Greyriver Shifters

by Kristina Weaver

  I shudder to think what my family would say if they knew that perfect little Hannah flouted biology and goes into heat six times a year instead of twice just because Logan Kilter is near.

  They’d kill me and shame me with it, make me suffer for something that I cannot control. That loss of control makes me hate Logan more, so much more, and most days, it’s all I can do not to hurt him as much as my body hurts me. For him. It hurts me because it wants him.

  “Pain!”

  Hissing, I stalk to the cell door and glare out to where Lync is once again sniffing the air. Replacing the scent with anger, I hiss back and glare, wanting to slap his face.

  “You shut the hell up already! Goddammit, you crazy idiot, leave me alone.”

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Hannah Seers, princess of the purebloods being a bitch again.”

  My eyes whip around at the sound of that hateful drawl, and I groan silently when Logan comes sidling my way, his blonde good looks making me despise the sight of him. Especially when he smiles mockingly and shakes his head.

  “Screw you.”

  “Already did, Hannah, and trust me, baby, it was disappointing,” he purrs, giving me a look that tells me he’d as soon kill me as be anywhere around me.

  That suits me just fine since I feel exactly the same way about him. Why I slept with this asshole is something I will never know because I refuse to think about it, but what I do know is I will die before I let his filthy paws anywhere near me again.

  “Pain.”

  “Oh, shut the fuck up! Shut up, you filthy animal!” I scream, the hangover and anger converging into a storm of pure and utter rage.

  I can’t take this shit anymore! Can’t a girl just get herself thrown in lock up and stay here in peace? Goddammit, all I want is some freaking peace.

  Logan snarls, his eyes flashing a deep green that makes my sex clench, and I hate myself even more because the reaction is not something I can control and definitely not something I want him aware of.

  Filthy pig.

  I mask it, using my anger to fill the cell with a scent that won’t let him know that a part of me, small though it is, wants him again. Never again.

  I have the memories—

  Don’t, Hannah. Don’t think about it. You hate him. It’s all his fault. He’s to blame for it all.

  The reminder stops some of my shameful lust and puts me in control again, something I need so badly I can’t explain the depth of that need. I am always in control. Always. I was in control when Bear would come home and fuck me, taking out his need for Mika in my body. I was in control when I refused him unless he married me, as shameful as it was to have to stoop to human traditions to get him. I was in control when I cried and told him that his parents’ rejection of me was killing our relationship.

  I am always in control. Always.

  Because it makes life easier and takes away the element of surprise—

  “I don’t think you’re quite ready to leave yet,” Logan says, breaking into my thoughts with a smirk that makes my hackles rise.

  I want to slap his face and assure him that I am more than ready to leave, that Lync is killing me in here, and that I hate them all. More than that, I want to beg him to just go away and leave me alone in here because I need to stay—for as long as I can.

  The truth will get my ass booted out of here though, so instead of saying a word, of telling him why I can’t leave, I give him the bitch he knows and revel in the knowledge that he’ll play right into my hands.

  “You call my parents right fucking now, you no good mangy cat!”

  “Pain.”

  “Oh Goddammit, Lync, just shut up already. Logan, I swear to God…I will kill you if you don’t open this goddamned door.”

  “But Hannah, darlin’, the law is clear, no shifter is allowed to cause public disturbance and the minimum holding period for an out of control female is a week,” he purrs, his green eyes glinting with pleasure.

  I want to laugh, seeing that self-satisfied smirk and revel in my victory. This male is so predictable. I say one thing and he’ll kill himself doing the opposite because he knows it drives me crazy to be thwarted.

  Call it the spoiled little rich girl in me, everyone does, but I hate not getting my way. Thankfully for me, I want to stay in this shithole, and despite what Logan thinks, keeping me here to punish me is exactly what I need right now.

  Loser.

  “Logan, I am warning you—”

  “What? Sorry darlin’, can’t hear you over the slurring you keep doing. Oh well, if you’re still that drunk and sick I should leave you here for say, another two days, just to ensure that you’re okay before I release you to the public. See ya.”

