The Shifting Storm (Book 4)

by Jeff Hale

“My bike,” Darien said, pushing the laptop a few inches away, “got left in Germany, and I’m not much for public transportation.”

  “So why didn’t you just get another bike?” I asked. I leaned against the counter and drank half the Pepsi in one gulp.

  “It doesn’t seat three,” was Darien’s reply, and then he pulled the laptop back towards him and began typing at the keys. “Don’t worry, though. A new bike is on my list as well. One thing at a time.”

  I moved to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder. He had an email program open in one window and what looked like some kind of drawing of something I didn’t know what the hell it was in another.

  “Is that a schematic?” I pointed to the drawing.

  “Yes.” Darien was concentrating on something on the page and his answer was a bit terse.

  I walked over behind Alex. He also had an email program open, and an accounting program. There were numbers everywhere. I sighed and plopped down into one of the extra chairs. I knew that Darien, Alex and Matt all got there money from some business the three of them co-owned, a business that gave them freedom to travel since they could run it online and through telecommuting, but that was all I knew. So I decided to ask.

  “Just what exactly do you guys do? I mean, what kind of business is it?”

  They both lifted their heads at the same time to look at me, but it was Darien who answered me. “Banking and banking security.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” My dangerous, Mustang driving, motorcycle riding, werewolf boyfriend was a freaking banker?

  Darien turned the laptop to face me and pointed to the schematic. “What does that look like to you?”

  I looked at it for almost a minute before it finally clicked. “A bank vault?”

  He winked at me. “Now, much as I’d like to do something else, I need to finish this, okay?”

  “Okay.” I got up and decided to do my own homework, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.

  A freaking banker.

  ____________________________________

  The next week went by pretty smoothly and the three of us fell into an easy routine, even if we didn’t stay home a lot. Usually we went out as a trio, but by the end of the week, Alex began going out on his own and staying out late. Darien and I both assumed he had met a girl and I was happy about it for his sake, even if it did make me the tiniest bit jealous. I was unsure how Darien felt about being stuck in one place for so long, but he seemed to be adapting, even though he woke most every night, shaking terribly, from nightmares he refused to tell me about. It was a weekend when Darien got a call for us to go check out some problem in Salt Lake City that involved two shifter groups and a territory dispute. Salt Lake City was one of those larger cities that actually boasted more than one pack, and Vegas might have too if Henry had been less of an ass.

  In the case in question, it turned out that a new nightclub had been built and while the club was in one of the pack’s territories, it was so closely on the line that the parking lot was in the other pack’s territory. It would have been fine if it was a humans only club, but it was one of those mixed ones, and problems rose going to and from the parking lot.

  Darien got disgusted at the bickering between the two Alphas and finally just declared the nightclub, its parking lot and the property it sat on as non-territory and therefore neutral. No blood was shed and the whole thing seemed rather petty to me, but without any sort of intervention, it might have finally erupted into a pack war.

  The following Monday after school I had come home to find a huge, as in St. Bernard sized, stuffed dragon sitting in the middle of my bed with a bright pink bow and a tag that said ‘Happy(Late) Easter, Love, Darien’. It was gold and lay curled around its tail in sleep. I had never seen anything like it and had no clue where he had found it, but I loved it immediately.

  One night, a couple days before my mother’s birthday, Darien and I came home late from a drive out to the Valley of Fire. As we approached the apartment door something felt off to me, and I had to hide a grin at the couple I could see making out on the nearby stairwell.

  Maybe it was because I was a cat as well and had learned to control it, but I didn’t feel the lust vibe in the air until Darien and I were both in the apartment. For a full shifter, it wasn’t very strong yet, but for a wilder it was stronger than it should have been. I could smell Nina’s scent heavy in the air, and from the noises coming out of Alex’s room, there was no doubt what they were doing.

  A hot flare of jealousy went through me and I tamped it down. I didn’t love Alex, not that way, so I had no right to be jealous, but for some reason the notion that Nina was now playing in territory that had once, however briefly, been mine angered me.

