He watched with interest as Grady stripped the rest of his clothes and dropped to the ground. At any other time, he probably would have taken time to admire the impressive lines of muscle on the big man, but as soon as the detective's 74
knees hit the floor, fur grew from his back. Orange and white stripes appeared, a tail sprouted, limbs shifted and popped, and his head contorted to accommodate a mouthful of incredibly sharp teeth. The change only took maybe ten seconds, but when all was said and done, a massive tiger sprawled across the hardwood floor.
"Oh my goodness," he whispered, right before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the world tilted.
75
Chapter Eight
rake? Are you awake?"
His brother's voice cut through the fog as he
"D
struggled to focus. "Yeah," he grunted. His throat felt like sandpaper and his head pounded. "What happened?"
"You fainted." That was Lark's voice.
Drake forced one eye open and stared at the slender blond's concerned face.
"Here. Drink this."
Dagus's hands slid under his shoulders, helping him to a half-sitting position as Lark pressed a pill to his hand and then helped him take a swig of orange juice to wash it down.
After he'd swallowed the pill, he sighed. "What was that, Doc?"
Lark smiled. "Just a little something to help you relax.
They really should have prepared you a little better.
Watching someone shift for the first time is really quite shocking."
"I can't believe I fainted," Drake groaned. Could he be any more wussy?
"Hey," Lark whispered, regaining his attention. The understanding look on the man's face didn't really reassure him. "My first time, I was at a BBQ. Most of the people there were wolf shifters, although I didn't know that at the time. I saw several kids shift a couple times while playing." He 76
grinned ruefully, admitting, "I had a full blown panic attack.
It took my friends, Rainy and Cliff, several days to calm me down. Imagine my shock to realize the guys I played poker with every month were really wolves!"
"So not all of them are tigers?" Drake asked, still having a hard time wrapping his mind around this turn of events.
"And Grady really turned into one?" Dagus nodded, patting his shoulder awkwardly. "After you passed out, I started to freak a bit. They ended up letting me pet him, so I could understand what had happened."
"Sorry about that," Drake muttered, renewed embarrassment creeping over him. "Where are they now?"
"We figured you'd need a couple minutes with just the humans when you woke," Lark smiled. "They really are no different than us, other than the animal thing. They are fully aware while in their animal form, and they're not controlled by the cycle of the moon. They're just another species that have been living right alongside humans, keeping their abilities secret."
"Why? People are smart. They could handle it," Dagus said almost belligerently.
Drake knew how he felt. This kind of cover up was huge!
Lark shook his head. "A person is smart. But people are not, get a few of them together and they turn into sheep.
Stupid, panicky, and quick to judge and cast the first stone at anything different," he pointed out. "Shifters need their secrecy to remain safe. Otherwise they run into problems with humans like your employer. Humans who want to do experiments on shifters for their own gain." Drake thought about that for a moment. It really did make sense. His own research and contract with the Crystal Lake Corporation was proof enough of that. There was still one thing that didn't make sense to him. "Okay, so these guys are shifters. What does that have to do with me and 77
Ailean? They act like it's such a big deal that he dumped me."
"He dumped you?" Dagus growled. "Why?"
"It's not like I didn't expect it," he said. Sitting up, he ran a hand over his brother's arm to let him know where he was.
"After all, I'm not much to look at. I'm short, skinny, and nerdy. He probably pegged me for a virgin and wanted to see if he could pop my cherry." Okay, normally he'd never speak this frankly, but he couldn't seem to help himself. The whole episode still felt surreal.
"That's not why he did it," Grady snarled, stalking back into the room followed closely by Declan. "Didn't you think it odd that he immediately started calling you little mate?" Seeing the obviously irritated big man, once again in human form, Drake had to take a long deep breath to relax.
Then he shrugged. He really had no answer for the man.
He'd been too overwhelmed that Ailean seemed to like him.
"It's because ye are his mate," Declan told him. "Shifters get one true mate, hand-picked by Fate. That person will complete us. Be our perfect balance. Ye are that person for Ailean. He recognized ye immediately by yer scent." After a heartbeat, and a glance at the other men in the room, Declan added bluntly, "By biting ye during sex, he bound the two of ye together. Shifters live longer than humans, so by entwining yer life forces, yer life will be extended to match his."
Drake's breathing sped up the more Declan spoke until he could barely pant. Dark spots danced across his vision. The one man who was supposed to want him had rejected him.
Was he really that unlovable?
Sensing his distress, Lark gripped the back of his neck and forced his head between his knees. "Take slow, deep breaths, Drake. Just breathe," he instructed.
He followed the small doctor's advice, closing his eyes 78
and forcing his brain to shut down for a few precious seconds as he calmed down. He felt a presence in front of him and looked up to see Declan crouching in front of him.
"He should not have done that without explaining what he is and how being a shifter's mate would affect ye, Drake." The man glanced over his shoulder at Grady, as if confirming that he should say his next words. When his gaze returned to Drake, Declan's gray eyes had turned flat.
"There is no way to break the bond, but in time, since ye're a human ye will be able to move on. Ailean, on the other hand, has sealed his fate with his actions." A fresh wave of uselessness swept over him. "Why wouldn't a shifter want his mate?" he whispered the question, uncertain if he really wanted to know the answer.
Sensing his distress, Dagus wrapped an arm around his shoulders and brought him into a tight embrace.
Declan sat back on his heels and sighed. "Ailean has some issues that he needs to work through. He's been hurt by humans. Although I don't know all the details, I can tell ye that he was an orphan. Human parents adopted him."
"Oh, gosh," Drake whispered, his heart beating hard as he guessed where this was going. "Did they kick him out when they learned he was a shifter?"
"No. It would have been far better if they had," Declan replied grimly. "They thought he was possessed and tried to have priests exorcise the demons. They caged him.
Eventually he escaped, but the damage was done. The humans who were supposed to care for him did the opposite. He's trusted few people, human or shifter, since then."
Drake pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, fighting back a shudder. Longing filled him, a burning desire to care for the man, but he knew he'd never be able to. Ailean wouldn't allow it. Tears threatened at the 79
corners of his eyes. "I created those formulas that hurt someone else held captive. He thinks I'm the same as his parents," he realized sadly.
"He'll come around," Grady said, but from the looks that passed between the other men, he knew none of them were really certain if that was the case.
Sighing, he shoved the fruitless speculation away, unfolded from the couch, and crossed his arms. Locking his gaze on Lark, he asked, "Can you get me some of Lyle's blood?"
Lark shrugged. "Probably. Why?"
"Because I created this problem," he held up a hand, stopping the other's words of denial. "It may have been indirectly, but my research allowed those scientists to experiment on Lyle. I have a lab set up in an apartment I rent under Dagus's name. If I get some of Lyle's blood, I may be able to find a way to help the poor man." Besides, he needed something to occupy his time while his heart mourned.
* * * *
Ailean growled in frustration, running both hands through his hair. Nothing worked. He'd tried everything he could think of to isolate the chemicals causing the changes to Lyle's DNA. He could see how it was changed and could monitor the speed of change. He could even anticipate what would change next and ways to delay it, but he couldn't figure out how to reverse it or stop it! And if he didn't figure that out soon, Lyle would die. His body wouldn't be able to handle the stress and everything would shut down, one organ at a time.