I smoothed the back of the t-shirt down and sat down in the wooden chair and waited while he plated the food and brought it and a glass of ice cold water in front of me. The spaghetti looked so good, and he even included a warm buttered roll on the side.
“Wow.”
“You look surprised?”
“I just don’t know any man who can cook,” I teased.
He grinned. “I’m only half man.”
I chuckled. I just couldn’t help myself. He was such a charmer, and he knew it.
“Well, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really much of a cook myself until I took some classes for fun,” I said.
“What about your parents? Didn’t they teach you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. They had a chef. Still do, actually.”
He looked at me like he wanted me to say more, but I’d revealed enough about my life. I didn’t even want to talk about it at this point.
Finally, we broke eye contact, and I dug into the spaghetti. It was love at first bite. I had never tasted a better version of the dish. I took several bites before I allowed myself to speak again.
“It’s so good.”
“Yeah. It’s not my best dish. I love food. I’m not a fast-food, bar food type of guy, so once I left my grandfather’s house, I learned how to cook. No classes or anything. Just trial and error and a lot of smoke and grease fires in the kitchen. You’ll probably laugh, but the Cooking Network is my favorite channel right after ESPN and NFL.”
“No, I wouldn’t laugh at all. I love the Cooking Network. You could be a chef if you wanted. I’m impressed,” I said, buttering my roll.
“Naw, I’m not good with customer service. I prefer fighting bad guys.”
I lifted my gaze to meet his. “So, you really are like a cop to the members of your community?”
He shrugged. “Us shifters are still governed, just like the humans. I police when it comes to pack matters and pack crimes.”
“Well, I bet you’re very good at what you do. You saved me.”
“Stuff like what happened to you shouldn’t even be happening. Unfortunately, I don’t police other members of other packs. Just my own. The incident you were involved in happened outside of my territory. Everything outside of my territory is off limits, but I’m not the kind of guy who turns a blind eye to men picking on helpless women.”
“The men that attacked me, they had tattoos.”
“Can you describe it?” he asked, eagerly.
“A solid black star inside a circle.”
Jayce ate slowly while looking down at the table but said nothing.
I continued, “Have you seen that mark before?”
“Members of the Black Ridge pack carry that mark.”
“So, there are two packs here?” I asked.
“Yes. There are more than two, actually. The region of Arrow Lake is huge. It covers a good sized piece of Minnesota and most of the mountains.”
“When you shifted in the forest? I saw your tattoo…I think. The moon. A crescent.”
“That’s correct. You’re very observant,” he said with a small smile.
“It’s how I knew you were different. That and the fact that it didn’t look like you wanted to tear me to shreds.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said.
The way he looked at me made me think of things other than revenge for what was done to me and getting to my friend’s house. I’d never forget how sexy Jayce looked under the moonlight, holding me in his arms. I’d never forget how aroused he was after he shifted from wolf into man.
I swallowed as my entire core heated. If I wasn’t mistaken, I saw Jayce’s nostrils flare, and he stole a glance at me. I picked up my glass and guzzled down some water, attempting to cool my temperature.
We ate in almost complete silence after that. Just small talk and stolen glances. I cleaned my plate, and Jayce helped himself to seconds—even thirds.
After putting our plates in the sink, he glanced down at his watch.
“I have a meeting,” he said, bluntly.
“You work the graveyard shift or something?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face.
“All the time, but this is impromptu. I called my Alpha while you were in the shower and told him what happened.”
“So, your meeting’s about me?”
He nodded. “And how we’re going to stop this from happening again.”
I sighed. “Oh, God. If I had only stayed on the main interstate.”
“Hey…this isn’t your fault. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They singled you out. There’s a lot you don’t know about us. As to us shifters, we have certain rules. It doesn’t matter what pack we’re pledged to. They crossed the line. If you had shown up dea—” He paused and shook his head. “If something had happened to you and a human had found you, there would have been chaos. To humans, we’re just violent wolves. They make no distinction between the packs. All wolves regardless of affiliation would’ve been blamed for your disappearance.”
“I understand,” I said, quietly.
“It’s why I had to call my Alpha. We have to take care of this. I…uh…I want you to stay here. This is the safest place for you.”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go without a car. I don’t even know where I am and it’s dark,” I chuckled, nervously.
“Just making sure you weren’t thinking of trying anything like running off into the night.”
“Oh no! I’m not going out there again.”
“I should only be gone an hour, but I won’t go far. There’s a landline in the upstairs loft area. I’m going to leave my phone number if you need to call me. I’ll come running if you need me,” he said, scribbling some notes on a pad.
“Fine.”
“Make sure to lock the door behind me. Don’t open it for anyone. I can let myself in, and I have a spare key buried out in the yard. Just don’t use the deadbolts unless you don’t want me to come back in.”
He grinned.
“Okay, but I want you to come back in. Trust me on that one. I don’t want to be alone.”
“No one will hurt you here. I’ll be back. Promise,” he said, before pulling his shirt over his head and hanging it over the chair.
