One Night With the Shifter

by Theresa Meyers

  Ty grimaced. He didn’t want to do it. Hated the thought of doing it. But he was going to have to ask someone at the Cascade Clan for intel. The sooner the better. The last thing he needed was to start a pack right in the middle of rogue vampire territory and end up on the front lines of some vampire vendetta match. Or worse yet, put innocent people—like Jess—in danger.

  He used the rope from Rhyerson’s pack to secure the two unconscious vampires to a sturdy tree. Ty glanced at Brierly. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. He could carry Brierly back to camp, but he didn’t need to show up there nude. He pulled some of the extra clothes from Becknell’s pack and put them on, then scooped up Brierly into his arms and ran as quickly as he could back in the direction of base camp.

  Ty settled the recruit into his own bed in his private quarters at the edge of camp, away from prying eyes. All the rest of the recruits would have to be sent back to their regular bases immediately until he got this mess sorted out and his territory secure.

  Brierly’s wounds were bad, but he’d heal. It would just take time, a luxury Ty didn’t have when it came to other issues—like those damn vampires and telling Jess what had happened to her brother before she found out about it through secondhand gossip in town. With this much collateral damage, he’d have to call the authorities. His dead students had to be accounted for, as well as the Thrall.

  But what in the hell was he going to tell them? Large-animal attack? As far as they were back in the woods, it seemed plausible, especially with it creeping into late fall. Bears were testy, searching for the last scraps they could find before settling in for the winter. So were the regular wolves out there. But he’d have to have an expert’s opinion to gloss this one over and he knew of only one he could trust.

  Ty didn’t relish the idea of calling in the favor with his former pack mate Raina Ravenwing-Blackwolf. She was now the alpha female of the Wenatchee Were Pack, but she was still a state game warden. If anyone could smooth out the complexity of the situation to make it look legit to the local authorities, she could.

  He sighed, the sound heavy with regret, while he dialed her cell number.

  It rang only twice before she picked up. “Ravenwing.”

  For a moment his words stuck in his throat. “Hey, Raina. It’s Ty.”

  “Ty!” Her voice held both surprise and joy. “How are you?”

  Ty swallowed hard. “I got a problem here. I need a game warden. Think you could help a former pack mate out?”

  “What happened?” Her tone lost all its levity. She was all business now. Ty told her and by the time they’d hung up the phone, twin dark spirals of particles were forming in Ty’s living room. One formed into the petite frame of a woman dressed in the drab green of a state police officer’s uniform. The other took the much larger shape of a man decked out in black biker boots, faded denim and a black T-shirt.

  It took everything in Ty not to bow his head to his former Alpha out of habit. But this was his territory. His pack. If he didn’t show his dominance now, he might as well toss in the towel altogether. He glanced first at the woman with deeply tanned skin and jet hair so like his own. Hell, she’d practically been his sister in the tribe. “Thanks for coming, Raina.”

  Then he gazed at the man with topaz eyes and a few days’ worth of dark stubble on his wide jaw beside her. “Donovan.”

  Slade Donovan Blackwolf nodded by way of a greeting. Raina reached out a hand. “Take us to the spot where the vampires attacked.”

  Ty reached out and took Raina’s hand. Since she was now a half-breed, part vampire, part Were, just like her mate, Donovan, she could read his human thoughts and find precisely where it had happened, then use her vampire abilities to zap them there.

  A strange pull centered at his navel, yanking him inside out with the force of a downhill roller coaster as his body burst apart atom by atom. Ty gasped at the sensation.

  While it was a seriously cool power the vampires possessed, it was something he would never get used to. He preferred to run with his own four feet digging into the firm earth to get where he needed to go.

  The early-morning fog still clung to the lower hills, making it impossible to see past the ghostly sentinels of the trees. The smell of death, underscored by the metallic taint of blood, hung heavy in the air as his body coalesced back from insubstantial dark mist into its human form. The two vampires he’d knocked out were gone. The ropes that had held them hung in shreds about the tree, and they’d taken the dead Thrall with them.

