“Eww, Shannon,” Taylor shook her head.
“It was to keep a random male from our baby sister,” Shannon told her. “And maybe get some for myself.”
Taylor made a sound of disgust.
“Hey I haven’t had sex since I had Trace,” Shannon sighed. “I’m allowed to try for it. Anyway, he frowns at me for a second then says my name. I reach up to my nametag. I was going to be sarcastic and compliment him for his ability to read but I wasn’t wearing it. So I asked if we’d met and he says yeah and that he knew I was Taylor’s younger sister.”
“That could be anyone that’s been in school with Tay for the last few years,” Jason pointed out.
“Will you two just shut up so I can finish, geez? Well as I was standing there I thought I remembered him as well, then it hit me. I’ve met Kyle once or twice so I ask, just to make sure, and he nodded. I was so embarrassed that I ended up walking off for a while. When I calmed down, I remembered about Kyle’s situation and that I had smelled tiger on him when he’d come in so I went back to check on him, but he wasn’t at the mill anymore he was over at the weights. I checked the mill for the distance, then the weights and then the mill again when he went to the locker room.”
“He ran twice?” Jason asked.
“I think he was doing it to break up the mileage. If it’s thirteen miles from his house to my gym then he ran a whole marathon as a workout today,” Shannon explained.
“A marathon, really?” Taylor questioned. There was no way even an avid runner like Kyle pulled a marathon off just for a workout. Human bodies weren’t built for that kind of exertion.
“Twenty-six miles. I think he also lifted less than he could, going for extreme repetition rather than adding weight,” she explained.
“Why would he do something like that?” Jason asked.
Shannon shrugged. “The only thing I could think of was that he’s been in a partially transitioned state for years and knows it. To keep under the radar, he divides his workouts and lowers the weight to something he thinks would be expectable then does an absurd amount of repetition. It’s possible it’s been like this since he was fifteen or maybe since he and Taylor got together the first time.”
Taylor’s heart raced. Shannon had too big a mouth.
“What are you taking about?” Jason frowned.
“You know…together,” Shannon said and made a crude gesture with her hands to illustrate sex.
“Taylor never had sex with Kyle,” Jason stated.
Taylor couldn’t look at them as the room went silent. “Shannon you need to leave now,” Taylor said.
Feet sounded on the carpet of her room, heading for the door. “Believe me, I’m not staying for this discussion,” she said. The door opened and closed, leaving Taylor alone with Jason again.
“Taylor, what the hell is she talking about?” Jason questioned.
She sighed and looked over at him. “Kyle and me…we have slept together,” she admitted.
“What?” His face contorted, somewhere between confusion and disgust.
“It was a while ago, before I met you.”
Jason shook his head. “She said the first time so it was more than once,” he said.
“We…had a casual thing. It started midway through the first semester. We were studying and…one thing just led to another...”
“That was back before I was living with him,” he offered and seemed to think about it. “When…when was the last time?”
“Jason, are you sure you want to do this?”
“I need to know.”
Taylor sighed. “I dated other guys because Kyle wasn’t a shifter, but we regularly got together until a month or so…after you moved in with him. But the very last time we ever…was in December after we received our B.A.s.”
Jason got up from the bed, paced for a minute and grabbed his clothes.
“Jason?” she wanted to cry. He was leaving her.
“It’s been three years since the last time, but you two were having sex for four years… on a regular basis?”
“Yes,” she hesitantly answered.
Jason shook his head and started dressing.
“Seriously Jason, I haven’t thought about him like that since and it was long before we met.”
He shook his head. “We’ve been mated for nearly a year, Tay. In all that time you never thought, just once, ‘hey maybe I should tell him I used to fuck his brother’?” Jason jerked his shirt on and hopped into his shoes.
“Don’t do this,” Taylor said. “Don’t.” Her hand went to her belly
“I…I can’t be here right now.” He grabbed up his coat and went for the door.
“Jason?”
He stilled at the door. “I’m…I’m not mad that you two were together Tay. I didn’t know you; you didn’t know your mate was so close. That’s past, it’s the reason Kyle was able to introduce us, but…” he looked over his shoulder at her. “I shouldn’t have to hear about this from your sister. You should have told me you’d slept with him and you should have told me months ago.” He sighed. “I’m gonna go home and let all this…soak in. I…might need a…a few days, okay?”
Taylor nodded and watched as he walked out the door.
Chapter 6
The sun had set while he was in the gym and the cooler weather of the night started to settle over the city. He sighed and ran his fingers through his wet, chilled hair. After all the running he’d needed the shower, but the gym wasn’t open late on weeknights and he’d had to rush out afterward, leaving his hair damper than he would’ve liked on a mid-autumn night in Washington state.
Kyle tossed the book bag over his shoulder and headed for home, walking the numerous blocks much slower than the before. He still wasn’t comfortable with Jason and Tay having a baby. Jason wasn’t grown-up enough for that kind of responsibility, but maybe something like this would ground him. Kyle didn’t have any illusions that it would settle Jason down, but this was Jason’s last year of college and no NFL teams had come knocking on their door to sign him so he wasn’t going pro. Having a kid might be a kick in the right direction.