My eyes lingered on his chest for a moment, and then I turned away. I figured he couldn’t have the clothes on during the shift. I thought he would strip down naked in front of me next, but he went out into the living room, opened the front door, and crossed the threshold.
“See you in about an hour,” he said just before closing the door.
Everything became eerily quiet, and I knew he was gone. My fear returned, and I realized that I wanted Jayce back here with me.
I looked around the large room, taking in the severity of my situation. My life had changed in just a matter of hours.
CHAPTER SEVEN
JAYCE
Leaving Violet in my house by herself was the last thing I wanted to do, but time was crucial. If I wanted to find out what we were up against and, more importantly, the best way to bring down the wolves who had singled out and attacked an innocent woman, I had to act fast—especially if Violet’s account about the Black Ridge pack’s Alpha being involved in the attack was accurate.
As I ran through the forest as wolf, I couldn’t stop thinking about the last emotion I picked up on from Violet. The moment I stepped across that threshold to leave her alone, she had seemed scared. I had also picked up on another emotion. Arousal. I’d caught a whiff of her scent right after I took off my shirt to prepare for my shift. I tried to think nothing of the way I was affecting her. I couldn’t compare her to the she-wolves running around here in heat all the time. She was a human, not a woman for me to desire just because she smelled heavenly and looked exquisite. She needed my protection more than anything else. The last thing I wanted to do was take advantage of her.
I ran faster, my paws eating up the distance in front of me. When I finally reached Eddie’
s cabin, I leaped up on the porch, peered through the darkness at my surroundings, and then shifted back into my human form.
Without hesitation, I knocked on the door. I heard a TV blaring inside, but the person must have lowered the volume because everything became quiet. Even the few crickets that had been on the porch when I arrived had ceased chirping.
No one answered, so I pounded against the door frame this time. “Eddie,” I called out. “I know you’re in there.”
My wolf ear’s perked up just in time to hear someone curse.
“Open up. My Alpha sent me. We think the Black Ridge wolves are at it again. We need your help.”
“Is that you, Jayce?”
“Yeah.”
“What the hell is it?” Eddie asked gruffly from the other side of the door.
“A woman was attacked out in the woods tonight. A human.”
The door was jerked open to reveal a big, burly muscular guy with a long salt and pepper colored beard.
“Is she still alive?” Eddie inquired, without so much as a greeting.
“Yeah. She’s safe now. She’s at my house.”
Eddie grabbed a drawstring bag off the porch and thrust it at my chest. “Put some clothes on, for Godsakes. I don’t want to see all that hanging out.”
He left the door open and walked into the house, while I slipped into a pair of trousers that were way too big for me. Like the majority of shifters in Arrow Lake, I preferred to shift in and out of my true form while naked. I didn’t see the need to rip up a good outfit in the process. Living in the woods provided me that luxury, but for humans like Eddie, who lived among us, it was a minor nuisance. We trusted humans like Eddie. Those who knew us and about us and expected our visits always kept a change of clothes or two nearby in plain sight.
I came inside the cabin and closed the door behind me.
Eddie was in the kitchen, chugging a beer. “Why’d Draven send you?”
“To see what you know. Have you heard anything about the Black Ridge rogues and what they might be up to?”
“No, but I haven’t been in town for some time. There was something in the news about a fight breaking out near the town square, but that’s not surprising at all. When I was Sheriff, the high school kids were always getting into it out there. I don’t think anything’s changed.”
Eddie used to be the Sheriff in Arrow Lake. He was voted out two years ago following suspicions from his colleagues that he was aiding the shifters of Arrow Lake in their fight to stay in this region. The citizens of Arrow Lake had voted to keep the wolf shifting population at bay following a string of grizzly attacks on tourists and citizens. What the humans didn’t understand was that not all the wolf packs in the Arrow Lake region were bad.
In Arrow Lake and the surrounding area of upper Minnesota, there were several distinct and prevalent packs: the Shifters of Timber Rock, the Shifters of Iron Ridge, the Shifters of Crystal Lake, and the Black Ridge rogues. The latter group had been the cause of most of the hatred against us. But in the human’s eyes, we couldn’t be distinguished, so they voted to banish us all. We didn’t exactly lose by a landslide, but when it was all said and done, fifty-nine percent of Arrow Lake citizens had agreed that it was best for the shifters to remain in the wilderness.
There was plenty of opposition after the votes were counted and the law was enacted. Many people lost their homes and businesses because of it. The wolf packs fled deep into the woods and mountains after so-called vigilantes took up arms and threatened to shoot any wolf within several meters of their home. Most of us took refuge in less populated areas, but there were still a minority of shifters that risked it, living in town but only shifting outside of the city limits where it was safe to roam in their true animal forms. Some of them even chose not to shift at all.
For many of us, we were grateful for those humans that had remained loyal to us from the very beginning, by providing safe havens and shelters when we were being hunted, and by being the voice of reason whenever we had problems with the humans.