  He saunters off a few steps, his tight ass providing a good view before my next words stop him.

  “Daddy will not like this. Save yourself the trouble and let me out now. Keeping me in here another two days, a week, will only get you into trouble, pussycat,” I taunt, flashing a hard smile when he turns and glares at me.

  “I’m not scared of your fucking father, Hannah. Get that shit straight right now and you’ll be better for it.”

  Oh, male, you are so easy, I think, battling a grin when he smiles, as if it bugs me at all. It doesn’t. If this guy isn’t afraid of my father, then good for him, he’s unique in that.

  For my own sake, I never forget to be afraid, and that keeps me smart. Much smarter than a mangy enforcer, who thinks he understands the meaning of life and thinks that love alone can save you.

  Fucking sap.

  “Pain!”

  “Dammit, Lync, just stop already, you idiot. I know you’re in pain! The whole damn town can hear it for miles. Get the hell over it already!” I sneer, my chest aching for the guy as guilt eats at me.

  Using his pain to cover up what I don’t want others to know is shitty. I comfort myself by not caring all that much, the conscience I once possessed long since dead from the lessons I’ve learned.

  “You know…the guy may be a good conversationalist if you bothered to try talking to him. Oh wait, you don’t talk to people, do you, mischia? You talk at people. Or insult them. Or talk just to hear the sound of your own voice,” Logan says, chuckling when my eyes narrow.

  “I don’t talk to idiots if I can help it, and besides, I thought you were leaving. Go away half-breed, you’re polluting my airspace,” I retort, lips twitching when he saunters back over and grabs the chair outside Lync’s door, his ass planting firmly, as he crosses his arms over his chest.

  He looks tired, something I definitely don’t give a shit about and that damned hair of his is too long on top, as if he hasn’t had the time to cut it lately.

  Why I even notice is beyond me since I don’t care, but hell, at least my trick worked and he’s staying, so I have some sort of conversation. Despite what Logan says, Lync is not a scintillating conversationalist, and if I’m going to be here a week—please God—then I’ll take what I can get.

  Even if it is Logan.

  “So, what’s going on with the poor little rich girl lately? Still pining for Bear and plotting ways to get him back?” he asks, his smile mocking. “He loves Mika, you know, and from the way that female is scenting lately, I’d bet he put one in her. Did he ever want young with you?” he goads, his eyes sparkling with malicious glee.

  He knows full well that Bear didn’t want babies! Not with me.

  Once I knew that he didn’t want young with me, I assured him I didn’t want young either. It’s not true, but when you want someone, you have to make the right concessions. For me, it was knowing that I would lose out on ever being a mother but at least I would have love.

  I snort silently because I should have known it would never be enough for a male like Bear. I just hoped that if I conformed to make him happy, then he’d be happy. And loyal. And stay with me.

  Loser.

  I fucking hate myself for how foolish I was. I should have gone with my instinct years ago and made him bite m
e and mate me, no matter what the consequences. For my part, I would have left the pack and happily lived among humans—

  Shit, don’t think about that, Hannah. It’s history. No use crying over spilt milk and stupidity.

  “I don’t want young,” I assure him, lying through my teeth because I know it irritates Logan that he can’t get a rise out of me.

  “Scared of actually having to find some heart and love someone other than yourself?”

  No. Just afraid that I would love too much, I think, my chest going tight.

  “Pain!”

  “Lync, I swear to God, I will sing the same song over and over for hours if you don’t shut the hell up!” I screech, shoving my face through the bars to glare at the stupid idiot.

  I need a fucking lie detector right now like I need a hole in my head.

  “Aw, is Hannah annoyed? You know, I went over to see Prissy just a couple days ago, and she’s never been this happy. She and Mika are so close. I don’t know how she stood you for so long in her family. It must have killed her to have you at her table, showing off that rock when she hates you so much.”