I shouldn’t worry. Tay will be a good mother. She practically raised all five of her sisters, he reminded himself. Kyle shook his head and he wasn’t starting this again.
Three blocks later, he stilled near a road crossing. There was a smell in the air that he couldn’t quite place. Kyle inhaled deeply it was strange, sweet, almost chocolaty, with orange blossom and a hint of female lust. He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth testing the taste lingering in the back. Kyle swallowed hard and shivered as arousal heated in his lower abdomen. “Shit,” Kyle cursed out loud. That’s what that smell was.
Slowly he glanced around the street, but other than a few cars driving by, there was no one around. Follow it, find her, a voice inside his head demanded. Kyle shook the voice from his head and forced himself to take the next few steps, but he stilled again when he found himself crossing the street going the wrong direction.
Every muscle tensed with the need to move to find where the scent was coming from. He wasn’t going to get home on his own with this floating in the air. I could call Jason or Tay, have them come get me. Drive me home. He shook his head. If he did that they’d wonder what he was doing this far away from campus without his bike.
“Find me.”
Kyle jumped, his heart hammering at the breathy female voice that whispered in his ear. He jerked around to confront the girl. The street lay empty behind him. He frowned and turned back around. He needed to find a place to hang out for a few and wait for this to pass. Just make it down this street, Kyle told himself, but it didn’t work.
Halfway down, he turned to cross the street instead of continuing. Again he stilled. Okay. I’m obviously going to continue heading toward the scent… Kyle studied his surroundings and the direction he seemed to be headed. Cole’s. If I can make it inside I can stay in one place for a while, maybe a few shots will dull the pull.
Deep breath in, slow out. And walk…one foot in front of the other.
Three streets and a near run in with an SUV, he walked through the door to the small, smoky room. Kyle picked a stool and sat, lowering his head onto the bar. Cole’s Bar and Grill was empty except for the few everyday customers that never left, just like it usually was on weeknights, but that’s why Kyle liked the place. When he’d first moved to the area for school he had roommates, loud, party animal roommates. It forced him to find other places to study and he’d found this one. A back corner booth was the best for cramming the night before a test and he was less likely to get bothered by other students.
“Ain’t seen you in here for a minute.”
Kyle felt the smile curl over his lips. “Hey Paul. What’s doing?”
“Same as always,” Paul answered. “What’s doing with you and why is your head on my nice bar?”
“Oh, for that I need a shot of Crown,” Kyle answered.
Paul whistled. “You don’t drink.”
Kyle reached into his pocket and grabbed a few bills out of his wallet. He lifted his head up enough to meet Paul’s eyes and set the money on the bar. “Tonight…I do,” he stated.
Paul shook his head, but took the money. “Alright, but don’t complain to me about you frying your brain before a test or something.” He brought over a shot glass and filled it.
“Thanks,” Kyle offered.
“Uh huh. You get two before you gotta start takin’, hear?” Paul explained.
Kyle nodded and downed the first shot.
Chapter 7
She shivered and leaned against a brick building. The wind off the ocean blew the cool night air down the streets and, unfortunately, up her skirt.
Before she left the house, she hadn’t thought overly much about the weather. Her Heat poured fire through her while she was indoors and her thoughts were fully focused on her mating dreams, so she’d dressed to arouse the mate she was Calling for. Donning her skimpiest black skirt, which barely covered her ass; a blood red V-necked, lace camisole with no bra; lace panties to match; black ankle boots; and her black, waist length jacket.
Abby hadn’t considered how long she might be outside. Now, she was paying for it. The Heat that made her lay naked in bed made the coolness outside unbearably cold.
Frustrated, Abby closed her eyes and concentrated. Taylor had made the Call sound simple. It wasn’t. To Call to a mate took energy, magical energy, like the kind that allowed her to shift. Energy she didn’t have much experience controlling. To shift all she needed was to build up the natural energy around her and release it, same for switching back to human. But with the Call she had to build and hold the collected energy while centering her thoughts on the images of the male from the dream and add a thought to it before…well pushing the energy at the image.
Abby gathered the magic too her for the second time, thought hard on the torso she’d studied for so long, and pushed the energy from her to him. Please come find me, she thought then sagged against the wall. She wasn’t going to be able to Call too many more times. Being out on the street in Heat was bad enough, but the energy build up and release for the Call drained her for a few minutes. It allowed a wave of pheromones to escape and flow along with the wind. Luckily, there weren’t too many shifters in the county.
She bent over, ass still against the building to keep from flashing passersby, and rubbed her cold numbed legs. As Abby straightened, she could feel eyes watching her, staring. Slowly she glanced around, looking for whoever it might be. Please let this be him, she prayed. Hadn’t she suffered with her Heat long enough?
Then her eyes settled on a pair of men across the street, one blonde one redhead, both tall and thickly built and neither was the one she wanted to find watching her. At this distance, and in the dark, she couldn’t make out any of their features very well, but the weight of their gaze was hot and heavy. Abby didn’t like it. With that realization, an air of unease settled over her, something about these men, or where she was, wasn’t safe.