“I picked up the woman near the county line. That means the Black Ridge rogues were in their true forms in an area prohibited from shifters according to Lakely’s Law.”
“I haven’t seen a rogue in these parts in over a year.”
“I haven’t either. We had a council meeting last month. None of our people have reported seeing any rogues since last Christmas.”
“Do you think the rogues are deliberately targeting humans in prohibited areas?” Eddie asked.
“Don’t know. Other than the incident in the town square, have there been any sightings or disturbances in town that you’ve heard about?” I asked.
“No, especially nothing like this. Not since y’all were chased out of town. You said they attacked this woman?”
I nodded. “Yes. I caught them in the act. I left three of them dead out in the field.”
“Dear God…” he grumbled.
“I had no choice. One of them bit into her. They looked like they were going to kill her,” I told him.
“Were they in their…?”
“I killed them in wolf form. I didn’t have time to drag their asses out of sight with a woman scared and bleeding. She says there were three more chasing her. The rogues who I left alive will find the bodies.”
“And when they do…?”
“Things are gonna get ugly,” Eddie replied.
“Well, they asked for it. You did what you had to do.”
“Think you can help us out?” I asked.
Eddie sighed. “Look, I can check on a couple of things for you, but my connections are limited. My buddy, Larry, left the force just last year and they just hired a bunch of youngins' from the city who follow the policies to the “T”. I can’t promise you anything.”
“We need to know if the rogues have been causing problems already and if folks in town have been alerted. We’ve got women and children out here in these mountains. They’re settled in their homes and they’re at peace. The last thing we need is another band of gun-toting idiots running around hunting us and driving us from our homes again. If the rogues are back in the region, I know that Draven is gonna want to know what they’re up to. We have treaties with the other packs too, and I’m sure they’ll want the rogues gone before they ruin it for the rest of us.”
“And this human you’ve got in your home…how are you sure she’s not going to report her run-in with the rogues to the police?” Eddie asked.
I ran my hand through my hair. “That’s the thing. I’m not sure. She’s calm for now. She was just driving through town when they caught her. She has no idea about the history either.”
“If you want, I can come talk to her.”
I swallowed and nodded. “That’s probably the best thing for right now. You’re human and ex-Sheriff. She’ll probably trust you more than she trusts me.”
“Well, she’s staying at your house, and you just risked your life six ways to Sunday to save her. She’s gotta trust you after that.”
“I hope so,” I said.
“I mean…what if one of the townsfolk had actually heard her and seen you out there with those rogues? They would’ve shot your ass to death to save that woman and not even think twice about it,” Eddie exclaimed.
“I know it, but I got there first. I got the hell out of that territory afterward, but the point is that her life is no longer in danger. I don’t know what those rogue wolves were up to when they chased her like that.”
“We’re going to find out one way or another. You said Draven would be back in town tomorrow?”
“I hope so. As a matter of fact, I’m going to give him a ring and tell him to steer clear of town right now.”
“Yes, you tell your people to do that until this is sorted out. If the rogues are back and causing problems, they’re not gonna wanna get mixed up in this.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
VIOLET
After making a vow to myself that I’d stop getting myself into hot me
sses, I looked away from the diminishing flames in the fireplace. I grabbed a log from the side of the hearth and threw it onto the pile. I watched the blaze spark and listened as the wood cracked and burned.
The fire reminded me so much of my life right now—which was in shambles. The moment before I was to get married to one of the most famous attorneys in Green Bay, I called it quits. It was supposed to be a match made in Heaven as my mom once described it.
Donovan and I had been childhood friends for years. We practically grew up together. We spent our summers running around the little country club that my dad owned. Our families names would forever be linked since Donovan’s dad, and my dad went to the same alma mater. Donovan’s dad used the country club to entertain his clients, and my dad had an attorney on retainer whenever he needed one. And now Donovan was planning to run for mayor next year. We’d already gone to all these functions together where he introduced me as his beautiful fiancé, and best friend and just about everyone in the city had expected us to tie the knot shortly before he put his bid in for mayor.
I never thought about Donovan in the romantic sense, but after I graduated college and decided to move back into my childhood home to save up to buy my first home, my parents talked endlessly about how Donovan was such a good sport for following in his dad’s footsteps and joining the law firm. They kept hinting that somehow I should hook up with Donovan and his band of business partners to put my paralegal degree to work as soon as possible. Of course, I had plans of my own. Instead of joining Donovan’s law firm, I accepted a position at a competing firm in the end.
Then, unbeknownst to me, our parents thought it would be a good idea to set Donovan and me up on a blind date. I had only agreed to appease them and their matchmaking antics. I was mortifyingly surprised to find Donovan waiting at the little high-end restaurant already seated with an extravagant, expensive gift in hand. To this day, he swore that he had no idea that I was his blind date, but I didn’t believe them. Everything was just a little too conveniently set up by him after the fact, down to my favorite wine and dessert.
Jayce: Shifters of Timber Rock Page 4