Abby's Call

by Nichole Finley

  Jason had to stop himself from backing away, he was stunned. Jason wasn’t sure how to react now. He still needed to separate them, explain to Kyle what was happening to him, but if he was this volatile…

  Another warning growl resonated from Kyle as he straightened slightly. Surprise raced through Jason, but there was no way for him to back down knowing what was going to happen. Kyle was generally a pacifist. Jason had only ever seen him in one fight before and it hadn’t been much of a fight. A boy in the senior class picked on Kyle for most of his sophomore year and Kyle had taken it without much of a reaction, but the day of the fight, the boy decided he wasn’t going to let Kyle ignore him anymore. Jason didn’t get to see the start of the fight because he was still in the middle school building, but he got to see most of it. Kyle had dodged the attacks until teachers came to break it up, it was actually impressive at the time, but Jason had years of fights with other shifters, classmates and football practices to toughen him up. Kyle was a bookworm and Jason didn’t want to hurt him over something like this.

  Kyle’s intimidating growls wouldn’t work on Jason and that wouldn’t leave Kyle with any choice but to fight for the female he wanted. His emerging tiger wouldn’t allow him to back down. All this Jason knew, just as he knew Kyle, as a new shifter, couldn’t win a fight against him and Jason couldn’t allow himself to win the fight because he had no interest in the female.

  Kyle turned fully and stepped away from the female. She gave a groan of protest and wrapped her arms around his waist, her fingers going dangerously low then dipping passed the waistband of his jeans. Jason watched as Kyle’s eyes rolled back in his head and a fresh wave of pheromones crashed over them, but he didn’t turn back to her. Jason was a threat and, apparently, that trumped any pleasure he was receiving.

  Easing a hand back, Kyle touched her hip and guided her along the wall, moving her toward an interior door, the door to his bedroom.

  “Open the door,” Kyle’s voice was little more than a deep rolling growl. His animal side, which had lain dormant all these years, was boiling over and take control, fast.

  At lest he’s still got some sense to him, Jason thought, but was it a good idea to let her go into Kyle’s bedroom?

  The girl gasped drawing Jason’s attention. She stared at him, wide eyed, panicked. He frowned at the reaction. He hadn’t done anything to get that from her.

  “You said your brother wouldn’t be here,” she whispered, grabbing for the doorknob.

  “Door, now. Don’t worry. He won’t touch you,” Kyle reassured her.

  Jason wanted to tell the girl he was mated, that she really did have nothing to worry about, but Kyle was so wound-up he couldn’t chance talking directly to her without inciting more anger.

  The knob finally rattled and the girl disappeared into the room. Now what? Jason asked himself.

  Chapter 14

  She slipped through the narrow gap between the door and the frame and closed it as quickly as her shaky hands could manage. Air pumped hard in and out of her lungs. In her chest, her heart banged against her ribcage and her stomach churned with butterflies. Abby’s tiger screamed in her head causing her lower body to clench and flood with excitement.

  “Go away,” she heard Kyle demand of his brother. The threat those two words held had Abby shivering so hard she had to lean against the door to keep from falling. He really had no intention of sharing her. After the two half-breeds in the alley and him saying that his brother lived with him, she’d begun to wonder if all shifter males shared their females while unmated.

  Abby sighed. This night wasn’t going how she’d planned it. She’d gone out looking for the male that invaded her dreams. It should’ve been simple; the male that answered the Call was her mate, but how would she know what that male’s response would be. She’d met two tonight that looked like the one from her dreams; Kyle and the one from the restaurant, Nico. In fact, if she hadn’t known better she’d have said Kyle and Nico were twins, they were identical.