  I ignore the hurt that it causes, the remembered sneers of the Silverton clan and the veiled insults I had to endure from Bear’s mother still raw enough that I feel fury engulf me.

  That old lady detested me, and after trying to win her over for years, I gave up and just became what she wanted me to be, the spoiled little tramp, who wasn’t good enough for her son.

  I wonder what she’d think if she knew all I wanted was for her to accept me. At first, when Bear and I were just friends, she was so sweet and kind, and I would practically live there just to feel that family surround me.

  That all changed when Bear made it clear that we were together. That fast, Prissy became unpleasant. She would hardly talk to me unless Bear was around, and she’d snub me in public and let that wild ferret of a daughter call me the worst names.

  Not that I care because they’re all beneath me, I tell myself, sniffing delicately.

  “Good for them. I hope they all live happily ever after,” I trill, enjoying his frown and the way Lync keeps yelling, over and over.

  Stupid wolf. Why can’t he just knock himself out ramming the wall like he usually does?

  “They will.”

  Yeah, okay, I get it, Logan. They’re all so perfect, and I am the wicked witch, whom everyone hates. Blah, blah, blah. Old news, fool. I don’t care. All I care about is having some rest, and maybe shooting the shit with feral Meryl over yonder when the boredom becomes too much. It’s scarily easy to talk to a guy who claws at his own skin when the desperation of being locked away becomes too much.

  He’s a good listener.

  “Great! Are you going to go soon? I have a wall to stare at and ceiling tiles to count,” I say with a sniff, picking at a cuticle to keep my eyes from meeting his.

  “You know, Hannah, one day I’m going to figure out why you’re such a bitch, and baby, I will make you pay for it,” he says, standing to look me up and down before walking away.

  I sniff, disdaining his self-satisfied hatred and content myself with the knowledge that no one will ever know, and even more, no punishment he could dish out will ever match what I already suffer.

  Chapter Three

  Logan

  “Well, this is going to suck balls,” Banner says and sighs when I take the turn off from Highway 93 and steer the truck towards Olney, my fatigue making my mood worse this morning.

  For some reason, after leaving Hannah in that cell yesterday afternoon, I felt so guilty that I had trouble sleeping. Why I should feel that way is beyond me since I have more important things to think about than Hannah Seers, the one female alive I can’t look at without hating.

  But feel bad that I did, especially when I noticed the full moon outside my window and thought about what Lync must be doing. We’re shifters, not mindless werewolves who go crazy at every full moon, but in that feral state, I’d lay odds he howled like a maniac last night.

  I heard half of it, and that’s with the soundproofing I installed to keep out noise, like most shifters do.

  Must have driven her insane, I think, chuckling darkly at the thought of her screaming like a madwoman.

  Pain in the ass.

  “Shut up and enjoy the drive. At least we didn’t have to lie to the Kendalls and tell them Barbie left on a trading mission and wouldn’t be back for a few weeks. Nick is not a male I envy right now.”

  Banner sighs and nods, his eyes going a deep dark shade of golden-brown that signals his bear’s dominance today. Being a mixed breed isn’t easy, but for those few who are wolf-bear mix, it is harder because both animals constantly vie for dominance, making it hard to stay in skin and not bust into a fur suit every five minutes.

  I had my own problems when I was approaching my prime, my panther blood fighting against the wolf. Thankfully the wolf won out, that side of my nature much stronger, so I haven’t ever had to fight all that hard and lately I only shift into my wolf.

  For Banner, it’s a daily, hourly battle that he fights against two animals that are at odds.

  Talk about a fuckfest.

  “I hate this shit. The more time passes without answers, the more I have to fight myself not to go out there and tear anything foreign apart. The bear wants to stake his territory, and the wolf is just out of fucking bounds lately. I need answers, Lo. Soon,” he says, his voice grating in a way that tells me his bear has won this hour.

  “You and me both, man. I’m so antsy that I got bored yesterday and went down to the cells, where Hannah is. Now you know how restless I have been.”

