by Sophie Stern
“What do you know about shifters, Heather?”
“Well, apparently, I know that they truly exist,” the corner of her mouth quirks up, and I can’t tell if she’s teasing me or not. I hope not because this is actually a serious thing we’re dealing with. If she thinks I’m messing with her, then this is going to take a long time.
That’s time we don’t have.
With a sigh, I pull my shirt off. Instantly, I scent her arousal, but I also don’t have time to play. Some of the most important members of our pack are gone, and she could hold the answer to finding the person or persons responsible.
That is, assuming she’s not the one behind the disappearances.
“What are you doing?” She asks.
“Proving to you that I’m not messing with you.”
I strip down entirely, and I don’t miss the way she stares at my cock once I’m naked. She doesn’t even bother trying to look at my eyes. Nope. She seems totally unconcerned with the fact that I’m honestly and truly naked.
“Hey,” I finally say. “My eyes are up here.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she mutters. She doesn’t look up. Her gaze is intently focused right on my dick, and while I’d love to have her attention focused on me there, it’s also not the time. There will be plenty of time for that later, and it’s not right now.
With a sigh, I close my eyes and shift. Instantly, my bones change. My skin vanishes. My fur comes in and I’m a wolf. There’s no denying what I am. I’m bigger, stronger, and I have two spare legs I didn’t have before.
Heather doesn’t even blink, which confirms my suspicions that she already knew about shifters, but it also upsets me. I don’t want her to be guilty. I don’t want her to be the person who is responsible for my pack members disappearing, but it’s starting to look like maybe, just maybe, she is.
She looks at me carefully, considering me. Is she going to touch me? She reaches out her hand, but then pulls it quickly back. Hastily, she looks around, but no one is here. It’s just the two of us. If she’s going to do anything, this is her chance, and I feel my heart begin to pound as I wonder if she’s going to pet me.
More importantly, I wonder why I want her to pet me.
It’s certainly not a normal thing to want or crave.
Not from a human.
And not for me.
“Wow,” she finally whispers. Then she takes a step forward. Once again, she holds out her hand, but unfortunately, the bell rings just as she does, and students start pouring out of the classrooms. They’re laughing and talking and joking around until they see us, and then the entire crowd falls silent.
“Who the fuck is that?” Someone yells out.
“Hey, no swearing!” A teacher shouts.
“Who’s she?”
“A human?”
“Why is she with Flynn?”
“Why’s Flynn in his wolf form?”
“What’s going on?”
The voices get louder and more pronounced and people start speaking directly to Heather. She instantly looks overwhelmed and like she might actually cry, so I realize I need to do something, and I change back.
“Hey, you’re naked,” a student yells. Shifters in general are basically nudists, but most of us keep that nudity out of the main hallways.
“Nothing to see here,” I say. “Move along.”
“Why is there a human here?” One student puts his hands on his hips and looks me up and down. He’s going to challenge me or my father to be pack alpha one day. I can already tell. This is the kind of guy who has guts and leadership skills, and more likely than not, he’ll end up leaving the pack after graduation to seek out his own group of wolves. I won’t be surprised if he takes a group of students with him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Yeah, this is supposed to be a human-free zone,” a girl says. She glares at Heather like the little writer is the worst villain of all time, and then she looks at me.
“I said, nothing to see here,” I grit out. “Now everyone leave.”
I gather up my clothes, grab Heather’s hand, and take off down the hallway. Heather is smart enough not to say a damn word as we push through the crowd to a private staircase down the hall. I enter the PIN on the private keypad that keeps the staircase locked, and the little door opens.
“Come on,” I tell her, and I pull her inside. As soon as the door is closed, I take a few steps up the staircase and start getting dressed. Being this close to Heather is going to make me go insane. Why does she smell so good?”
“What is this place?” She whispers.
“This is a staircase, Heather. Surely you’ve seen one before. Hell, maybe you’ve even written about one in your books.”
“I know what a staircase is,” she mutters.
“Good.” I pull my shirt over my head. Is it just me, or does she seem a little sad for me to finally be dressed? “Let’s go.”
I lead her up the stairs and down a narrow hallway. For a pack of wolves, we sure seem to like tight spaces, and this hallway is no exception. The two of us can’t even walk side-by-side, and her scent is filling the entire space. Fuck. If I’m noticing how aroused she is, then everyone else is going to notice, too. I stop and turn to her.
“Listen, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but you have to cut it out.”
“Cut what out?” She asks, surprised. “I’m not even doing anything.”
How the hell can I explain this delicately? Yeah, I kidnapped her and I stole her cats, but I’m also kind of starting to like this girl. I don’t want to hurt her in any way, and I definitely don’t want to make her sad. Not over something like this.
Shit.
I definitely should have done better research before I decided to steal a writer, especially one so cute.
“I know you aren’t trying to,” I finally say. “But the thing is, Heather, we’re about to go meet with a couple of wolves and they...well, they’ll be able to smell you.”
She gasps.
“Are you saying I smell? What the hell, Flynn? Do you have some deodorant? I mean, I didn’t exactly get to take a shower after you kidnapped me!”
