by Alexis Davie
First Shift
Alexis Davie
First Shift
Text Copyright © 2019 by Alexis Davie
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
First printing, 2019
Publisher
Secret Woods Books
[email protected]
www.SecretWoodsBooks.com
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Other Books You Will Love
Thank You!
About the Author
1
Cleo Lane shuffled slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. She tried leaning back on her hands and that seemed better. She enjoyed the feeling of the grass tickling her palms. She glanced at her sister, Annie, who was lying almost flat on the ground, only propped up slightly on her elbows.
Cleo turned her face up to the sun for a moment, enjoying the heat on her skin. Now that she had found a comfortable position to sit in, she realized she was glad she had agreed to come out to the park with Annie, although she knew what was coming and that it was going to ruin this moment they were sharing.
At twenty-one, Annie was two years older than Cleo, and she had lost any teenage awkwardness she had ever had. She was graceful and not in the least bit klutzy around people. Cleo was the opposite. She felt like she was almost always awkward, and she knew she was clumsy a lot of the time.
Cleo blamed her awkwardness on the fact that she had just turned nineteen and was technically still a teenager, but deep down, she knew what it really was that prevented her from having that quiet inner confidence she saw in her sister. She also knew that she would never have it, no matter what Annie and her parents said.
“So,” Annie said, glancing in Cleo’s direction for a moment before looking away again.
Here we go, Cleo thought, the lecture I’ve been waiting for.
“Have you given any thought to what Dad said yesterday?” Annie asked her.
Cleo nodded her head. Her dad had sat her down yesterday, the first day of the summer holidays, and explained to her that now that she had left high school, it was time to stop messing around, and that she needed to leave this childish nonsense behind her. She had thought about it; she was telling the truth about that. But Annie wasn’t going to like what came next. The part where she explained that although she had thought about it, she was sticking to her guns.
The thing was, Cleo didn’t feel like this was childish nonsense. She felt like it was perhaps the most grown-up decision she had ever made. She didn’t even expect her parents and Annie and the world at large to understand the choice she had made. She just wanted them to accept that it was ultimately her decision and let it go.
“So, you’re going to turn, then?” Annie asked. She went on without waiting for an answer. “The next full moon is only about three weeks away.”
“I don’t want to be a slave to the moon,” Cleo said, not for the first time.
Annie rolled her eyes and when she spoke again, Cleo could hear the frustration in her voice.
“How many times have we been over this, Cleo? You won’t be a slave to anything. We only need a full moon the first time we turn. After that, we can turn whenever we want to.”
“See, this is what I don’t get,” Cleo said. “You say we can turn whenever we want to, and I know a few wolves who hardly ever turn. And no one lectures them.”
“That’s because they turned the first time on the first full moon after their sixteenth birthday like literally every wolf shifter in the world. They embraced who they are. Why won’t you do the same?” Annie asked.
Cleo sighed. They had been over this so many times since she had turned sixteen and refused to turn into a wolf for the first time.
“I just don’t want to,” she said. “And no, I’m not afraid. I want to just be me. Just Cleo. If I achieve something, I want to know it’s because of who I am, not what I am. I don’t want to be faster, stronger, more graceful, because of what I am. It doesn’t seem fair to everyone else. Like, take those guys, for example.”
Cleo nodded down the slight slope they were sitting on. At the bottom, most of the guys from their high school football team had gathered and were playing a friendly game amongst themselves.
“Our high school football team is made up exclusively of wolves. How is that fair to every other kid? It’s cheating,” Cleo pointed out.
“Firstly, most of them were already training for this long before they turned sixteen. And secondly, saying it’s cheating is like saying it’s cheating if a brainy kid does better on a test than you even though you studied for weeks and they didn’t have to. It’s not cheating, it’s using your natural talents.”
“Annie, there’s nothing natural about this. Look at them as a good example,” Cleo said, nodding to the football team again. “They’re acting like animals. Look at how they’re a little too aggressive, and then how they’re a little bit too into the team spirit. It’s the animal instinct to attack, and then the pack instinct that brings them back together.”
“Bullshit,” Annie said, making Cleo raise an eyebrow. “Show me any group of jocks that aren’t a bit aggressive during a play and then all back slaps and hugs after it.”
“Okay, so maybe that was a bad example. But what I mean is I don’t want to be ruled by an animal instinct and I don’t want an unfair advantage,” Cleo said.
“For fuck’s sake, Cleo, you sound like a naive idealist. The world will eat you up and spit you out, and you have an edge that you choose not to use. Do you have any idea how many people would kill to have what you have?”
“Yes, and I only wish there was a way I could give it to one of them,” Cleo snapped.
