“Bull crap. It’s to make sure Calan doesn’t get let in. He’s the only one who’d been leaving in the evening to hunt zombies to return late at night, which he was doing to keep us all safe, I might add.”
By now a large crowd had gathered around her father and John, who still blocked Calan from entering the settlement. Jerrica looked at all the faces around them and couldn’t help noticing that anger was on most of them and directed at John, who seemed oblivious to it.
“The Werewolf Defender is more of a danger than a protector,” John shot back at her father, his voice raised.
“Once again, bull crap. Everyone here knows Calan wouldn’t do anything to harm any of us, and you know it. You used your daughter as an excuse to get rid of him because you don’t like how others look up to him. I think you abuse your status as leader, as well.”
John’s face turned glacial. “Do you have any proof of this abuse you accuse me of?”
“Other than throwing my daughter’s boyfriend out of the settlement and barring the gates against Jerrica so she had to spend the night outside the safety of the walls, no. I do recall other certain events that I question—one of them being the Flynn family. When they left the settlement for good five years ago, everyone was told they’d made the decision themselves to go. I found it odd then, and I still do. Neil had come to me several times with concerns he had regarding his land. That was around the time you gave the section of the unclaimed property next to Neil’s to your son. He’d clear trees that didn’t belong to him and said he’d made a mistake. I told Neil if it kept happening, to tell you.”
“Which he never did.”
“That’s a lie. The day before Neil supposedly packed up his family and left in the middle of the night, he’d told me he was sure your son was encroaching on his lands, and he planned to go to you later and complain. Now the Flynn family is gone, and your son has conveniently taken over Neil’s land, since it supposedly had been abandoned. I think Neil and his family were banished from the settlement, all because your son got greedy.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.” John turned his back on Jerrica’s father and set his attention on Calan once more. “You will leave.”
Jerrica shook her head. “No, he’s not. Calan stays.”
“Then you know what the consequences are. You remain outside the gates indefinitely, and I’ll personally throw you out.”
It all seemed to happen at once. John went to grab Jerrica by the arm. Her father yelled John’s name and made a lunge for him, but Calan was quicker. He let loose with a loud wolf’s growl and launched himself at the settlement’s leader with enough force to knock the man down. John landed flat on his back with Calan’s teeth loosely holding him by the throat. John’s face went completely white.
Jerrica’s father squatted next to John. “I think you pushed Calan too far this time when you dared to make a move against Jerrica. You will step down as leader of the settlement.”
“I will not,” John said in strangled tone. His eyes turned to the four men who were his friends and always did his bidding. “Get him off me. Then take the girl past the walls.”
As the four went to do as John commanded, Calan said telepathically, “You come any closer and I’ll tear his throat out.”
From the gasps of surprise from the crowd and the shocked looks on her dad’s, John’s and his four friends’ faces, Jerrica realized they all must have heard Calan as well.
“Did you just say that to everyone here inside their minds?” she asked Calan.
“Yes. I didn’t know if I could, but in this case, it’s not the time for me to hide this ability.”
“I have to agree with that.”
“Did you already know Calan could communicate like that while in wolf form?” her dad asked.
She smiled. “Yes. It was our little secret. Calan didn’t like people to know he could do it.”
“Now that I have everyone’s attention, this is how things are going to work,” Calan continued. “No one will bar Jerrica from the safety of the settlement ever again. And I’ll be allowed to come and go as I please. As you’ve heard, John is no longer fit to be leader. It is time for him to step down. What you saw here today will only get worse if he’s not stripped of his power. I’ve seen it happen in other settlements. I suggest you pick someone right now to replace John.”
Austin’s father stepped forward. “I nominate Geoff Barnes. He’s always been someone we’ve all turned to when in need, and he’s always done what he can to help out.”
“I nominate him as well,” Austin said from where he stood beside his father.
Jerrica’s dad straightened as one person after another nominated him as the settlement’s new leader. Jerrica couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She looked at her mom and saw that she smiled as well. She and her mother had said for the last couple of years that her father would be perfect for the job, not that they’d ever thought there would be a chance of him becoming leader.
“It sounds as if you have a new leader,” Calan said.
“You can’t do this,” John shouted, fury lacing his words.
Calan remained standing over John and placed a paw on the center of his chest before he released his throat, then looked down at him. “Yes, they can, and they have. The father of my mate is leader now. I suggest you move aside.” He bent his lupine head until his nose touched John’s. “Just count yourself lucky that I’m only letting you go with a warning. Come near Jerrica or anyone in her family again, and you’ll have to answer to me. And I won’t be in my human form.”
After Calan stepped away, allowing John to get up, the man scrambled to his feet. He scowled at everyone before he walked away. His four ‘friends’ made no attempt to follow him.
Her dad turned to Mathias, who stood in the front of the crowd. “Is it necessary for the workers to go out into the field today? I know the orchard will be fine for one day without being tended. I think it’d be best if everyone stays inside the walls and has a break.”
Mathias nodded and smiled. “The field can wait until tomorrow. There’s nothing pressing that needs doing out there.”
