SHIFT (Mackenzie Grey #1)

by Karina Espinosa

  “I don’t know. I feel like she’s about to take over me, but she’s too strong, it’s suffocating.”

  He grunted. “You need to let her out—”

  “No!” I yelled. “Do not take advantage of me now,” I said through my teeth.

  He tensed.

  “If you can’t help me then give me some space, you arrogant bastard.”

  His chilling blue eyes narrowed. “Get some rest, I’ll wake you in the morning, is that enough space?” he said as he turned around, walked to the door and slammed it shut. Leaving me alone and cold.

  Just breathe.

  What was going on?

  My neck was stiff when I woke up the next morning. After much tossing and turning to the point of contemplating calling Jonah, I was finally able to fall asleep to calm my wolf down. Sebastian left me when he clearly saw that I needed help. Jonah wouldn’t have left me. Ugh, I shouldn’t be comparing the two of them. I should be trying to forget them. It’s only fair. Once all of this was said and done, I’d be gone. After the next full moon, I’d be leaving—I didn’t know where but it would be away from them and toward my freedom.

  Sebastian barged into the room and knocked my feet off the sofa.

  “Get up,” he commanded. I opened one eye and starred at him incredulously.

  He loomed over me and I felt a pinch of fear. I had to remember how dangerous he really was—a natural predator—I couldn’t let any attraction with either of them get in the way, because sooner or later, they’d get what they want.

  “What time is it?” I said with sleep in my voice.

  “Six in the morning.”

  I groaned. “Seriously? I just shut my eyes!”

  “The library will be opening soon. We need to go and meet the others.”

  I stared at him blankly. “It’s the day after Christmas, and Canadian Boxing Day…I doubt the library is going to open today.”

  “Mackenzie, let’s go.”

  Before I could respond, he was out of the room. I reached for my bag and dug for my phone. I had shut it off last night to conserve battery but it didn’t do much—it blinked alive at thirty-two percent.

  After I rinsed my mouth and splashed some water on my face in the bathroom, I met Sebastian in the middle of Astor Hall. His domineering presence shrank the normally spacious room.

  He didn’t say anything to me when I stood in front of him, he just turned around and walked toward the entrance. I silently followed not wanting to stir the pot, but this was getting awkward.

  “Where are we going?” I asked once we were walking down 5th Avenue.

  “To meet the others,” he clipped. He was being short with me but, whatever, I didn’t have anything left in me to argue. I was tired. If anything, I should be the one who was pissed off. I replayed what went down last night and it made me want to deck him in the jaw. A privilege? Get real! This wasn’t a VH1 reality show. I wasn’t looking to fall in love with someone who thought of themselves as important.

  The walk back to Central Park was quiet and the only people on the streets were early morning runners. We met back at Strawberry Fields and the rest of our dysfunctional group was already waiting for us.

  Amy, ran up to me as if I were a prisoner of war who was just being released.

  “I missed you,” she said. Her voice muffled by her scarf that was tightly wrapped around her. I hugged her back just as fiercely.

  “Me too, Aims,” I said. We probably looked like a pair of lesbians but I didn’t care. I really needed the comfort of my friend after last night.

  “Did he seduce you?” she whispered. Or at least she tried, but I heard Bernard snicker somewhere behind her.

  If it wasn’t so cold, I would have blushed, but my cheeks were already rosy.

  “No,” I said and didn’t elaborate. She caught my drift and dropped the subject.

  Once we let go of each other, I nodded at Bernard and Jonah, who was looking uncomfortable. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking anywhere but my direction.

  “So…where to next?” I asked and looked at Sebastian. He was crouched down on the ground and touching a patch of grass.

  “It’s faint, but I’m catching a familiar scent,” he said with his back to us.

  “Jacksons?” I could see the hope in Jonah’s eyes.

  “Yes, but someone else’s. I think it’s his captor.”

  “And it’s familiar?” Bernard asked as he approached Sebastian.

  “Yes. But I can’t place it.”

  “I don’t smell anything, boss.”

  Sebastian sniffed a few more times and then his face contorted in disgust.

  “It’s wolfs bane,” he said and backed away.

  “No wonder,” Jonah mumbled and ran his hands up and down his very tired face.

  “What’s going on?” I wasn’t following.

  Sebastian ignored my question, so Bernard caught me up to speed.

  “Wolf’s bane is our kryptonite. It can’t kill us, but it can subdue us easily. The only strange part about this is that it isn’t grown everywhere and definitely not here in the states. Our mystery person must be a foreigner or have some really good connections.”

  “Have you ever been affected by wolf’s bane?” I looked up to him and his face turned grave.

  “Yes and it’s worse than death itself. Imagine being paralyzed with fire running through your veins—that’s what it does to us.” His bushy red brows furrowed and I wanted to comfort him from the bad memory he was recalling.

  I touched his arm and looked up at the lumberjack giant. “I’m sorry,” I said. He gave me a sad smile and patted my hand.

  “There’s only one person I know of with access to it,” Jonah said quietly and we all turned to him. His hands were shaking, but it wasn’t fear—when I looked at his face, it was anger.

  “Who?” Sebastian barked.

  “Caleb,” Jonah said through clenched teeth. His hands fisted at his sides, I felt the waves of rage that radiated off him.

  My eyes bulged out. “Caleb?!” I shrieked. “As in the werewolf that’s part of the Pack—one of the captains?”

  Jonah nodded tightly.