  But Nico hadn’t responded to her words when she’d added them to her Call. An outing with his father would’ve explained why her mate hadn’t come for her the moment he’d smelled her or heard her Call, lame excuses that it was she could understand that; but Nico had no reaction to her words. Kyle, though he’d backed off when she’d used the Call to say something to him, accidentally, she had no idea if it was because of what she’d said or if something else had triggered it. He’d had his hands down between her legs, maybe he’d realized she was…unused and stopped because of that. Was there a third male somewhere out there, one that looked just like Kyle and Nico? And if so, where the hell was he? She needed her mate. She needed to talk to someone, Tay or one of her sisters. This was just so…so…

  Her hands scrubbed her face in frustration and a soft growl bleed from her throat. The frustration fled as Kyle’s scent flooded her. That woodsy, forest scent running right beside that of his lust and the hint of his tiger beneath it all. Abby took a deep breath, filling her nose with it. Her tiger rolled inside her and an image of it filled her closed eyes. Her cream colored tiger with its thin brown strips had her front paws stretched out before her as she lay on her belly, her back legs bunched under her and her long tail curled over to the side in readiness for her mate to take her.

  Heat burst through Abby at the ideas the image gave her, of Kyle mounting her from behind, shoving himself into her. Wetness gathered between her legs until she could fell it wet her inner thighs with her eagerness. Abby gasped and jumped away from the door as a threatening base growl rumbled behind her. His brother must till be close to the door, her reasoned. She backed away, watching the knob, waiting for someone to open it, but as she stood there the hall remained silent and the doorknob never rattled.

  A car drove by, breaking up the silence and casting light around the room. For the first time Abby realized she’d been standing in the room without a single light on.

  Not wanting to be near the door if it came crashing open, she looked around for another light source besides the light switch and located a small lamp beside the bed. Though there was plenty of light streaming into the room from the street lights for her tiger eyes to see there was always a feeling of security with more lights on. It was a stupid thought, but she turned it on anyway.

  There wasn’t much to the large room as she finally took note of the place. The wooden desk near the door to the hall had piles of schoolbooks, library books, papers, notebooks, and a slim laptop. A small rolling office chair accompanied it. The queen-sized bed was neatly made. The sheets and comforter in shades of blue and though there were several pillows on the bed, they were piled against the wooden headboard one atop another. Making it obvious that if Kyle never shard his bed with anyone or it wasn’t often enough for him to make his bed with two sides to it.

  Abby smiled at the knowledge and looked to the dresser. Unlike hers, this one stood tall taking up less floor space. The dark wood of it matched that of the headboard and the desk, its sliver handles standing out against the dark tone.

  Several picture frames stood atop it and she took a moment to look them over. The first was a family portrait. In the center sat a beautiful pale blonde female, obviously the mother, smiling for the camera. One of her hands was raised to her shoulder where she held the hand of a tallish red haired male of about the same age, he didn’t remind her of Kyle at all. At the female’s feet were a set of twin girls about four or five years old, sitting in one of those awkward posses that make great pictures. Their sides were pressed together and their feet pointed away from one another so that they mirrored each other. White blonde hair spilled around their shoulders falling down to their hips. To the mother’s right with his hands clapped behind his back stood a strawberry blonde boy with short cut hair and a slightly lanky frame. From the glance she had of Kyle’s brother she would believe this was him at about twelve or thirteen.

  Kyle stood to his mother’s left, his hands before him, one hand holding the wri
st of the other. Unlike the other two males in the picture Kyle’s nearly black hair was slicked back. Then she noticed the darkness behind his neck leading down behind his shoulders. His hair wasn’t slicked back it was in a ponytail instead of down like his mother’s and his sisters’ hair. He was taller than his father by inches, but his slight frame and extreme lankiness let her know he’d still been a teen when this picture was taken, seventeen…maybe a very young eighteen.

  Frowning Abby tilled her head at the photo. When she’d finally got to see what he’d looked like in the street lights she’d thought he’d looked familiar. Now she was certain she’d seen him somewhere before, but she just couldn’t…her eyes wondered over the other pictures, most of them were of his three siblings but then her eyes caught on one picture she’d seen before. It was from a graduation, a photo of him in his cap and gown. Everything clicked into place.

  The photo was a close up, nothing other than their faces, shoulders were the gown was visible, and their caps could be seen. Kyle was smiling big, the excitement of the day showing clearly on his face, but it was the female beside him. Taylor, with her check pressed to his, smiling at the camera just as big as he was.

