“Northcutt Pack? In Virginia?” He tapped his pencil on the desk exactly seven times in an effort to make it seem like he was having to think about it. “What is their Seer packing?”
“Strength,” Sarvarna replied. “It’s a decent Sight, but she’s nearly sixty years old. Surely Toby doesn’t mean to marry her.”
“I think Toby has had enough marriage for one life time, and even if he hadn’t, I’m pretty sure he’s not suffering any type of grandma complex.” Jase couldn’t decide if he was more disgusted by the thought of Toby making out with an old lady or annoyed at Sarvarna’s hypocrisy. Like she had any right to comment on someone else marrying out of their age range for the purpose of gaining a bit of power. “I’m sure he’s there for Charlie. I remember him saying something about if he only knew whether or not Charlie actually had the strength to recover, then he would know how to proceed with his treatments.”
“His brother’s condition is upsetting him, isn’t it?”
“He’s having a hard time.” Seeing someone you love on the brink of death does that to a person.
“Perhaps he should have considered this possibility before he jumped to defend that little witch, then.”
Jase heard a snap and realized he’d broken his pencil in two. Splinters of plastic and pieces of lead littered his desk.
If flirting with Sarvarna was playing a basic level and lying to her was fighting the Big Bad at the end of each world, then not reacting when she talked about Scout was running headlong into Bowser’s castle. The coyote inside him screamed for him to defend and avenge his sister, but his human side knew these games were how he would accomplish it. Surely if he could control himself while Scout was locked in a cage for weeks and watch as they led her to the site of her attempted execution, then he could hold his tongue when Sarvarna called her names.
“Scout was raised as a member of our family. Toby felt obligated to protect her.”
“It was a misplaced obligation, and an insult to me.”
You’re an insult to the Shifters, Seers, and decent humans of the world.
“I promise he didn’t mean it like that. My cousin doesn’t always think things through. He didn’t understand how hurtful his actions were until it was pointed out to him.”
At the mockery of a trial Sarvarna orchestrated, Toby had been unable to follow through with Liam’s plan to sit there silently while Scout was sentenced to death. Unlike Jase, he had stood up for Scout, not caring about what it would cost him. Once Scout had successfully escaped, Toby was punished for his loyalty. Severely. But the broken bones and bruises were nothing compared to not knowing whether Charlie lived or died. Jase hadn’t been there - he was where Toby should have been, at the hospital waiting on updates about Charlie’s condition - but others had told him how when he’d been allowed to catch his breath between assaults, Toby had only ever asked about his brother.
After that night, Toby made a show of falling in line with the Alpha’s wishes. He literally went to his knees, begging for forgiveness. Since groveling was one of Sarvarna’s favorite things, she had pardoned him, although her dislike of him was more than evident by the way she spoke to and of him. It was okay, though. While she might merely dislike Toby, he actively and passionately despised her.
If Toby was smart, he would have gone on with his life as quietly as possible, keeping all his hatred and rage locked inside. But the Hagan Pack wasn’t known for being smart. They were, as Jase’s gramma liked to lament, overburdened with bravery and confidence. So, instead of the beaten down follower Sarvarna thought she’d gained that night, she’d created a dangerous enemy, one who wouldn’t rest until she was removed from power… or more preferably, this world. If Sarvarna so much as suspected that he was really down in Virginia to convince the Northcutt Pack to join him in trying to overthrow the Alpha Pack, she would have Toby executed. No trial. No second chances.
“There are whispers,” Sarvarna said. “Rumors that your cousin is still loyal to the Thaumaturgic. They say his allegiance is to her, not me.”
“Toby? Loyal to the girl who shot his brother?” Not that Scout had really shot Charlie, but the Alpha Female didn’t know that.
“You can see why I’m so put out, can’t you? After all I’ve done for your family, and he chose that… thing over me.”
“Sari. Sweetheart. Don’t be silly. How could anyone choose Scout over you?” The words were like dust in his mouth. If she believed him, Jase would demand to be acknowledged as one of the finest actors of his generation. “I don’t know who is telling you this crap, but they should be flogged for stressing you out.”
“Don’t worry,” Sarvarna cooed. “If it’s discovered that he’s lied to me, he will be. But Jase?”
“Yes, your highness?”
“If not, if he’s right, please know that no matter how much it pains me, Toby won’t be alone in facing my wrath.”
Chapter 3
“We need to talk.”
Talley stumbled over her own feet, nearly dropping the notes she was trying to organize.
“Good grief, Jase. You scared me half to death.” He must have been waiting for her just outside the door to her Spanish lab. She’d barely stepped out into the hall when he appeared as if out of thin air.
They sped down the hall at a pace a bit too brisk for her short legs until Jase abruptly stepped in front of her and stopped. His eyes narrowed as his nostrils flared. She wrapped her arms around herself in defense, although what she had to be defensive about she wasn’t sure.
“What is that?” he asked, jabbing a finger at her shirt.
“I think it’s a Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Supernatural mash-up.”
The muscles in Jase’s jaw bulged. “Where did you get it?”