She was trying not to snap at Annie. Deep down, Cleo knew her sister was only trying to look out for her, but it was hard to bite her tongue at times. They had been back and forth over this exact same conversation so many times. She had hoped that after three years of this, her family at least would have finally accepted her decision.
“You’re such a brat,” Annie muttered.
Cleo bit her tongue once more, refusing to get drawn into an argument. She turned away from Annie, pushing herself back up into a sitting position. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, watching the football players below her.
Her eyes automatically went to Zane Green. Zane was the captain of the football team, the son of their pack’s alpha. He was tall and even without the football padding he was well built, his muscles bulging beneath his clothes. He had jet-black hair and his eyes were so dark they almost matched it.
Cleo knew a guy like Zane would never look at her. He was always hanging around the cheerleader types, the popular, pretty girls. Girls who were nothing like Cleo. Cleo had always been more bookish than sporty, taking her studies seriously and getting a bit of a reputation as a loner. She wasn’t really a loner, she just wasn’t one of tho
se girls who felt the need to be surrounded by people every second of every day. She had a few close friends and she liked it that way.
Cleo felt the smile spreading across her face as Zane scored a touchdown and the team slapped him on the back. For a second, he happened to look in Cleo’s direction, and she was almost sure he smiled at her. She dismissed the idea instantly. As if Zane Green would smile at her. As if he would even notice her sitting here.
Cleo heard the rustling sound of Annie shifting position beside her. Annie sat up next to her.
“I’m sorry I called you a brat,” Annie said.
Cleo shrugged, not wanting to fight with her, but not wanting to get back into this circular conversation again either.
“It’s just… you know how the pack feel about your refusal to turn, and it reflects badly on our parents,” Annie said.
“I know, and I hate that, Annie, I really do,” Cleo said.
“Just not enough to turn?”
Cleo shook her head.
“Don’t you see it, Annie? The more the pack close in and judge, the more I am convinced I’m doing the right thing.”
“Huh?” Annie said.
Cleo realized she had never told Annie the full truth behind her reasons for not turning. What she had said so far was true. She didn’t want an unfair advantage, and she didn’t want to be ruled by an animal instinct. But it was about more than that.
“I said earlier I don’t want to be ruled by an animal instinct, and I don’t. But I’m sure I could fight that. Everyone else seems to manage it easily enough. But there’s one thing none of you can fight, and it’s the one thing that scares me the most about turning into a wolf.”
“What is it?”
“The pack mentality. I don’t want to be someone who just blindly follows orders because the pack alpha said so,” Cleo said.
“But being part of a pack is what makes us strong,” Annie said.
“Is it?” Cleo asked, looking Annie in the eye. “Or is it what makes Parker Green strong? Because as much as I hate to say this, from where I’m standing, it seems to me like Parker has himself a bunch of clones who will do whatever he says so he never has to get his hands dirty.”
2
The second Zane and the team began playing their football game, Zane became aware of Cleo’s presence. He was surprised to see her there. She wasn’t really the outdoors type, and she had never shown the slightest interest in football before. He shrugged it off when he saw her with her sister, figuring it had been Annie’s idea for them to come to the park.
Zane would have liked it to have been Cleo’s idea. He would have liked her to be there simply to watch him play, to cheer him on from the sidelines, but he knew it would never happen. Just like he knew his crush on her was pointless; nothing would ever happen between them.
She wasn’t even his type. She was studious, quiet, a bit of a loner. Zane went for loud, fun girls who knew how to have a good time, who liked being part of the in crowd. He knew that would never be Cleo’s scene.
“Hey, Zane, are we playing or what, man?” Harley shouted.
Zane realized they were all waiting for him to get into position.
“Jeez, where’s the fucking fire?” he muttered under his breath, but he knew if one of the guys was distracted, he would have been the first one telling them to pay attention, and so he moved into position without argument.
For a moment, he lost himself in the play, not even aware of who may or may not be watching him. He lived for this moment, for the adrenaline rush of the game. It wasn’t as prevalent here, doing practice plays with the team, but he knew that at the game on Friday, it would be a different story. It was the last game of the season, the last game he would ever play for the high school team, and he wanted to be fighting fit for it. They had to win that game. They just had to. The team deserved to go out on a high.
Zane made the touchdown, and instantly, he was surrounded by the others, being clapped on the back. Whoops and cheers filled the air. Zane grinned and fist-bumped a few of the guys. His eyes wandered up to where Cleo had been sitting. She was still there, and for a second, Zane was sure she was smiling at him. He smiled at her, and even from here, he thought he saw her blushing. He dismissed the idea. Chances were a girl like Cleo didn’t even know he existed. She was far too smart to get involved with a dumb jock.