“It’s not that,” I say.
She smells wonderful.
Better than wonderful.
Heavenly.
But every single male wolf in the building is going to be able to smell her, and they’re going to want a bite. This probably shouldn’t bother me. Scratch that: it definitely shouldn’t bother me, but it does.
“Then what is it?”
“Heather, you smell...excited.”
Her eyes go wide and then she shakes her head.
“Of course,” she whispers. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.” She bites her lip and looks away, and she seriously looks like I just kicked her and took away her puppy. Now I’m the one who feels upset because I never should have said something that was going to hurt her.
“Heather, it’s fine, it’s-”
“Please,” she holds up a hand to stop me, and she looks at me with tears in her eyes. “Let’s get this over with, okay? Whether you’re going to kill me or let me go, I just want this to be over.”
Is that what she thinks I’m going to do?
I mean, why wouldn’t she think that?
I haven’t exactly acted like a fucking hero to her. Nope. I’ve been too busy flashing my dick and showing off how big and powerful I am. I haven’t taken the time to show her that she’s important to our pack. I mean, she might be the villain, but something about her sweet disposition makes me think that there’s something I’m missing.
“Come on,” I finally say. I take her hand and tug, pulling her down the hallway to the last door. I push it open without knocking and walk into my father’s office. He’s sitting behind the desk and Maxwell is in here. Good. We can talk to them both.
Instantly, the two wolf-shifters are on their feet, and their senses are on high alert.
“What is this?”
“What have you done?”
“Who is she?”
“A human? Really?”
They’re both speaking at once and trying to yell over one another. Okay, so nobody says wolves were the smartest animals in the forest, and sometimes, even the highest ranking wolves make really poor decisions. Just because my dad’s the alpha doesn’t mean he doesn’t screw up, and this? This is a pretty big screw-up.
Instantly, Heather’s anxiety goes through the roof. I can scent her sadness and her fear. They waft together in a horrifying scent, and my father and Maxwell notice it, too.
They both stop, suddenly, and turn to her. My father opens his mouth, but I step in front of Heather, blocking his view of her.
“You need to calm down,” I tell him.
He looks shocked.
I’ve never spoken this directly with my dad before.
Ever.
Not when I wanted to join the basketball team in high school and not when I wanted to teach classes at the academy. I’ve never, ever spoken so bluntly, and he looks shocked when I speak now.
“Flynn? What’s going on?”
“We brought the girl. We believe she may know what’s going on with the missing shifters.”
“What girl? Who is she?” Maxwell asks.
“And who is we?” My dad asks, but then he shakes his head and mutters to himself. “Gaston, of course. No wonder. Those two are always getting into trouble.”
“She’s a writer.”
“A writer?” My dad tries to understand what I’m getting at, but neither he nor Maxwell was in the loop on this one. I didn’t tell them what I was doing because I knew they’d be morally opposed. Still, we don’t have time for pleasantries right now, so I just give it to them straight.
“Yeah, she’s a writer. I kidnapped her for information.”
Once more, my dad and Maxwell both freak out. They start yelling over one another and asking me if I’m insane, which is a fair question. Maybe I am insane. I’m not really sure anymore. Heather stands perfectly still behind me, but she’s no longer freaking out. Strange. I’m blocking her from their view, and it almost feels like I’m protecting her, but that would be crazy. She’s not my mate, anyway. She’s not even a shifter.
“Hey!” I finally shout. “Listen up. Whether you agree with my decision or not, it’s done. Over. I’m not taking her back until we know what we’re up against.”
“Flynn, she’s human. This could attract more.”
“Nobody even knows her real name,” I say. Well, except for her would-be stalker.
“What makes you think she knows anything?”
“We found a page from one of her books when Leah went missing.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, her books describe the academy’s inner-workings pretty precisely.”
“They do?” Heather gasps, and we all turn to look at her. “So that’s why this place seems so familiar! It’s almost exactly like The Werewolf and the Human Teacher. Only, the walls are a little different,” she said, glaring at the office walls. “And the flooring,” she frowns at the carpet. “In my book, everything was hardwood.” She shakes her head. “I can’t believe it. I felt strange, you know, when we came in. How’d you all do it? Did you actually design the school after one of my books?”
She seems almost thrilled.
She thinks we’re fans, and it looks like once more, I’m going to have to be the bad-guy asshole.
“The academy has been here for fifty years,” I tell her.
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “And you’re the first human to ever set foot in it.”
“I am?”
“Yes, my dear,” my father says. “And if what Flynn says is true, then I think we do have some talking to do. Flynn, why don’t you offer our guest a seat?”
Calling her a guest is definitely a jab at me. My dad has always viewed me as being a little too rough-and-tumble. That’s fine. He’s not wrong. I’ve always been sort of rough around the edges, but isn’t that part of my charm?
Hell, maybe it’s not, and I’ve just been kidding myself all of these years. Whatever. I’ll play the good boy and be polite, but the truth is that I feel anything but. I’m completely torn because I want answers. I want to find out where our packmates went. I want to find out who’s behind the abductions. Perhaps most importantly, I want to find out how Heather is involved.
