by Vella Day
“Me? In denial? Denial is when you won’t admit that something is true. I’ve spent the last thirty years in therapy revealing my deepest darkest secrets. I’m not in denial about anything. I’m willing to admit I was a shit to my sister when I walked away from her after we first met. I’m not ashamed to say that I was afraid to get close to her for fear she’d leave me—just like everyone else in my life.”
“Elana would never—”
He poked her shoulder with her bottle. “You don’t know anything about Elana. After I reread her texts and letters about a hundred times, I finally realized that she wanted to connect with me. Me.” He tapped his chest with the same bottle. “Her brother. She’s honest and good, so don’t say she’s not even human. As for myself, trust me, I’m fully human and all male.” She half expected him to grab his crotch, but thankfully, he didn’t. “While my mom said I acted like a wild animal as a child, I’m not one now.”
Shit. She’d royally messed this up. What to do? What to do?
Prove it to him, her tiger screamed.
No. Maybe I’m wrong. The scar-faced man in LA might have messed with my head.
You’re not wrong. What’s his scent doing to you right now? You want Brian, right?
Wanting had nothing to do with him being a Were. “I’m sorry. May we sit?” she asked.
His breath came out way too fast and his lips thinned as his gaze bounced around the room. “I guess, but don’t mention Elana again.”
He set her bottle on the coffee table then dropped onto the chair. Jillian sat on the sofa across from him. She wasn’t sure how to begin finding out if perhaps he was unaware of his animal heritage. His scent was indeed messing with her head, and there were way too many urges heating up her insides to deny he might be her mate, but it was still possible he wasn’t a shifter.
He has the scent of a shifter, her tiger insisted.
“Can I ask whether when you were growing up, you felt this intense urge to be outside—especially at night? That sometimes the walls in your house felt like they were closing in on you?”
A quick flash of concern crossed his face, but then his stoic façade returned. “Every kid wants to be outside. If you had parents like mine, you’d consider running away on a daily basis. Why do you think I down so many pills? As far as running away, I was smart enough to know I wouldn’t get far, so instead, I acted out.”
That wasn’t quite what she’d asked. Damn. This wasn’t getting her anywhere. While she didn’t know everything he’d gone through as a child, she suspected it might be worse than how he was portraying it. During his youth, with his animal hormones coursing through his system, he would want to claw at the earth, climb a tree, and run wild. Since he wouldn’t understand why he had those urges, frustrations would continue to build. “It must have been pretty bad.”
“You have no idea what it was like having parents who wanted nothing to do with me.”
“Why do you suppose that was?”
He leaned back, his mouth slightly agape. “Lady, who the hell are you? Did my shrink send you to make sure I’m doing okay?”
“No one sent me.”
He stood. “I think you should go.”
Not liking that he was looking down at her, she stood too, but there was no way she was going to walk out of his apartment without proving to him that his parents might have decided he needed help because he was different. Being a shifter might explain some of their actions.
An overwhelming urge to give him comfort startled her. “I’ll go, but not before I show you something.”
“What’s that?”
“This.”
Chapter Seven
‡
Brian set down his beer bottle and clenched his fists, waiting to see Jillian’s next move before escorting her out. Strange things were happening to him. His body seemed to be heating up from the inside out, and something sharp was poking his insides, though that was probably stomach acid eating away at the lining.
His anxiety levels had been fine until he’d opened the door and found Jillian standing there in her sexy as hell black jeans and rose colored buttoned down shirt. Hell, his pulse rate had gone off the charts, and his first instinct was to throw all caution to the wind and drag her inside and kiss her. For a moment, he thought he was reliving his dream from last night, but he’d never act out those fantasies. The consequences would be too painful. He was damaged, and when she learned what kind of person he really was, she’d reject him, just like his parents had.
Suddenly shy, Jillian looked off to the side, her fingers playing with the buttons on her shirt. Her hair was a bit tangled, and it hung loosely around her shoulders. He flexed his fingers wanting to wrap his hand around each curl and then bring those thick strands to his nose to smell her delicious scent.
Jillian shook her head and refocused, taking Brian back to reality. A second later, she kicked off her shoes and unbuttoned her blouse. His throat tightened up and his cock turned rock hard. “Ah, Jillian. What are you doing?”
She tilted her chin upward. “I’m preparing for my demonstration. It’s the only solution since you won’t listen to reason.”
She was certifiable. He’d have to warn Elana to stay away from her. He held up a hand, but he couldn’t bring himself to move closer. “Just stop what you’re doing.”
Her brows pinched. “Why? I don’t want to ruin my clothes.”
“What the hell are you planning to do?” His mind spun with a myriad of possibilities, all of which would result in him losing his mind.
She slipped off her black pants and stood before him wearing only her sexy red bra and panties. Holy hell.
Take her, his crazy voice urged. Brian had spent his life working on shutting out his voices, but of late, this one had been very insistent.
All of a sudden, a low growl erupted from Jillian, and the protective part of his brain made him move forward to help. He froze the second white hair sprouted on her arms and legs, and he blinked rapidly to clear the crazy image. Had she doused his beer with some hallucinogen when he wasn’t looking? He swore he’d had the bottle in his hand the whole time.
