by Ana Meadows
“They were an old pair anyways,” she told him. Raine knew it was crazy, they barely knew each other still, but every time he got close to her she had an almost overwhelming desire to touch him or kiss him. She felt connected to him and she was already regretting that she would have to leave him and not know when she would see him again. She was waiting for his lead, however, and thus far he hadn’t made any intimate moves this morning.
After they got her dressed he said, “Are you ready to head back to town?”
“Um…Yeah, okay.” She wasn’t ready. As a matter of fact, as ridiculous as she knew it was, she would have gladly stayed there with him forever. She had heard about women losing their mind over a man like this but she never imagined that she would be one of them.
“Okay. We have to go to my house and get the bike. Do you think you can walk with a set of crutches?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she said. He went over in the corner and brought out a pair of wooden crutches.
“Ben broke his ankle last year. I still have his crutches. They might be a little tall for you, but I think they’ll be better than nothing.”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” she said. Raine practiced a bit in the studio and then told him she was ready to go. He led her out into the woods and through trees and bushes and landmarks that to her all looked the same. She found herself wondering how he ever found his way around out here. She would never be able to maneuver the woods without a trail. She struggled to keep up with him in places. She was a bit hurt that he seemed to be just moving forward without giving much thought to how she was doing on the crutches behind him. They didn’t speak at all until they came to a clearing about two miles from the studio where they had been. There was a line of pretty, well-maintained homes with lawns and flowers and curtains in the windows. One of the yards had two young deer grazing on the front lawn. It was all so peaceful, and a little bit surreal. Raine wasn’t sure what she had expected. She had to keep reminding herself that they were modern day Native Americans and were not Indians from the old westerns.
“This is nice,” she said, trying to make conversation. He just looked at her, and then back at the closest house. He looked a little nervous and she had to wonder why.
“Stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.” His tone was a little harsh and she bristled, but before she had a chance to respond, he was gone. She sat down on a big rock and watched as he jogged across the dirt track that separated one of the lawns from the other. When he was halfway across when a middle-aged man stepped out on the porch of one of the homes. He was wearing a tank top and shorts and his belly was hanging over the top of them.
“Where are you going in such a hurry Jacy boy?” the man said in a loud, booming voice.
Jacy looked annoyed but he stopped moving and made eye contact with the man saying, “I have to run into town.”
“Be careful down there. You know what they think of us.”
“I will, Uncle,” he said. Jacy continued on to a house three doors down and went inside the garage. A few moments later Raine heard the engine of his bike starting up. He was headed back towards her when she saw the young teenager she had met that day in town with him run out of one of the other houses and chase after him.
Before Jacy got to where Raine waited the boy said, “Jacy, can I go?” Jacy stopped the bike three feet in front of Raine. He was still not looking at her and she got the feeling what he was nervous about was his family seeing her.
“Not today, Ben,” Jacy told the boy.
“Aw, why?” he asked, and then his eyes caught sight of Raine. “Oh. What’s she doing here, Jacy? Old Pa will be mad…”
“Go back home Ben and keep your mouth shut, okay?” Jacy said it harshly and the boy looked hurt.
“I will,” he said. “You know I will.”
“I know, Ben. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
Ben grinned at him, appeased. The boy nodded his head at Raine and then ran back over to his house. Jacy looked over at Raine then and said, “Are you ready?” Raine got up and hobbled over to the bike. She left the crutches under the tree where she had been waiting.
“Is it okay to leave them there?” she asked him.
“Yeah, I’ll get them when I get back,” he said.
It was hard to throw her injured leg over the back of the bike, but she finally got on and put her hands around Jacy’s waist to hold on. She was still feeling things that she no longer wanted to feel. He had made her feel so incredible last night, and like the leftovers from his drunken night out this morning. This, she supposed was why she didn’t have sex with random strangers. She felt things that she wasn’t supposed to.
They drove with nothing but the sound of the engine down long trails that led past the river and down towards town. Raine tried to concentrate on the pretty scenery and the wildlife that scampered about. Jacy drove her back to Miss May’s and stayed on the bike as she struggled off.
He looked at her then and said, “Don’t go back up on the property again, okay?”
Raine only nodded. She was afraid if she spoke she would cry. She didn’t understand the sudden change in his demeanor. She told herself to just ask him what was going on. Just ask him why he was suddenly treating her like she was a disease when the night before he’d made her feel like a queen. Before she could form the words, he was driving away and Jack was running out of the house.
“Raine! Oh my God, I was so worried about you.” He looked down at her leg with the bandage and the torn jeans. “What happened?” he asked.
Raine just looked at Jack. She hadn’t given him much thought for the past twenty-four hours. She thought now how foolish she had been, thinking that a stranger could offer her something that the man she had loved for the past five years could not. She buried her face in his shoulder and let him hold her.
“I’ll explain in a bit,” she said. “Just hold me.”
Jack did as she asked, but he was also watching the motorbike drive away with narrowed eyes, wondering who the guy was that had just dropped his girlfriend off after she’d been missing for twenty-four hours.
Ana Meadows
The sequel to this story is available now!
A Shapeshifter's Kiss: Revealed (Part Two)
After a steamy reunion with Jack, and taking much-needed time to rest her leg, Raine begins to feel the painful throes of guilt for her brief fling with Jacy. After Jack comes home from work ecstatic, however, announcing that he's found the perfect place within the forest to pursue his corporate dream of building an exotic resort for the rich and famous, she can't believe what she's hearing!
Recognizing that Jacy and his fellow tribesmen are to be cruelly torn from the forest they call home, Raine works to sabotage her own boyfriend's plan. She heads back to the forest, and soon comes face to face with a pack of wolves, as well as Jacy himself; can she save their hallowed forest and ancestral homeland in time? And will this tribe of insular shapeshifters even trust a mere outsider? Raine must appeal to Jacy's head, not to mention his heart...