“Of course,” I manage to say. My voice remains even and steely, and while Heather couldn’t possibly know I’m on the verge of losing my cool, both my dad and Maxwell get it. They’ve known me since I was a cub, after all.
I turn to Heather. She’s standing there perfectly still, but she doesn’t smell afraid or fearful of me. Strange. Why isn’t she more worried about her fate here tonight? If anything, she seems too calm, as though she thinks everything is going to be fine. If everything’s fine, it’s only because I’m going to do everything in my power to protect her.
I may have stolen her away, but I don’t have any interest in hurting her.
“Heather, please have a seat.” I gesture to one of the chairs in front of my father’s desk. She doesn’t hesitate. She just nods and moves past me and sits down. Perhaps I shouldn’t be quite so happy that she listened without arguing, but I am. It’s kind of nice that she didn’t question my suggestion. Instead, she just did exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it.
Perfect.
“So,” my father says to her. “You’re a writer.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you write?” Maxwell asks. The big wolf shifter takes up more of the room that he reasonably should. While he’s physically big, he’s even bigger mentally. Maxwell is the type of wolf who demands attention. He’s perfectly suited to be my father’s beta, and if they weren’t also lovers, then I’d worry Maxwell would challenge my father’s position as alpha.
“Paranormal romance, mostly,” she says. “Werewolves and vampires and sometimes I even write about the occasional ghost.” Heather smiles when she talks about her work. Her eyes light up a little and when she stops speaking, she lets out this tiny little sigh.
It’s perfect.
Everything about her seems to be.
The two men exchange wary glances and then turn to me.
“Why do you think she’s involved in this?” Maxwell asks me. He crosses his arms over his chest and stares at me so intensely that if I was a younger wolf, I’d be quivering.
But I’m not a younger wolf, and it will take more from Maxwell than a little bit of fussing and feather ruffling to get me worked up. I’ve seen the way Maxwell cares for my dad. After my mother passed away, Maxwell never left my dad’s side. I didn’t realize how close the two of them were, at first, but it quickly became obvious. No one in the pack said a damn word about it, which is good because I’d hate to have to kick the asses of some of the younger wolves. There will be a time and place for that.
“Her books feature some really similar circumstances to what’s been happening,” I point out.
“Like the school?” Heather asks, looking over at me. “Is that what you mean?”
“It’s a start,” I tell her. “Your books describe the inner-workings of our academy.”
“Really?” She asks, and she looks confused. Then she turns back to my dad. “So what’s going on? Flynn said someone went missing. Is that what you mean?”
“Why don’t you tell us?” My father says. “Since you seem to know so much.”
“I don’t think I know as much as you suspect that I do,” she says carefully. “But I’m happy to answer any questions about my book that you may have.”
“Why don’t we start with why you decided to write about wolves in the first place?” Maxwell asks.
“Uh,” she blushes and looks down at her hands. Suddenly, they seem like the most interesting thing in the world to her.
Why?
“Heather,” I say sternly, and she looks up at me and sighs. Then she turns back to my dad and
Maxwell.
“It’s going to sound crazy.”
“Crazier than a writer being responsible for the attacks on our pack?” My dad glares at me.
“Um, well, you see...” Her voice trails off, and there’s a new scent mixed in with Heather’s intoxicating smells: embarrassment.
What does she have to be embarrassed about?
She’s not feeling ashamed. No. This is something else. It’s something much more innocent, if I had to guess.
“Heather?”
“Um, I guess I’ve just been obsessed with wolves for a long time,” she finally says. “I just think werewolves are cool.”
A half truth.
Interesting.
“Try again,” I demand. My father and Maxwell both look at me, surprised. Okay, so maybe I should be more gentle with the human, but we don’t really have the time for that, do we?
“I have dreams about wolves,” she blurts out.
At this, we all stop and stare at her.
Dreams?
“Explain yourself,” my father says.
“Um, well, when I was 12 or 13, maybe, I guess I just started having these dreams about shifters. That was what inspired me to become a writer. I just wanted to get the stories out of my head, you know.”
“What kind of dreams?” Maxwell prods.
Heather blushes, and I sigh because I know what she’s going to say. She has sexual dreams about wolves, which can only mean one thing: she’s fated to mate a wolf-shifter.
Shit.
“Mating dreams,” I mutter, and my father and Maxwell nod.
“What?” Heather looks confused, or maybe scared. Sure. She chooses now to start feeling afraid. Perfect. Just perfect.
“Shifters mate for life,” my father explains carefully. “When a wolf-shifter reaches puberty, he or she begins to have dreams about their mate. Sometimes these dreams can be very demure. Maybe the dream is about eating dinner together or having children. As a wolf grows and reaches maturity, however, the dreams can become more explicit.”
“Oh.”
“Oh indeed,” Maxwell says. “You’re not a shifter.”
“No.”
“So why is she having mating dreams?” I ask my father.
“She’s obviously mated to someone in our pack,” my dad says. “It’s the only explanation for how she knows so much about the academy.”