Rebirth - Book 1 Rogues Shifter Series

by Gayle Parness

  Chapter Fifteen

  Garrett, Ethan, and I pulled up to Carly’s little house and got out of the car, relieved to have gotten through the first session without any major disasters. Mumbling a goodnight to Garrett, Ethan stumbled through the door. He’d be snoring sometime in the next few minutes.

  As the sky began to lighten, Garrett leaned against his car looking like a model from a print ad for sports cars. His pale skin took on a pinkish glow in the early dawn light. “The four of you did well tonight, once we got past Sinc’s demonstration of what not to do during a training exercise.”

  We’d spent another two hours working out how best to utilize our different talents. Kyle was an amazing fighter and weapons expert: Sinc’s talents lay in her stealth as a hunter and her brilliant technical and scientific skills. As Garrett presented us with different possible scenarios, we all agreed that Ethan’s strength lay in working out successful strategies and communicating clearly how to approach each problem. Goofy Ethan was our natural team leader. Go figure. Plus, he was as strong as a grizzly. My extra-acute senses were the best for tracking and my speed was perfect for running down a fleeing enemy or delivering a vital message if tech wasn’t available. Garrett didn’t mention my connection to the magic, so I decided to keep my mouth zipped on that subject as well.

  Kyle had also taken an hour to talk to us about some of his and Sinc’s latest projects—all weapon related. This was high tech stuff the government might want to get their hands on, except Kyle and Sinc designed for the shifter community alone. The government would never hear about these weapons.

  I took a step closer to Garrett and asked, “Will you give Sinc a pass on biting me? She made a mistake. She apologized. It’s over.”

  He frowned and shook his head. “She disobeyed my order. Two inches deeper and you’d be in the hospital right now.” Muscles moved under his shirt as he folded his arms across his chest. “In the field it may be Ethan giving the orders. If she doesn’t obey me, why would she listen to Ethan?”

  “If you hurt her, she’ll follow your orders out of fear. If you let it go, she’ll be loyal to you and free to give 100% to the team.”

  My insight disarmed him. “Sinc battles with her own personal stew of emotions. It’s taken us some time to get her to trust or interact with others at all. Putting her on the team will help. But if I let her behavior go without consequences, she won’t learn anything.” He looked at me with curiosity. “How did you learn that particular lesson?” He pushed away from the car.

  I dug my nails into my palms and looked toward the woods. Garrett probably already had access to my records. “I’ve lived with six different foster families. Most were fine, just average people. One foster father hit me when I didn’t fall in line. His son was … was worse. I swallowed and shuddered. “I know what fear does to a person.”

  “Tell me their names.” Garrett’s voice had dropped an octave, his eyes swirling with silver.

  “Why do they … do they do that? You’re eyes ….”

  “Right now, because I’m angry with the males who hurt you so badly. Please tell me.” I felt a tiny push encouraging me to answer.

  I frowned, stepping back and shaking off his mental touch. “No. I’ve let it go. They can’t hurt me anymore. I don’t give them that power any longer.”

  Surprise flashed in his eyes. “I can find out.”

  “They’re in jail.” I turned away from him, my gut twisting into a knot. “I’d like you to stay out of my mind. I know you’re trying to keep me safe, but I don’t like it.”

  I listened to him breathe. He was so close. “I apologize.”

  “And will you lay off Sinc?”

  “What do you think I’ll do? Beat her? Bite her?”

  “I don’t know.” I stared down at the ground. “Your anger scares the crap out of me. All that streaky silver eye stuff is terrifying.”

  I felt his breath on my neck without ever hearing him move. His hand touched my shoulder and I looked up. His eyes were filled with sadness. “Am I that frightening? Do you think me a monster like the men in your past? I would never hurt any of you. You’re my students, not my enemies.”

  When he felt me relax, he continued, “Sinc pissed me off royally and I’m going to give her extra training assignments, but no blood will be spilled, I swear.” He laughed suddenly and I was startled again by how young he looked when he smiled. “I can’t control the silver in my eyes. It happens when I feel anger. It’s an automatic response to freak out my enemies.”

  “It works. But why were your eyes silver in my dream?”

  “It also happens when I’m feeling ... amorous.” My startled expression made him laugh again. “It was a dream. Get some sleep. I’ll be back for our lesson tomorrow evening at eight.”

  He gave my shoulder a squeeze and opened his car door. I looked up at the sky. “Aren’t you worried about the dawn coming?”

  “No, I fed well tonight.” Beaming like an angel, he slid into his car and drove away. I rubbed the shoulder he’d touched. It still felt warm.

  Dragging myself inside, I forced myself into the shower and collapsed on the bed, happy to see that Ethan was on his side and not mine.

  Around noon the next day, Carly and Samson arrived bearing groceries, extra towels and sheets, a few board games, a portable DVD player, and a few DVDs. She’d made us roast beef sandwiches and homemade salads, which we gobbled down immediately. After chatting for a few minutes, she gathered up the dirty laundry and left. Wow, I could get used to this.

