That comment landed Tye a swift jab in the back. She didn’t like that word, and they hadn’t established that as a certain or not. She didn’t like him throwing the word around to everyone. He might as well just hike his leg, and pee on her.
“She seems to object?” Ethan took a threatening step forward. Uh oh maybe Melanie should have saved her disagreement for a more private setting.
“She’s human it’s new for both of us. There are no doubts that she is my mate though. Don’t try it Ethan.”
Melanie’s father, mother, and Ethan’s dad were all in the kitchen now. They were all wide eyed at the Shifter show down happening in the kitchen. Ethan’s head snapped over to them, which gave Tye an opening. Faster than Melanie thought possible Tye had Ethan in a deathlike bear hug, and was dragging him backwards. She realized he was taking him towards the French doors that lead to the back yard. She darted behind him and got the doors open just in time. Both men were now no longer men, but giant animals.
Tye never ceased to amaze Melanie in his gigantic Kodiak form. Ethan was indeed a jaguar just as Tye had said. He was circling Tye, every bit the predator. Tye still seemed completely bored with the situation as he stood, and kept his piercing eyes locked on Ethan.
“What the hell is happening Melanie?” Her dad had her by the arm trying to drag her behind him.
“I have no idea. As soon as Ethan walked in Tye recognized him, and apparently he is a Shifter. They had some sort of weird pissing contest, and now you’re watching the aftermath of that. Did you know Ethan was a Shifter?”
“Yes, but we didn’t realize he could still shift.”
“What? What the hell dad?” Melanie couldn’t believe her dad had known, and never told her.
Her dad stood completely still, and seemed completely frozen at the fight that was brewing in front of him. She shook his arm, and tried to get him to finish the conversation. It was Dr. Carr that finally explained things.
“I adopted Ethan when he was just a baby. His family had been executed for threatening humans, but the officers were sure what to do with him. I couldn’t stand the thought of them killing a harmless baby so I said I would take him in. Your father and I had been working on experimental drugs that might be able to control the Shifters.”
Melanie turned back to Tye and Ethan in the yard, they still hadn’t managed to make contact with one another, and she could tell Tye was hoping it would stay that way. He wasn’t provoking Ethan, but letting him pace and hopefully burn off some steam.
“Tye won’t hurt him.” As soon as she said it she knew Tye had heard her. She said it more of a statement for him not her parents. She didn’t think he would anyways, but she didn’t know what was happening with the two of them in the kitchen. Ethan seemed to be having trouble coming to terms with Tye’s claim that she was his mate.
“Do you know if humans can mate with Shifters?”
“Melanie!” Her mom was aghast at her question.
“Not like that? Tye and Ethan were using the term mate in reference to me. That’s not the first time Tye told me I was his mate. Is it possible?” She asked the question to Dr. Carr assuming he would know.
“I’ve seen it before. It’s rare, but if he says that you’re his mate, then he obviously is feeling the mate bond with you. It’s not a term Shifters use lightly.”
Melanie wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not. She turned back to Tye and Ethan who had finally started to fight. Ethan dove in trying to go for Tye’s throat, but Tye was faster, and batted him away with ease. Ethan righted himself and jumped right back up and immediately launched another attack. The two circled and lunged at each other until Tye finally caught Ethan by the neck. He slammed in down on the ground so hard it felt like it shook the house. Ethan immediately shifted back into a man.
Tye released him, but he didn’t shift yet. He kept himself protectively in between Melanie, her parents, and Ethan. Melanie wanted to go to Ethan and make sure he was okay since the hit seemed to have really dazed him. She wasn’t sure how Tye would feel about that though. She decided best to stand back. Tye was a doctor after all, and a Shifter he would know how to help Ethan better than anybody.
“I’m fine Tye. I won’t hurt them you can Shift.” Ethan’s voice was hoarse. He still hadn’t moved from his position on the ground. Melanie realized he may not be moving because he was naked so she ran in the house and got two blankets. She came back out and handed one to Tye. When she went to lay the other on Ethan Tye growled, and took it from her, and did it himself.
“You’re being a bit over bearing Tye.” He was still in his bear form so he gave her his best frown. He finally shifted back.
“Finally. What happened?”
“Your friend Ethan here was hoping that you’d be his mate. When he showed up today, and realized that you were mine his jaguar took over. You saw the rest. I think we’re both in agreement now though. Wouldn’t you say Ethan?”
“As long as Melanie is happy I’m fine.” Ethan said as he made his way over to them.
