Prey to the Heart

by Kristen Banet

  “Abigail,” her father snapped, but she turned and stormed back inside, feeling furious. Her mother gave her an open-mouthed stare and her sister only gave a small smile. Karli mouthed ‘good for you’ and Abigail immediately knew which woman was on her side and which wasn’t.

  She was grabbing her laptop when her father walked inside after her.

  “Abigail, you go out there and apologize, right now,” he said sternly.

  “No,” she told him. “Just no. I won’t be made fun of by your friends, Father. My work won’t be laughed at. I won’t date the boy you want me to date because I’m forty, not fifteen, and I won’t marry your carefully picked, perfect future son-in-law. That’s not how this works. I am visiting for the holidays. If you have a problem with my life choices and my defending my work, then I will stop visiting for the holidays.”

  She drew the line in the proverbial sand. She would live her own life and he could accept that or he could stop seeing her. He didn’t answer, just turned and left the house. Her mother finally let out the gasp she’d been holding back.

  “Abigail Harris, I raised you better than that,” she hissed across the kitchen.

  “You and Father also raised me to find whatever makes me happy and do it. You also raised me to defend myself and my choices. I’m just doing what I was raised to do,” Abigail reminded her. “Even if it means I have to defend them to you both. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired. I came here for my holiday vacation from work and I would like to be on a vacation.”

  She made her way to the bedroom that had always been hers and collapsed on her bed. She was forty, still very young for a shifter - not even a quarter through her life - and her parents were harassing her to marry and settle down. It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried before. Gavin had never counted to her parents. It took three years for them to even meet him, and after that, they never wanted to see him again. He’d been too much of a wolf for them.

  In the end, he’d been too much of a wolf for her too.

  She pulled her phone out of her pocket. She was still feeling ramped up and a little angry. She was done being a coward. If she could do that to her father and his buds, she could send this text message.

  Abigail: Hey Riley. I heard what happened. :(

  Riley: Oh, I’m so fucking happy you weren’t here for it. It was rough. We’ll be alright though. Everyone will be okay. I’m a little worried about Andrew but he’s up and moving around. Zachary is grumpy, but he’s not going to drop on us any time soon.

  Riley: You still coming back after the holidays?

  Riley: I know we just had assassination attempts and shit, but I hope you aren’t scared to come back. I wouldn’t blame you if you were. We’re the Kingson Pride for a reason.

  Abigail giggled at Riley’s back to back messages and quickly typed one back before she could send any more or get the wrong idea.

  Abigail: Of course, I’m coming back after the holidays.

  Abigail: I wouldn’t leave my favorite patients hanging now. You’ll all definitely need someone to talk to after two assassination attempts, the loss of all of Brenton’s family and who knows what else.

  Riley: You’re the best. Can’t wait to have you back. I need some ‘normal’ shit in my life again. This fucking feline nonsense is going to kill me.

  Abigail: Might be too soon for a ‘kill me’.

  Riley: Shit. You might have a point. It could literally kill me. God damn it. Look, enjoy the holidays. I’m sure we’ll do plenty of catching up in January. I’m going to be focused on these guys for most of the holidays. Keep in touch though.

  Abigail: You too. Don’t forget you can always call me. I’ll drop everything to make sure you’re okay.

  Riley: Thank you, and you too! Feel free! <3 <3

  Abigail stared at the screen and sighed happily. She was beginning to love that girl, if she didn’t already. Riley was just so easy to like. Then Abigail’s eyes fell to the other texts. The one who had told her something about what was going on in Colorado. She hadn’t replied to him, partly out of her own need to avoid him - and also a lack of what to say.

  Abigail: Thank you for keeping me up to date. Riley tells me everyone will be okay, and I’ve been listening in on the radio. Chatter about the Pride is high, right now.

  Thomas: It’s settled down and Riley is right, everyone will be fine. I’m glad you’re okay.

  Thomas: You didn’t tell me you were leaving. I was worried.

  Abigail’s courage ran out and she didn’t respond to Thomas. She dropped the phone and groaned. For a moment, she really felt like a teenage girl over this.

  She’d run after they had given her the best orgasm of her life, and then someone else had to tell them that not only had she run off their property, she had bolted out of the entire damn state. Her phone vibrated again, and she glanced at it, worried.

  Thomas: When you come back, I’d like to talk to you. We all would. We feel awful.

  “Oh no,” Abigail sighed. They had nothing to feel awful for. This was all her and she knew it. What was she going to tell him ‘it’s not you, it’s me’? That was childish. She was being childish. It was like high school had come crashing back into her love life, and damn, it was sexier this time around. These guys actually knew what they were doing with their tongues and where to use them.

  Guys.

  God, there were three of them.

  That hadn’t even crossed her mind. She didn’t have one wolf this time, trying to devour her body. She had three.

  “Oh no,” she repeated. It wasn’t like she hadn’t realized there were three of them. Thomas, James, and Antonio. Easy. Three wolves.

