Wanted by the Alphas(30)
She forces herself to calm down although her pulse is starting to race with his outburst. “I’m listening.”
“Don’t get involved in this, OK? Don’t ask Kirk to tell you anything, and don’t ask the same of me either. All this happened long before you came here with your brother. It doesn’t mean if you date one of us and work for the other that you have to get involved with every aspect of our lives.”
He pauses.
“I don’t mean that to sound as a brush off because it really isn’t. It’s just that all of our families have secrets that are buried so deep that it’s best people outside never know of them. Just as you and your brother probably have secrets that are best kept under a lid. Just let it go, OK, Shannon? Trust me when I say it’s the best for all of us.”
She doesn’t say anything.
“Shannon, did you hear what I said?”
She pulls in a deep breath. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry I yelled.”
“You didn’t yell. You were just trying to make your point.”
He laughs mirthlessly. “Well, yeah. But please heed what I just said. It’s important. Promise me you won’t ask anything about our family feud anymore from either of us. Promise.”
She doesn’t know if she can keep that promise. It isn’t as though she’s nosy by nature. It’s just that she has this sinking premonition that she and Jared are going to get deeply involved, and the more she knows about what happened between the Walkers and the Fitzpatricks, the better.
Still . . . it is only a premonition.
“I promise,” she says.
“Great.” He is immensely relieved. “I’ll let you get back to your dinner. I’ll call you later, OK?”
“OK.”
“We’ll have more sex over the airwaves.”
She laughs. “Phone waves.”
“Miss you.”
“Miss you too.”
He clicks off, leaving her to mull over what he said.
When she returns to the table, her skin is flushed even though the air was so chilly outside.
“Everything OK?” Kirk says mildly.
“Sure.”
“Great.”
He doesn’t ask her anymore about who she is dating – probably doesn’t think it’s any of his business – and she is grateful for it.
THE FOREST
It is late when she gets home. She sees the front door ajar. She parks, looking around for Jared, but she doesn’t see him.
She kills the engine, grabs her purse and gets out of the Toyota. The night is still but for the rustling of the wind in the trees.
“Jared?” she calls.
She walks inside. Jared’s clothes are on the floor in an untidy heap, and she immediately knows what happened.
“Damn,” she mutters beneath her breath.
She supposes she shouldn’t blame him. He can’t very well shut the door in his panther form. But he can well take his clothes off outside and shut the door behind him, right?
A semi-distant growl alerts her. The sound is coming from the forest at the back of the house.
“Jared?”
Other snarls permeate the air, as though a pack of animals has suddenly descended into the woods behind her house. Now she is alarmed.
She breaks into a sprint outside. She remembers the stories of how old man Pullnam was killed.
Jared!
The woods are dark, but she is guided by the light of the moon dancing between the foliage. Brushing aside everything Lucien told her about going into the forest alone, she races towards the sounds. Rabid animals are fighting one another; it would seem from the growling and snarling. She almost stumbles over tree roots in her haste but her feet manage to pick themselves up in time.
She rounds a dark pocket of trees and sees them in a clearing. There they are – a huge black panther and a pack of very large wolves. She immediately wishes she has thought this over before she so unwittingly came here, but her only concern was – is – for her brother.
The wolves turn to regard her, and she can see the intelligence in their feral green eyes.
Not wolves, she instantly understands.
Shapeshifters.
Just like her brother.
Their innate intelligence tempers the ferocity their animal form brings along with all its raging hormones and glandular secretions. But it is like having two warring wills in one body, she knows. She has seen Jared’s transformation and all the freedom and imprisonment it brings.
On one hand, the animal side of them longs to rend and tear everything in sight. Unlike true creatures of the jungle, the shapeshifters have not learned to temper their bloodlust and the power coursing in their muscles and veins with the need to kill only for food or defense. Like children reveling in their strength for the first time – or many firsts – they let the demonic, feral sides of themselves take over completely.