  I strode through the little archway and knocked loudly on Alex’s door. “Hey, you two, you’re gonna have the whole apartment complex fucking in the parking lot if you keep that up,” I called flatly through the door. I immediately felt the lust in the air drop by a percentage, followed by a high pitched giggle from Nina.

  “Come join us, kitty Kat!” she called back. “Alex and I could use some dessert!”

  I sighed and turned away from the door, saw the way Darien was looking at me, his eyes almost black. “Great, she’s got you riled up too?”

  He was in front of me in a blink, hands rough on my arms as he ran his face up the front of my knit shirt to my neck, pulling air deep into his lungs as he did so. “Maybe,” he said, his voice almost a growl as he lifted me up. “But it’s not her I want to fuck.”

  We didn’t even make it to the bedroom.

  FIFTEEN

  KATELYN

  The first of May snuck up on us almost out of nowhere. I’d called my mom on her birthday the day before to tell her I loved her, and to tell her as well that I couldn’t go through with what she had asked me. I didn’t have a problem with her wanting to become like me, like my father, but I just couldn’t take that risk that I might fuck it up and kill her. Not long after that, Darien was called out to Oregon to take care of some minor shifter problem that he told me he could deal with by himself. He didn’t want me missing school for something so trivial, especially since I also had cheerleading and dance squad practice on top of everything else.

  I came out one morning to find Alex staring moodily at the television, remote in hand as he flipped through the channels, an open box of cereal on his lap that he was munching on. I was surprised because he’d begun to lighten up lately and I was afraid he might be falling in love with Nina, not something I would wish on any sane person.

  I plopped down next to him on the couch and stole a handful of cereal. Darien was still sleeping, having not gone to bed until early this morning, but I had class in a couple hours.

  “What’s up?” I asked him, tilting my head to look him in the eye. He kept staring straight ahead, and flip, flip, flip went the channels. “Hey.” I snatched the remote out of his hand and he just sighed. “What’s wrong, Alex?”

  His gaze went from me, to my bedroom door, then back to me, and he sighed again.

  Well, fuck. I really hoped that he had gotten over it.

  My eyebrows went up and my mouth quirked to one side. “And?”

  “I know, I know,” he said softly, his head falling back against the couch. “It’s getting better, marginally, although anymore I’m not sure if I’m upset that he has you and I don’t, or just envious of the relationship.”

  “You’ve seen how Nina is, even with a boyfriend. You can’t honestly want a permanent relationship with her,” I warned. “She’s my friend, but, well, she’s a slut.”

  “No, I’m not that bloody stupid, but it would be nice if she’d get my name right more than half the time while we’re…” He left off, searching for the word.

  “Fucking? Having nasty, raunchy animal sex?” I offered up, sticking my tongue out at him. “Don’t think Darien and I haven’t heard you two, or at least her.” I laughed. “I wonder if Dave knows she calls other guys by his name
.”

  “Like it would make the poor bloke feel any better if he did?” Alex asked sarcastically.

  “I dunno, maybe.”

  He reached toward my face, caught one of my earrings between his thumb and forefinger and rubbed the metal and stone against his skin. Darien had brought them back from the quick trip to Oregon as a gift for me. They were turquoise teardrops in copper settings, and like the necklace and bracelet, they rarely left my person.

  “You do love him, don’t you,” he stated quietly.

  “Yeah.”

  He smiled ruefully. “You always did.”

  “Huh?”

  He turned to stare at the television again. It had stopped on a channel airing a Jerry Springer segment. “Nothing. I’m just tired, bored. Thinking about maybe heading over to Los Angeles, maybe spend a couple days terrorizing Disneyland.” He winked at me.

  The next week and a half went by in frenzied anticipation at school. The end of Spring semester was coming up and students were restless to get out of class for the summer. I was liking Bianca Haid, the Crypto professor, more and more, and had finally found myself brave enough to ask her if I could talk to her in her office at school.

