Times of Change: Book 1

by B. L. Dawn

  Tatum moved her fingertips across Luke’s five o’clock shadow, loving the curve of his jawline and the look of his smooth bottom lip. “But you’ll miss him.”

  His eyes closed as his head leaned into her hand. “Honestly, I’ll be glad to get a break from him. He is always pissing me off. I don’t know where he gets off treating others like he is above them. I don’t remember him acting like that when our parents were still alive. He even treats me like I’m a piece of shit.”

  A tear fell down Luke’s face, he tried to wipe it away, but Tatum stopped him, moving his hand away from his face as his eyes rose to meet hers again.

  He placed his hand over hers and pressed it into his face. “Sorry, I don’t know why I told you that. You must think I’m some kind of pussy or something.”

  “No, I don’t.” Tatum moved her thumb across his bottom lip before realizing how inappropriate she was acting. She felt her body heat up. His eyes closed again, and he kissed her thumb, sending a shockwave through her body.

  Her breathing intensified, and fear overtook her. She moved Luke back slowly, stood up, and turned around so that he couldn’t see how freaked out she was. What was he doing to her body, her heart, her mind? She shuffled around in Natalie’s drawers, acting like she was looking for something.

  Luke walked over to her, placing his hand on her elbow. She jumped with a start, keeping her back to him.

  “Please don’t leave without me. I still want to get to know you. Take me to the store with you.”

  Tatum nodded but refused to turn around.

  Luke continued, “You don’t have to worry about me hurting you in any way. You can trust me, I swear.”

  Tatum nodded. “Okay. We can leave in an hour.”

  “Good, I’ll meet you in an hour.” Luke left, closing the door behind him.

  Tatum made her way back to the bed, trying to clear her mind. She let thirty minutes tick by. Pulling the rag back, she saw that her arm was healing nicely. The bloody lines were now scabs. She was sure Luke’s hands were doing better and wished that Cade’s face at least stayed pounded in for a lot longer.

  After thirty minutes, Tatum found her brothers and explained what happened. They were beyond pissed. Eli made a vow to work extra hard with her defensive skills. James and Eli stayed with her while she walked around the pond.

  “I’m going to call Alma.”

  Eli and James shrugged.

  Tatum talked to her for a long time and felt better after speaking with her. She hung up and slid the phone down in her pocket.

  Eli looked over at Tatum. “What’s going on with our Alma? She’s in school?”

  “Yes. Alma has a full scholarship to Marshall University to become some rich guy’s accountant. He’s paying for the whole thing.”

  “Wow. Weird.” Eli stopped walking.

  Why was Eli so worried about it?

  “Yeah, it’s bizarre.” Tatum snorted. “It’s not every day someone comes in and tries to help others.” Tatum pointed between them.

  “Yeah, but we’re getting something out of it. You did this to help Grandpa and me. We finally get to experience pack life. What does this dude get out of it?”

  “An accountant.”

  “He’ll have another accountant before she makes it through the program,” Eli grumbled. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for her. It’s great. It’s just a little too great.”

  “Maybe he’s just a nice guy. Humans can sometimes help others, out of the goodness of their hearts.”

  Eli cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think so.”

  Tatum patted Eli on the shoulder. “I have to go find Jenny. I’ll talk to you later.”

  After walking around the farm, Tatum found Jenny feeding the horses. “Hey, Jenny. I wanted to apologize for storming around your house naked and slamming doors.”

  Jenny laughed. “Well, it was unexpected, but I understand. Enoch told me what happened. I’m glad Cade is leaving. He’s dangerous. If he would’ve done something like that to Natalie, I would’ve shot him myself.”

  “Enoch would have killed him for touching Natalie.” Tatum chuckled. “Can I get the truck keys?”

  “Oh, sure.” Jenny pulled them out of her pocket and handed them to Tatum. “Just stay safe, sweetie.”

  “Thanks. I will.” Tatum gave Jenny a nod and headed back to the house.

