by Sammie Joyce
“Veronica, I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
Her face froze, her eyes glazing over, and for a second, I thought that maybe she hadn’t heard me.
“It’s not—” I started to say, if only to fill the silence, but she again interjected.
“I should have seen this coming,” she spat hatefully, her green irises glowing like hot coals. “I could tell something was up with you for days.”
“Vero,” I sighed. “You and I haven’t ever had a future together. You know that and I know that.”
Another mask slipped over her face, one that was pleading and plaintive.
“That’s because you never gave us a chance!” she insisted, placing the water bottle on the counter to hurry toward me. She cupped my face in her hands and tried to draw me in for a kiss but I was suddenly repelled by her. I pulled back hard and again, the expression of loathing appeared on her face.
“It’s another chick, isn’t it?” she hissed. “Who is she?”
“Veronica, this is about you and me. We should have stopped seeing one another a long time ago.”
“You’re an asshole!” Veronica screamed, stomping a foot to the ground in her frustration. “You strung me along for a year!”
“Vero!” I snapped, not in the mood for her melodrama. “Stop being a diva. Long ago we decided not to be exclusive. I know you were dating other men. There’s no point in pretending that you were hanging on, pining for me.”
Her face paled and I realized that she had no idea I’d learned about her other dates. It hadn’t bothered me in the least. In fact, I’d been thrilled to know she wasn’t expecting anything from me, despite her claims otherwise.
“You knew?” she breathed. I shrugged.
“I don’t care,” I replied honestly. “And that tells me all I need to know about our relationship.”
Her mouth parted but no words escaped. I could almost see the wheels in her head turning as she thought of something clever or devastating to say but I was done.
“Please stop coming by and calling,” I told her, guiding her toward the door.
“Wes, please!” she begged. “I only dated those other guys because—”
This time it was me who cut her off.
“I sincerely, genuinely, honestly, truly don’t give a rat’s ass, Vero. We were never a thing.”
She stopped abruptly, spinning to face me, and I thought she was going to go in for another kiss. Instead, she slapped my face with an open palm.
“SCREW YOU, WESLEY HUFFMAN!” she shouted, her voice reaching prima donna pitches. “I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL!”
My hand touched my stinging cheek but I found I was less stunned by her reaction than I should have been.
“Thank you,” I told her softly. Her face twisted into puzzled disbelief.
“Thank me for what?” she snarled.
“For making this that much easier,” I replied, seizing her upper arm and marching her out the front door. “Have a nice life, Veronica.”
I slammed the door in her face before she could utter another word and leaned against the frame, shaking my head.
Would Amity ever act like this?
I knew the answer without a doubt. Of course not. But Amity was a real woman and Veronica was a spoiled brat. I couldn’t imagine a world where Vero would ever win in such a competition.
Even if Amity came equipped with a dozen problems of her own.
13
Veronica
I stormed from Wes’ house, incensed and hurt. For a long moment, I sat in my car, staring at the bungalow I had grown attached to over the past year.
How dare he brush me off like that? I fumed, catching a glimpse of my irate reflection in the rearview mirror. If I was being honest, I would admit that I had seen this coming for a while. Part of what Wes had said was true; we weren’t mutually exclusive and I had dated other men while we had been seeing one another but that didn’t mean I wasn’t burned by this breakup.
I’d noticed he’d been distant with me over the past week but Wes was often like that, there one minute, gone the next. I’d secretly hoped he’d come to his senses and realize I was as good as it got. What man wouldn’t want me? I was the epitome of every man’s dream with my golden mane and curvy figure. I had men beating down my door, praying for a shot with me.
Maybe Wes and I didn’t have the perfect chemistry but on paper we were suited for one another in every way. I’d certainly seen worse pairings in my lifetime.
There has to be someone else, I reasoned, the notion infuriating me more. Whoever she was couldn’t possibly compare to me.
I waited for a while, expecting Wes to come out and get me when he realized I was still sitting there, but the minutes ticked by and I remained on my own at the front of the house.
Screw him!
I put the key in the ignition and squealed away, deliberately causing a scene. I wanted him to know that I was pissed… and that we weren’t done here.
* * *
Sabrina looked at me warily when she opened the door.
“What happened?” she demanded, a shadow crossing her face. I shoved past my best friend and flopped uninvited on her worn sofa as she shut the door to her apartment.
“What do you think?” I moaned. “Men are the bane of my existence.”
Sabrina sighed and joined me where I sat, her knee almost touching mine as she stared at my face.
“Wes?” she asked. I nodded and groaned dramatically.
“Why can’t he see I’m amazing?” I demanded. “What the hell is wrong with him?”
Sabrina didn’t say anything and I was forced to meet her eyes questioningly. Usually she was the first to pep me up with a diatribe about the stupidity of men but today, she was strangely silent.
“Well?” I insisted. “Am I wrong here?”