Abby stayed put hoping, waiting for the two to move on, for someone else to grab their attention. They had to have something better to do than stare at her, didn’t they? But neither man turned from her for longer than it took to light a cigarette. A chill slid down her spine and settled in the small of her back, pooling there and causing her entire body to shake. The blonde blew a ring of smoke and waved slowly to her.
Gasping at the man’s nerve, Abby pulled her jacket closer around her and hurried down the street. Those two would be trouble if she didn’t put some space between them, she could feel it. They were too cocky and she didn’t care for it. A block later, she chanced a glance over her shoulder. Her steps quickened.
Those two had crossed the street and were heading toward her. Abby lifted her head hoping to catch their scent. The Community of tiger shifters in Washington State wasn’t large, chances were, she knew them, if not by sight by smell. Even if she’d never met these two before, she most likely met some member of their family. She could call Tay once she knew whose family they belonged to and her sister could get their families to call them off. But the wind was blowing passed her, carrying her scent and her pheromones to them.
If they were shifters, they were being flooded by her scent and so would be drunk on it. Abby tried to think. She needed off the street. Out here, they could just…grab her. Her body was screaming for fulfillment now that it thought someone was near enough to ease her Heat.
It wouldn’t last though, once a tiger knew it had a mate it didn’t let others touch it like that. Her tiger side would realize neither of these males was her mate and want nothing to do with them. Leaving Abby to deal with the issue of telling them no.
She crossed to the next stretch of sidewalk, drawing nearer to the campus and the blocks of restaurants and stores dedicated to providing for the needs of those attending the college. If Abby could duck into a bookstore or restaurant it might discourage them from following her any further. Trying to get away from them should be enough for their tigers. Females in Heat didn’t run from males, or at least not into crowed areas where it would be impossible to mate with them. They might fight, a small power play for the female to check out the male, but they wouldn’t take it out into public.
One more block passed and the two still followed her. Abby turned, entering one of the first restaurants she came to.
“Welcome,” an older female said as she walked in.
“Hello,” Abby responded in kind.
“How many?”
“Uh, just me.”
The female gave her a look. “Okay, this way,” she said and turned, heading further into the restaurant.
Abby took a moment to glance around the open dining area. Four other tables were occupied and there were at least five people here running the place. The two might come in, but she could make a big scene in front of these people if they tried to take her; they wouldn’t want that. With that security, she turned to the windows. As she looked up, the two males passed by. The blonde turned his head keeping his eyes on her as the passed the windows and the door to the restaurant. Abby shivered again.
Creeps. She picked up the menu and took a seat in the booth.
Chapter 8
“Another,” Kyle said and turned the shot glass upside down on the bar.
Paul shook his head at him. “Nope, told ya…two then ya got to talk. That was two, so what’s doing, Kyle? Why’d you up and decide to be a bar patron all of a sudden? I was under the impression that you never drank.”
“How’s this...I tell you one thing I get another and so on?” Kyle offered. He couldn’t tell Paul everything, but he could tell him about Tay.
“I think I can manage that if you have the cash for the drinks,” Paul agreed.
Kyle nodded. “To start…I’m going to be an uncle,” he stated.
Paul stared for a moment then poured a shot. “Jason’s gonna have a whelp, huh? Wow,” he paused. “Who’s the girl he knocked up?�
�
“Taylor Winter,” he answered and downed the shot in front of him.
“That leggy blonde you come here to study with all the time?” Paul asked.
Kyle nodded.
“I thought the two of you were knocking boots. Are you sure it’s Jason’s and not yours?” Paul frowned.
“Tay and I were for a while. Stopped two, three years ago though,” he answered and tapped the shot glass’s rim. “We ran into each other at a party Jason dragged me to last Halloween. I introduced them; they hit it off after that.”
Paul poured another shot. “You passed her to your little brother?” he sounded stunned.
“No, nothing like that,” Kyle said waving a hand in the air to dismiss the idea. “Tay knew that I had a little brother and had wanted to meet him from the beginning, but I just never got around to it while we were seeing each other or to, you know, tell Jason I was seeing anyone.” He picked up the glass.
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I was embarrassed- “
“Embarrassed of what? Doing the hot smart chick?” Paul interrupted.
“We weren’t dating, Paul,” Kyle explained. “I was embarrassed that…she didn’t want more than a physical relationship.”
“You ever asked her out?” Paul leaned on the bar, coming closer to Kyle.
“Twice,” Kyle informed him. Paul hissed. “Shot me down both times. Said she liked me, but knew we wouldn’t stay together as friends if it went wrong. Like actually dating was more intimate than having sex for four years.”
Paul poured two shots and set them in front of Kyle. “Was giving it up to ya, but said she only wanted to be friends,” Paul shook his head. “Kinda cold.”
Kyle snorted, nodded then downed his fifth and sixth shot. The world finally decided to ghost into a haze of alcohol.
Abby's Call Page 4