by K L King
She blinked slowly. “What? That’s crazy. Just tell me the truth.”
Deacon moved closer to where she sat on the rock. “It’s the truth. Those men in the store were cougar shifters, and they are pissed that you embarrassed them in public. They’ve been tracking you since then, trying to get some kind of revenge. We’ve been keeping an eye on you since that day.”
Iris tried to pull away from him, but he held her tightly, not wanting her to fall from where she was perched. “That doesn’t make any sense. Are you on some kind of drugs? Are you high on something or sick?”
He huffed a laugh. “No, I’m not sick, high, or drunk. I’m fine. I wouldn’t expect you to believe me without proof.”
Iris stilled. “What proof?” Her voice sounded frightened, which pissed off Deacon’s wolf.
“Grey Lake is kind of a safe haven for shifters. There are many different types of shifters that live here peacefully. Bears, foxes, wolves, hawks. Many, if not most, of the people you have seen in town day after day are shifters. There are other small towns and villages like Grey Lake all over the country. This is the only one I’ve lived in, though.”
“I don’t believe it. Why didn’t anyone tell me? It can’t be true.” Iris pulled her arms away from him, hopped off the boulder, and started to walk back down the trail.
“Iris, please,” Deacon begged in a deep voice that was tinged with a growl.
Iris froze and slowly turned around. His wolf was so close that he was sure she was seeing his wolf’s yellow eyes. He let his wolf out a little bit more so that his face was something between human and wolf. His straight white teeth had become longer and pointed. He felt fur erupt all over his cheeks.
“No. It’s not possible,” Iris said, backing up into the trunk of a very large pine tree.
“You still don’t believe it?” Deacon asked in an inhuman voice as he moved closer to her. His hands were now paws covered in pale gray fur. His fingernails were razor-sharp black claws.
She shook her head. “The water. You must have put something in my water, some kind of drug to make me hallucinate.” Iris nodded her head. “I’m just going to rest here until the drug wears off.” She slid down into a seated position as Deacon continued toward her. Iris started to hyperventilate. Her eyes were squeezed shut.
He put both hands on her face and rubbed her cheeks as she continued to pant. He shifted back to an entirely human Deacon. “Shh. It’s OK. You’re safe. I’ll never hurt you.” When she didn’t respond, he said in a firmer voice, “Iris, look at me.”
She slowly opened her eyes and blinked at him. “Human,” she murmured.
He smiled. “Partly human, yes.”
She flinched as if slapped.
“I’m a wolf shifter. I didn’t put anything in your water. I can shift into a wolf form whenever I want. My wolf has yellow eyes and gray fur. I have blue eyes and tan skin in my human form.” He was still smiling at her. “You still don’t believe me?”
“No. It seems impossible. I need to see it to believe it.”
“I can shift and show you.” Deacon dropped his hands from where he still cupped her cheeks and started to back up.
“Please, but not here, though. I want to go home. Please?”
“Anything you want.” When he reached for her hand, she hesitated for a minute before placing her hand in his larger human one.
Chapter 16
They made good time hiking back down to the parking lot. Deacon kept one hand firmly wrapped around Iris’s. He was afraid she would bolt the second he let go. He didn’t want her to get hurt trying to get away from him. He also needed her to stay right by him so he could make sure the cougars didn’t get anywhere near her. He was strangely encouraged that she hadn’t tried to get away from him. She had actually stayed pretty close the whole way down. She smelled afraid, but was it of him or the cougars, or both? He groaned internally. She’s probably going to drive right back to Rhode Island the second she gets back to her car.
As they walked toward the cars, Deacon pulled out his phone and called Heath while still holding tight to Iris’s hand.
“How’s it going?” his alpha asked.
“Not too good. I need a favor,” Deacon asked.
“Yes?”
“Can you have someone come up to the Palmer Trails parking lot and pick up my truck? You have a spare key still, right?”
