Mutts Like Me (The Awakening Series Book 1)

by Keri Armstrong

Now I just needed shoes. I guess no one thought about that, or maybe they had and figured I’d have a hard time running away barefooted.

  Damn it.

  I took a deep breath and went back out to face my tormenter. Whatever shit she dished out, I was ready now. I’d probably get my ass kicked—she was several inches taller and incredibly fit while I was five-four and scrawny. But I was scrappy, darn it. I could at least get in a lick in or two. Maybe even get lucky and knock her down so she hit her head on the tile floor.

  That might work....

  I was enjoying that visual when another girl emerged from one of the showers. She was about my size and looked at me with wide eyes. After a brief glance, I figured I could take her if I had to.

  “Are you new here?” she asked.

  I smirked. “I guess you could say that. Did they kidnap you, too?”

  Her already large eyes went wider. “K-k-kidnap?”

  Before I could say more, Cassandra intervened. “A new mutt. Toshi brought her in. Alex’s girl.”

  The other girl’s mouth made an “O” and she looked at me with something like awe.

  What the hell? “I am not Alex’s anything,” I protested acidly.

  Cass made a rude noise. “Not that Alex, dumbass. Your dad.”

  Goddamn this bitch. Not only did she just call me a dumbass, she knew my dad’s name, which I had never known. Neither Gran nor my mom ever told me. They said they didn’t know. Made me feel real fuckin’ special.

  A roar poured out of my mouth as I slammed into her, feeling some satisfaction when she stumbled backwards even if she didn’t fall.

  The other girl made a squeaking noise and jumped out of the way. I could tell from her footsteps that she was running for the door but I didn’t care. I was trying my best to do some harm to Cassandra. But she was doing a real good job of holding me at bay, which pissed me off even more. I kicked at her, but without shoes, only succeeded in hurting my foot and making her even angrier. She slammed me into the wall and pressed against me so tightly I could barely struggle in place. Her eyes glowed as she snarled into my face.

  “If you know what’s good for you, Mutt, you’ll settle the fuck down right now.” She snarled, baring teeth that I could swear were longer and sharper than before.

  My mind suddenly flitted back to what I’d seen outside the gym and a strange ripple passed over my skin. My back bucked against the wall, spine popping.

  Cassandra let go of me, stepping back quickly, her gaze narrowed on my face. Not afraid, but clearly cautious.

  My whole body was heating, a liquid feeling taking over. I smiled and knew it wasn’t pleasant. The smile turned into a grin as her eyes went wide.

  “Everybody get out,” she yelled.

  There was a flurry of activity behind a couple of the shower stalls and some part of my mind registered that people were watching, but I didn’t care. An odd sensation had taken over my entire body. Just like earlier in the kitchen, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the smells around me. Shampoo, chlorine, sweat, blood…I smelled it all. I knew I could pinpoint in exactly which garbage can a bloody bandage lay resting amid discarded tissues. I knew I could even identify the body on which the bandage had been. I was aware of the smell of the ceiling and floor tile, the scents of the shower curtains, and each had a story to tell. I began to see things in weird shades of gray and red, yet somehow that didn’t bother me. I could even see the heat waves rolling off people and some objects.

  I heard noises with intense clarity, including the rapid increase of Cassandra’s heartbeat. It was savage music and made me want to rip her throat out. Above us, the hum of the fluorescent lights mixed with another, softer sound. I listened, my ears cocked toward it. There was a soft scuttling in the ceiling tiles. A mouse? I sniffed. Maybe. My mind whirled with all the animal scents around me, human and otherwise.

  The warm blanket feeling increased and then I felt Cassandra shifting. I knew it as I knew my own name. She stopped and looked at me. As she walked toward the door, the room cleared out of all but the two of us.

  She surprised me by walking to the door. “Let’s see how you handle this,” she said as she went out, a small metal click sounding behind her retreating footsteps.

  ‘Handle what?’ I hazily wondered. There was nothing to handle. Everything was just right. I rolled my neck and lifted my arms above my head. All I wanted to do was stretch, feel the warm, delicious sensation of muscles under my skin as they moved. In an instant, my whole body was floating in the space around me as if I were all places at once, in tune with my surroundings.