Talley sighed. She had planned on getting rid of Walker before Jase even knew he existed. For some reason, Jase didn’t react well to her parade of suitors. One of them had carried the mark of Jase’s annoyance - a black eye - until the full moon.
“I had an accident at lunch.”
“An accident?”
“I took a Dr. Pepper bath. Walker let me borrow his shirt.”
Jase’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You know Walker is a Shifter, right?”
“It did come up.”
There was a time when Jase would have exploded at her, but the past year had changed everyone. He was still angry, even without touching him she could see the wrath boiling just beneath the skin, but instead of throwing a tantrum, he kept his voice calm and controlled. “And how long has Walker been here?”
“Two hours, maybe?” Talley made a point of looking at her watch. “I got the impression he’d just got into town, and apparently I’m not that hard to find.” She wondered if there was some sort of tracking device on her since all the visiting Shifters seemed to have no trouble locating her on a campus filled with 28,000 students.
“He just got here?” He looked skeptical, but accepted Talley’s nod of confirmation if his willingness to continue walking was any indication. “Which pack?” he asked as they descended the back stairwell.
“Helkamp.”
Jase’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Helkamp?”
“Tiny pack down in Arizona. I think they have three Changing, including Walker.”
“Three Shifters make a pack?”
“Where two or three are gathered together as Shifters, there is a pack.”
“Nice try, Tal, but I do know my memory verses. Doesn’t your mother have some very strong feelings about bastardizing the Bible?”
Talley flinched, more affected by this new caustic version of his anger than the screamfests he was known to throw on occasion since starting to come into his own dominance. At least when he was screaming he was too busy attracting as much attention as possible to think about the best way to hurt the object of his anger. He knew what mentioning her mother and any of her mother’s “strong feelings” would do to Talley. She couldn’t believe he would be so cruel.
And she hadn’t even been purposefully trying to paraphrase the Bible. Unlike Jase, Talley didn’t grow up attending Sunday morning worship services and memorizing key verses. No, the Matthews practiced some old time religion. At least, her mother told her it was old. There really was no way to tell since most of the world was ignorant of Shifters and Seers, and therefore a religion practiced by just a small percentage of their numbers was basically unknown. While the Donovans focused on Jesus’s love and sacrifice, the Matthews saw God’s son as a footnote. Talley had been forced to read the Bible from cover to cover when she was eight, but most of her religious upbringing didn’t come from those pages. Instead, her mother relayed stories about the sacred duties of Shifters and Seers and holy aspects of the Alpha Pack. It was this belief system that led her mother to turn Scout, Jase’s sister and Talley’s best friend, over to the Alpha Pack in July. Jase made zero effort to hide his hatred for the woman and became enraged any time Talley came to her defense.
Things hadn’t always been this way between the two of them. There was a time when Jase would have apologized for hours if he thought he’d hurt Talley’s feelings, and while he was never Mrs. Matthews’s biggest fan, he did respect her. There were times when Talley wondered how she didn’t get whiplash from how quickly everything had changed.
Once they got to the bottom of the stairs, Jase threw open the door with enough force to make it bounce off the wall and scatter little bits of brick onto the grass. The sun was bright and hot, the temperature shooting past ninety degrees. The humidity seemed even more suffocating with the knowledge that it should be gone by now, allowing autumn to come sweeping in to save them all from melting into tiny human puddles on the sidewalk.
“I assume Walker is on his way back to Arizona now?”
Talley reached up to worry a lock of hair. “Ummmm….”
Again Jase stopped in front of her, but this time she hadn’t been paying attention and almost plowed into him. He stepped to the left just in time, recoiling from their almost-touch like it was a venomous snake ready to strike.
“He’s still here?”
“I have his shirt,” she said, pointing to it as if he was going to forget which shirt she was talking about.
“How is it the noble Mr. Helkamp happened to be on hand at just the right moment to give you his shirt?”
“I wasn’t paying attention when he came up, and he startled me.”
“And he gallantly gave you his shirt out of remorse.” Jase’s eyebrows were doing an annoying arched thing as he looked around. “So is there now a random Shifter wandering around campus half naked?”
“No, he was wearing an extra.”
Jase’s face did something that might have qualified as a smile to someone who didn’t know him as well as Talley did. “How convenient.”
“Jase, you can’t seriously think he orchestrated the whole thing.”
“I can, and I do.”
Talley started walking, refusing to just stand there any longer. If he wanted to keep spouting off crazy to her, then he could follow her to her next class. “What purpose would having me spill a drink down my shirt so I’d have to borrow his serve?” She asked once she certain he was following along behind her.
“Now you’re covered in his scent.” To emphasis his point, Jase wrinkled up his nose. “It marks you as his.”
“I think you’re stretching to come up with some sort of nefarious intent.”
“And I think you’re being played.”
Without meaning to, they had stopped again. Jase was just inches away from her, his green eyes clashing with her blue ones. With him standing this close, her mind flashed back to the dream. The memory of it had been plaguing her since she’d woken up from it days ago. Her hands ached to reach out and touch him like she had then. The urge was so strong she had to ball her hands into fists, digging her fingernails into the soft flesh of her palm to keep from doing something stupid. It had been over a year since Jase allowed her the privilege of touching him. At first, it was merely a bit hurtful, but now it was agonizingly painful.