Fearing she had, he set his beer down. Fur flew and her blonde hair spun. What the fuck?
Before he could blink again, a tiger formed in front of him, and his breath caught in his throat. The room closed in on him, and his heart beat erratically. I need my pills. He patted his pocket, hoping he’d stashed some there, but he came up empty.
As if on the prowl, she stalked toward him. Oh, shit. Heart in throat, he backed up, only to run into the sofa arm. “Don’t come any closer,” he said, his voice wobbly.
The tiger, if that was what it really was, lowered its head and edged toward him, the brown and white striped tail wagging. The animal was maybe three feet tall with big white paws. She looked up at him as if to let him study her. What looked like a tree branch with brown leaves on either side was drawn from her brow to the top of her head. Except for some brown stripes around her mouth, her nose was all white. Whiskers sprouted from above her eyes and along the side of her mouth.
As if she was tired of posing, she moved closer. Brian only guessed the animal was a female because Jillian had been there one minute and gone the next. Where she’d stood only moments before lay a torn red bra and panties. If this was a real animal and she was in his bedroom, he’d have to hand it to her. She was a true magician.
The animal rubbed against his leg and then nudged his hand. He raised it out of the way. As if that was the wrong reaction, the animal lifted her paw and trapped his hand against his body.
Looking up at him, the tiger tilted her head as a soft mewing sound came out. The animal seemed to be asking for some loving. He couldn’t resist that plea. Not now.
You can do this. Tentatively, Brian reached out and petted her head. “Nice tiger.”
He didn’t expect her to continue purring, but it helped reduce his anxiety a notch. At first, he thought the tiger would bite him, but after a fe
w strokes, she licked his knuckles with a tongue that was akin to general purpose sand paper—rough but not destructive.
Not wanting to upset her, he sidled toward the door, thinking if he could get her to leave, he could then call some vet to trap her. He’d made it about three feet, when she seemed to sense his intention and blocked his path.
Before he could reach around the tiger to pull open the door, the animal disintegrated right before him. Seconds later, Jillian stood before him—naked.
Holy fuck. Jillian looked like she’d just been involved in some hard loving—the kind he wanted to participate in. Her blonde hair went every which way, and her nipples stood erect. As much as he wanted to soak in everything about her body and drown in those blue eyes, he couldn’t afford to take the risk. His body was vibrating, and he found it difficult to breathe.
Brian turned his back. He’d never be able to think straight seeing her like that, and he needed answers. “Can you put something on, please?”
Most likely, her perfectly bow-shaped mouth was open since he’d bet no man had ever asked her to put her clothes on before.
Her delicate footsteps tapping against the floor exploded in his head, but he refrained from pressing his palms against his temples. It never quelled the noises anyway. He could detect the scraping of each foot along the inside of her pants followed by the clickety-clack of her zipper rising. The air whooshed through her top as she picked it up.
You need help, his inner voice said.
Yes, I do. Brian rushed into the kitchen, yanked open the kitchen drawer, and poured an anxiety pill onto his palm. Aw hell, why not? He added an anti-depressant. It was time to start building them up in his system again.
“You’re not crazy,” Jillian said. “I know seeing me change into a tiger was a shock.”
It was a lot more than a shock. His world view had been turned upside down. Leaning over the sink, he filled his mouth with water and then downed the pills.
Letting them settle into his stomach, he turned around.
Her hard nipples protracted through her thin shirt. He glanced to her jacket on the back of the sofa and debated asking her to put it on, but she’d be too warm. “I have something you can wear.”
Without waiting for her response, he charged into his room and routed through his closet. At the end of the rack, he found a clean, flannel shirt. While it would be huge on her, at least she’d be covered.
He returned and handed it to her. “How about putting this on?”
She slipped her hands in the sleeves and buttoned it up halfway. “Thanks.”
Brian inhaled. “How about explaining what the hell happened? Or was it some kind of trick?” He hoped it was the latter.
“It wasn’t a trick.” She stepped around him and returned to the sofa. “Sit down, Brian. This may take awhile.”
*
Clearly, Jillian had gone about this reveal all wrong. Elana should have been the one to break the news to him in a kinder, gentler way, but Jillian had been so convinced he’d been faking it that she’d taken the plunge and shifted.
And she’d been wrong. Brian didn’t know he was a shifter. No one could fake that kind of shock, dismay, and fear. All she could figure was that somehow one of the parents, unbeknownst to them, had messed around with a shifter.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said.
“Sorry? How can you say that? From the moment you walked in my apartment, you were determined to get my attention. You wanted to prove something, but you failed.”
Her defense mechanisms flared up. “I just wanted you to understand that you’re more than you realize.”
“What the hell does that mean?” He picked up his bottle, lifted it halfway to his lips, and then set it down.
“Whether you want to believe it or not, you have the ability to shift too.” She would discuss his sister’s new abilities later—much later.