  On her way back to the farmhouse, Luke walked around the corner. When he stopped in front of her, Tatum took his hand and looked over his knuckles. “They’ve healed nicely.”

  Luke nodded. He didn’t meet her eyes, but a smile stretched out across his face. She wanted to grab that face and pull it to her mouth. Instead, she let his hand go and let him follow her to the red flatbed truck.

  Chapter 20

  As they drove away from the farm, Tatum let the awkward silence go on for far too long. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at him, loving the way he smelled. Was he wearing something—cologne, soap—or was it all natural?

  “So other than smelling good, what are some things you can tell me about yourself?”

  “I smell good?” Luke looked at her with a shit-eating grin.

  Tatum rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. “You smell incredible. Now spill!”

  “Well, you already know my brother. We’ve always been a part of the Green Lagoon Pack. Our parents passed away. Not much else to tell.”

  Tatum knew Luke was an excellent tracker. She was hoping he would bring it up. “So what kinds of things do you like or are you good at?”

  Luke smiled. “I’m good at tracking.”

  “Like finding scents and hunting?”

  “Yes, but there’s more to it.”

  Tatum shrugged and laughed. “Alright, then tell me.”

  “I’m a little bit different than most shifters. Shifters use their nose to smell different scents. They follow the scent. For example, if a shifter smells a deer, they can follow the deer through the woods. The deer will leave its scent on the trees when it touches them.”

  Tatum nodded. That was common knowledge.

  Luke went on, “Some shifters have a great sense of smell and an understanding of different scents. Like Enoch, he can smell emotions—fear, joy, anger, among other things. I can too, but most shifters can’t smell emotions.”

  Tatum tried to understand. “So you and Enoch are great trackers and smell emotions?” Tatum internally scolded herself. Did that mean Enoch had known she was thinking about going up to his bedroom when he pulled her over to his porch? Dammit.

  Luke inhaled and looked at Tatum with a cocked eyebrow. “I still have something about me that’s different than Enoch.”

  Tatum cocked her eyebrow right back, smiling at his cockiness. “What’s different?”

  “Smells are like colors to me. When I concentrate on a smell, it turns into a certain color all its own. The color is like a line. It sits on the ground or moves through the air. I can see it, among other colors or rather the other smells. Each one looks and smells different.”

  Tatum looked a little confused. “So you track with your vision and smell?”

  “Yes, but there’s more to it. Let me try to explain. Let’s say a deer is running, and it jumps into a creek. It runs a little way up the creek and jumps back out. Well, for most shifters, the smell would get lost. Even if the shifter ran down the creek, they wouldn’t know what direction to take. Or if they did know what direction to take, the scent would change somewhat. It would be difficult for a shifter to pick the trail up again.” Luke was deep into his explanation.

  “But you can pick up the scent?” She knew shifters couldn’t pick up smells through the water. It was impossible.

  “Yes, I can. I can see the color line floating above the water, and I can see it when it jumps back to land. Even in the rain, I can faintly see the lines. But time mixed with rain can make it disappear.”

  Tatum scrunched
her eyes. “With all the smells around, it must get complicated.”

  “Not at all. You smell different stuff all day and don’t think twice about it. It’s the same for me. It doesn’t get intense unless I’m specifically paying attention to a certain smell.”

  “It sounds amazing.” Tatum smiled, looking over at him.

  Luke’s chin pushed out. “What about you? Tell me about yourself.”

  Tatum told him about Blackwater, the human world, and the need for a pack.

  Luke stared at her. “Shit, that’s rough. It’s amazing that you were able to support your family. I’m impressed.” Luke smiled. “What are you good at?”

  “Hmm, I’m organized. I have big ideas, I’m super tall, I have two different colored eyes, I’m strong, and I can run fast.”

  “You can run fast?” Luke chuckled. “We can all run fast when we’re wolves.”

  “I can run fast as a human and fly when I’m a wolf.”

  Luke burst out laughing. “Yeah, I bet you can. That’s it. You and me, we’re going to have ourselves a little race when we get home.”

  “Well, it’ll have to wait until after Enoch makes us full pack members. It’s the full moon tonight.”