  Devils.

  Raina’s eyes narrowed as she went to each of the bodies of his students in turn and quickly examined them, using her phone to take pictures of the scene. Slade crouched down, his fingers dipping into a gelatinous dark puddle of the Thrall’s blood. He sniffed it, rubbing the slick substance between his fingers, before he gave it a lick.

  He spat it out, wiping his mouth on his shirtsleeve. “Whatever the hell it is, it’s not fully vampire yet. It’s got juice, but not enough to convert it.”

  “Like a Shyeld?” Raina said as she walked back toward them both.

  “Yeah. But it’s different.” Donovan frowned. “Can’t tell if that’s because it’s reiver blood, or if the kid was high on something.”

  Ty shifted his weight, his fist forming then releasing again over and over by his side. “Either of you heard of Thralls in the Cascade Clan?”

  Raina looked at Slade and he shook his head. “Never. The only person who might know would be Achilles.”

  Ty frowned. It was one thing to ask for help from his former pack mates. They were at least Weres. It was another to go directly to the vampires across the water for assistance.

  He locked gazes with Raina. “Think you can get the locals to buy this as an animal attack?”

  She nodded. “I’ll take care of it. Whatever I can’t get them to believe with reason and a formal report, a glamour should fix.”

  Slade quirked a brow. “You sure that’s a good idea, babe?”

  “What, you think letting the mortals get all jazzed up about Weres and vamps getting human takeout around town would go over better?”

  “Point taken,” he replied. “Glamour away.”

  Ty grunted. “I’ll make sure the bodies are returned to their families. What kind of animal will you go with so I can make sure our story is straight?”

  “Bear.” She eyed him. “Definitely don’t want them out here hunting for wolves, now do we?”

  Ty gave her a half smile he didn’t feel.

  “And do I smell a faint trace of female pheromones on you, maybe even the trace of a Mesmer?” she teased.

  Ty had to give it to the vampires, their sense of smell was almost as complex as a Were’s. And with Raina and Slade, the two were melded together in a seriously unbeatable combination. “Met someone.”

  “And how’s it going?” Raina nudged.

  An image of Jess half-hidden behind the lace curtain as he’d left immediately surfaced in his mind. He doubted she’d be as sweet once he told her the news about Riley. “Well, considering her baby brother is in my cabin recovering, I’m probably not going to score many points for the home team. Kind of hard to tell how it’ll turn out.”

  “Starting over is never easy.” Donovan grasped Ty’s shoulder. “But it’s worth it.”

  Ty gave one curt nod. He didn’t trust himself to say more. Not yet. If not for Donovan, he never would have had to start over to begin with, and the grudge between them still smoldered deep in his gut. Only at Raina’s urging had he given in and walked away rather than challenging Slade for Alpha of the pack.

  Raina cupped Ty’s cheek in her hand. “Brother, if you need anything, you call me.”

  Ty looked into her deep brown eyes so very like his own and summoned up the only words he could manage. “Thank you.”

  T
he two vampires vanished into dark swirls of mist, leaving Ty to care for the bodies of his students and prepare himself to face the Brierly family again, giving them one more reason not to want him near their sister.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning the sun still came up.

  Jess felt as though it should somehow have started differently. But then, just because her life was changing, that didn’t mean the whole world was changing with it. She’d fallen asleep last night listening to the bass voices in the kitchen. The low rumble of her brothers’ animated conversation didn’t completely carry through the floor, so it was more like listening to white noise—comforting, but not informative.

  She could pick out Davis, not quite as deep and grumbly as Edgar. Paul was rapid-fire and wasn’t quite as intense as the others. Edgar had been thoughtful enough to bring something up for her. But the truth was she didn’t feel like eating. Anything. Maybe ever again. Except maybe more bacon.