  Too tight, too restrictive, were my only thoughts as I came back together again. I had to get out of all this fabric. Now. I twisted and turned, removing the restrictive clothing, jerking my head out of the shirt and shucking off the pants.

  Ahh...much better. Able to move about freely now, I inspected my surroundings, sniffing at the air, peering into corners, lifting myself onto benches to see higher, searching for freedom.

  Then he came. And he was mine.

  I’d marked him earlier; I could smell it. I’d been unconsciously waiting for him, my mate, my master. With a leap of joy, I ran to him, snuffling the scent of myself mixed with him all about his waist, and licked at his hands. I whined deep in my throat as he backed away, pushing me off.

  The whine became a growl when she stepped in. The hated female. The one who’d locked me in here. I leaped for her throat and smelled her surprise. The male grabbed me before I’d hit my target and I nipped at his arm in warning. He held me tighter and spoke to the bitch.

  “Cassandra, get out!”

  She growled in response but left. I twisted and bared my teeth at my captor and he grabbed at the skin of my neck, forcing me down, confusing me. He belonged to me, not the other way around.

  He knelt then, stretching out a hand in an offering of peace. So beautiful he was, so good he smelled. No wonder my scent was on him. I didn’t remember marking him, though. I cocked my head and stared. When had I done so? I sniffed again.

  There. Yes. My own urine. It must have happened when....

  A hard shiver went through me and I collapsed, naked on the cold tile in front of Toshio.

  Chapter Five

  “Oh my God!” Scrambling backwards, I curled up with my back against the wall, arms clasped around my legs, trying to shield myself from his eyes.

  “It’s okay, Marti.” His quiet tone indicated he knew I anything but okay. “It was just your first shift.”

  My teeth chattered and I clutched my legs tighter. His words made no sense. He moved closer and I pressed harder against the wall.

  “I’m going to get your clothes, and Cass—”

  “No! Not her.” I didn’t know much at that moment, but I still knew she was the last person I wanted to see.

  “All right,” he said softly. “I’ll just wait outside the door while you get dressed. I promise you, everything will be all right.”

  I stared at him, dumbfounded. All right? What could possibly be all right about this cluster fuck?

  He stood and I cringed. His lips tightened and he walked carefully toward the door. “Please, just get dressed and come out. I’ll explain everything.”

  A hysterical bubble of laughter formed in my throat as he closed the door behind him. Hadn’t we just played out this scene earlier, me naked in the bathroom while he promised to tell me everything once I got dressed?

  Of course, that was just before he kidnapped me.

  Yeah, right...I was going to trust him.

  I pulled myself upon quaking legs and used the long counter of sinks for support as I made my way toward the discarded clothing on the floor. With jerking movements, I pulled them back on and sat on a low bench against the wall.

  I could hear him speaking soft tones to others just outside the door. Questions being asked, deferred. Some of which I’d like the answer to as well. Did she shift? Was it wolf, like her father?

  That last one really grabbed my a
ttention. Wolf, like my father? I took a deep breath and stood. It was time to face whatever waited. And if I could shift into a wolf....

  I smiled and jerked the door open.

  Toshio, Alex, Cassandra, Caleb, and an assortment of others I didn’t recognize all awaited me with various expressions. Some with wide-eyed wonder like the girl I’d spoken to earlier, some with concern (Toshio), some with shit-eating grins (Alex and Caleb), and some with barely veiled hostility. Oh, hello, Cassandra. So not nice to see you again.

  “Okay. Who wants to be the first to finally tell me what the hell is going on?”

  Alex’s grin got even wider and he raised his hand, jumping up and down. “Ooh, ooh, I will, I will!”

  Toshio and Cassandra glared at him.

  Caleb just smiled and shook his head. “You and Toshi come with me,” he said, looking at me.

  “Hey! I wanna come, too,” Alex protested.

  Caleb laughed. “You can wait.”

  “Buzz kill.”