“I can have someone do that, but do you mind telling me why. Why would you need this? What’s wrong?” Heath asked.
“I promise I’ll tell you very soon, but not right now please.”
“OK, I get it. I’ll send someone for the truck.”
“Thanks a lot.”
Iris had stilled and was staring blankly at the trees around them while Deacon had been speaking with Heath. He ended the call, shoved the phone back in his pocket, and turned to Iris. “Keys?” he asked, holding out his free hand.
She eyed him with a puzzled expression. “What?”
“I need your jeep keys so I can drive us home.” Deacon tried to speak calmly, but the frightened woman had his wolf all riled up. His sentence had ended on a snarl.
Iris seemed to snap out of her fog. “I can drive myself home. I’m fine.” She tried to pull her hand from his once again, but his grip was unyielding.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“So, you’re going to kidnap me? Is that your plan? You’re supposed to be a cop even if you are some kind of animal,” she hissed.
Deacon stared at her in disbelief. He sniffed the air around her. She still smelled scared, but she was also angry. There was something else, too. He sniffed deeper, causing her to outright scowl at him. Her bear! The scent of her bear was stronger than it had been. He had to force his face not to smile. This little bear was tougher than she appeared.
“Are you done sniffing me?”
He tried very hard to keep the grin off his face. “Yes. I’m going to drive us home in your jeep. I’m not sure you’re in any condition to drive right now.” He held his hand out for her keys again.
She laughed. “I’m not the one who thinks he’s a werewolf. I think it’s you that shouldn’t be driving. I think you’re delusional. I’ll drive us.” She walked toward the driver’s seat, or tried to before Deacon yanked her back to him by the hand. He ended up pulling her hard, and she flew into his arms, tight against his chest with an oof!
He gasped. She was tight against him with both her hands on his shoulders. She was staring him right in the eyes, meeting his gaze defiantly. He sniffed again. Her scent had changed a bit. The fear was still there, but there was less of it. He smelled anger, defiance, and a new fragrance—desire. “Oh, shit,” he said quietly as the wolf inside him perked up with interest.
“What is that all about?” she asked angrily. She started chewing her bottom lip nervously, her eyes widening, her pupils dilating.
“What?” Deacon asked. He was distracted by her pink tongue darting out to lick her plump lips as her honey brown eyes gazed into his. She hadn’t tried to pull out of his hold.
“Pretty mate.” The sound of his wolf’s voice echoed within him. He shook his head, trying to take full control of his senses from the animal.
“Stop sniffing me. I never saw you sniff anyone before, and now it’s all you can do. And let me go.” She weakly tried to pull away.
Deacon grasped her by the waist. “I’m not kidnaping you. I’m going to drive you back to my parents. They’ll help me explain all of this to you.”
“I thought your parents were dead. Or was that a lie?” she asked angrily.
“I meant the Jensens, my foster parents. I call them my parents now. They’ll help me explain about shifters. We can show you. I think that’s the only way you’ll believe me.” He hadn’t moved. He was still clasping her to his chest. Iris was so close. He breathed in her scent; he couldn’t seem to stop doing it. She smelled so good, like vanilla and cinnamon and home.
What? Deacon jumped back, but sti
ll holding her snugly, caused her to fall on top of him, her arms thrown around his neck.
He managed to remain upright, just barely. His wolf was growling in his head. “Mate. Ours. Protect.” Deacon snapped out of it at the last word. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, slowing his heart that was beating like crazy with Iris so near. He opened his eyes and quickly scanned the area around them. He was so distracted by Iris that he forgot about the cougars. He needed to get her out of here. He knew he could protect her against three cougars, but who knew if there were more of them watching. He couldn’t trust his instincts right now. His mind was totally focused on the beauty in his arms. He pleaded, “Please, Iris, let me drive us to the Jensens. I’ll have May meet us there. We’ll just talk. If you still don’t believe me after that, I’ll have May escort you wherever you want to go.”
