Their Shifter Princess

by May Dawson

  Maddie waited on the sidewalk, and I hugged her hello, crushing her hot pink puffy jacket into my side. She looped her arms around my neck and squeezed back. Usually, she was too cool for me when we were in front of her friends now, but sometimes she seemed to read I’d had a bad day.

  Then her eyes fixed past me, on Callum standing on the sidewalk. “Who’s that?”

  “A friend,” I said quickly. A friend we were never ever going to mention to Dad.

  Callum held out the keys. The front bumper of the car was all shiny, untouched silver; it looked as though I’d never fishtailed across a highway.

  “Thank you,” I said gratefully, taking the keys.

  “Take care of yourself.” He nodded goodbye and turned, heading in the direction of the high school.

  “Wait,” I said. “Do you want a ride home? You don’t need to wait for Josh and Kai. I can take you back.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  I nodded. “It’s the least I can do.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, Piper,” he said firmly. “He should never have been out running like that.”

  It took me a second to connect he with the white dog from the night before.

  “Is he a new dog?” I asked. “Kai said he didn’t have a name yet.”

  “Very new,” he said. “Quite the handful.”

  I nodded. “Well, I don’t mind driving you home, anyway.”

  “Then thank you,” he said. “If you’re sure it won’t be any trouble.” He leaned forward, holding his hand out to shake Maddie’s hand. “Hi. I’m Callum.”

  “Maddie. Are you a friend of my sister’s?”

  “We just met each other,” he said. “But I hope so.”

  “Good,” Maddie said. “She really needs some friends.”

  “Brutal honesty from the nine-year-old,” I muttered, opening the back door for her. “Get in, Mads. Stop embarrassing me.”

  “It’s just beginning,” she said, sliding into the backseat obediently with her overstuffed backpack.

  “Maddie,” I warned. She grinned in response, which wasn’t a good sign. Maddie had all the lightness and mischief you’d expect from a youngest child. I’d done my best to shelter her.

  And this was the thanks I got: frank conversations about my lacking social life with my inappropriate crush.

  By the time I swung into the driver’s seat, Callum was in the passenger seat, and he was saying, “I’d expect Piper to have a lot of friends. She seems like a great girl.”

  “She is,” Maddie said. “She used to be one of the popular kids.”

  “That’s a stretch,” I muttered. I started to pull away from the curb, but I had to stop to adjust the seat forward. Callum had long legs to go with those big shoulders.

  “You drive like a grandma,” Callum said. “Right up against the steering wheel.”

  Maddie laughed, a surprising loud peal of laughter, and I pulled a face. “The two of you are ganging up on me? That seems unfair.”

  “So what happened?” Callum asked.

  I ignored the question. “Were you popular in high school? You seem like you would have been popular.”

  “I was a teenage foster kid,” he said frankly. “I ended up going to five different high schools, and I don’t think I was popular at any of them.”

  “You seem to have bad luck in your family,” I said, and then bit my lip, realizing how inappropriate that was to blurt out. Good grief. I’d just been so surprised he’d been in foster care when Josh and Kai and Nick had all also lost their parents.

  “Yeah,” he said, with faint bitterness in his words. “It feels like a curse.”

  “But your luck has changed, right?” I said lightly. He was a doctor now, after all. He had to have been pretty successful in the past several years.

  “We’ll see.”

  It was such a mysterious way to put it. To Maddie, I said, “My new friends are full of mysteries.”

  “Friends?” she asked casually.

  Callum turned toward the window, but not fast enough for me to miss his sudden smile. “You aren’t as good at keeping secrets as I thought, Piper.”

  “Callum has three nephews,” I said. “He’s pretty old, huh?”

  That earned me his gaze back, and a distinctly dour look.

  “I’m not that old,” he said, his voice low and warm and sexy. A completely inappropriate rush of warmth flooded my body.

  Maddie leaned forward, staring at Callum’s face in profile as if she was scrutinizing him. Callum ducked his head, no longer able to hide his smile.

