Mated: A Paranormal Romance Shifter Anthology

by Kerry Adrienne, Sionna Fox, Shari Mikels

  “You already knew there were monsters in the world.”

  “No I didn’t!”

  Cindy shook her head. “Think carefully about what you just said to me, and think about the job you quit, and then tell me about the monsters you didn’t know existed.”

  Kate fell back against her couch and sat with a plop. She felt dazed.

  Of course she’d known there were monsters. She’d drawn them every single day in her job. Men and women described those monsters to her, and she’d absorbed those victims’ feelings every time she’d listened and turned their words into pictures that others could use to catch those monsters.

  She’d even given herself a pep talk about having already faced some of the worst of society when she first met JT, and she hadn’t even known then what kind of monster he could truly be. She was basing his monstrousness only on his behavior.

  Monsters weren’t what people looked like on the outside. Monsters came from within. And sometimes those monsters stayed in human form all the time. Or, as she now knew, sometimes those monsters turned into other forms, too. She’d now witnessed both.

  However, she’d also met men and women who fought true monsters. Men and women who remained in human form at all times and fought human monsters, and men and women who took on wolf form and fought monsters who took on wolf form, too.

  She knew all this.

  Kate sniffed loudly and grabbed the tissues from her end table. In the time it took to blow her nose a gazillion times, she processed her thoughts. So if she knew all that, what was really going on? What was the real mental fight she was dealing with?

  “Ah. I see you’ve figured some things out. What’s the deal now?”

  “Jeez. Are you reading my mind? I was just asking myself that same question.”

  “And what have you decided?”

  Kate blew her nose one last time and dried the last of the tears that had streaked her face. “I think it boils down to control. The lack of it on my part and the fear I felt as a child. I couldn’t stop the wolves that mauled my friend. I watched every second of it and there was nothing I could do. Nothing. I felt the fear and the terror and was completely frozen and helpless. Lots of people have dogs as pets. But in my mind, since Ellie called them ‘big doggies,’ dogs are then animals that will always have the chance to go feral and can attack or destroy something of mine. When the wolves change, that’s what they look like—feral, out of control, dangerous, like they can attack and destroy not only something of mine but destroy me as well. And that scares me. Frightens me. Terrifies me. I don’t want to live every single day in fear.”

  Cindy took a deep breath. “I can’t help you get over your fear. You have to do that on your own. You have to get control of your own mind. No one else can. I believe you’re strong enough to do that, but I can’t help you with that. What I can do is remind you that they’re not just feral wolves. They’re people, too. And the people don’t lose control.”

  “I know that on some level, just not on the most powerful levels of my mind.”

  “You’ll figure it out. For now, let’s call in a pizza and watch either a movie or binge watch a TV show.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Two medium pizzas and three hours of twenty-one-minute sitcom episodes later, Cindy stretched and got to her feet. “I’ve got to get home so I can hopefully make it to work somewhat close to on time tomorrow morning.”

  “I’m sorry I kept you here so late.”

  “Shut up. I’m happy to be here and I’m happy you’re talking to me again.”

  “I’m sorry about that, too.”

  “Shut up. One last thought I want to leave you with and then you’re on your own with processing everything. Can you think of some times when the personality of the human was easy to see in the wolf? Whether it was protectiveness or humor or kindness or even playfulness, can you pinpoint some incidents where the personality of the person as a whole—human and wolf—easily showed through both forms?” Cindy gave Kate one last hug. “That’s all I’ve got for tonight. Love ya. Send me a text tomorrow to let me know how you’re doing.”

  “‘Kay. I will. Thanks for everything. G’night.” Kate shut the door, leaned her back against it and slid all the way to the floor on her butt.

  Yeah, she could think of a few times when she’d seen Callan’s family shine through their wolf forms. Okay, several times.

  She needed her sketchbook and pencils.

  Chapter Ten

  Callan sat with his head on his desk. He changed positions every time the spot warmed up, which was often. It was better than working.

  A pounding on his office door. “Hey,” Chris called out. “There’s a large box that needs your signature for delivery up at the front office.”

  “Why can’t someone else sign for it?” Callan was annoyed with the interruption. He was annoyed with everything these days. There was nothing that didn’t rub his skin or fur the wrong way, and people making him leave the comfort of his office was just one more annoyance he didn’t want to deal with. Heck, he didn’t want to deal with people at all. He kept hoping they’d get the hint. If he growled at everyone long enough about everything, maybe everyone would leave him alone. But no, these idiots were still showing up bothering him.

  Maybe he needed to go for another long run by himself.

  Chris barged in. “Your signature is the one required. Not anyone else’s. Yours. It specifically says that you must sign for it. The delivery dude is waiting and you’re holding him up from the rest of his route.”

  So much for locked doors and best friends.

  “Yeah, well I’m being held up from getting work done.”

  “Dude, you’ve not gotten work done in weeks now. Everyone else is getting work done and we’re just letting you think you’re doing it all.”

  A growl rumbled in Callan’s chest. No stopping it.