  It was that she kept looking at them as a unit. They were a package deal and she knew it, even without needing to ask. What happened in the woods that day didn’t bother her because there were three of them, it was because she was terrified of going back down that road. What if they met some female wolf or another woman willing to get in bed? They were wolves; she expected it and there was nothing wrong with their lifestyle.

  Karli was right. Gavin had gone about it wrong. And she would have ended things quietly if that’s what he’d wanted in life. She would have been hurting, but not betrayed.

  Maybe she could try and get it right this time?

  She would need to think about it more. She was on this vacation to get away from it, not stew on it. She would handle it once she got back to Wild Junction.

  14

  Abigail

  Abigail held her robe and waited for her sister patiently. They were going for a walk today and Abigail was going to ride with her sister to the Herd’s community building.

  “Karli,” Abigail called gently, wondering if that might hurry her sister up.

  “Hold on,” Karli laughed, leaving the bathroom. “I need to pee constantly, it’s awful.”

  “You’re pregnant,” Abigail chuckled. “Of course you need to pee all the time. Forgive me, I forgot how far along you are.”

  “Fifteen weeks and some change,” Karli reminded her, smiling. “Excited to be an aunt?”

  “Yeah,” Abigail admitted softly as they began walking out of the house. “I was wondering how long it would take you and Lewis.”

  “We waited until we both had settled careers here. Would have waited until things settled with the new wolf Alpha but we couldn’t plan for that,” Karli sighed as they loaded into Karli’s truck. “You know how these things go.”

  “Don’t I know it,” she groaned. “If you need anything, I’ll stay back with you.”

  “I’m fine,” Karli giggled. “I can’t go on the walk with everyone, too far along in the pregnancy to shift now but I’ll have some of the older ladies with me in the community building to keep me company.”

  “Ew,” she grunted out like a child. “Good luck with that.”

  “They like me more than you. You know that. I know that. Everyone knows that.”

  “Everyone here has always liked you more than me,” Ab
igail mumbled, but it wasn’t bitter. It was just fact. She always craved more than the Herd and the Herd never appreciated that. It didn’t hurt Abigail’s feelings anymore. She just survived these visits, knowing she needed to come back sometimes, even just to see Karli.

  “You’ve always been a roaming soul,” Karli acknowledged, knowing what she was referencing. “Well, not roaming. You just want something bigger than this, something less…”

  “Human,” Abigail sighed out. “My doe has been hitting me strong recently.”

  “She always has hit you stronger than the rest of us.” Karli shrugged, as if it wasn’t that big. “It happens sometimes. You shouldn’t hide her away.”

  “I live in LA. Hard to be a doe all the time in the middle of the city. And the Herd is full of prey shifters who feel a little more animal than most. It’s why the Herd is out here and not in a city, like more prey communities.”

  “You just need more than the Herd, and that’s okay. What’s been setting your doe on edge recently?” Karli asked as they drove at the slowest speed they could. She was trying to have a real talk and Abigail appreciated it.

  “Wild Junction,” she admitted softly. “It calls to me. Those mountains, the air, the community. The trails to hike on. It’s a good place. Aptly named, too. Full of shifters. The sheriff is a bear, also aptly named Sheriff Johnson.” Abigail chuckled at it. Sheriff Sheriff Johnson. “The Kingson Pride silently rules the town and now there’s the wolves. And a fox. It’s…”

  “Wild,” Karli finished, nodding. “Sounds like it. Don’t hear about that sort of mix of shifters in one place anymore. Not purposefully. Cities are an exception, but a small town? That’s a genuine mixed-species community.”

  “I know.” She sighed wistfully. “Technically, this is too, ya know?”

  “We’re all prey though.” Karli chuckled. “A bunch of predators? Lots of humans too? I bet the entire town feels different from this.”

  “The town, the area around it, the mountains,” she agreed. “And I haven’t been loving my doe as much as I should have been.”

  “How long have you been going between shifts?” Karli frowned at her.

  “Months,” she whispered.

  “Jesus, Abigail,” her sister gasped. “It’s hard enough being pregnant and being unable to shift but you aren’t shifting on purpose?”

  “Don’t ride my ass on it, Karli. Please? I’ve already been chastised.” Abigail groaned.

  “By?”

  “None of your business,” she answered curtly. “Nope. Won’t go there with you.”

  “Thomas Marek, then. Has to be,” Karli laughed. Abigail gaped at her and Karli pulled them into a parking spot at the community building. She wagged a finger at Abigail. “It had to be an Alpha, since they sense those sorts of things. If it were Alpha Kingson, you would have said something, admitted it was him. Thomas is the only other Alpha I know in that region, he’s a wolf, and you wouldn’t tell me. So, guessing by your face, I assumed correctly.”

  “I hate you sometimes,” she hissed, glaring at her sister.

  “I know you, sister mine. You are my other half, remember?” Karli teased. “It’s not a big deal. What? He trying to convince you to do runs with wolves?”

  She didn’t answer, only got out of the truck, which made Karli laugh more.

  “Remember what I said!” Karli called out, getting out of the truck as well as she laughed.

