“This feels amazing! Like I’m a person again instead of some kind of brainless incubator.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Maybe I should come live with you at the alpha house until the baby comes. For my sanity’s sake.”
“And you think that would calm your mates? They’d be standing outside the house twenty-four seven, staring up at your window, and probably howling.”
“But if this keeps up, I will end up sitting in a corner, rocking and singing to myself. Or worse!”
“I get that.” I watched her competently guiding us toward out destination, very much the Wendi loved. “Have you tried explaining this to them as well?”
“No, of course not.” She turned the car into a drive-through doughnut place. “I’d hurt their feelings.”
“And you don’t think you are now?” I scanned the menu board. “I’ll have an apple fritter and a hot spiced apple cider.” I waited while she placed our orders, hers larger than mine. She apparently wasn’t following her diet plan all the time. “I’ve learned a lot about honesty from you. About being who you are without apologizing, and I know for a fact your mates love that about you.” I patted her arm. “They only want to help you, but they can’t if you don’t open up to them.”
We drove forward and picked up our order. Wendi didn’t answer me for a couple of miles down the highway. “So, you are saying that I’m causing my own problems.”
“We all do that. I’m just saying that since they want nothing but to make you happy, clue them in on what that means. Where you do want help now, and where you are perfectly fine to do things. And promise to let them know if that changes as your due date approaches. If you don’t, you’re not going to have a very happy pregnancy I’m afraid.”
“Pass me one of the crullers?” She reached for it and held it close to her lips. “When did you get so wise?” Wendi took a delicate nibble of the treat.
“When I started hanging out with you.” I smiled at her. “Now, do you have anything special in mind to buy today?”
“Caramon has the cutest onesies. I thought we’d start there.”
“Perfect.”
I was just taking a far-from delicate bite of my fritter when she burst into laughter. “We are good for each other, aren’t we? You and me?”
“The best.” I spoke around a mouthful of fried deliciousness. “The very best.
Baby’s Bottoms was located between a year-round Christmas store and a bakery. At least we wouldn’t starve on the way home.
Chapter Seven
“What exactly are we looking for again?” Tris scrubbed his hands down his face. “Can I see the symbol?”
The entire pack was exhausted from the tension of being on defense all the time, but for now, it was the only choice we had.
I pulled one of his hands away from his face and laced my fingers with his. He immediately blew out a breath and gave me a slight smile. I loved that I could do that for him and Samson. And they could certainly do it for me.
“This.” Samson had taken the picture of the symbol of Opal, that was the only name I used for it, and blown it up to poster size and had zeroed in on every inch of the swirling, burnt pattern in order for us to get the most details as possible.
“Okay. What haven’t we covered?” Tris shuffled the pictures around, turning them this way and that, examining them over and over again.
“We’ve covered everything twice,” Samson answered, sitting on the edge of his desk. His foot brushed mine, and I barely contained my shudder. I was such a girl when it came to these two. One touch of his foot and I was practically over the edge.
My wolf perked up inside me. She sent me a picture of the southern perimeter of the pack lands along with a whine, imploring me to go there. She had a hunch, and who was I to deny her hunches?
“I think we need to search the southern perimeter again,” I blurted, my voice half human, half wolf.
“I had a group go out there yesterday, Christie. Is there something you’re not telling me?” Samson differed to his clipboard and confirmed he had a group go to the southern perimeter the day before. Because, of course, he kept track of those things.
“My wolf keeps sending me images of the south. I think we should go.”
Samson put down the clipboard and it clattered on the wooden desk. “Has this happened before? Maybe that’s just where she likes to run.”
One day he would trust me completely. One day.
“Maybe her wolf knows something that we don’t. There might be an intuition there that we would be foolish to ignore, Samson. If there’s nothing there, fine, but I trust her wolf. Don’t you?”
Damn. Tris didn’t beat around the bush.
Samson’s dark eyes bore into mine, sending a spiral of want and love spindling around my spine and ribs, alighting every cell along with it. “Yes. I trust her.”
The words hung in the air between us, tugging at my heart.
“Then let’s go.” Tris got up and pulled me up with him, our hands still entangled.
Samson nodded, and the three of us left the alpha house. Gigi waved to me from the kitchen where she was mumbling to a pot of boiling soup.
She’d been quiet of late. Something definitely out of the ordinary for her.
We hadn’t even made it down the stairs of the alpha house before our wolves took over. They knew the three of us belonged together, and since things were still a little tense in our human forms, our animals reveled in the time we were in fur, free from constriction. Free from our human cages.
My wolf forced my human consciousness to the back seat and took over the run. She pulsed toward something just out of sight and wouldn’t be stopped or slowed by anything. Samson and Tris, though their wolves were lean and swift, had a hard time catching up to me and strained to keep pace.
My wolf knew what she was doing—where she was going—how she needed to proceed.
About time someone did around here.
Leaves and twigs flew into the air in a cloud as she made a swift left turn, skidding on the dirt and almost colliding with a tree. Branches and thorns tugged my fur as we plowed toward her target—whatever that was.