  Chris came closer and even sat on the edge of Callan’s desk. “Just calm down. We all get it. Now come up to the front office and sign for the package so we can see what the heck is making all of the noise in it. Griffin thinks it’s a really huge set of overgrown Legos.”

  The maturity level in his pack seemed to be reducing by the day. That was probably a good reason for Callan to come out of hiding. Possibly.

  He stood fast enough that his chair fell backward. “Fine. I’m coming.” He punctuated the statement by throwing his pen down.

  Maybe immaturity was contagious these days.

  He followed Chris to the main building, cursing himself the whole time for being an idiot. “I need to get her back. I just can’t live without her. I’ve tried, but this isn’t living. Y’all are paying for my meager existence. I can’t do it any longer.”

  Chris threw his hands up. “Well, hallelujah. It’s about damn time. You’re an idiot as well as a fool.”

  “Hey!”

  “Well you are.”

  “I have a pack to run. A job to do. A cousin and his crap to deal with. I couldn’t just run off and leave all of my responsibilities.”

  “No, much better to stick around and pretend like you’re doing the work while instead you waste away inside. Yep. Much better plan.”

  Callan ran the rest of the way to the main building. He didn’t need Chris or anyone else telling him what he already knew. He’d find Kate and go after her first thing in the morning. All he needed was a plan. And maybe a decent night’s sleep. But he’d find her and he’d win her back. And if he had to make other changes in his life, well, then he’d cross those bridges as he came to them, because he couldn’t go on barely existing like he was. This wasn’t living. This was barely surviving, at least emotionally, because without Kate it didn’t matter how much his pack, his family cared for him and loved him.

  Their regular delivery guy was wai
ting for him on the front porch of the main building as Callan ran up. “Finally. I need you to sign for this package so I can get the proof of signature entered into the system by 2 p.m.”

  What the hell? They never had anything delivered to the resort, or even the distillery, that required only his signature. He always made sure Ginger or Kelli or someone else could sign in his absence. He’d barely finished his last name and the guy was off and running to his truck.

  Callan turned to head back to his lodge so he could start doing a search for his Kate. He’d kept his word, he hadn’t followed her, hadn’t tried to keep up with her. But he needed to know where she was now and he needed to know right away. He wasn’t going to waste another day.

  “Aren’t you going to open the box?” Several of his pack gathered on the front porch, looking at the big box.

  “Huh? No. Y’all can take care of that.”

  “But the return address has KMB as the initials.”

  Everything in Callan froze. If she’d taken some of his things with her, then he would expect that maybe it was a box of the stuff she was returning. But from what he could tell, the only thing his Kate had swiped from him was the shirt of his that had been too long on her and she’d turned into a sleep shirt for the brief time she was in his bed. Then Chris’s mention of Griffin’s guess that it was a box of overgrown Legos jogged Callan’s memory that the box itself must make noise when it was moved. Or shaken.

  Callan had the top of the box shredded in less than a second, if anybody had been timing him.

  Confusion greeted him in the form of what looked like blueprint tubes. Charcoal gray tubes stacked together in neat rows and columns were in the box. “Did someone order decor for the lodges or something?”

  “Not that I know of,” Chris answered, which was weird since Callan had thought he’d only asked himself the question and hadn’t spoken it out loud.

  “Open one already,” someone else said.

  He was too far deep in his own thoughts.

  A thick folded piece of paper lay on top of all the tubes and Callan pulled that out first. He recognized Katie’s handwriting immediately. At the bottom of the letter was a small hand-drawn picture of him and his pack in front of the building they were currently gathered at. She’d signed the picture with her very tiny scrawl she used on personal pictures.

  “What’s it say?” someone asked.

  “Dearest Callan, I owe you and our pack an apology, and the only way I know how to show you it comes from my heart is by giving you all pieces of my heart. Enclosed you’ll find portraits of each of you, of how I really see you, of how my heart sees you and not how my mouth claimed at one point to see you all. Please accept my apology and forgive me for being so stupid for so long. Remember, I’m only human... Ha! My love to you and ours, Katie.”

  Callan swallowed the huge lump in his throat that threatened to choke him in front of everyone before pulling out a tube labeled Kelli. He twisted the top off and drew out a thick sheet of paper, neatly rolled to fit inside. As he unrolled it, his audience gave a collective gasp. Callan had no breath whatsoever. His Katie had captured not only Kelli’s human nature, with all her humor and bossiness rolled into one, but had managed to capture that same essence in Kelli’s wolf form, and drawn the duality of her nature in the one picture.

  Chris stood next to Callan while he studied Kate’s talented handiwork, and Callan now carefully passed along the tube and the drawing for Chris to do something with it. He reached for the next tube, which was labeled Anne Catherine. He twisted the top off and once again carefully pulled out the drawing inside. Anne Catherine’s caring nature, everything that made her a nurse in human form and such an excellent protector in wolf form was once again captured by Kate’s talented fingers and the pencils she wielded.

  The next tube he pulled out was labeled Callan. He wasn’t sure he wanted to open this tube in front of an audience so he set it down and reached for another.