He looked away when it seemed as though Cleo and her sister were arguing, but he still had a picture of Cleo in his mind. Zane could see her unblemished, olive skin. He imagined it felt soft and warm, and he had spent many hours alone imagining his hands running over it. He could see her long, wavy brown hair, her amber eyes that sparkled in the sunlight or whenever she smiled. He imagined her meeting his eye, her eyes sparkling, tiny golden flecks dancing in them. He saw her moving closer to him, kissing him.
Jeez, man, get a fucking grip, he told himself.
He turned his attention back to the game. They played for a while longer and then Jerome suggested they call it a day and go and grab some burgers. Zane knew he should object, tell them they needed the practice, but the truth was, they didn’t. They had all of their plays nailed. They were ready.
“Hey, did you see that weird girl watching us earlier? What’s her name? Cleo something?” Harley said.
“Cleo Lane. Yeah, I saw her,” Mark put in. “She’s a freak. What sort of a wolf just doesn’t bother turning, like, ever?”
“I’m shocked she hasn’t been kicked out of the pack, especially now that she’s over eighteen,” someone else said.
Zane ignored the gossip, but it bothered him that they were calling Cleo a freak. She wasn’t a freak, she just had principles. Zane didn’t know what they were—the two of them had barely spoken throughout high school, let alone had any deep and meaningful conversations—but he figured she must have her reasons.
“I bet I could make her turn,” Jerome said to a chorus of laughter.
“That’s enough,” Zane snapped, unable to bite his tongue any longer.
His response got a chorus of whoops from the team.
“Relax, Zane. Jeez, what’s your problem, man?” Jerome said.
“We just need to be focusing our energy on the game, not on Cleo,” he said.
“Oh my God,” Jerome said, a grin crossing his face. “You like her, don’t you?”
“I…” Zane started.
“You like her. Zane and the freak are going to get it on,” Jerome laughed. “Hey, man, I’m sure you can make her turn too.”
“Oh Zane, oh Zane, owwwww,” Mark said, howling loudly.
The rest of the team joined in, moaning Zane’s name and howling.
“You guys are so pathetic,” Zane said. He knew the more he bit, the more they would tease him and he forced himself to laugh. “I bet I could get her to turn, though. But I won’t be wasting my time on her. I’ve got my sights set on Alexa for after the game on Friday.”
“Now, there’s a sweet little ride,” Jerome said.
The conversation moved on to teasing Zane about Alexa. Zane laughed along with their comments. He didn’t allow himself to dwell too much on the fact that he didn’t feel at all angry when they mocked him about Alexa, but that when they were doing the same thing to Cleo, he had felt like banging their heads together.
3
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Cleo said, shaking her head.
“That’s what best friends do,” Rose laughed. “Just try to relax a bit and enjoy it. Even if you don’t like football, just take in the atmosphere.”
“Like you’d be here if you didn’t have a crush on Harley,” Cleo said.
“Exactly. Like I said, just take in the—oh wait, did I say atmosphere? Yeah, I meant eye candy,” Rose giggled.
Cleo laughed along with her. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Once she went away to college at the end of the summer, she wouldn’t see Zane again, and although she knew he didn’t even know she existed, it wouldn’t hurt to spend tonig
ht watching him.
Actually, that’s not true, Cleo thought to herself. I bet he does know I exist. His father sure as hell does, so I’m sure Zane knows exactly who I am. The freak who has rejected her nature and therefore rejected the pack. Suddenly it seemed better just to think that he didn’t know she existed.
She let go of the thought and just let herself do what Rose had said—relax and enjoy the game. She found that her eyes were on Zane more than anyone else, of course, but she even started to get into the game a little bit, and when the team was winning at half-time, she was cheering as loudly as the rest of the crowd.
By the time the second half of the game started, Cleo was feeling a little bit more subdued. She had seen Zane on the sidelines through the break, watching the cheerleaders, and when they’d left the field, she’d seen him laughing and flirting with Alexa, a pretty, bubbly blonde cheerleader. Someone who was exactly Zane’s type. She had tried to remind herself that Zane wasn’t her type any more than she was his, and she was just enjoying the view, not thinking about anything actually happening between them, but what she knew and what she felt were two different things by that point. The more she watched Zane, the more her body craved him.
She had been a little bit surprised to discover that watching him turned her on and gave her goosebumps imagining his touch, something that had never happened to her with any of the few guys she had dated, and certainly never with anyone she had watched from afar before. She had allowed her mind to wander, wondering what it would feel like if Zane ran his hands over her naked body, even allowing herself to consider what it would be like to have sex with him.