Brian dipped back his head and laughed. “I have no idea what kind of drugs you’re on, but maybe I should add them to the list of mine.”
This was getting worse by the minute. “Listen, I’m a shifter—as you saw. I can sense when others are too, but I totally get why you don’t believe me. I was raised by a shifter dad. From a young age, I watched my father transform from human to animal and back again. He told me to picture myself as a tiger, and one day when I was chasing a ball and laughing, I was suddenly on all fours.”
Brian cocked a brow. “That’s a nice story, but neither of my parents were shifters.”
She would have considered maybe they didn’t know, but then Kalan would have sensed Elana was one. “How about closing your eyes?”
“Why?”
The man was stubborn to the core. “Because I asked you to?”
He did. “Fine. Now what?”
“Don’t look. I’m going to rub two things together and I want you to tell me what they are.” He shrugged. Brian probably wasn’t aware that his senses were better than most, especially his hearing—as well as his sight and his sense of smell. She picked up her jacket and rubbed it on the wooden table. “What does this sound like?”
He huffed out a breath. “Fabric against wood. That was easy.”
“Good. What about this?” To challenge him, she ran her palm down her pants leg.
“Fabric scraping.”
“Open your eyes.” He did. “Shifters, whether they are wolves, bears, tigers, or whatever, have a heightened sense of smell too. I bet you can tell the difference between Oak and Maple.”
“Any good craftsman can.”
She stood and turned off all the lights. Except for the numbers on the microwave, the house was dark. Thankfully, he didn’t question what she was trying to prove. “Face me.” He did. In front of the dark flannel shirt, she held up three fingers. Only a shifter would be able to see in this dim light. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three.”
“Do you think many people could see in the dark?”
He looked off to the side, as if trying to remember when he’d been in the dark with someone else, how much they could see. “No, I guess not.”
Jillian bounced over to the lamp next to the sofa and flicked it on. “Believe me now?”
“I believe that I have good eyesight and good hearing, but that doesn’t prove anything.”
“You opened the door before I was at the top of the steps. Did you hear me or smell me?”
His face paled. Gotcha!
“I smelled your perfume. Whatever kind you’re wearing, I’d wish you’d stop. I think I’m allergic to it.”
A smile lifted her lips. “I’m not wearing any.” That almost clinched it, but she needed one more test. “Are you attracted to me?”
It was a little too soon to be asking him anything more specific, like did his heart race and his body go wild with need every time she was near? Just like hers was doing now.
“You’re okay, why?”
Once more, Brian avoided answering her directly, so she stepped closer to him. Now that her tiger had been freed for a few minutes, she wanted more of Brian.
It’s too soon, she cautioned. He’ll spook for sure.
You might be right.
Really? I know your game. If you gave in that easily, you must be up to something.
Her tiger growled. Now that her mate was near, her animal was overly anxious, which meant it was Jillian’s job to rein her in.
“Brian, have you ever heard of the expression soul mates?” Her palms dampened as she awaited his response. Jillian might be an experienced trial lawyer, good at determining when and how far to push a witness, but she had no confidence in her ability to draw Brian out.
“Yeah, what about it?”
His gaze didn’t waver, and she didn’t detect any erratic pulse at his throat or temple. Clearly, he wasn’t experiencing this intense draw yet. He would, though, once he learned to shift and all of his new hormones flooded his system. “It’s nothing. Look I think I’ve done enough damag
e to your mind for one night.” She rushed over to her torn underwear and snatched the garments off the floor.
He held out his hand. “I can throw them in the trash for you if you like.”
“Sure.” Aha. So he wasn’t immune. She handed them to him. Ten bucks said he’d keep them as a memory. Before things turned any weirder, she took off his flannel shirt and slipped on her jacket. “If you have any questions, you know where to find me.”
With that, she pulled open the door and rushed out, her heart lodged high in her throat. As she sped down the steps, heat raced up her face. She’d actually undressed in front of Brian, and then completely forgot about what would happen when she shifted back. The look on his face as he stared at her naked body was akin to horror. Dear goddess, if she could go back in time, she’d sell her soul.
Chapter Eight
‡
Jillian felt terrible at having scared the crap out of Brian. The poor man had been traumatized growing up, and what she’d just done might make him relapse. If that happened, Elana would never forgive her.
How could he not know he was a shifter? One of his parents had to have been one. Only which one? And why hadn’t they told him? As much as she needed to find the answers, she had to do it safely and gently.
Oh, crap. She’d forgotten to tell him not to say anything to anyone, though she doubted he would, especially to Elana. When she found out what Jillian had done though, her friend might not want to speak with her again. Jillian’s only choice was to confess her sins and pray for forgiveness.
It was only a little past six, and most likely Elana would be home, assuming the hospital had released her as promised. The problem was that Jillian didn’t know where her friend lived, but Dalton did.
As she rushed to her car, the chill went right to the bone, but she’d gladly stand naked for an hour in this weather if she could take back her bold move. Stripping then shifting had been stupid, but she’d been desperate. Hopefully, when she explained what happened, Elana could find a positive side to the reveal.