“Huh. Well I’m glad that you two have this all worked out. Let me see if I follow. I’m yours, not his. You two had to fight it out first though.” The venom dripped from her voice. She couldn’t believe how barbaric they were acting. It was all too much. She stormed back inside. Tye was hot on her heals though.
“Melanie, what is going on. I’ve told you before that you’re my mate.”
“You’ve told me. You TOLD me! Don’t you see how that could make me a little angry. I don’t like to be told how I will spend my life, and with who. I don’t want to be anybody’s mate. Not right now. You know that Tye. You know how hard I have worked to get this far. I’m not done yet.”
“Yeah, I know how hard you have worked. I also know that you feel for me as strongly as I you. You may not be a Shifter but you have opened yourself up to the bond, to me. I have no intentions of throwing you off of your career path. I’m right there with you. We want the same things.”
“No, you just want a mate. I can’t be that. I don’t want to be stuck at home with kids, and cooking. I’m a doctor.”
“Melanie. You’re delusional. I have nothing but supported you. You just can’t get it through your thick skull that not every man is your dad. You’re so hell-bent on proving him wrong that you’re going to piss away your life just to prove your point. I can’t do this anymore Melanie. You called me today. You wanted me here. Now, you’re pushing me right back out the door. That’s fine.”
Melanie watched as Tye ran his fingers through his hair, and paced the floor in her parents living room. She knew she was hurting him, and she really didn’t have a good reason why. She wanted him, he was right about that. She wanted to let him love her. She had a plan though, and this wasn’t part of it. It was best for both of them. She needed to focus on her internship, and passing her boards. Tye was definitely a distraction.
“Tye, I asked you over here today as a friend. I didn’t know all of this would happen. I just knew my dad was having Ethan come over to try and push him on me. I thought with you here, that he’d lay off me.”
“So you used me. You had no intentions of exploring a relationship with me, but you asked me over here on a holiday to meet your family. You told me when we first met that you weren’t a nice person, and I see that now.”
“Tye, that’s not fair. This is all really overwhelming.” Melanie tried to stop Tye from walking out the door. She didn’t want a relationship, but she didn’t want him to leave either. She stood back at that thought, and realized how selfish she was being.
“Goodbye Melanie. I hope you get everything you’re wanting out of life.” With that Tye was gone. Melanie couldn’t do anything but collapse onto the couch. She should run after him. She should just be honest with herself. She should do a lot of things, but she just sat there.
Chapter Thirteen
Tye
Tye didn’t return to the internship. Instead he cleared out his apartment, and found a place b
ack in his Haven. The internship looked good on a resume, but he wasn’t sure he could face Melanie after Thanksgiving. He wondered how she felt about him not returning. It had been almost a month since she would have gone back.
He tried not to think about her, and move on with his life. He still had his boards to study for, and he was shadowing a local family doctor at a nearby town. He was so glad he came home. He loved the family practice he was working at, and was hoping to one day open his own. He loved having his fellow Shifters all around so he didn’t have to constantly fumble about.
He just wished that Melanie was with him. He wanted her to want to be with him. Christmas was in a couple of days, and he desperately wished he could give her the gift he bought her. He wanted to kiss her, and hold her in his arms so he could inhale her scent.
A knock sounded at his door that brought him out of his depressing thoughts.
“Hey Tye! It’s Jake.”
Tye opened the door for his baby brother. Jake was probably one of the biggest reasons Tye had moved home. Jake was just a couple years younger, but he was the wild child. He was constantly getting in to trouble, and giving their parents grey hair.
“What’s up man?”
“Nothing. I was just stopping by. I wanted to see if you were going to the fights tonight?”
“I hadn’t planned on it.” Tye thought for a second. He hadn’t needed to fight that much lately since he wasn’t constantly cooped up in the human cities. However, his bear was restless without Melanie so he had, had to go and fight a couple times.
“Come on man. I’m fighting Bunner tonight, and I really want you to come. I hear there’s a new jaguar in town looking for a fight too.” Tye perked up at the mention of a new jaguar. He figured it was Ethan, but he wanted to be sure. Maybe he had been around Melanie, and could give Tye some insider information.
“Yeah I’ll come down. When are you headed that way?”
“Well if you wanna grab something to eat first we could go ahead down.”
“Mable’s Diner?” Tye loved the small local diner just outside of the Haven that allowed Shifters inside. Everything was homemade, and the portions were big enough to fill up even the hungriest Kodiak bear.
“I suppose. You love that place man. If you ever quit going there, she’s going to have to close down.”
Tye laughed, and ran off to change clothes. He also wanted to grab a bottle of his Thistledew Farm honey. He could pour about half a bottle over Maple’s fresh biscuits, and forget about his troubles for a bit.