  I gave them a side-eye. I didn’t really want to go anywhere with Toshio right now—I didn’t want to think about how he’d seen me—and if I had any bit of trust for any of them, it was Caleb.

  Not that I actually trusted any of them.

  “Why not just you and me?” I asked him.

  He glanced at Toshio who looked uncomfortable. “You okay with that?” Caleb asked.

  I frowned. What did it matter if he was okay with it or not? I was about to say so when Toshio nodded tightly.

  Caleb gave me a kind-looking smile and motioned his head for me to follow him. “C’mon, kiddo. Let’s get you caught up to date.”

  The others parted to let us through and I passed a sour-looking Cassandra (though, really, did she really have any other look?). I followed behind him, fists clenched and head held high.

  We went down the hallway then up the stairs to another paneled room like the one I’d been in when they’d first promised to tell me the truth. This room was smaller though, and there were no filing cabinets or phone. Just a couple of chairs and a small table. Following his lead, I took a seat at the table.

  I had to admit, there was just something solid and friendly about Caleb. He had an open, kind look about him.

  He was handsome, like the others, with his square jaw, deep dimples, broad shoulders, and large hazel eyes surrounded by golden skin and Justin Guarini-like curls. “Maritza, I’m sorry you had to be introduced to our world this way. It wasn’t anything any of us wanted. Least of all your father.”

  I shook my head, impatient. “What do you know about him?”

  He hesitated the way people do when they’re trying to figure out how to break bad news. Finally he said, “Let me start by saying, in spite of how it may have seemed to you, your dad loved you very much.”

  I couldn’t speak. It was a punch to the gut. How did he know how it seemed to me? And he’d said ‘loved’ – past tense.

  His brow tightened briefly, his eyes sad. “Your dad was one of us, Marti. Like you. A shifter.”

  Shifter? The word buzzed through my head. He didn’t really mean what it seemed he meant, did he?

  In spite of my initial response of denial, deep inside I knew what he meant, knew it was true, but I had to ask anyway. “What do you mean?”

  His eyes widened slightly. “What do you think happened a few minutes ago, Marti?” he asked carefully.

  “I have no idea.”

  He frowned and cocked his head. “Okay...what happened in the bathroom?”

  I forced a shrug. “No idea. Maybe Cassandra drugged me.” Even as I made it up, my mind grasped onto that straw. Maybe that was actually what happened.

  “She wouldn’t do that,” he said firmly.

  I scoffed. “Then I guess you haven’t met her.”

  His expression shifted to neutral. “She’s my sister.”

  ‘Well, hello mouth,’ said foot.

  I don’t know why I felt bad for offending him—probably just that sweet guy look he had—so I let myself become angry. “I don’t care who she is. She’s been nothing but nasty to me since I got here and I don’t trust her. Furthermore,” I said, my voice rising. “Let’s talk about how I got here! I was freakin’ choked until I passed out, then kidnapped, and now you expect to believe you people are beyond drugging me? Are you fucking kidding me?”

  He inhaled sharply. “That was unfortunate.”

  I rose from the chair. “Unfortunate? Unfortunate is dropping your ice cream cone. This was assault!”

  “I’m sorry, Maritza, I really am, and so is Toshio. He just needed to get you out of there quickly and it looked like you were going to scream—”

  “Of course I was going to scream. In fact, I’m going to scream right now.”

  I let loose with the most blood-curdling scream I could manage. I’d started it with the intention of being obnoxious but within seconds it grew so loud and came from a place so deep that I got lost in it. I might have gone on screaming forever if Toshio hadn’t burst in the door and grabbed me.

  He pulled me to his chest, yelling something at Caleb I didn’t understand. I pounded my fists against him but he just held me tightly, murmuring against my hair as I wailed.

  I don’t know how long we stood that way, nor at what point I became of aware of my surroundings again. By that time, Caleb was gone and Toshio and I were alone. I pulled back, pushing him away, and he let me go.

  “I’m so, so sorry, Marti,” he said softly.

  I looked up and saw the distress in his eyes. I could almost believe he really meant what he said.