Sabrina shook her long, red mane of hair and turned her eyes away. My brow furrowed in confusion.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m not supposed to say anything,” she mumbled.
“About what?”
She seemed torn as she studied my face.
“Sabby!”
“Well… I guess this really doesn’t have anything to do with it…” she mumbled, not making a lick of sense to me. She was talking to herself.
“Sabrina, stop talking in riddles and spit it out,” I growled.
“Wes was on a date at the Galley on Friday night…”
I tensed, my neck ready to snap.
“With whom?” I almost yelled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sabrina looked away, her pale cheeks tinging pink.
“I was going to,” she muttered. “But… but something else happened there too that night and I kind of forgot until right now.”
I wasn’t enjoying the way Sabrina talked me in circles and I said so.
“What’s more important than the fact that my boyfriend is out with another woman?” I demanded. Sabrina met my eyes steadily.
“I thought you weren’t exclusive,” she said flatly and I cringed. She might have been my best friend but she also knew how and when to call me on my crap.
“You know what I mean. He’s got some nerve going to your work with a date,” I cried.
“He didn’t see me,” Sabrina told me. “I wasn’t even serving his section.”
“That’s not the point,” I went on, forgetting that there was more to the story. I was too caught up in my own agony to pay attention to Sabrina’s distracted expression.
“Tell me about her,” I sighed. “Was she pretty?”
Sabrina was silent again and I knew the answer.
“Prettier than me?”
“Vero…”
“Come on, be honest. I can take it,” I lied. The last thing I wanted to hear was that Wes’ hussy was better looking.
“Honestly, I don’t know but…”
My head jerked up and I gazed at her.
“But what?”
Sabrina pursed
her lips together and dropped her eyes again.
“I’m not supposed to say anything,” she said. This time, I was paying attention.
“About what? What happened?”
Sabrina inhaled sharply.
“If I tell you, you have to swear on your life that you won’t breathe a word to anyone, Vero.”
Sabrina had always had a mediocre resolve.
“I won’t.”
“Swear! This could be a matter of life and death.”
My eyebrows shot up. Melodrama was more my area than Sabrina’s.
“I swear,” I promised. “What the hell is going on?”
Sabrina sank back against the couch and shook her head slowly.
“It’s all so surreal, even now,” she murmured. “I mean, I was there and I still can’t believe it happened.”
I was getting impatient with her preamble but wisely, I waited for her to finish her thought.
“It was a normal night,” Sabrina went on, a slightly faraway look in her eyes as she recounted the story. “Busy Friday. Wes and and another guy came in, waited on two women.”
I bit on the insides of my cheeks, dying to know more about them, but I steeled myself. There would be time for questions after whatever she had to say.
“I was going to text you on my break and let you know but before that happened…”
Sabrina paused.
“What!?” I almost yelled, not appreciating the dramatic pause. Suddenly, I remembered Wes’ search on his computer. A slight feeling of alarm flooded me.
“Did something happen to you?” I asked, a newfound sense of protectiveness overcoming me for my friend. To my relief, Sabrina shook her head.
“No, not me,” she answered. “Anticlaw showed up.”
I blinked, frowning. The name was tickling the back of my mind but I couldn’t say why.
“Who?” I finally asked when it didn’t come to me.
“Anticlaw. They’re the anti-shifter group who has been trying to eliminate the threat of the shifters all over eastern Oregon.”
I began to laugh but the noise died on my lips when I saw how serious she was.
“Shifters?” I said slowly. “Seriously?”
Sabrina’s mouth became a terse line.
“They’re real, Vero. I’ve seen them… more than I care to discuss.”
The smirk faded from my mouth and I stared at her. Of course I’d heard the rumors about the half-man, half-beast creatures who supposedly roamed our area of the state but that was a legend, a myth… wasn’t it?
Not according to Sabrina, who waited for me to process what she’d said.
“Okay, so what happened after Anticlaw showed?” I asked slowly, not wanting her to read my cynicism.
“They ordered the humans out of the restaurant but I hid in the kitchen with some of the other staff,” Sabrina rushed on. I could see she was happy to get the story out of her system and I wouldn’t begrudge her that, even if I wasn’t entirely convinced of its merit.
“That’s when all hell broke loose.”
Sabrina shuddered and I could see the memory was causing her stress.
“The shifters all turned. There were leopards, panthers, wolves… a damned bear!”
Okay, this is a bit much.
“They attacked,” Sabrina continued, her voice catching. “There was so much blood and screaming…”
Tears misted her eyes and I bit on my lower lip. Whether or not I believed it, she certainly did.
“Why haven’t I heard anything about this?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral. “This seems like something that would make the news at least.”
Sabrina shook her head vehemently.
“The Galley is owned by shifters,” Sabrina explained. “We were all ordered to shut up about it and trust me, if it got out that I was talking…”
I drew in a breath.
She’s serious. Could this be real?
“Vero, you have to promise me that you won’t say a word to anyone.”