  Abby’s hand went to her mouth as it hit her. She’d met Tay’s best friend Kyle only once over the years she’d lived with Tay, and he’d looked different back then. He’d looked more like he had in the family photo, but then it had been more than six years ago.

  It was the first day of high school. Abby had just moved in with Tay, but none of their other sisters had. She’d waken to a heavy knock at her door and yelled at her sister for the rude wakeup call as she flung the door open, only to see Tay’s half-naked lover standing there instead of her sister. Lord knows she met enough of Tay’s lovers in the morning hours in the years since, some of them wearing nothing at all, but Kyle had seemed more grounded. He also didn’t hit on her like some of Tay’s lovers had. He’d looked her over, sure, but then she’d answered her door in nothing but a pair of panties. After a quick once over he’d looked away and hadn’t tried for another peek. When she’d made it down the stairs, this time fully dressed for school, he’d made her breakfast and sent her off to school. It was such a small thing really, but it stuck with her.

  She’d shifted for the first time less than a week later. Had…had she been dreaming about her sister’s old lover all this time?

  Abby glanced at the door. I almost had sex with one of Tay’s ex-lovers, she told herself and waited for a reaction to spike. A sense of discussed, a rejection from her tiger, anything at all. She didn’t expect anger to flare. It rolled through her, but it wasn’t directed at herself or Kyle. Abby’s anger was all for Taylor. When she’d finally broke down and told her about the dreams earlier…after describing his basic look and the scar on his chest, Tay hadn’t pointed her in his direction. Why lie about knowing who it was?

  Before she threw something, Abby marched to the open door across the room and flicked on the bathroom light. If Kyle had the scar, which she was sure he did, she needed to be clean enough to lay on those sheets.

  Like the bedroom there wasn’t much to this room. A razor and a can of shaving cream sat to the left of the sink, a single blue toothbrush in the holder, a roll of toothpaste nearly empty and neatly rolled just behind the faucet. No knick-knacks anywhere, just what was needed. Abby sighed and opened the cabinet beneath the sink. As she’d suspected plan washcloths, most of them white, along side towels of the same color though either weren’t neatly folded. She grabbed a darker washcloth, turned on the water and kicked off her heels.

  Her tiger had gone quiet; it wasn’t a good sign. Something was bothering her tiger as much as the silence from the tiger bothered her. Abby glanced into the mirror and frowned at herself. There was something…something Tay said about Kyle years ago…something she needed to remember. She frowned harder as she slipped her underwear off and dropped the useless things on the counter. Kyle had torn them at the seam between her legs.

  Abby wet the cloth and tried to think as she washed mud off her legs.

  Chapter 15

  “Go away,” Kyle demanded. His body language screaming he was ready to fight this out.

  Jason held his hands up in surrender. He’d gotten them apart; there was no reason to continue to act as a threat. “I’m not standing in your way,” Jason said. Kyle glared at him, obviously not believing him. “We just need to talk…away from her.”

  The warning growl came again.

  “Look, both of us will sit on the couch while I tell you…some things then you can go to the room,” he lied. He’d have to call Tay and have her talk to the girl. There was no way Kyle would let him close enough to explain what was going on and he couldn’t let Kyle go to her after this.

  Kyle shook his head and the gold tone of his eyes grew dimmer. Jason jumped as Kyle grabbed a fist full of his shirt and jerked him forward as he started for the couch. Jason resisted the pull for a moment, his own tiger growling back at Kyle for the manhandling, but he forced himself to relax and let Kyle dragged him toward the couch; he didn’t need a fight to break away. Kyle flopped down where he could see the door to his bedroom and jerked Jason down beside him before he let go of the shirt.

  “Talk,” this time his voice was almost normal.

  “I have a call to make first,” Jason held up his cell as he said it. “It’ll only take a second.” He stood and headed for the kitchen.

  “Take too long and I won’t be sitting here when you get back,” Kyle warned him.