Here. Scent it. The ash. The burning. The oil. The bird. The prey. Wings. Feathers.
My animal pulsed so many senses and images into my head that I was overwhelmed. Inside her, at her mercy, I filtered through what I could.
How did she know?
She relented to my human form, but begrudgingly. I had to relay this information to my mates, who were panting but noses twitching, raised to the sky. They had picked up something as well.
“She says there is ash, oil, burning, and I think something about a bird. Oh, shit. The hawk. Do you smell hawk?” I asked my mates. I knew they could understand my words even in their wolf forms.
Tris nodded to me and ticked his muzzle toward a large tree only a few feet away. My wolf whimpered and scratched at my insides, back on defense.
“What is it?” I asked myself and her, taking trepidatious steps toward the tree.
My nose picked up the same things my wolf did only fainter. I stopped in my tracks, realizing why. Opal had paid us a visit and brought her friend.
“There.” I pointed. The symbol was burned into the trunk and the faint aroma of an accelerant hung in the air. Like she’d put some kind of oil onto the trunk to make it burn faster—deeper. Something.
Samson and Tris shifted to two legs and inspected the burn.
“She’s been here. The burn smells recent. She knew when we were going to search here. It’s like she’s in our heads.”
“That’s because she’s got a spy. That hawk is listening, I bet. Watching us. Preying on us. We need to be more careful, and the pack needs to be more discreet. We’re handing out information to the enemy. For that, we just send her an invitation to walk right in.”
“She already is walking right in.” Tris ran his fingers along the burn then brought them to his nose to smell. “I would say this was just h
ours ago. How did your wolf know?”
“I have no fucking clue,” I answered honestly.
Chapter Eight
With everything going on in our pack, I’d managed to miss a few days of school, and if I didn’t want to fail every class—since it was too late to drop—I needed to catch up. Campus seemed strange to me already, as if it wasn’t where I belonged. Did I? After going from office to office and begging the professors for notes and assignments, I was ready to run to the safety of the alpha house. Safety…with the pack constantly under attack, it was funny that I thought of it that way. But I did. Our home was a sanctuary to me, despite the fact we still had a bit of our act to get together.
My wolf was currently hopeful we’d get where we needed to be and extra wound up on securing the pack from Opal and her hawk. And any other henchmen we hadn’t heard of because she’d had others in the past and we had no reason to think she’d never have another.
And as that wound me up, the mating issue also built within me. Was I reading too much progress into what was happening with me and Samson and Tris? In every story I’d heard, wolf mates got along right away. Wendi had four and they’d never seemed jealous or weird, at least that she’d mentioned. One of them was even Samson and Tris’ younger brother, and he got along with everyone.
How had I merited the difficult brothers? I chided myself with my lack of patience, but really, if we kept up our baby steps, I might be Gigi’s age by the time we had a day of peace. Should I push again? Or—
Lost in thought, with a book bag filled with assignments it only now occurred to me I might have been able to get via email, I slammed right into someone tall and muscular and who knew my name.
“Christie?” He grabbed my shoulders and steadied me as I wobbled in reaction to the collision. “Are you all right?”
“What?” I blinked up at Dean, my school friend who I had not seen in…when had I last seen him? A while. He was also my only human friend. “Oh I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
He set me away from him and carefully released me, chuckling. “I think I can withstand the force of you bumping into me. You’re about half my size, you know.”
And half wolf. Even in human form, I was stronger than I appeared. Not that I could explain that to him. “I guess that’s true.”
“So, are you?” He eyed me with concern.
“Am I what?” Had he asked a question? Oh right. “Fine. I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.” I tried to smile at him, but we’d been friends long enough I couldn’t fool him. He had a discerning nature and an alarming ability to see through me. Unusual for a human and a good reason for me not to hang out with him. Concealing my true nature usually caused me no difficulty, but Dean was the exception.
“Have you seen Sierra around?” He scanned the area nearby as if she might show up out of nowhere.
“No, I…” I stopped talking as the pack member in question strolled by, giving me a wave and looking through Dean as if he weren’t there.
He watched her walk away, gaze trailing her exit, then sighed. “I don’t think she loves me yet.”
“Dean, there are literally hundreds of women on this campus who would die for a date with you.” I squeezed his arm. “Why don’t you focus on them?”
He shrugged. “Why don’t I buy you lunch and we can catch up?”
We decided to grab sandwiches from the campus grill and carried them to a sheltered courtyard where the wind didn’t reach. It was a coolish day, but we both wore hoodies, and the sun beamed down on us, making it seem warmer than the air temperature would indicate. When we had our special-of-the-day hot pastrami and swiss laid out on the bench between us, Dean opened the bag of flaming Cheetos and offered me some.
“This is why we are friends,” I told him, grabbing a handful. “You have the best taste in food.”
“I thought it was because I take notes in class for you when you don’t show up.”
“I got the lecture notes from the professor…” Which would be less complete than Dean’s. The class we shared was taught by an egomaniac who believed if you didn’t attend, then it was an insult. Unlike the other professors, the notes for that one were sketchy at best. “And you get to be my best friend for the day.”