  Ethan announced that we should have a backgammon tournament, the loser relegated to washing all the dishes for the next three days.

  We settled in to play, sipping sodas and munching on popcorn. Ethan, the master strategist, had me chasing him most of the time, managing to overcome my last ditch risky moves and win the tournament seven games to five. I washed the dishes while he gloated, which was only fair. When he wasn’t looking I threw the wet sponge at him. That was followed by a knock-down-drag-out pillow fight, ending with us in a heap on the floor laughing and clutching at our sides.

  Sinc and Kyle arrived later with Italian food in hand, and we enthusiastically dug into delicious meatball hero sandwiches and an enormous antipasto salad, talking amicably. Apparently, shifters had fast metabolisms and needed to eat more often than humans. At least that’s what we told each other as we gobbled down another big meal.

  Sinc was decked out in her usual “designer casual,” her dark hair pulled off her face and her blue eyes glaring at Kyle after some sarcastic remark he’d made. Kyle was sporting his black jeans, graphic tee, spiky hair, and huge grin. Because I was curious about them, I asked how they’d come to be a part of our strange quartet.

  Kyle spoke first; obviously feeling relaxed when it came to talking about himself. “I was adopted from Cambodia by an awesome human couple. I’m a crazy mixture of French, Cambodian and Irish, no joke. My adopted dad taught martial arts, which was cool ’cause I rocked at it. His brother was an ex-marine who loved to hunt. I learned a lot about weapons from him.

  “When I was around fifteen, I had these jittery episodes where my temper would flare up, and I’d feel like I had to punch something. I’d meditate or exercise, all my usual ways to relieve tension. Nothing worked. The worst was when I started getting horrible headaches. I ended up in the hospital having all kinds of tests. It sucked big time. The doctors, all human of course, were even talking about exploratory surgery.

  “Rob and Garrett appeared in my room one night while I was sleeping. They talked to my parents and told them they were from a special hospital and that they’d like to take over my case. Garrett did his spooky mind control thing on them and me and before I knew it, I was in the cabin on the island and Rob was telling me that physically I was fine, but I wasn’t really human. I didn’t take it well at first. I loved my family and my life just the way it was. My parents think I’ve recovered, but that I’m working overseas. I call them every week and stop by ever
y couple of months or so and stay a few days. They don’t know I’m a shifter.”

  His expression turned angry. “I still have trouble working with Garrett. I hate that he went into my head like that. His power totally freaks me out, especially when he goes into vamp mode with his fangs out and his eyes all silver. I can’t imagine how many people he’s killed.”

  “I saw him rip two men to pieces.” I quietly told them about my attack and how Garrett showed me what had actually happened. “I was bleeding all over from stab wounds and he had me drink blood from his wrist to help me heal.”

  The room was suddenly as quiet as a morgue. Kyle spoke up. “Honey, you are so screwed. He’s gonna own you.”

  “Shut up, Kyle!” Sinc jumped up, fuming. “She was dying and he gave her his blood to save her life. You’d better hope that he’d do the same for you if you’re ever in bad shape.”

  “Sure Sinclair, whatever you say. You’ve never been mind-controlled by him. Count yourself lucky.”

  Ethan and I looked at her curiously. “Yeah, I know. It’s a stupid name, that’s why I go by Sinc. A family of werewolves adopted me.”

  “Werewolves?” I was shocked.

  “They were good to me at first. They thought I was a human kid and were going to make me a wolf if I decided that was what I wanted. You know the whole biting thing. Weres can’t have kids. They can’t carry a child because they have to change every month. Shifters can go the whole nine months without changing.” I hadn’t known anything about werewolves so this was all pretty fascinating.

  Sinc continued. “Anyway, I started getting those same symptoms like Kyle described when I was fifteen. It was awful. Then one night I shifted right in the living room. It freaked everyone out. They locked me up and called Rob. He’s one of the only shifters my pack trusts. I think it’s that minty thing he does. Anyway, he came and picked me up and I haven’t seen them since. They bought me a house and a car and they send me money every month, but it was like I was excommunicated or something.”

  “You call them?”

  “They don’t answer my calls. The alpha wolf won’t allow it.”

  Even though she’d turned away to look out the window, we’d all seen the pain in her eyes. “I guess I was lucky that I didn’t change during the full moon, because I’d have been dinner.” She sat quietly, lost in her thoughts. None of us spoke for a few moments.

  Kyle broke the silence. “Sinc and I trained on the island together with Rob like you and Ethan did. You two seem to get along pretty well. We fought all the time. Thank god we heal fast, otherwise I’d be covered in snow leopard scars.”

  “You got in a few good ones yourself,” Sinc replied, throwing a pillow. They laughed together, sharing a private joke.

  Ethan, Kyle, and Sinc left the cottage at seven thirty and headed to Carly’s house. Meanwhile, I had a private appointment with a very hot, scary vampire.