  “That’s right! I forgot. It’s been so busy lately.”

  Tatum pulled into the One-Stop Superstore. When they went inside, Luke looked around in amazement at all the items that could be purchased. Tatum pushed a buggy over to the female section and grabbed t-shirts and sweatpants. She headed to the male area, took the same types of clothes, and placed them in her cart. Walking to the checkout lane, she urged Luke to get a bag of chips and a soda. Seeing him thumb around the bag, eating every last chip, made her happy for some reason. She figured it was because a huge part of her wanted to take care of him.

  He enjoyed the soda on the short trip over to the building supply warehouse. The three storage sheds were loaded by employees, along with three bags of sand.

  Next, she drove over to the sports store and purchased seven karate blast punching shields and two ground-kicking bags. Bungee cords anchored them to the flatbed. West Virginia roads were as curvy as they come, and there was no way they would stay on the truck without anchors.

  When they arrived back on the farm, Tatum was comfortable around Luke, if comfort meant she could talk with him. The uncomfortable part was his sizzling gorgeous looks and his erotic smell. The second his round gray eyes looked at her, it was all she could do not to lunge forward and wrap herself around him. She wanted to twist her fingers in his dark-brown hair. Dammit. She was wet again.

  Luke looked over at her with a smile. Do not make eye contact. Yes, he can smell the arousal on you, but act like nothing’s going on.

  Parking the car, she jumped out, trying to get away from Luke’s superpowered sniffer. Eli was ecstatic over the new equipment and couldn’t wait to start using it to help train the shifters in self-defense. Unloading the truck didn’t take long at all. The male pack members were there trying to help.

  Sam patted Luke on the back as he passed him. Other shifters nodded his way or squeezed his shoulders. Were they trying to comfort Luke because Cade had been kicked out? It was sweet, but she didn’t think Luke was enjoying the extra attention. Luke jumped on the back of the truck and dragged a shed to the end of the flatbed like he was trying to ignore them.

  Tatum directed the males in the general locations of where the storage sheds needed to be. The west side, north side, and east side were the perfect locations for the sheds. The south was where they exited and entered the farm in vehicles.

  As the males made their way into the woods, Tatum grabbed the bags of clothes, lining them up her arm. Walking back to the farmhouse, she could smell BBQ chicken and greens. Her mouth watered. She rushed inside. Sophia, Birdie, Chloe, and Sissy were all sitting around the living room watching Twilight.

  Tatum burst out laughing. “Hey, females. Do you want to help me with something?” Tatum showed them the bags of clothes.

  The females looked all to eager to help and began grabbing for the bags as they giggled.

  “I need you females to put these into three groups. Try to get different sizes of clothes in each group, then run the clothes out to the three sheds when you finish. The males are still out there.”

  The females went through the clothes, checking the sizes.

  Jenny and Enoch were making their way into the living room, helping Lincoln walk. Susan and Ben were not too far behind. Bandages were on his right arm, and he was limping. They sat him down on a brown leather chair.

  Tatum came to attention. “What happened?”

  Enoch sighed. “The brakes went out on the tractor. We were trying to practice with Lincoln and when it didn’t stop, he had to bail out.”

  Jenny’s hand flew up to her mouth, her arm around her stomach. “I’m so sorry Lincoln.” She looked over to Tatum. “Both tractors are down now.”

  Tatum looked at Lincoln, his face was tense with pain. Her eyes narrowed in anger. “Were the tractors acting up before we came?”

  Jenny shook her head,

  If Tatum had to guess, she’d say Cade had done this before he left. She couldn’t prove it, but thank Destiny, that mongrel bastard was gone. “I’m so sorry. Who can I call to fix the tractors?” If this shit kept up, Jenny might regret them staying here, and Tatum would run out of money before she could help the outskirt shifters. And Enoch would most likely resign from being alpha. Dammit. Cade needed to pay for this. Leaving the pack may not have been enough of a punishment after all.

  Jenny waved Tatum’s question away. “I’ll figure something out.”