“Good. Then my first act as leader is all workers can have today off.”
More than one teenager let out loud whoops. After that, the crowd slowly dispersed. Some of the settlers stopped to talk to her father before they left for their homes, reassuring him that they’d back him as leader.
Once Jerrica, her parents and Calan were left alone, her dad came up and hugged her. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. The only thing that kept me from wanting to throw John over the walls last night was knowing you were with Calan—and your mother, of course. If you’d been stuck out there all alone, nothing would have stopped me from getting those gates open.”
“I know,” Jerrica said.
Her dad released her and looked at Calan. “I have to thank you for keeping my daughter safe. I really have to ask, though, why you called Jerrica your mate.”
Jerrica answered before Calan could. “Let’s go home. Calan and I will explain it there. It’s not something that needs to be discussed in public.” She glanced behind her father. Austin stood a little distance away, watching them. He more than likely hadn’t missed Calan calling her his mate either.
“And I’m sure the two of you haven’t eaten anything for breakfast yet,” her mom said as she took the basket Jerrica held.
Calan shifted to his human form and held Jerrica’s hand as they followed her parents away from the gates. She felt Austin’s gaze on her, but she didn’t look back at him. He’d either accept what she was to Calan or he wouldn’t. That was just the way things were going to be.
Chapter Twelve
After they reached her family’s cabin, her mom fussed over Jerrica as she got her and Calan to sit at the table while she made some breakfast for them. Her dad sat with them as well. Once their food was served and her mom was seated too, her father started the conversation.
“All ri
ght. What’s this about you being Calan’s mate, Jerrica?”
Jerrica swallowed her mouthful of scrambled eggs before she answered. “Well, the spirits who turned Calan came to him in a dream vision and told him I was.”
“A dream vision? And spirits were the ones who turned Calan into the Werewolf Defender?”
“Yes.”
Calan broke into the conversation. “Maybe it’d be better if I started from the beginning about how I became what I am today. It’ll probably help you understand.” He told the same story he’d told Jerrica, about finding the cave while on vacation with his family, the chanting, the spirits and how he’d slept for twenty years.
Her mom gave Calan as sympathetic look. “Having to ‘see’ your family being attacked by zombies then them become the undead while you were unable to do anything to help must have been horrible.”
“It was, but with every undead I take out, I think it’s one less family that has to suffer through a loss like that.”
“So the spirits recently came to you again?” her dad asked.
Calan nodded. “Yes.” He explained the dream vision he’d had, what the spirits had said during it and what he’d be able to do to Jerrica.
Her father looked at her. “Is that what you want? Do you want Calan to turn you into an immortal werewolf like him?”
“Yes.” Jerrica met each of her parents’ gazes. “I love Calan, and he loves me. There will never be anyone else for me but him. I want to have the same lifespan.”
“So once he does turn you, that means you’ll leave the settlement with him,” her mom said sadly. “We might not see you ever again.”
“It’s not going to happen right away, Mom. Calan has already decided we’ll stay here for a year, so at the end of it, we can get married.”
“And turning you? Would you wait that long as well?”
Jerrica glanced at Calan before she turned her gaze back on her mom. “I doubt I will. I’m not yet ready to take that step, but I know it’ll be soon. I’ll be able to hunt alongside Calan. Between the two of us, we’ll take out more zombies and the settlement will be safer for it. As our new leader, Dad, you shouldn’t have a problem with that.”
He smiled. “I don’t. I still find it hard to believe I’m the leader now.”
Her mom reached over and placed her hand on her dad’s. “Well, you are, and I think we’re all much better off for it.”
The cabin’s door opened and Hunter rushed inside. He was out of breath as if he’d been running. “Baby coming. I already went to the midwife’s. She’s on her way. And congrats, Dad,” he said in between pants.
Her mother shot to her feet. “Oh my goodness. I’ll go to your cabin with you. I promised Faith I’d be there when the time came for the baby to arrive. Did you tell her mom?”
Hunter nodded. “Yes. I went to her family’s cabin first before the midwife’s. Her mother is probably already with Faith.”
“Let’s go then. Geoff, you can come with us. Jerrica and Calan, you stay here and finish eating, then you can meet with us at Hunter’s cabin.”
Her mom ushered her father and brother outside then Jerrica and Calan were alone.
“This will be a day my family won’t forget,” Jerrica said with a laugh. “First my dad becomes leader of the settlement, and my niece or nephew will be born.”
“Your mom really knows how to take charge, doesn’t she?”
Jerrica laughed again. “Yes. The way she acts most of the time, you’d never know it, but when in a crisis or something like this happens, she knows what to do.”
After Calan and Jerrica finished eating, she went up to her loft bedroom to change her clothes. Dressed again, she’d just picked up her brush to run through her hair when his head appeared at the top of the ladder.
“Nice bedroom,” he said, as he came up the rest of the way.
“Thanks.” Jerrica nodded toward the two single beds. “I used to have to share it with Hunter.”
“Here… let me.” Calan came to stand behind her and took her hairbrush. “I love your hair.” He brushed it with long strokes.