  Jess stretched. The tantalizing fragrance of breakfast cooking got her up. The possibility of bacon sustained her as she glanced at the clock and noted that her brothers were probably all long gone, since it was after ten. Even on a Saturday they were too busy to stay home much. So who was cooking and assigned to stay home and watch her? She pressed the heel of her hand to her head. Man, she hadn’t slept that deeply in ages. Maybe she was more tired than she knew.

  Jess padded downstairs and into the kitchen and found Paul there, his feet propped up on the big oak table, reading the newspaper. The delectable smell of crisply cooked bacon still hung in the air. How did Paul know? Her stomach growled.

  “Not going in today?” she asked.

  He glanced briefly at her, then his gaze drifted back to the paper as he flipped a page. “Nope. Bacon’s on the stove.”

  “Thanks, Paul.”

  “How you feeling?” As her twin, he teased her the most, but he also knew when something was wrong, or setting her on edge, before the others.

  She shrugged and snapped a bit of bacon off the big piece and popped it in her mouth.

  “None of this is the end of the world,” he said nonchalantly.

  Jess arched a brow. “And how exactly does a perpetual bachelor like yourself figure that?”

  Paul had the temerity to grin at her over the edge of his paper. “You’re just adding to the Brierly brood. Family’s always a reason to celebrate.”

  “If that was the case, then why haven’t you settled down and started giving me a litter of nieces and nephews by now?”

  “A great deflection, but it won’t work. This is about you, not me right now.”

  “Lucky you.” Jess polished off the strip and went back for more. “Did Ed tell you who the father is?”

  The newspaper pulled back up, shielding his face from her. “Yep.” No inflection to tell her his feelings about the matter.

  “And that doesn’t bother you?” She wiped her greasy fingers, and then thought, to hell with it, and picked up another strip with her fingers. No plate, no silverware, no napkin. Her grandma would be rolling in her grave.

  “Nope.”

  Jess nibbled, still not convinced, then shoved the whole piece in her mouth and happily chewed. The only thing that would make it better was a cup of coffee spiked with lots of sugar and half-and-half. She stood and walked over to the coffee machine, pulling her favorite blue mug out of the cupboard. And noted there was no coffee in the pot. She opened the cupboard, searching for the coffee. The bag of beans, grinder and filters were suspiciously missing.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at her brother. “I would think that’s obvious. I’m going to make coffee. Where is it?”

  “Gone.” Paul never took his eyes off the paper, flipping to the next page.

  “What?”

  “Caffeine isn’t good for the baby. Edgar got you some herbal tea.”

  Jess’s mouth dropped open. The absolutely last person she’d thought would ever give her any kind of advice on babies, children or anything remotely related to childbirth would be Edgar. But the thought that her brothers were once more colluding against her made her blood pressure bump up a notch. “Seriously?”

  He caught her gaze. “Do you need me to read you the printouts Davis made last night?”

  Jess pressed her fingers to the throb building between her eyes. “No, thank you. I’m pregnant, not hard of seeing.”

  The doorbell rang. Paul’s chair scraped as he pushed back.

  “Never mind. I’ll get it,” Jess said as she padded to the door in her bunny slippers, grateful for the reprieve. Even if it was only her twin left to grill her like a cheese sandwich with his benign interrogation techniques. It was too early in the morning to be on her toes. She’d rather polish off that whole skillet of bacon and go back to bed.

  Hopefully whoever was calling would create a diversion.

  She pulled the door open.

  Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no. Not this much of a diversion.

  Ty stood in the doorway, taking up the whole space. His presence seemed to vibrate, sucking out all the oxygen in the entry hall, making it hard for her to breathe properly. She pressed a fist to her sternum to stem the sudden ache there.

  Her gaze locked with his. “What are you doing here?” Was he clairvoyant? A mind reader? A psychic?