  “I’m really sorry, Jenny.” Tatum’s brows furrowed as they stood there awkwardly for a few moments. “I’m going to take a quick shower.” Tatum needed to get this horny smell off her and maybe the pissed off one as well. After her shower, Tatum stared at herself in the mirror. Why couldn’t anything just be easy? Out in the hallway, talking rang out as the males entered the house.

  She made her way out of the bathroom. There was a line of shifters making their way to the kitchen for dinner. Sliding in the back of the line, Tatum waited to get food and watched with wide eyes as Luke shuffled back to be with her.

  Leaning over, Luke inhaled Tatum’s scent. In a low, gravelly voice, he said, “Don’t forget you owe me a race later.”

  Tatum’s stomach did small flips, her arms got chill bumps. He was so intense. Man, she needed to stay away from him or lay with him.

  Luke moaned in her ear with a purr trailing behind it. “Mmm. You’re the one that smells good.”

  Tatum’s legs turned into putty.

  She was saved by her phone when it rang. The ringtone wasn’t something she had programed. A wolf was howling over and over again for all to hear. Tatum laughed. It had to be Eddie. No one else could break into her phone and change her ringtone. She answered the phone.

  “I love my new ringtone.” Tatum grinned as she made quick eye contact with Luke.

  “Hey, cutie. How’s my favorite wolf girl?”

  “I’m the only wolf girl you know.”

  “That makes you my favorite.”

  Tatum laughed while Luke frowned. Turning around to face forward, she spoke again, “I’m good. How about yourself?”

  “Couldn’t be better. Are you guys ready for me to come down and take some photos and get some signatures?”

  “Sure, whenever you’re ready.”

  “Good, I’ll be down there tomorrow. Don’t forget, I need names and birthdates. And they need to look normal.”

  Tatum was about to offer him the location but thought better of it. He already knew where she was. “I’ll have them ready for you. See you tomorrow.”

  “Bye, buttercup.” Eddie hung up the phone.

  Tatum chuckled again until she remembered Luke behind her. She looked over her shoulder, giving him a weak smile. He tried to grin back.

  Making her way to the f
ood sitting on the counter, she let the butter, salt, and BBQ chicken take over her senses. She scooped red carrots and green beans on her plate, along with a piece of chicken, and walked outside to sit on the porch.

  “Delighted” didn’t even describe what she felt when Luke sat down beside her. Between bites, Tatum caught herself watching him eat. From the way he held his fork to the flexing of his jaw muscles when he chewed, nothing was too small to observe.

  He looked up and caught her staring. Tatum’s eyes darted down. Had she been breathing while watching him? She didn’t think so. Her breathing was all over the place. After that awkward moment, they ate and talked for a while. She told him about Eddie, and they went around collecting names and birthdates together. Tatum tried to fix the dates as best she could as they went along.

  A couple of times, Luke’s hand grazed hers. She wanted to grab ahold of it and stay hand in hand with him, but it was the male’s place to make the first move.

  Shortly after the sun set and the full moon showed its lovely face, they all helped clean up. When the shifters were finished, Enoch ushered everyone outside behind the farmhouse and to the edge of the woods. The moon was shining above them, enveloping them as a pack.

  Enoch spoke, “Under the full moon that shines down on us tonight and gives testament to my words, as alpha, I expel Cade Fulton, Zach White, Tom Legon, and Chels Legon from this pack. The Green Lagoon Pack is no more. With six new additions and a new territory, I am renaming this pack the Primal Ridge Pack. Primal because we will be the leader who brings our race into prosperity. Ridge because we will help others climb up and out of despair. We will climb until we are on top once more.”

  A loud “HEWF” boomed from the pack.

  “I welcome my true mate, Jenny Greer, to the pack.”

  “HEWF.”

  “I welcome my beautiful daughter, Natalie Greer, to the pack.”

  “HEWF.”

  “I welcome the honorable and respected, Rick Roloff, to the pack.”

  “HEWF.”

  “I welcome my beta, Tatum Roloff, to the pack.”