  “I don’t think so. Either you open it now or I will,” Chris said.

  “You wouldn’t dare.” Callan glared at him, but pulled back before he unleashed his alpha on his best friend.

  “Wouldn’t I? Do you really think it’s going to be something horrible? She loves you, man, and she obviously loves your pack or else she wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. From what I can tell, she can capture a person’s true nature. Their true essence.”

  “She saw me as a monster and walked away. I don’t want to see that in person.”

  “She saw us all as monsters and walked away. But she’s apologized and no longer sees Kelli and Anne Catherine as monsters. I don’t think there’s anything monstrous about those two drawings at all. Give your mate a chance. Better yet, give your heart a chance.”

  Callan shoved Chris. “Since when did you become the expert on love around here?”

  “Since I’ve been keeping everyone away from you while you became a bear instead of a wolf.”

  “Funny.”

  “Not really. Open it.”

  * * *

  Kate held her breath while Callan hemmed and hawed about the tube labeled with his name. She was downwind and had walked up from the parking lot, stopping at the edge of the tree line.

  She could easily hear the voices as they were carried to her on the wind, and at the same time, she knew Callan hadn’t picked up her scent yet. She also knew that so far, she’d been doing a good job of hiding her feelings as well as her self from him ever since she’d arrived in the vicinity.

  That she’d hurt Callan so deeply and made him so jaded sucked royally. He didn’t want to open the drawing she’d done of him. But as Chris said—and that might’ve only been because Chris could see her from his position on the porch—Callan needed to give her this one more chance to trust her. As she stood there, holding her breath, she hoped and prayed she hadn’t ruined things so badly between them that he wouldn’t give her this chance.

  She wanted him to see with his own eyes that she no longer saw him as a monster.

  That he was just... Callan.

  Kate slowly let the air out of her lungs as he twisted open the top. She watched as he gradually slid the drawing she’d done of him out of its protective covering. He unrolled it and the love she felt from him through their bond flooded her. Overwhelmed her.

  She gasped in air as her lungs burned for oxygen, reminding her she’d forgotten to breathe again. At the same time, not only did her gasp make a loud noise in the silence, his love for her tore down every teeny bit of shielding she’d thrown up to protect herself from his possible rejection. Instead, she returned every ounce of love he was giving her with the same love thrown back at him.

  Callan handed the drawing to Chris and ran across the gravel parking lot straight toward Kate. She knew he could run like the wind and would catch up to her quickly, but she took off running toward him anyway. She wanted his arms around her just that much sooner, and she wanted her lips on his as soon as possible.

  Lucky for her, he had the same ideas. Callan lifted her into his arms and slid her high enough for her to wrap her legs around his waist. Kate ran her fingers through his hair and held his face to hers as they took each other’s lips in a kiss. Their tongues met and dueled for control, neither one backing off. His taste was like a homecoming to her, the taste of darkest chocolate, edgy and delicious.

  They broke for air and then passion had them back together, long kisses with tongues sliding against each other, soaking in each other’s taste.

  For a while, pack members called out to them, thanking Kate or welcoming her back or calling out their goodbyes, before disappearing into the woods and along the paths to go back to work or head back to their homes.

  Kate turned to acknowledge them, but Callan stopped her.

  “They’re trying to interrupt us just to be annoying. Ignore them
,” he whispered, and kissed his way from her ear back to her lips.

  “Hey, you know you two could get a room,” Chris eventually called out. “We have plenty of them.”

  Callan grunted in response and returned to the kissing.

  “Fine,” Chris said, “I’ll just take this box and deliver the rest of these drawings to their intended owners.”

  Kate and Callan ignored him.

  Their hello could’ve been fifteen minutes or an hour. She had no idea just how much time had passed. However, the sun had made significant progress in traveling across the sky during their greeting.

  “Hi,” she said, shyly, although she had no idea why since she’d just attacked him with her lips and tongue.

  “Welcome back.” His deep voice rumbled through his chest and vibrated through her body.

  “Can it be ‘welcome home’?”

  Callan’s eyes widened, but the smile breaking out across his face was one of pure joy. “Is that what it should be?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” Kate dipped her head and kissed his nose.

  “Then let me rephrase.” He pretended to clear his throat. “Welcome home.”

  She couldn’t stop the huge smile on her face. “Thanks.”

  “Not to ruin this homecoming, but I really want to understand why. Tell me about the drawings.”

  Kate tried pushing against his shoulders to get him to lower her to the ground.

  He didn’t budge. “Katie, I don’t care what you have to say to me. I’m not putting you down. I may not put you down for a very long time. I need to feel you in my arms and know that you’re here, with me. Whatever you have to tell me, you can tell me while I hold you.”

  “Fine, ya stubborn man.”

  She sighed. “I had a long talk with Cindy.”

  Callan’s eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows. “Did you two make up?”

  “Yeah, we did.”

  “I’m glad. I hated the thought of you losing your best friend because of all this.”

  He kissed her on the nose and the feeling of rightness, of belonging settled into place.