Greyriver Shifters

by Kristina Weaver

  Seers sighs loudly, shoves his hands in his pants pockets, and looks me up and down before sniffing at me with a sneer of disdain. Yeah fucker, scent my mate all over me. Scent it and know she’s taken.

  I don’t care if Cass tells me my jealousy is illogical. In my mind, all males want her because she’s perfect and I have no doubt in my mind that if he thought Cass would go for it, he’d try it with her.

  I’d climb the walls if I didn’t trust her so much, but she’s the most honest and loyal female I have ever known, and I know she would never play me false. It’s the only reason this asshole is still alive.

  “I need to talk to her, Kilter. I’m leaving town for a while, and I need to get a few things straight before we leave.”

  “Leave a fucking note on your fridge! She’s still sleeping. It’s Saturday, goddammit.” I snarl. “You already had her yesterday when she should have been at the clinic. Don’t push your luck.”

  He sighs again, sounding like the ever-patient, elite asshole and smiles when he looks behind me. I know that look. I carry that look almost all the time. Cass is coming down.

  Turning, I growl and am only slightly appeased when I see her in yoga pants and one of my t-shirts that reach beneath her knees.

  “You’re looking well rested. Good! I have some business out of town for the next few days, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. As usual just ignore Mother. In fact, if you would be less kind to the old bitch, I’d appreciate it. You keep making her happy, and it’s giving her ideas about living longer. As for the rest, I left detailed instructions on my desk. Please read them and carry out each task exactly.”

  Cass comes over to stand beside me, her hand going to my back, right above where my sweats are hanging low on my hips. I grumble when she starts stroking the skin there and almost purr, a very un-bear-like sound when her fingers trace lower to the split of my ass.

  Kinky female doesn’t even know what she’s doing.

  “Okay. I hope you have a good trip.”

  “I’m going out of town to negotiate a new business agreement with anther pack. I’m fleecing them to within an inch of their lives,” he says, grinning happily.

  “That’s er, yeah. Have a good time and remember to eat and sleep enough. You don’t sleep enough, Blay. I worry,” she says softly, and for just a second, I think I see his face soften.

  “It’s none of your business, human. Shifters aren’t weak like you humans. Now remember, you do your job! I’m not paying you to sit around drinking tea with Mother. And wear something decent for once, would you? Your ass in skirts is monstrous!”

  I growl, smiling with bared teeth when Lync joins in from the kitchen, the sound loud enough and so threatening that I see Seers gulp before turning on his heel to stride down into the front yard.

  “Blay!” she calls, making him halt and look back over his shoulders.

  “You’re still my friend!”

  “Pathetic!”

  I notice his lip quirk though, and he looks down at Cass with a frown of disbelief.

  “Told ya he likes me.”

  And fuck me if he doesn’t.

  Grunting, I slam the door and pick her up by her perfect ass, my perfect ass, before carrying her to the kitchen where Lync has coffee, toast, and mulberry jam waiting for her.

  The big bastard hardly chews his food and still smashes the vacuum cleaners into pieces, but he’s aware enough to go to the trouble of watching Cass prepare food so that he can learn and feed her.

  I’d feel threatened by his obvious attentiveness if not for the fact that he treats her the way a man treats a little kid. With patience and honest bewilderment.

  As things stand, I don’t know who would kill worse to protect her, me or him. I do know that with him around, I never have to worry about her.

  “Oh how sweet! This is just perfect. Did you read the book I gave you yesterday?” she asks happily, sliding into her seat to butter a perfectly toasted slice of bread and moan around her first bite.

  Lync grunts, lying through his teeth, and I don’t have the heart to tell Cass that her idea of civilizing him through literature is a bust. He used the book as toilet paper. At least he’s wiping his ass and going potty in the bathroom now instead of disappearing into the woods.

  It’s progress.

  We spend the next hour chatting over a slow breakfast while she holds up fingers and asks Lync how many. Seeing them this way reminds me of a mother teaching her young, and it strikes me that Cass is like his mother, slowly but surely teaching him how to be a person.