“You do realize you might be doing this for a while. I like having someone brush my hair.”
Calan chuckled. “I don’t mind. Since it’s still early, and I doubt Faith’s baby will come that quickly, how about we lie down and take a nap? You said you didn’t sleep very well last night.”
Jerrica turned her head and looked at her bed before she focused back on Calan’s reflection in the mirror. “I could use a nap, but there’s no way my bed will fit you and I while you’re in your wolf form.”
“I’m not shifting first. I’ll stay in this form, and we can lie down together. And I promise it’ll just be sleeping and nothing else.”
Now that the drama was over, tiredness tugged at Jerrica. She’d really had an uncomfortable sleep. No matter where she’d lay, there had always seemed to be a rock digging into her. The only part of sleeping in the cave that’d been good was having her head pillowed on Calan while he’d been a wolf. She liked the closeness.
“Okay, I trust you. And given that you’re my mate and that we plan to get married, I doubt my parents will mind if they suddenly come home and catch us together up here.”
“Good. Both of us could use the extra sleep.”
Calan put her brush on her dresser, then took her hand and led her to stand between the two single beds. Jerrica climbed onto the one that was hers, then he did the same and stretched out beside her on his back. She turned onto her side and snuggled closer with her head on his chest. One of his arms came around her.
Jerrica closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep but found it eluded her. She was all too aware of Calan lying beside her, of being in his embrace. It wasn’t like it’d been when they’d slept in the cave close together, and he’d been a wolf.
She shifted her head so she could look him in the face and found he intently watched her. He tugged her higher until their mouths were even, then took her lips in a kiss. Jerrica lifted a hand to sink it into Calan’s hair at the back of his head and returned it.
With a groan, Calan rolled Jerrica to her back and half lay on top her as the kiss deepened. She soon got caught up in the feelings and emotions surging through her and forgot about everything else but him.
He left her mouth and kissed a path down the column of her throat. A shiver went through her as his teeth lightly grazed her skin. At where her neck and shoulder met, he gently nipped her, causing her to shiver again.
Between one second and the next, Jerrica suddenly found her arms full of wolf. Calan had shifted that quickly. His teeth nipped her once more, but this time they held another meaning.
Jerrica buried her hands in his fur at his neck to hold him still, and asked, “Calan?”
Saying his name had Calan jerking away and jumping off the bed. Jerrica sat up and looked at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I got too caught up in the kiss. I shouldn’t have let it get that far.”
“It’s okay. Shift back, and we’ll sleep. No more kissing.”
“We can sleep, but I think it’s best if I stay like this and on the floor. You’re too tempting when I’m in human form.”
“You don’t have to sleep on the floor. You can at least take the other bed, even if you stay as a wolf.”
“I’d rather be closer to you, so I’ll lie next to you here.”
Calan went down on his belly and put his head on his outstretched front paws. Jerrica lay down and rolled to her stomach. She hung her arm over the side of the bed and sank her hand into the fur on his back. She had to admit that he wasn’t the only one who’d gotten caught up in the kiss. She’d wanted to see where it would have lead. And it if it had lasted much longer, she might not have stopped him from biting her while he was in his wolf form. Maybe she was more ready to be turned than she’d thought.
* * * *
Jerrica sucked in a sharp breath and came awake. She lifted her head and looked around the r
oom. The sun shone brightly through the window, which meant it was late morning. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, then stretched. She remembered Calan and turned her gaze to the floor. He wasn’t there.
She got up and headed down the ladder to the main floor of the cabin. Calan was there, standing in front of the wooden basin, drinking a glass of water. Jerrica crossed the room to stand at his side. She took out a clean glass from the cupboard for herself.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked, as she used the hand pump to bring the water from the well.
Calan finished drinking then place his glass in the basin. “You were in a pretty deep sleep. I figured you needed it, so I came down here. I was thirsty, anyway.”
Jerrica drank her water. “I guess we should head over to Hunter’s and see what’s happening over there.”
“All right.”
After she placed her glass next to Calan’s, the two of them left the cabin and made the short walk across her family’s land to Hunter’s place. Once she and Calan arrived, Jerrica saw her dad sat alone on the porch. He looked up when they stepped into the yard.
“You two finally made it,” he said as he stood.
“After we finished eating, we took a nap,” Jerrica said. “I didn’t sleep very well last night.”
Her dad nodded. “I can understand that. And you do look more rested than you did earlier.”
“No baby yet?”
“Nope, but your mom stepped out of the cabin about ten minutes ago to tell me it wouldn’t be very long now.”
“So you’ve been just sitting out here by yourself?”
Her father smiled. “Well, not entirely. People have been coming and going. They know Faith has gone into labor, but they mostly wanted to let me know they’re happy I’m the leader. A few have already brought up the subject of a couple things inside the settlement that need to be handled by me. One was kind of pressing—inspecting the trees that have grown close to the walls’ perimeters.” He looked at Calan. “Since you’ll be staying a while, would you mind watching over the workers when they handle that job?”
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