  She ignored her sister and stormed inside. Other members of the Herd were getting ready. Half of the community building was portioned off, then divided as well. Abigail slipped behind one of the temporary walls and saw the other females of the Herd getting ready to go. Abigail began to undress and fold her clothes on her own portion of a bench they had out. She slipped on her robe, an extra, since her favorite was still in Wild Junction at the wolves’ home.

  By the time she was done, others were moving out to the back. Everyone had on robes and the local bear was already shifted, waiting on them. He wasn’t Herd, by any means, but he’d agreed to do this with them as long as they could live peacefully side by side. It gave the normally very solitary bear a community and let them have some safety in their animal forms.

  On the call of one of the other shifters, she dropped her robe and shifted seamlessly. The robes were left where they were, so they could be grabbed when they returned.

  Without a word, they all began to walk towards the woods behind the community building. A walk. Abigail wanted to run, but she didn’t. These things were just so they could all get their animal out for an hour and manage it, not play around, not unless they were young.

  They headed deeper into the woods, towards the same clearing they always did. Abigail held back the mental boredom with it. They would mill about, mingle, and then head back, feeling like they reconnected with something. Abigail wouldn’t. She never had. This felt formal and itchy in her doe form.

  It wasn’t like the run with Thomas, James, and Antonio. It wasn’t exhilarating like the chase. It wasn’t even freeing like the day she’d been stalked by the mountain lion.

  It was boring.

  “Abigail,” Dennis called out to her and she stomped a foot to the ground. It was a general ‘please don’t bother me’ but he apparently didn’t catch it. “I wanted to ask if I can have your forgiveness for the other night.”

  “You would need to apologize first,” she retorted.

  “I…uh…yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He sounded like he was mumbling in her head.

  They hit the clearing and Abigail moved towards the sun. “Apology accepted,” she sighed.

  “Would you like to go to dinner sometime? Before you leave?” he asked, edging closer to her. She turned to him and looked over his buck form. He was carrying an eight-point rack and it was mildly impressive, well-balanced and neat. Like real bucks, as the shifter got older, their racks seemed to get bigger. Her father sported eighteen points.

  “No, thank you, Dennis. You aren’t my type,” Abigail told him kindly. “I know our fathers are trying to set us up.”

  “Yeah, but you are pretty.” Dennis’ chuckle rang in her head. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

  She could but she didn’t say that. He could grow up, act like the forty-three-year-old he was and remind the older males that their lives weren’t something others could control. He wandered away without much more being said.

  She continued to roam away from the rest of the Herd, ignoring the mundane conversations. She stepped out of the clearing on the far side and continued to move slowly away. She kept her ears trained for any sound. The bear was patrolling out in the woods and she listened for him. He knew she liked to wander out a bit; she’d done it since she was a child.

  She wasn’t paying attention to the midday sun, though, letting time pass. She knew exactly how far out she could go and stay in range of the Herd for when they called the walk back.

  “Abigail,” the bear greeted her as he roamed closer. She turned to see the black bear coming closer. “It’s almost time to head back.”

  “Thank you, Layton,” she sighed.

  “You don’t sound very happy.” A grunt came from Layton. “What’s on your mind?”

  “Does this feel…enough for you?” she asked softly.

  “No,” he answered immediately. “But I shift on my own and get my own needs met. This is for you all. Not me.”

  “That’s what I thought,” she whispered.

  “You’ve always been more drawn to the wilds than anyone here,” he said gruffly in her head. “This was never enough for you.”

  “It should be.”

  “But it isn’t. Find something that is, Abigail.” Layton didn’t say any more as he strolled away. She followed him, heading back to the main clearing.

  The entire Herd moved as a silent unit, and Abigail couldn’t stop from overhearing the only conversation that started up while they walked back.

  “She’s here for the damn meeting,” one of
the elders groaned. Her father was one of those elders and Abigail moved a little closer.

  “I hate that bitch,” her father replied. “But she’s the new wolf Alpha. We need to get things settled. It’s always like this when a new one pops up. They need to stop fucking killing each other and let us have some peace.”

  Abigail moved back away, out of hearing range. She didn’t need or want to hear about the new wolf Alpha, Heather Davis. She didn’t want to know anything about the Alpha who had nearly been her sister-in-law.

  They made it back to the community building, and Abigail shifted and robed up quickly. On her way in, the scent hit her. The wolves were in the community building.

  Her eyes found them immediately, waiting patiently at the large table where they were all about to eat. Abigail’s eyes drifted over them, looking for any faces she recognized. She found a few.

  Heather Davis stood out first. Ink black hair that cascaded in dark waves. Her eyes were nearly as dark. Next to her was someone Abigail never wanted to see, though: Gavin Davis. He reclined in a plastic chair, looking every bit the arrogant Alpha Abigail knew he was. He wasn’t looking at her, talking to a female wolf on his other side and waving a hand casually about something.

  He was still stunning. He had the same dark, silky hair as his sister, the same dark eyes that reminded her of the night. A model’s face with clear cheekbones, strong jaw, and perfectly arching eyebrows. She’d always wondered what a plain woman like her had done to get a man like him.