  She’s taught him to eat, to talk—if only in one-word barks of sound. He wears clothes, clean clothes, and bathes because she told him it makes her happy when he tries.

  For all intents and purposes, Cass and I are like Lync’s parents, and I find myself longing for it to be real, for us to mate and have a young so that I can watch her be a real mother.

  One day.

  We just need time now—and for Cass to be healed. I don’t know when that would be because there is just so much we don’t know about her condition. What Althea and Grogan do know is that the essence in her system is not leaving, that it would reject my blood and possibly harm her if not kill her.

  I can’t bite her because say I do inject my essence into her and impregnate her, the chances of her carrying the young are slim. There is so much they don’t know, and yet what they do frightens the fuck out of me.

  We haven’t told her all of it, even if she has a right to know, because knowing her it would upset her. For five seconds. Before she tries to distance us like she did before.

  I don’t know why she got it in her head to leave me and try to keep things between us as friends only. All I know is that as easy as it made my life, it also made it unbearable.

  I need her in my life, and even if we never get the other stuff, the bond, the young, the blood, just having her is enough for me.

  “So she ate the whole thing and didn’t even share, but I know she felt guilty. I just know it.”

  I tune back into what Cass is saying now, telling Lync about Mrs. Seers and what a good female she is at heart. Someone just has to show her. I snort, watching Lync bob his head, an action that tells me the wily bastard is humoring her, something I’ve noticed he does a lot.

  I appreciate it, knowing that he would rather chew his own arm off than hurt Cass.

  “Baby, she’s a pompous old lady, who didn’t give you one thought while stuffing her face and lying about it,” I say, wanting to tease her.

  “Well, she should! Do you know that her mate used to tell her all the time she was fat? Shifters can’t get fat! Now she can eat and do as she pleases, and I’m just happy she’s finally doing it. She gets up every day instead of lounging in bed, and she talked to me for hours the other day.”

  “She kept telling you the way you were doing it was wrong,” I point out, loving the way she rears up in immediate defense.

  God, the female is prickly when it comes to her friends.

  When I chuckle, her eyes narrow, and then she giggles, shaking her head at my obvious attempts to rile her.

  “You’re a big fat tease! So, how about we go on a picnic by the lake! I’ve wanted to do that since Lync took me to see it. I could make some chicken.”

  I look over at Lync, who blinks, and we both grunt together, making Cass laugh and shake her head at us.

  “Boys. You’re all the same. Okay you, go and do whatever it is—”

  “We’re going to the clinic first, yeah? You missed your appointment yesterday.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. You’re going. Lync, you get some beer and juice for the cooler, and I’ll stop at the store to get a few pre-made things to go. Don’t argue, preza,” I murmur softly, keeping my face as gentle as I can, considering I want to kill Seers for making her work at all.

  Her shoulders slump, and she pouts prettily while Lync grunts.

  “Fine, but I’m making dessert! I don’t like the store
-bought stuff. Can we invite Mrs. Seers? She’d really like it if we stopped by and—”

  “Don’t push your luck.”

  She laughs, her eyes sparkling, the deep blue so dark it flashes purple mischief at me while she wrinkles her nose.

  “I can try.”

  “You can, baby. In fact, I like the battle, but on this we’re standing firm. Right, Lync?”

  He grunts, I take it as agreement, and we both sigh, watching as Cass gets up to clear the table.

  “Happy.”

  “We’re gonna keep it that way.”

  ********************************************************************

  “You’re sure it was heat?” Althea asks me while we watch Cass stay perfectly still while the machine scans her.

  After Althea complained that she can’t run comprehensive enough tests on Cass without an MRI machine or whatever the fuck it is, Nick approved an upgrade budget for the clinic, justifying the expense to the council by stating that all human Fated and future human Fated have as much right to medical care in the pack as any shifter.

  The machine arrived the next day. Cash talks apparently.