  None of the above, Jess assured herself. There was no way he could possibly know. She wasn’t 100 percent positive herself. Not until she’d seen the doctor, anyway.

  Doubt flickered in the depths of his eyes, then vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by a languid, relaxed look that she could tell he was just putting on for show. “Hello to you, too.”

  Jess smoothed her hand over her hair, realizing that she’d only shoved it into a messy knot at the back of her head, had no makeup on and was standing there in her bathrobe probably looking like first-place contender for the work-at-home-weekly award.

  Ty’s gaze raked her from head to toe, far too intimately for a near stranger standing in her doorway, lingering at her feet. “Nice slippers.”

  Jess tucked one slippered foot behind her ankle, the stuffed bunny face bulky against her bare skin and the floppy ears tickling her leg. She pulled the edges of her bathrobe tighter together. She gave him a not particularly friendly look. “Can I help you with something?”

  Hunger flared in his eyes, making Jess suck in a startled breath.

  “Are your brothers home?” The words were prosaic enough, but instantly made her physically aware of him and what they’d done the last time her brothers hadn’t been home.

  “Paul’s here.”

  Ty hooked his thumb in the front pocket of his jeans. “May I come in?”

  Panic swelled in Jess’s throat, a wary sensation prickling up her spine. He couldn’t know she was pregnant, so why was he here? To ask permission to sleep with her didn’t seem likely. And wouldn’t he ask her first? “Um, yeah, sure. Sorry.” She pulled open the door, backing up a little.

  Ty walked in, leaving the scent of forest, the outdoors and clean male in his wake. Her body tightened in response, visions of what his skin had felt like, tasted like, flashing through her mind. Jess closed the door, her cheeks heating. “Paul’s in the kitchen.”

  “After you.” He waited for her.

  Jess straightened her shoulders and walked as confidently into the kitchen as she could wearing bunny slippers and a fuzzy bathrobe, Ty following her. “Paul, you’ve got a visitor.”

  The paper crinkled as he folded it and set it on the table. He got up out of his seat and reached out to shake hands with Ty. “Good morning, Mr. Grayson.”

  Ty nodded. “I was hoping all of you would be home.” He smelled of soap and shaving cream and his dark hair was slicked back, as if he’d recently tak
en a shower, lying in damp dark curls over the collar of his black T-shirt and denim jacket lined with woolly white. Maybe the dark colors made both the caramel of his skin and the brown of his eyes look warmer, but Jess suspected it was more the heat in the way he looked at her. His broad hands flexed and he hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his dark blue jeans.

  Jess eyed him. “Why?”

  His dark brown eyes flicked in her direction. “It would make this easier. I wanted to come and tell you personally, there was an incident at the school last night.”

  Paul’s face tightened, his eyes bright. Jess grabbed hold of her brother’s hand.

  “What happened?” Paul demanded.

  “Riley was seriously injured.”

  Jess’s hand flew to her mouth, the burn of tears stinging her eyes. “Where is he? Is he—” The hand she’d slapped over her heart felt the rapid pounding beat of sheer terror. “Is he alive?”

  Ty nodded and opened his mouth, but Paul repeated grimly, “What happened?”

  Ty locked gazes with him. “Animal attack. The authorities from the state Fish and Wildlife Department are looking into it.”

  “Anyone else hurt?” Paul directed his gaze and his focus to Ty. Of course Paul would want to know. He was always campaigning for office. If anything bad happened in Sinclair, people would turn first to Davis for help, then to Paul to fix it.

  Ty frowned and Jess sensed the air charge around him with something dark and disturbing. “Riley was the only one of his team who survived the attack.”

  Her knees chose that moment to turn to gelatin and she wobbled. Ty caught her around the waist in a strong arm, giving her a concerned glance as he sat her on a kitchen chair. “Easy, Jess.” As soon as he saw she wasn’t likely to keel over, he took a step back. His entire body was rigid as he let his gaze return to her twin.