Talley had always adored Jase. It was impossible not to adore the boy who radiated confidence and joy with every breath he took. Sure, sometimes she found herself thinking unkind thoughts about whatever girl he was dating at the time, but in high school it was more of an isn’t-my-friend-fabulous, I-wish-I-could-get-a-guy-like-that-to-love-me adoration. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago when they’d had to fake being in a relationship that Talley actually allowed her thoughts to go there. And now that she’d let herself think about what it would be like to be loved by Jase, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
And the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to touch him.
To put some distance between herself and temptation, Talley took a step back and then started walking again. Like before, Jase immediately trailed behind her.
“You said you needed to talk to me about something,” she said as they approached the Chem-Phys building.
Jase scanned the area around them, and a familiar knot of dread wound its way into her stomach. “Did you know Toby is in Virginia?”
“Virginia? No.” Like Jase, she was purposefully kept out of the loop when it came to Toby’s whereabouts and actions. “Did he call you?”
“No, Sarvarna did.”
The Alpha Female knew where Toby was, and Jase decide to lead with, “Whose shirt are you wearing?” Sometimes Talley didn’t understand him or his priorities in the least.
The biggest problem with being a spy amongst Shifters is you never knew when someone was listening in on your conversation. Jase was pretty good at picking up on another Shifter’s scent, but he wasn’t flawless. Only the most dominant of Shifters could actually listen to a conversation from miles away, but unfortunately those were the exact Shifters they were pitting themselves against. The Alpha Pack was the most elite of their kind, which meant they had the most power and skills. Everyone told her the ability to smell a lie was a myth, but Talley still worried about it. Every conversation, every thought made her nervous. She just knew someone would discover the truth, sending both her and Jase to the guillotine intended for Scout.
“How is our majesty today?” Talley asked, noticing how her voice shook.
“Concerned. She worries she doesn’t have Toby’s full allegiance.”
Talley’s mind flashed to a night five weeks ago. Toby, who had always been the embodiment of strength and vitality, was covered in blood. His face was so swollen he was barely recognizable. Even without the power of X-ray vision, Talley could tell three of his fingers were broken. It wasn’t hard since they were bent in a ninety-degree angle.
“I believe Toby learned his lesson before. He would never harm our queen again.” Maybe Shifters can’t smell a lie, but surely they could hear how her heart sped up. “I’m sure there is a good reason he’s ventured into… Whose territory is it?”
“Northcutt.”
Someone bumped into Talley, their thoughts about how a decent person would move off the busy sidewalk screaming in her head. Feeling more than a little ashamed, she moved into the grass.
“That’s Amy’s Pack, isn’t it?”
“Yep,” Jase answered.
“Oh, well. That’s it. Toby mentioned going to visit her to ask her to See if Charlie was strong enough to fully recover. Surely Sarvarna will understand that.”
“She did,” Jase said. “But she’s still concerned. It seems someone has been relaying some unfortunate gossip about our former Pack Leader.”
The knot of dread in Talley’s stomach developed a knot of dread all its own. “Gossip?”
The bell from the clock tower chimed three times in the distance.
“You’re going to be late to class,” Jase said, double-checking the time on his phone.
Talley was normally a big believer in promptness and class attendance, but some things took a priority over school. “You can’t just leave me with that kind of cliff-hanger.”
&nb
sp; Jase pretended like she hadn’t spoken at all. “My room. Six o’clock. Be there, and bring pizza,” he said, walking backwards. Talley wanted to strangle him for leaving like that, but she was too busy worrying he was going to run over someone or something. He turned just before plowing into a blonde, who blushed furiously when he apologized. “I want pepperoni this time,” he called over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner of the building.
Chapter 4
On a normal day, Talley didn’t automatically reach for her gun when someone knocked on her door. But days involving random Shifters and phone calls from the Alpha Female weren’t typical days.
“I know we got off on the wrong foot, but this is a bit extreme, don’t you think?”
In a single movement, Talley turned and aimed. Her hands didn’t tremble even as she put the center of Walker Helkamp’s forehead in her sight.
“Okay, that was a joke. A bad one, admittedly, but still…” Walker raised his hands in surrender. “I’ve never had a gun aimed at me before. It’s really way more terrifying than I imagined.”
“What are you doing in my room?”
“Not actually in your room. Just standing in the open doorway.” A line of sweat was breaking out on his forehead. “Sorry, I thought the ‘it’s unlocked’ note was an open invitation. I swear, I didn’t mean to…” His eyes darted around the cinder-block walls as if the end of his sentence might be found there.
“How did you know where I live?”
A door closed somewhere down the hall. Talley moved to the left, concealing herself so no one passing by would see the gun. Her connection to the Alphas might be able to get her out of a lot of sticky situations, but she had a feeling having a firearm on university property and threatening another individual with it wouldn’t be one of them. Walker glanced down the hall, apparently coming to the same realization.
“I swear, I’m not here to hurt you and will explain everything if you’ll just give me a chance.”
All We See & Seem (Timber Wolves) Page 2