  With a trembling hand, I pushed back the hair that had become stuck to the sweat on my face. No, not sweat, I realized. Tears. When had I started crying? I quickly turned away and wiped my face. I tried to scowl before turning back, but had to bite my lip to keep it from quivering.

  “I’m sorry, Marti,” Toshio repeated. “Do you want to sit down?”

  He motioned toward the chair, and as much as I hated to show weakness, I didn’t trust myself to remain upright in the face of any more surprises.

  And I had a bad feeling more surprises were coming my way.

  He took the seat opposite me, his eyes sad yet wary. “How much did Caleb tell you?”

  “Nothing, really.”

  His brows raised then dropped into a puzzled frown.

  I shifted slightly in the chair, suddenly embarrassed. “Maybe I didn’t give him much of a chance.”

  I’ll give him credit: his expression didn’t change. No surprise, no judgment. And luckily for him, not even a hint of a smile.

  “All right. I guess I should start at the beginning,” he said.

  ***

  A half hour later, my head still spun with all he’d told me as we walked back through the training area. My dad was a werewolf. As was I. And to think of all the times I referred to myself as a mutt....

  I blinked and looked around the room. It was filled with mutts of many varieties. All of us the remnants of experiments done by an ancient race far more advanced than the world has ever known—a race that went into hibernation tens of thousands of years ago, just before a great catastrophe wiped out most of the planet, if what Toshio said was true.

  A race that has recently begun reawakening to take back the planet...and their hybrid offspring.

  A.k.a., people like us.

  I shook my head for what must have been the hundredth time in the past hour. It couldn’t be true. Yet I couldn’t deny what I was seeing before me now: People turning into wolves, foxes, and...Holy crap! A snake!

  I backpedaled quickly and bumped into Alex. Who, according to Toshio, was a Kitsune. A fox shifter, like Toshi. But Alex was some kind of trickster fox. Surprise, surprise.

  He wrapped his hands around my upper arms. “Easy there, beautiful. No one here will hurt you.”

  I jerked free and spun around to face him. “Doesn’t mean I won’t be dangerous to you.”

  He laughed and stepped back, hands in the air
. “And here I was hoping we’d become best buds.”

  I gave him my best stink eye instead. I wasn’t ready to be friends with any of them yet. I still didn’t know what to believe. Toshio said my dad had disappeared and none of them knew if he was dead or alive, though many feared the worst. Toshio, Alex, and Caleb were among those who believed he might still be alive. Cassandra and Laurent thought he must be gone. Figures she’d believe the worst. And each side believed what they did for the same reason: my dad was supposed to be super strong. Either he was so strong he was still alive somewhere, or he was so strong, he had to have been killed or he would have been back by now.

  Me, I didn’t know what to think or feel. Other than angry. Really, really angry. I clenched my hands so hard, I hissed as my nails—no, claws—sliced my palms.

  “Whoa, sweet cheeks. Let me help you.” Alex quickly but gently put an arm around my upper back.

  I didn’t move because I was too busy staring at the claws that had sprung up at the ends of my fingers, each now tipped in a tiny bit of blood. Tears heated my eyes, even after I thought I had no tears left.

  “Is this always going to happen from now on?” I looked to Alex for confirmation or denial, and his face was kind.

  “Nah, not always. You’ll learn to control it so you can just bring it out when you need to. Or want to.”

  Want to. I could see that happening. Need to, was a scary thought, but given all that I had seen and heard today, it seemed more than possible that I might need claws and fangs one day. A shudder passed through my back, muscles twitching in response to my fear. “Show me how.”

  A wide smile lit up his handsome face, crinkling his bright eyes. “Oh, I’d love to.”

  There was just something about his grinning face that drew me in. I didn’t want to trust him but I did. Sort of. Or maybe it’s just that his smile was so engaging, he could sell ice to Eskimos.

  Oh, crap. Or maybe it’s because he’s a trickster? Isn’t that Toshio said?

  Hell, I didn’t know what to think. None of them were who they might have looked like to other people. And I was no longer who I thought was, either. I looked around the gym, the truth hitting me in the gut again.