Iris studied him as if trying to ferret out any lies. She must have realized he was being honest. “OK, you can drive us there. I’ll listen to your parents and May, and then I’ll go home.”
“Thank you,” he replied, breathing a deep sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure why he was relieved. She was going to find out she had moved into a town full of monsters, and he was one of the worst. Once she learned she was a shifter herself, she would probably run away screaming from Grey Lake to never return. “Mate. Ours,” his wolf whined inside him. Deacon shook his head again. Stubborn wolf, she’s not our mate. We can protect her, but she’s not ours, he tried to tell the beast inside of him.
“Not yet, but soon,” came the reply.
Chapter 17
Iris tried to calm herself down while she sat in the passenger seat of her jeep. This cannot be real. Her body was going haywire. From the moment Deacon had grabbed her hand, her whole body began tingling. She was almost itchy, as if she was crawling out of her skin. He had lifted her into the passenger seat of the jeep, buckled her in, and closed the door for her while she’d let him, as if she were in a trance. This was crazy. She didn’t need some Viking treating her like an invalid. She was a strong person. Well, she was getting stronger than she’d been. “You like him,” a voice echoed in her head. She flinched. She must be so tired she was hearing things.
As soon as he had climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine, Deacon grasped her hand again and hadn’t let go. He had been rubbing her hand with his thumb almost absentmindedly. She should pull her hand away since he had practically kidnapped her, but she couldn’t make herself do it. He was warm and safe and strong. “Ours,” the same voice crooned within her. It was a female with a softer and huskier tone than she had. She jolted upright in her seat. Where the fuck had that come from? Maybe she was going crazy like her mom. Her heart started to race. It was getting harder to breathe.
“What’s the matter? Are you OK? You smell really scared right now,” Deacon said with concern written all over his features.
“I don’t know. Yes—no—maybe,” she answered quietly. She rubbed her forehead with her free hand, the one he didn’t have in a death grip. She turned to him. “Maybe I’m scared because someone who I thought was a law-abiding policeman just kidnapped me after telling me he’s a werewolf.”
“Shifter.”
“What?”
“I’m not a werewolf. We don’t call ourselves werewolves. We’re shifters. People will get pissed if you call them werewolves. I want to know why you suddenly got a lot more scared while sitting right there,” he said, nodding in the direction of her seat.
“I’m not calling anyone anything because I don’t believe any of it,” Iris said, turning away from him to stare out the window.
Deacon let out a soft growl. “Iris, what just scared the shit out of you?”
“It’s nothing. It was just…a voice…in my head. Just further proof that I must be going crazy, or I’m asleep and this is all a dream.”
“Whose voice?” he asked.
“I don’t know, some woman. Her voice was soft, kind of deep, throaty-like. I’ve never heard her before.” She started crying.
Deacon erratically pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road, unbuckled her seatbelt, and lifted her onto his lap before she knew what was happening. He wrapped her up in his arms, tucking her head into his chest.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled, pulling her head up from where he held it against him.
“I need to stop you from crying. Please stop it.” His eyes were wide and wild.
“Why do you care?”
“Because it’s making my wolf crazy. He doesn’t want to see you so sad. He’s getting— I mean, I’m getting really upset.”
She took a deep breath, trying and failing to will her tears to stop, and gazed up at him. She jerked back slightly, still in his arms. “Your eyes. Yellow again.”
“I know. My wolf is close to the surface because he’s worried about you. Please, why are you crying?”
“I just got scared because of the voice. I think it means I’m going crazy like my mom.”
“You said your mom…”
“I know,” she said firmly. “I told you she was a drunk. She is, but the reason she started drinking so much was the voice she kept hearing in her head. The voice kept telling her crazy things. She told me one time when I visited her in rehab that the only way to stop the voice was to drink or take pills. She begged me to bring her liquor. She was hysterical, she was so sick. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t help her by hurting her so I left her there crying.” Iris was still crying, but it had lapsed into hiccups at this point.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re crazy, though. I think you’ve been through a lot today. Just try to rest a bit. We’ll be there soon.” He lifted her back onto her seat and buckled her up.