“I won’t! Of course I won’t,” I agreed quickly, her anguish almost palpable. Terrible as all this was, it didn’t lessen my problem, but even I knew that Sabrina wouldn’t see my conflict with Wes as the bigger story here.
“Well… I suppose I’ll have to be on the lookout for shifters,” I offered lamely, unsure of what else to say. How did one respond to such a tale after all?
Sabrina blinked and shook her head.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” she muttered. “You can’t be on the lookout for them. They’re everywhere.”
Once more, I was speechless, but before I could even try to think of anything to say, Sabrina added something that chilled me to my core.
“Wes’ date was a shifter. A panther.”
The wind was knocked out of me and I gaped at her.
“What?!”
“And he stayed behind too, even though Anticlaw was releasing all the humans. He stayed to help her and the others escape before the authorities could arrive.”
“Who the hell is she?” I hissed, heat rising to my face. How dare this woman endanger my Wes? Shifter or not, she was going to pay for putting him in such a position.
“I didn’t know her name,” Sabrina confessed and disappointment consumed me. “But the other shifters seemed to be under her command. They attacked because she ordered them to.”
The information intrigued me. Could that mean something? Maybe there was some kind of shifter hierarchy.
“What did she look like?” The wheels in my head were turning as I tried to figure out how I might locate her.
“Black hair, blue eyes. I’d guess mid-thirties. Her companions were human. The other couple ran for the door as soon as they could. I don’t think they knew she was a shifter.”
I gritted my teeth.
“What about security footage?” I asked, my brain racing into overtime.
“No need for that,” Sabrina said. “I know who she is.”
I blinked.
“You just said—” I started, exasperation overtaking me.
“I said I didn’t know her name,” Sabrina interjected. “But I asked one of the shifters I work with who she was and he told me.”
“Well!?”
Sabrina firmed her lips again and stared at me.
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “You can’t confront her, Vero. She’s dangerous. I’ve seen what she can do!”
“I won’t,” I promised and I meant it. I had no intention of approaching a killer.
“Vero…”
“I swear! I’m not going anywhere near her! I just want to Google her.”
Whatever she read in my face seemed to convince Sabrina and she nodded slowly.
“Her name is Amity Jackson and she’s on the Shifter Council.”
Sabrina eyed me with worried eyes but I gave her a warm smile.
“Thank you. Please don’t stress about it. The secret is safe with me.”
I had no idea what any of it meant but it didn’t matter. I may have agreed not to approach Amity but I had a feeling that this Anticlaw would want their revenge on this woman who had attacked their members. Now I just had to find out where to find them and my Wes issue would be resolved. With Amity Jackson out of the picture, Wes would certainly come back to me like he always did. I just needed to be patient and find Anticlaw.
14
Amity
I didn’t end up meeting with Wes after the Council meeting. It didn’t seem like a smart move so quickly after the warning to stay away from the humans. Instead, I went home and sat in my beachfront house, staring out at the calming waves of the North Pacific, my mind on the day’s events. It was strange that I found the water so comforting, being a cat and all. Watching it and being in it were two very different sensations, however.
I thought about texting Wes and letting him know I was done but I had a feeling that if I did, he would somehow manage to convince me to come back to him—not that it would take much effo
rt. Even being apart from Wes for those few hours had been painful. It was difficult to imagine that I’d gotten through thirty-eight years without knowing him.
It isn’t safe for either of us to be together, at least not right now, I told myself but the words floated harmlessly through my head. After the intense night we’d spent together, I couldn’t reconcile that we weren’t fated to be with one another, despite all the odds. Whatever biases I’d had about humans had all evaporated away into wisps of fog, almost as if they had never been mine to begin with.
Even so, I knew I had to keep my distance, at least for a few days. As much as I wanted to run back to him and throw myself in his arms, shutting out the world, I still had an obligation to the Council and my claw.
And then what happens after a few days? The Anticlaw threat is growing worse, not better. If anything, the Council is going to instill more restrictions over time. How are Wes and I ever going to overcome that?
As I sat on the back porch, musing over what the future was going to bring, my cell chimed and I knew inherently it was Wes.
How did your meeting go? he messaged.
I stared at the words for a long moment, debating whether to answer or not. It was a decision I’d barely considered.
I’m not entirely sure.
Instantly, the message bubbles appeared and I smiled to know that he had been waiting by his phone for my response. Abruptly, however, the bubbles stopped and a second later, the phone rang. My beam widened and I snatched it up, inordinately pleased that he’d opted for that medium.
“I hope you’re not one of those people who despise talking on the phone,” he offered by way of greeting.
“Not when it’s someone I want to hear from,” I replied and he chuckled.
“I hope I’m one of those.”
“You are,” I sighed, my heart skipping slightly. I couldn’t think of a time when a man had ever made my pulse race like this.
He really is the one. I can’t let him go.
“What happened at your meeting?” Wes asked. “Assuming you’re allowed to discuss it.”