  Now they run every test under the sun on her weekly and have—as yet—found nothing to help them figure this out. It’s killing me. It’s like learning that my mate has cancer because I see this as the shifter version of that disease, slowly hurting her, making her ill.

  Last night and today have been great, but I can’t help feeling that I can’t relax yet, not when Althea looks at the charts again and shakes her head.

  “I just don’t get it. One minute her platelets are up, then they are down. Her scans show everything is within the normal range, but then Hannah calls me and tells me she can feel Cass’s illness every time she talks to her. It’s stumping me, Banner. She looks great today, so much better than she has been, but I can’t tell you why. The blood isn’t working anymore, and I suspect she’s been feeling worse and taking more to help her get by,” she confesses. blowing out a dejected breath.

  “I thought it was me,” I confess, scrubbing at the back of my neck and rubbing at the tightness there.

  “Me too, but obviously not. Maybe you were right. Maybe you should just blood her.”

  “I won’t risk it until I know it won’t harm her,” I scowl, folding my arms across my chest while Cass sings some Beyoncè song in an off key voice that makes us both wince and chuckle.

  “She’s in a great mood today. At least she isn’t—”

  Grogan cuts us off, his pounding footsteps echoing down the hall as he runs our way and comes to a stop, breathing heavily as he says, “Have to…see this.”

  Althea goes still and then squeezes my arm before following him, leaving me alone to look through the glass at Cass, who is oblivious to us all and singing the heck out of any song that pops into her head.

  “…dance, dance, dance…hummm, blah blah blahblah blah blah blah, da da dancing. Doom, doom, doom doodoodoodoodoo doom….”

  She keeps singing, sounding so Goddamn upbeat that I feel my chest tighten, anxiety pooling in my gut until Althea comes rushing back, her face pale but wreathed in a smile.

  “It’s…it’s still there! But it’s not progressing. Oh Banner, this is wonderful. It gives us time to study the effects of essence and the mating and how they conflict with each other in her blood. I don’t know how this happened, but I am so relieved!” she squeals, doing a little happy dance on the spot.

  I grin, my heart lightening, and I take my first deep breath in weeks. It’s not a cure, but whatever this is, maybe we have a chance.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cass

  It’s Monday morning, and after a great weekend filled with happiness, laughter, and sex—now that Banner isn’t afraid I’ll die half way through it, I am once again not feeling great.

  After Althea told me about the halt in the progression of the poisoning, I was so hopeful. I felt ecstatic and may have overexerted myself, proving to Banner just how great I feel.

  We went on a picnic after the testing got done, and I showed Lync how to eat ice cream without crushing the cone, an accomplishment everyone should celebrate. With more ice cream.

  That night we all watched a documentary about the wolves in the wild while Lync snarled at the TV and grew claws that would have shredded the couches if not for Banner’s death glares and my pleading for him to calm down.

  Sunday was a lazy day with me staying in bed all day while Banner sexed me, fed me takeout, and read a book that I’ve been dying to read for months.

  More sex last night before we fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms, and then again this morning when I woke up with him already inside me, grinning down at me when I blinked myself awake sleepily.

  Best wake up ever!

  I didn’t mention to Banner that showering was like lifting two tons of concrete, or that my head feels like it’s about to burst open at any minute. I couldn’t.

  Instead, I told him I’m swapping out my Blain and Banner days because Mrs. Seers has been alone all weekend, and I want to check on her and makes sure she’s eaten something other than chocolate.

  Not that I think I can work today. I just don’t want to be around Lync, who can smell if I’m feeling bad or not. The guy goes mental, and one of these days Banner is going to realize that when Lync says “pain” he’s not referring to hurting someone else but me, my pain.

  “Well, there you are! I thought you would never arrive. Well, come in, you lazy wretch. Blain has left an entire schedule for you, and I don’t have time for your dawdling.”

  I grin when she greets me at the door like an eager puppy, her special way of letting me know she missed me making me feel warm inside until a wave of dizziness hits me and I feel my legs shake under me.