  I was incredibly nervous as I headed for the Administration building. She had a free hour right before lunch and it was probably a good thing, since I wasn’t sure if having food on my stomach would have set well. I almost kept going down the hall as I approached her office, but I took a deep breath, forced the baby dragons in my stomach to calm down, and knocked lightly on the door.

  “Come in,” Ms. Haid said softly from inside.

  I opened the door, then shut it behind me and leaned against it. Her office was cozy and inviting, with comfy looking chairs for guests, soft music playing low from a stereo on a bookshelf, hanging plants, overfilled bookshelves, and a few soothing scented candles burning on her desk and the top of a wooden file cabinet. I felt some of my nervousness settle down and I exhaled loudly.

  Ms. Haid looked up at me, her blue eyes narrowing on me. “Is everything all right, Miss Shaughnessy? If you’re worried about your grades, I assure you, they’re fine. You’re one of my top students.”

  I stuffed my hands in my jeans pockets and shook my head. “No, I’m sorry, no. That’s not why I’m here.”

  She continued to scrutinize me for a moment or two, then gestured with one hand to one of the chairs. “Then why don’t you sit down and tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “How do you know something’s bothering me?” I asked as I set my backpack in one chair and sat down in the other.

  “Because you’re nervous as a cat in a room filled with rocking chairs,” she said, then grinned at me. She was dressed in her usual overtight blouse and skirt, but today the blouse was a pale coral. The color looked good with her blonde hair. “Has someone been causing you problems on campus because of what you are?”

  I shook my head again and sat up straighter in the chair. “You do know what I am, then?”

  “A shifter, right?”

  “Yeah, cat. You were pretty close to home with the rocking chair comment.” I smiled wryly.

  “Well, maybe I sensed something, but the comment does show my age, I guess. It was something my mother used to say. But that’s neither here, nor there. What did you want to talk to me about?” She folded her hands together and rested them and her forearms on the desktop as she gave me an expectant look.

  I almost told her that I changed my mind, but I needed to talk to someone about it, someone who might know what was going on. But I didn’t say anything. I held one hand up, pulled from that other place of power, and little pale-blue worms of electricity crawled along my skin.

  Ms. Haid just looked at my hand in confusion, then leaned forward and stared at it, then blinked several times before adjusting her gaze to meet mine. “Well. That’s interesting.” Her eyes went back to my hand and then I let the power go, willing it away. “Is there anything else you can do?”

  I chewed on my lip before nodding. “Yeah, I can mess with the air, not anything big, just little stuff.” I didn’t tell her about turning into a drake. One thing at a time.

  “Hmm, that makes sense then. Air, and between Air and Fire is Lightning, or electricity, which you’ve got access to as well. Are you sure you’re a shifter?” She raised a pale brow in question.

  “Positive. Here.” I stood, took a deep breath, then pulled on my Aspect, shifting to werelynx briefly before going back to human.

  “Yup, you’re a shifter.” She chuckled. “Don’t you just love those crystals, though? I’m not quite sure how they’re made, probably with fae help, but it’s better than the old days for you guys, when a shift meant being naked afterwards.”

  “Yeah, been there, done that,” I said, shivering as I remembered the first time I had shifted, when the vampires had been trying to kill me. “So, do you have any idea? Why I can do the magic, weak as it is?”

  She nodded at me. “I have a theory, anyway. There is no way to know for certain, simply because since the Barrier fell there are more things coming out of the woodwork than MAGE ever knew about, but I’m guessing you’re a shaman.”

  “Shaman?”

  “Yes. You see, for the higher order Aetherics—sorcerers, shifters, vampires—there is a hybrid version for each type. For those that are both sorcerer and vampire, which usually means someone turned a sorcerer into a vampire, those are what we call liches. For those that are shifter and vampire, once again, usually a shifter turned into a vampire, we call them rakshasa. You’re nodding,” she noted.

  “Yeah, my da is one of those, a rakshasa,” I told her. But I hadn’t heard the other term, lich, before.