  “Do I pass your inspection?” he asked her teasingly.

  “You don’t look that old,” she pronounced.

  “Thank you.”

  “And for old as you are, you actually look pretty cute. Like a movie star.”

  “Maddie!” I said, scandalized. “You’re nine! You can’t notice if guys are cute. Good grief.”

  “Like I’m going to watch a movie and not realize Alex Pettyfer or Zac Effron is why you picked it out? Please.” She shook her head. “Speaking of. Dad’s poker night is Saturday—what are we watching?”

  “Something animated,” I said.

  “You can’t stop me from growing up,” Maddie said.

  Callum grinned.

  I side-eyed him as we took the turn onto the long country road that led to their strange estate. “Don’t encourage her.”

  He raised his hands innocently. “You can tell you’re sisters.”

  “What does that mean?” Maddie asked. I was glad she did so I didn’t have to, because I definitely wanted to know what he intended.

  “You’re both quite sharp.”

  “Do you like smart girls?” Maddie asked.

  Callum’s grin widened. “I’m not dating. But, if I were, I would definitely prefer a smart woman.”

  Well, this was fun. Discussing my hopeless crush’s interests in women with my little sister. But still, I felt light and silly with the two of them. It was a nice change from being so worried all the time.

  “Piper is days from being a woman,” Maddie said.

  “That’s enough of that,” I said quickly, my cheeks blazing.

  “Well, technically, you aren’t a girl once you’re eighteen,” she said.

  “Where do you get this stuff?” I demanded.

  Callum stifled a laugh at my discomfort as I took the turn for his driveway. Maddie’s eyes widened as we bounced over the long trail down to the house. “It’s like a castle!” she said. “Hidden in the woods!”

  “Well, you’re both welcome here anytime,” Callum said. “Since you’re a pair of princesses.”

  I wasn’t sure how to take that, but he was already throwing open his door. I hurried to brake, although he stepped lightly out of the car while it was still rolling to a stop.

  He turned back, his hand on the top of the door, and leaned inside. “I do mean that, Piper. You always have somewhere to come.”

  I nodded, a sudden lump in my throat.

  He hesitated. Glancing into the backseat, he smiled at Maddie. “It was nice meeting you.”

  Maddie said goodbye to him, then his eyes flickered to me. He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more, before he nodded. He shut the door firmly behind him and headed for the house.

  Just for a second, I watched him go. His fitted jacket clung to his broad shoulders, but the most magnetic thing about him was the swagger in his walk.

  He turned back at the porch steps, looking back at our car, which hadn’t moved yet, and raised his hand in a goodbye. I hurried to put the car into drive, before turning around and pulling back out down his driveway.

  Maddie raised her hand to cover her mouth, bending over at the waist like she was going to pass out from suppressed amusement.

  “Don’t even,” I said.

  “What?” she asked, straightening. “I like making new friends. Getting to know people. Just like you.”

  I pulled a face, and she burst out l
aughing. I smiled at her in the rearview mirror. Maddie might have been my little sister—and the one I had to protect—but in some ways, she was the best friend I had. We always had each other, even when it seemed like the world was against us.

  I wouldn’t risk my chance to protect her for any crush.

  All the lightness I felt around the guys fell away as we pulled in the driveway. Dad wasn’t home yet. I couldn’t help the sense of an impending storm as Maddie and I got snacks and sat down to do our homework at the kitchen island. At four-thirty, I put a frozen lasagna in the oven and made a salad, making sure dinner would be ready. Then I did a loop through the house, putting away wayward shoes and books and Barbie dolls. I wanted to make sure there was no reason for Dad to be mad.

  Well, no reason beside having to look at my face, after what had happened the night before.

  When I returned to the kitchen island, Maddie was picking at her lower lip, which she sometimes did until it bled. I pushed her hand away from her mouth. “Go use your Chapstick.”

  Dad hated it when her lips were raw and bleeding. It was one of the little bits of evidence that anyone could have used to tell there was something wrong, if they cared.