The brothers made quick work of their dinner, and headed over to the Brew. Jake took off once he saw that Bunner was there too so they could get a ring. Jake was arrogant, and so was the Bunner kid so Tye figured they’d end up being pretty evenly matched.
Tye kept moving through the crowds looking for Ethan. He wasn’t sure why he was so anxious to find him. Melanie had showed nothing but disdain for the idea of being with Ethan, but Tye had to be sure. His bear was getting more and more anxious as the crowd thickened, and more Shifters fought. By the time he finally found Ethan his bear was itching for someone to piss him off.
“Ethan. Glad to see you finally decided to join your own kind.”
“Tye. Hey man it’s good to see you. Melanie said this was your Haven so I was hoping to find you here.”
“Melanie?”
“She’s not here. I called her to see if she could help me get in touch with you, and she said she hadn’t seen you but figured you were here.”
“I see. So what can I do for you.”
“Well after you bailed on Thanksgiving my dad told me about my real parents. The real story, and I took off not long after. I’m just kind of trying to adjust to all of this, and thought I’d do better in a Haven. I’ve always known I was a Shifter, but I guess I just thought I was different. I just want to be myself now, and not have to feel like an outsider all the time.”
“And you’re hoping that you can crash mine since we’ve been introduced.”
“Kinda.” Tye could tell Ethan wanted to say more. He blushed a little, and was having trouble meeting Tye’s gaze.
“You also need a place to crash too don’t you?”
Ethan chirped up at that. “Please?”
“I supposed. One condition. How is Melanie doing?”
“I’m not sure we haven’t stayed in touch since Thanksgiving other than me calling her the other day. Her mom is worried about her though. She sounded pretty rough on the phone too. You guys break up?”
“Yeah something like that.”
Chapter Fourteen
Melanie
Melanie paced back and forth in her apartment. It was Christmas Day, and she was supposed to be at her parents’ house. She didn’t want to go there though. Unfortunately, the only place she wanted to be she wasn’t real sure she’d be welcome. She missed Tye. She never dreamed he’d drop out of the internship, and take off without a word. She had been selfish though, and she knew that had he stuck around she would have continued her hot and cold treatment towards him.
She loaded her car up, and headed west on the highway. When the exit came up for her to either go north or south on the local state highway she pulled off the side of the road. She was so tired of trying to please her father. She would never be what he wanted her to be. Tye however had not only showed her how much he loved her for her, but he had told her time and time again. Her decision was made. She headed south.
She still had about an hour to go when snow started pouring down. It figured that this would be the first white Christmas they would have in years. Melanie slowed down slightly, but she was desperate to get to Tye. Thankful for her SUV Melanie pulled into the entrance of the Haven just a little over an hour later. The snow hadn’t slowed at all, and there were several inches of fresh beautiful white powder. The entrance was decorated for Christmas with beautiful lights, and garland wrapped all the way up the giant poles. There was a giant set of bells that hung overhead as she pulled through. The bar had been easy enough to find the first night, but she had no idea where Tye lived.
All the houses were decorated as well. Shifters really knew how to get in the spirit. Humans were so busy in the city that there was barely a house with any lights at all. These houses had giant blow up Santa’s, and snowmen in the yard along with enough lights to make it visible from space. Melanie loved every inch of it.
With the new snow families were starting to venture outside, and kids were running and playing everywhere. Some of them were in their shifter form which made the sight even more beautiful. Melanie had just pulled up to a stop sign, and was going to ask for directions when she saw a jaguar dart out in front of her. Somehow she knew that it was Ethan. He nodded at her, and then took off down the street. She hoped he was taking her to Tye so she inched her SUV forward to follow.
When Ethan finally stopped and sat down at the door of a beautiful ranch style home nestled in the back of a cul-de-sac Melanie felt her stomach drop to her feet. She pulled in the driveway and parked. Ethan bounded back down the road leaving her alone. She got out of the car, and slowly made her way to the front of the house. The snow continued to pour as she stood there trying to work up the nerve to go to the door and knock.
The door opened then, and Tye stepped out. He was as gorgeous as she remembered. He had a dark grey sweater on that hugged his broad shoulders, and yet somehow still manage to narrow with his hips. His jeans were low and snug in all the right places.
“Melanie.” He drew her name out with his deep rumble. Melanie let it wash over her whole body. She had made the right decision. Even with the snow pouring down she was warm all over now.
“I love you, Tye.”
She hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that. She started to giggle uncontrollably at how crazy she must seem to him.
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 97