody, at least nobody who bothered looking, ever thought you were anything like your mother.”
I wanted to believe that. God, did I want to believe that. “Okay.”
He held my gaze a minute before continuing. “I still remember the day I ran into you coming out of the library in town. You were fifteen. Way too young for me. But my bear didn’t care. I took one look at you, and I knew you were mine.”
I blinked up at him. “What?”
“Seven years ago I placed my heart in your keeping, Alyssa. Waiting for you to grow up, giving you the chance to follow your dreams, just about killed me. I know you made plans for yourself. But I don’t think I can live another day without you. I don’t think I can ever let you go again.”