  The garage door rumbled open. Maddie’s eyes met mine, widening, but I tried to smile. “Go on. I’ll call you when it’s dinner time.”

  She shoved her homework folder into her backpack and threw her backpack into the organizer by the garage door, then ran upstairs. The island was already clean, but I sprayed it and started wiping it with a paper towel, just to look productive when he came in.

  The door opened, and my father dropped his bag on the bench between the garage and the kitchen. He didn’t even look at me. “Did you bring Maddie home from school?”

  “She’s upstairs. Dinner should be ready in twenty minutes or so.”

  “Good.” He walked through the kitchen toward the living room, his eyes still on everything but me. His salt-and-pepper hair was brushed back from his face. “Before we eat, go put your stuff away. It’s scattered all over the place.”

  I nodded. That was as close as he was going to come to acknowledging what had happened yesterday and saying that I could have my stuff back.

  “Call me when dinner is ready,” he said. “I’m going to eat in my study. I’ve got a lot to do tonight.”

  “I will,” I said. As soon as the door to his study clicked shut, I ran to the garage to move my things.

  It was strange to walk back into that cement space and throw a garbage bag of stuffed animals over my shoulder, then bend to pick up the laundry basket full of my clothes. In front of me were the metal shelves I’d thrown my father into…somehow. I still didn’t know where the strength had come from. The cars were parked neatly under the fluorescent lights, everything tidy, the way our lives were supposed to look.

  When I had carried everything upstairs, I was glad to bring out the last load of my things and close the door behind me. I still carried the bruises from that night, and I would for a while.

  But not forever.

  Chapter 12

  Nick

  “It still sounds quiet,” Josh said. His head was cocked to one side, listening intently.

  “She’s all right,” I said, but I didn’t want to leave her. It had been hours since her father came home, and nothing had happened.

  Piper’s blinds were open, and her room was brightly lit. The back windows of the house looked out toward the woods, and she probably didn’t imagine anyone would be lurking in the woods, watching after her.

  From here, we’d watched her as she shook her comforter over her bed and climbed on top of it, straightening the corners. We watched her put books and stuffed animals in her bookshelves. All the while, we waited in case things turned south.

  Now, she pulled her shirt over her head, a sudden motion that made my breath catch in my chest. I hadn’t expected to see her undress. A black bra cupped her pale breasts above a narrow waist. She pulled her blonde hair back with her hands, smoothing it, and then twisting it into a bun.

  Josh smacked me in the chest. “Come on. Give her some privacy.” His voice was gruff.

  “Sorry.” I turned my back on her, with effort. I could still remember the shape of her body, her beautiful face under the bruises, and I wouldn’t forget it. It wasn’t just her beauty that drew me to her, though. Quiet strength shone out of her sad eyes, and in the sudden smile that brightened her face like sunshine on a cold winter’s day.

  There was the faintest ruffle from the forest, and Josh and I exchanged a look. I took a step forward, ready for a fight, even though my leg still felt weak.

  “What the hell are you two doing?” Callum stepped out of the brush, still pulling on his t-shirt from the change. He tweaked the hem so it fell over his abs.

  “Nothing,” Josh said. “Just looking after her. Just in case.”

  “Just.” Callum shook his head, but then he glanced toward the house. He quickly averted his eyes, staring down at the ground for a second before his gaze flickered to us instead. “Well? Is she fine?”

  We nodded.

  “But you were hanging around…” he gestured toward the house.

  “It’s not like that,” I said.

  “You’re already on thin ice,” Callum said, his jaw tightening. “You’re lucky you didn’t change back when you got hit. Given all that adrenaline, and your total lack of control—”

  “I know,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  “But we couldn’t leave her here alone, in case…” Josh shrugged, instead of filling in the horrible things we thought might happen to her.

  “What would you do?” Callum asked. “Would you run in there as boys or as wolves?”

  “Neither of us are boys.” Josh’s eyes met his in challenge.