She must be losing her mind. It was the only explanation. The truth was that instead of, or in spite of, being confused and frightened by the strange turn of events that afternoon, she was aroused—really, really aroused. Wetness had pooled between her legs as soon as Deacon had held her against him. When she had toppled over onto him, she thought she was going to orgasm right there on the spot. She was safe and strong while in his arms, and she liked it.
Something must be wrong with her. She should be terrified of this man. He was a monster or a crackpot, and either way, she should not be thinking of climbing on top of him. Iris shook her head then closed her eyes to rest as Deacon drove on.
“We’re here,” Deacon said almost twenty minutes later.
She opened her eyes and rubbed the remnants of her tears away.
They pulled up in front of a large pale gray well-lit colonial house with dark blue shutters. The yard was well maintained with several varieties of flowers along both sides of the stone walkway that led to the front door. He parked and was at the passenger side door helping her out before she had time to think. He kept her hand firmly in his as they walked down the long driveway toward the front of the house.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about your mom being good with flowers.” Iris stopped walking, yanked her hand from Deacon’s vice grip, and bent down to inspect a cluster of blue hydrangeas planted along the edge of the lawn. Deacon crouched down next to her. In spite of the oncoming darkness, the light from the lanterns on the property allowed her to see clearer than she would have thought possible.
“Mom—Annie that is—will love to hear that. She puts a lot of time into these babies. She has a green thumb that none of her kids have inherited.” Deacon chuckled softly. “May has tried so many times to keep plants alive, but she could kill a cactus.”
“Wait, do they even know we’re coming?” Iris gulped as she and Deacon both stood up and walked the remaining steps to the front door.
He nodded. “I called Heath when you were asleep in the jeep. He explained to them. They’re sort of experienced doing this.”
“What do you mean? Doing what?” A small tremble ran through her body.
“Explaining to people about shifters.”
He knocked at the door and then opened it upo
n hearing a deep voice emit, “Come on in. We’re in the kitchen.” Deacon led her through the house to a bright, open-concept kitchen made for a chef.
A petite woman with pale blond shoulder-length hair and a huge smile was stirring a saucepan on one of the burners and giggling while a massive man with graying dark brown hair was cutting up vegetables for a salad on the island. The woman put down her spoon, wiped her hands on a dish towel, and walked over to where they stood. “Well, finally we get to meet the woman who is keeping us stocked in donuts!” said the woman warmly. She gathered Iris in a big hug. “I’m Annie and this is Ted. We’re very happy to meet you.”
Iris blushed and answered quietly, “I’m happy to meet you, too. I’m sorry to barge in on you like this. We were hiking. I must look a fright.” She gestured to her sweat and tear-stained shirt and hiking boots.
“Don’t worry about it. Heath told us you had quite a scare today. We were just making dinner when he called so we hope you two don’t mind eating before we talk business,” Ted said in a deep, but not unkind, voice.
“Business?” Iris asked.
“Shifter business,” Annie said in a cheery voice. “Why don’t you two grab a seat at the counter, and we can chat a bit while we finish up here?” Annie suggested.
“Can we give you a hand with anything?” Iris searched around for something to do. She didn’t believe any of this shifter nonsense, but she could be polite to these people.
“No, we’re just about done. We’re just waiting on May and Heath,” Annie replied.
“Do you have a bathroom I could use to wash up?” Iris asked timidly.
“I’ll show you,” Ted said and led her down the hall as Deacon moved closer to speak to Annie.
Iris gasped when she saw her reflection. Her braided hair was tangled like a bird’s nest. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were tear-stained. She was a total mess. She washed her face and hands and managed to re-braid her hair. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she looked and felt better as she walked back out to the kitchen.