“What about Wendi?”
“She’s demoted until sundown.” I crunched happily on a Cheeto. “So good. Are my lips orange?”
“Reddish. About the same as your fingers.” We ate for a while, talking about nothing, and then he set his sandwich down and picked up his water bottle, taking a long drink. “Okay, now that we’re not starving, are you ready to tell me what had you looking so upset and worried right before you slammed into me and nearly knocked me down?”
“I thought I was half your size,” I protested, hoping to go back to our easy banter instead of discussing my issues.
“Don’t change the subject. First, you disappear for days at a time, and now, you show up looking tragic…but won’t tell me why.”
“It’s nothing, really. I was just a little pensive, but seeing you has cured me.” I reached for the Cheetos, but he pulled them back.
“I’m not sharing the good stuff with you if you’re lying to me. What happened to my tenure as your best friend? I thought I had the position all day?”
Well shit. “Okay, it’s not nothing. But it’s relationship related, which we don’t usually talk about.”
He leaned against the bench back and offered me a rueful grin. “Isn’t that what friends talk about? And since you let me know at the very start I was in the friend zone…talk, buddy.”
I inhaled deeply. Although we didn’t discuss pack matters with outsiders, my relationship in itself was not that. I couldn’t think of a reason not to share. Gigi was so confident everything would be fine, and Wendi was so caught up in her own life with her pregnancy and everything… “I guess I do need to talk. But you’re going to be shocked.”
“No way.” Dean wiped his flaming-cheese fingers off on a napkin. “I’m an adult and recognize people have their own preferences in life. In fact, if you are about to tell me you didn’t want to love me because you prefer women or are in a kink lifestyle you assume I would not embrace—although you might have asked!—I understand.”
Here goes. “It’s not that. I am in a relationship with two men, and they don’t get along very well.”
“Two?” He blinked at me. “Maybe they don’t get along because there are two of them and only one of you? I mean…I don’t think I’d want to share either.”
He had no idea, and without explaining things that were pack related, I didn’t think I could clarify enough. Why hadn’t I just told him I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it? Fear of losing his friendship?
“That’s not it, but I don’t want to get into details.” Couldn’t really. “Anyway, now you know.”
“Yeah. I know.” He sounded more troubled than anything. “I wish I could be helpful, but without more details, I don’t think I can. And maybe even not then. Can’t you pick one?”
We talked a little longer, but parted with the sweet comfortable aspect of our friendship blunted, damaged. I still had nobody to talk to, and now Dean would probably avoid me on campus. Dammit!
Chapter Eight
By the time my last class of the day let out, I was beyond tired. Dean had sat next to me in one of our classes, but kept quiet the entire time, taking furious notes, his posture rigid and steely.
That was what I got for trying to be honest with someone not in the pack.
Imagine his response if he knew about the beast that resided inside me.
This was why we kept things from humans. No matter the number of paranormal novels and movies they loved, when it came to reality, they would never understand.
I decided on an afternoon espresso, and as I stood in line, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and goose bumps broke out all along my arms and legs. My wolf froze inside me, her hackles raised, her instinct on full alert.<
br />
Someone was watching me. Not just looking at me, but watching me.
I got my coffee and went to the bar with sugar and creamer, taking my time to scan the room while I pretended to doctor my cup of pick-me-up. My wolf was on edge inside me. If she had her way, I would’ve gotten out of here, caffeine or not.
I swallowed against the trepidation inside me. It wasn’t fear that gripped me. I knew beyond a doubt I could take care of myself. But being out in the world, surrounded by humans, made this situation tricky. It wasn’t like I could just shift right here among the latte drinkers and take out whoever was watching me.
A jerky movement across the room caught my attention—a man leaning against a wall, sipping on coffee. But even I could tell from my distance there was nothing in that cup. He pretended to take a drink but never swallowed. Either he was faking it or he was drinking a shitload of coffee and hoarding it in his cheeks.
I blew out a breath and left through a different door than the one I came in through and also one that was in the opposite direction of my car. My plan was to meander around the long way until I was at my car.
My mind went to Samson and Tris. Tris was at work, and Samson would be as well, but something inside me whispered that I should call him.
The phone rang all of one time before he picked up. “Christie,” he gruffed out, and I knew I’d interrupted. I immediately regretted the phone call.
“I’m sorry I interrupted I…”
“Talk to me, female. You never call for no reason. Are you okay?”
While I talked, I trashed the espresso before even taking the first sip. The adrenaline rush of feeling like I was being followed was enough to fuel me.
“I’m not sure.”
I heard the wheels on his chair roll back and then his pacing footsteps. “Tell me what is going on. You’re at school?”
I swallowed against the lump in my throat. Whoever this man was followed me closer. The scent of trees and ash filtered in through my nose as he stomped behind me. It was like he didn’t care if I knew he was there or not.
Tremble: A Shifter of Consequence Tale (Shifters of Consequence Book 7) Page 3