  “Really? Turned after you were born, I’m assuming?” She saw me nod again. “Quite the little family you have, Katelyn.” She winked at me. “And coming back to you, there are the shifters who can do sorcerer magic, which usually happens with a quirk of genetics or nature. The shifter community calls them shamans.”

  Shifters who could do sorcerer magic. Was I one of those? Or something else? I seemed to have the magic part, but what about turning into a drake? I was pretty sure that wasn’t part of the sorcerer repertoire, but maybe it was for the shamans?

  “So what do I do? With this magic? A friend told me I should get someone to teach me how to use it, control it.” I gave Ms. Haid a hopeful look.

  “A friend?”

  “Yeah. My friend Kris. She lives with me, so she knows about it, but she’s human. That’s why I came to you, though. Because I don’t know anyone else who can help me.”

  She considered me for several seconds, then nodded. “Your friend is right. You do need to learn how to control it. I have some time this weekend if you would like? Friday evening maybe?”

  “I can’t. My sorority is helping with a frat party.”

  Ms. Haid frowned at me.

  “What about Saturday?” I suggested hopefully.

  “While you’re hung over?” she scoffed.

  “I’m a shifter, remember? We don’t do hang overs.” I snorted.

  “Saturday it is, then. Nine in the morning? The quicker we have you getting a handle on this, the better.”

  “Sure thing.” I stood and grabbed my backpack.

  She wrote something on a Post-It and handed it to me. “My home address. I’ll see you Saturday, Katelyn.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Haid.” I left her office and headed home, feeling somewhat better about the whole situation.

  ___________________________________

  The end of the week, and the semester, finally showed up and the Friday night beforehand, Travis’s fraternity and my sorority hosted their Semester End party. I invited both Darien and Alex to come with me, knowing that Kris had invited Matt. Darien was iffy on the idea, and Alex flat out declined, claiming that the one time he’d been to one of our frat parties was one time too many.

  Darien had given him an odd look and Alex had explained that when he had come to tell me of D
arien’s disappearance, he had finally tracked me down at a frat party. He wisely left out the part regarding my drunken state, or what happened afterward.

  It piqued Darien’s interest though, and he reluctantly agreed to show up with Matt since Kris and I had to leave early to help with setup, but he knew where the campus was and I gave him directions from there.

  I spent the first part of the evening standing out front near the door in my black UNLV cheerleading uniform with its red and white piping. I was glad the weather was warm since the skirts barely covered the black spankies and the top was sleeveless and showed as much midriff as possible. I had a large plastic jar in my hands, with $5 written in permanent marker on the front. There was a list, those people who could get in without a cover charge, but anyone else had to pay the cover. It helped raise money for the two houses.

  Unfortunately, the guy chosen to play bouncer and make sure that money was dropped in the jar was Warren. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Warren, I did, but I had a boyfriend again now. I spent a couple hours having to occasionally remove Warren’s hand from my butt while reminding him of that fact.

  “It’s not that guy that decked me, is it?” he asked as I leaned past him so someone could drop a five dollar bill into the jar.

  “No, it’s not,” I said, smiling brightly at the person while ignoring Warren’s fingers tickling my back.

  “And it’s not your old boyfriend, so what’s the deal? You can’t have been with him very long. Dump his ass, I’ll take real good care of you,” he said seriously, not even bothering to keep his voice low.

  “Thanks, Warren, that’s sweet, and if we do break up, you’ll be the first to know, okay?” I told him, sighing when I saw that it partially mollified him. Thankfully, I’d only agreed to stay out front and hold the money jar until Darien got here, so I wouldn’t have to keep rebuffing Warren all night. I didn’t like feeling like I was being mean, but I knew he’d keep wheedling at me as much as possible.

  A sigh of relief broke from me when I felt my Darien radar go off less than twenty minutes later, and within a few moments both he and Matt came up the sidewalk towards the frat house. They both stopped and stared at the big red Alpha Sigma Delta symbols on the front of the house and Warren, who had no clue what Darien looked like, picked that moment to slide his hand up my thigh and pat my butt again.