  Jason nodded and hit Tay’s contact info as he entered the kitchen. Tay answered on the third ring.

  “Already got him settled?” She questioned. “Kyle never goes down that quick.”

  “No, and Tay, I need you to come over…now.”

  “Okay…What’s going on?”

  “Remember me telling you there was an in Heat shifter wandering around near the house and that I was worried because of everything Shannon said?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She was right, I needed to worry. Now there’s a very young female in our house dousing both me and Kyle in her pheromones.”

  “What?” Her tone hardened.

  Jason sighed and glanced back into the living room. Kyle was staring over at his bedroom door and Jason could nearly see Kyle’s tiger pacing, waiting to get into the room the moment it could. “Kyle’s reacting to this girl’s Heat and not just a little bit either. It’s full out drive to mate.”

  “So let them at it. She could easily be his mate, if she triggered his shifting.”

  “Tay…he’ll shift…for the first time before they get started and he isn’t letting me get close enough to explain to her what’s going on. You and I both know she isn’t going to react well to not getting what she wants right now and Kyle is more than ready to give it to her, whether she wants him in animal form or not.”

  “Oh…oh! I’ll be there in five,” she hung up on him.

  Jason sighed. He had back up now. As long as she could get to them before Kyle rushed the door, it should work out. He needed to calm Kyle down a few notches. If he could calm him a bit it might ease the sexual tension, delay the change or at least lower the aggression Kyle was showing him, but how?

  Chapter 16

  Kyle pulled at his jeans, attempting, once again, to sit on the couch without the ever-tightening fabric pinching his sensitive cock, or his sac. But the jeans wouldn’t ease their hold. He huffed and leaned forward, elbows to his knees; his fingers buried in his hair. Around him, his jacket pulled tight with the movement. That was it. Kyle jerked up right, tore the offending garment off, and threw it across the room.

  Energy surged and crackled around him. He buried his face in his hands again, focusing on breathing. Where the hell is he? Fucking phone call’s more important than what he had to interrupt me to say? Well, fuck it and fuck him. A low growl spilled up from his chest and Kyle knew his eyes were gold again. His tiger was far too close to the surface, if he wasn’t caref
ul the anger and the pheromones would force him to shift. He cringed at the thought and tried to focus on dialing back the anger.

  What was Jason doing home tonight anyway? Kyle turned his head enough to see Jason pacing in the kitchen, cell to his ear still. You should be with Tay celebrating, not here fucking up my night. He shook his head at the thoughts running through it. Breathe in, breathe out. No other thoughts. In, out.

  “Here,” Jason’s voice broke through, snapping him back to reality.

  Kyle opened his eyes, though he couldn’t remember closing them, to see a mug, steam rising from it, being held out to him. He stared at it. What was Jason doing? He knew Kyle didn’t drink coffee and it wasn’t as if he needed the caffeine.

  Jason sighed and lifted the mug a little higher. “It’s one of your teas,” he explained. “Paul called me a while ago and told me you were at the bar and might have had too many, so I thought between the cool weather, the alcohol, and…” he glanced over at Kyle’s bedroom door. Kyle’s gaze followed it. “The wet clothes you’re wearing, I thought you might could use it.”

  He wanted to knock the mug from Jason’s hand, he didn’t need some tea to calm him or warm him; he had Abby waiting. The thought of her lying naked on his bed waiting for him flashed through his mind and sent his cock pulsing. Kyle nearly growled as the denim bit harder into him. She could do all the warming and soothing he needed. He shook his head again; this wasn’t like him. He wasn’t an aggressive person, he was easy going, never been the one to pick a fight. This had to be Abby’s pheromones playing havoc with his tiger’s, and his, mental state.

  Kyle took the mug, but set it on the coffee table without drinking it. Thanks,” he muttered and looked up at Jason. “You said you needed to talk to me about something.” Kyle prompted.

  Jason smirked, but a more serious look quickly over took it. He sighed as he sat down on the couch and leaned back. “The truth is, I’m not even sure how to begin to tell you all this. It was hard enough for me to except it, explaining it…”