  Banner snorts and rolls his eyes, his amusement clear when he looks at me.

  “You’re either crazy or a masochist to want to spend time with that female. Christ, I saw her at the Lindsey place a few days ago, and I had to turn around and leave without getting Mom’s produce she annoys me so much. Nature was a bitch, saddling your ass with that female.”

  “You’re telling me!” I snort, keeping my eyes on the road.

  I hate Hannah, truly despise the female, but every two months like clockwork I have to take a week off work and lock myself into the house so that I don’t go after her.

  It kills me to think that part of me still wants her, that it needs her, so every time that happens, I go home, lock myself up, and drink until the stupidity leaves me and lust settles back into loathing.

  I would chew off an arm before I admit to that female that I need anything from her, the one night we spent together only reinforcing what I know: we will never fit, and she is nothing like the mate I want.

  One day I’ll meet someone and forget that fate turned me into a bitch for Hannah Seers.

  “So, how’s Lync?”

  “Driving Hannah crazy,” I say with a chuckle, Banner’s grin spreading across his face.

  “I bet. That female is the nastiest piece of work I ever met. I’d wager she’s called him every single name under the sun.”

  “And then some. They center mostly around ‘filthy animal’, ‘loser’, and my personal favorite, ‘mangy mutt’. She doesn’t seem to understand that he doesn’t care what she says and that she’s wasting her breath,” I say and chuckle, enjoying the thought of leaving her there another five days just to show the spoiled brat that she’s not above the law.

  We let her friend go easily enough because, honestly, I didn’t care. But Hannah is another story altogether. I just thank God her parents went out of town for a week and her brothers are so wrapped up in pack business and complaining about working as trackers that no one will ride my ass about it too much.

  At least not until someone realizes that little Miss is missing. It’s funny, you’d think people as stuck up as they are would actually care about her whereabouts.

  “I’m just grateful she’s off the streets and Mika can enjoy spreading the news of her pregnancy,” Banner says, smiling softly.

  We’re all over the moon that she’s carryi
ng Bear’s young, the confirmation having come in this morning when Mika’s eyes turned a silver-blue around the ring of her pupil, the shifter way of showing pregnancy in females.

  For most, the color eventually fades when the pregnancy is obvious, but I have a sneaky suspicion that for Mika it’s going to be another first. That female’s eyes haven’t just taken on Bear’s colors but the stormy blue-grey that shows her elemental abilities.

  I bet that kid is gonna be a demon when he grows up and takes over the world.

  “Yeah, about that. I may have let it slip yesterday when I was goading her,” I admit, wincing when Banner barks out a laugh.

  “Please tell me she went crazy.”

  Funnily enough, no, she didn’t. I think she was more hurt by what I said than anything else, at least that’s what I thought before she opened her mouth and proved to me she’s heartless. What female doesn’t want young?

  Yeah, of course it would be someone as selfish and cold as Hannah, a female Fate chose for me. We couldn’t be any more opposite in our views and that, more than anything else, assures me that I made the right choice in deciding not to mate her.

  Heartless bitch.

  “She doesn’t care, Ban. That female was born without a heart. I still ask myself how Bear stayed with her for so long when she’s so empty.”

  Once, a long time ago, when I was young and stupid, I wanted to like Hannah and believe the best of her, even when she’d make snide remarks about my mixed-breed status and call me a filthy half-wolf.

  At first, I thought it was just her fucked-up, purist parents teaching her that way, but as we got older, her views never changed, and she just got worse. Leave it to me, the poster boy for mixed families, to get stuck with that vapid void of emotional immaturity.

  “Be fair, Lo. I don’t like that female, but she has always cared about Bear, and no, I don’t agree with you that she was only after being the future Alpha’s mate. She cares about him, even now, you can see it.”

  “Then why not let him go when he found his Fated?” I grate, my hands tightening on the wheel as I eat up the miles to Olney.