  Callum stared at him, not backing down. “Do you have something you want to say, Josh? Something you want to do?”

  Josh finally looked away, his jaw tight. He shook his head.

  “Good,” Callum said. Now that Josh had submitted, he folded his arms over his chest, his expression softening. “I don’t blame you for looking after the girl. Even if your plan is half-assed.”

  “She’s special,” Josh said. “Are you sure she isn’t…?”

  Callum shook his head. “Misty is the one with the questionable hospital records. I know it would be nice to think you could take Piper away from here, away from that monster…but he really is her father.”

  “I just don’t feel it,” Josh muttered. “With Misty.”

  “It could take time,” Callum said. “And anyway, when she was hidden, they would have dulled her powers. It might be why she can’t feel you any more than you can feel her.”

  “Or it might not be here,” I said, giving voice to the fear we all shared. “It might be another false lead.”

  “I’m pretty sure,” Callum said. “Someone forged her birth records. And we won’t be able to break it until we get closer, but someone enchanted her.”

  “Our cover story sucks, by the way,” Josh said, but there was humor in his voice. Callum wouldn’t take it personally. “Your nephews?”

  “Lord knows it feels like you’re my kids.” Callum cuffed him in the back of the head, playfully. “You’re all pains in the ass.”

  “Must be nice to be too old to go back to high school,” Kai said from the shadows. He stepped into the faint circle of light cast by the moonlight in this space within the trees where we had gathered. He wore boots, visible under the hem of his jeans, and a leather jacket, so he must have walked here unchanged.

  “Yup,” Callum admitted. “Sorry, I’m not sorry. You three can suffer. Right now, I have to say you deserve high school.”

  “Yeah?” Kai asked. “Did you leave the house to follow them or to check on Piper?”

  “A little of column A, a little of column B.” Callum crossed his arms. “Don’t you have homework to do?”

  Josh groaned. “Well, do football players at Blissford High really do their
homework? I’m doubting it.”

  “I’m glad you impressed the coach.” Callum’s tone suggested we hadn’t managed to impress him. “Now let’s give it every chance you have to win over Misty, hm? She has a good thing in Blissford. You have to make a good impression for her to give the pack a chance.”

  “If she is the one.” Josh said rebelliously.

  “If she is the one,” Callum conceded. “And anyway, Piper mentioned her father will be playing poker on game night. She should be safe here.”

  “She mentioned that?” Kai asked, false-innocent, thrusting his hands into his jacket pockets. He was chewing on a toothpick again, absently. It must be a habit he’d picked up when the pack was torn apart. We’d spent so many years away from each other. All of us had our bad habits and damage from the time.

  I hadn’t remembered any of them, honestly, when Callum walked into my life and changed everything. I’d been a baby when the pack was destroyed.

  “Yeah,” Callum said.

  Kai leaned against a tree, his hands tucked into his pockets. “When did you get the chance to chat?”

  “When you boys were sweet-talking the coach,” Callum said coolly. “I brought Piper her father’s Mustang.”

  “You’re the hero of the day for sure,” Kai said.

  Callum’s voice went dangerously soft. “Stay on track, Kai. We won’t have a whole pack until we find our girl.”

  “I’m on track,” Kai promised.

  Callum nodded, but he didn’t look pacified. “See you back at the house.”

  He pulled his shirt over his head as he walked back into the dark forest, his bare feet almost silent. As he lifted the shirt, his muscles rippled beneath the jagged scars and tattoos on his back, a web of ink and damage.

  He’d gone through a lot to save us all, and then to bring us back together. I glanced toward Kai, wondering if he thought about the same things.

  Kai’s toothpick bobbed on his lip, his face as inscrutable as ever. “I’ve got to human it back. Anyone want to walk with me?”

  “Yeah, we will.” Josh said. He glanced one more time back at the house. In the window, we could see Piper, still silhouetted, reading a book. Her face was sweet in profile: an upturned nose, petal-soft pink lips pressed together. She twined her hair absently between her fingers as she read.