  “Just need a minute, okay?” I slur, walking into the living room where I fall down onto the couch and keep my eyes closed until they stop spinning.

  I’m really starting to think I’m doomed to have my hopes dashed just when I get happy. Just hours ago, I felt great, and now, once again, it’s all I can do to move an inch.

  “Good Lord, you middle-class girls are a lazy bunch! Well, I suppose I can go and get you a drink,” she huffs, leaving me only to come back moments later with tea.

  I sip it slowly, half hanging off the side of the couch with my head, so I don’t have to actually get up. It takes a few minutes after I finish for the sugar to kick in, but when it does I feel a slow return of energy and even manage to lift up into a sitting position.

  “You look slightly less frightful than you did when you walked in here. Good, because I need my breakfast and cocoa, and I don’t do menial chores. Up you go!” she barks, helping me up only to grab me when I stumble slightly.

  I could swear she hugs me for a second before pushing me away with a sniff and looking down at me from cold eyes. I’ll take it!

  Feeling better, if slightly shaky, I go about my chores and clean the kitchen while I prepare breakfast, my strength increasing by the minute.

  Oh God, am I feeling better because I have distance from Banner? I wonder, my lip trembling at the thought of this being the case. If he’s making me sick, still, which is all I can think because it can’t be anything else, then I just don’t think I can do this anymore.

  I love him, deeply, in a way that makes me want to burst with it sometimes, but love won’t heal me, and apparently, it seems to be killing me.

  Sniffling, I try to blink back tears while I serve my irascible employer and only let out a little sob as I’m pouring her coffee in the dining room because “only the lower classes eat in the kitchen, dear!”

  “Are you crying? Good god, stop that blubbering immediately and compose yourself,” she says imperiously when I hiccup with a great deal of angst.

  I can’t help it. I don’t want to give up Banner and his good sex. I like it, and I love him, and I want babies. I want nine little babies—

  “Oh God, please tell me you did not just say
nine! Nine? Nine! Have you any notion of what it feels like to push a being the size of a watermelon out of your body? Foolish girl. Nine.” She snorts, the first real human sound I have heard from her in weeks.

  I sigh, falling into a seat to her right and lean my elbow on the table where I slump and give her sad eyes.

  “I’m sad.”

  “That’s awful. Perhaps the dishes will cheer you up.”

  “Because I have this illness—”

  “Yes, yes, I know, girl. The whole town knows as often as you tell that story. What has that to do with nine young!”

  “Well, I mean, I’m sick, and it seems that I get worse every time I spend a lot of time with Banner. My Fated. Only I can’t mate him or Fate him or whatever that is because then it might kill me, and I can’t have babies if I’m dead. See my problem?” I ask, holding in a wail.

  She blinks, as if only just managing to care and then sighs melodramatically and shakes her head. I love this old lady; she’s just so transparent. She loves me.

  “Well then, it is patently clear that you need to stay away from the male.”

  “If he’s the problem,” I say, not wanting to hear her say it so cut and dry.

  Like I can just say, Okay, this is the problem and solution, boom bam! I can’t just leave and never go near Banner again. Honestly guys, you don’t even understand how great he is at sex. I’d die old and lonely, still pining for him.

  “But I love him.”

  “Well, unlove him!”

  “I can’t just unlove him. You can’t just stop loving someone.”

  “Yes, you can. I stopped loving my mate decades ago and only just tolerated his presence because I had to.”

  I blink, not understanding until she groans and puts down her fork slowly, precisely.

  “He was not a very nice person, and I found myself becoming a not so very nice person as well to stop him from becoming irritated with me. He used to hit me before the children were old enough to take the brunt of his beatings, and of course, that hurt me and angered me fiercely. I used to shift at the drop of a hat sometimes and attack him. Until he threatened to send my sons off to live with his family. His sister is part of another pack after meeting her mate, and well, that female is unbearable.”