  “That’s a very serious accusation,” Sebastian said.

  Jonah’s eyes snapped toward him. “I’m positive. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. You know Caleb transferred from the European Summit.”

  “Are you insinuating that there is a breach between the Summits?”

  “No. I just think Caleb is a power hungry bastard who would do anything to be in the good graces of the Summit,” Jonah paused and took a deep breath. “Including kidnapping one of his own.”

  “I don’t understand,” I whispered. “How would kidnaping Jackson help him gain power?”

  “If he finds him, then he’s a hero,” Amy said beside me.

  “Okay, I get that, but what about the vampire and the Fae? How do they factor into this?”

  “Maybe he wants to be the one to bring an alliance between the three of us?” Jonah guessed but I think he was reaching by now. Caleb did look scary with that slash across his face but could he really do this? And then it hit me.

  “Shit!” I expelled and all four sets of eyes looked my way. “He gave the wolf some weird tangerine tea. When I smelt it, I lost my balance going down the stairs.”

  “I remember that!” Amy said as she covered her mouth in shock.

  The three werewolves stared at me—motionless.

  “Hello? I just said that creep gave me the bane, man!” It sounded like an STD.

  Bernard cleared his throat. “Mackenzie, if he did, you would have been paralyzed for at least 24 hours. You wouldn’t be this active.”

  “Jonah, I don’t want to accuse anyone, especially a Pack captain, without any substantial proof,” Sebastian said.

  “How much more proof do you need? Kenzie just described it without even knowing what it was!”

  “It must have been something else, she’s fine! And you know this is not
how Pack law works, Jonah.”

  “Fuck that! The bastard took my brother!”

  “How do you think it will go,” Bernard started and then his eyes trailed over to me, “if we tell the Pack that Mackenzie got a whiff of wolfs bane from Caleb? It’ll be mayhem. After yesterday’s events, they’re going to want to tear into her. They won’t trust her.”

  Jonah’s face fell.

  “I don’t have to go and they don’t have to know it was me. You guys can go back to the warehouse and Amy and I can hide somewhere. New York is a pretty big place, no one will find me,” I said and the faces everyone was giving me told me all I needed to know. They weren’t having it. I needed a full-time babysitter. Well isn’t this swell…

  “Do you know where Caleb lives?” Bernard asked Jonah.

  “I thought everyone stayed at the warehouse?”

  Bernard snorted. “Heck no. Only a few live there, like Bash and Jonah, but we can choose. The only ones obligated to live at the warehouse are the unmated Lunas.”

  My insides stirred with fury, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “That’s bullshit!” I exclaimed and the three werewolves turned to me in confusion.

  “What?”

  “How can you force them to live there?” How could they not understand how barbaric that was? And mainly, how could they expect me to want to join the Pack if I’d be stripped of my right to live wherever I wanted?

  “It’s just Pack law, Mackenzie. It’s not a big deal,” Bernard said calmly and I wanted to throttle him. I was shaking from anger and I couldn’t help but think about Blu. Poor Blu…

  Amy grabbed my wrist and I peered down at her. She mouthed, not now, and it took everything in me to calm down.

  “He has a flat in downtown Brooklyn. It’s where I saw the wolf’s bane.”

  “What did he say when you saw it?” Sebastian asked.

  “He doesn’t know that I did. He’d left to pick up Chinese food downstairs and I was looking for the bathroom. I found a room filled to the brim with that shit growing.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Honestly, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Now that I think about it, it just seems stupid of me. But the next time I went to his place, the room was empty.” He ran his hands through his hair and I could see the wheels in his head spinning. He was blaming himself. “I figured he might have been growing them for my father. I know he likes to keep some in hand.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I said but he didn’t respond, much less look at me. “I get a weird vibe from Caleb, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him.”

  “Bad vibes isn’t proof. We need to find the wolfs bane and if he no longer holds it at his flat, then we need to figure out where,” Sebastian pointed out.

  “We can check public records to see if he owns any property,” Amy suggested and the three wolves stared at her. It only made me chuckle. Did these guys know anything about the outside world?

  “That’s, uh,” Jonah started, “that’s a good idea. But, where do we check?”

  Amy and I exchanged a look. Poor guys, they were so lost.

  “A computer,” I said, holding back a laugh. “The libraries are most likely closed so we need to find an internet café or head back to our apartment.”

  We all stood awkwardly, avoiding each other’s eyes, as we thought about where to go. My gaze traveled over a set of bushes and I froze. I recognized something that was all too coincidental to not be the same.

  Jonah sighed. “I think we may need Lucian’s help.”

  “The vampire?!” Amy blurted out.

  “Guys,” I mumbled as I followed my line of sight.

  “Yes. He has connections that could be of use and since one of his bloodsuckers is missing, he wouldn’t think twice about helping us,” Jonah said. “At least I hope.”

  “You guys might want to see this,” I said again, but everyone was ignoring me.

  “I don’t know, asking Lucian for help is literally making a deal with the devil,” Bernard contemplated.

  “Guys shut up!” I yelled as I crouched in front of the bushes and carefully picked up what caught my attention, forgetting about proper evidence protocol. “She wasn’t lying, she wasn’t crazy.”

  “What’s wrong, Kenz?” Amy asked from behind.

  I lifted the all too familiar piece of skin and showed it to them.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s skin,” I whispered as everything started to click into place. “We need to head down to the station STAT. I spoke to a fairy a couple days ago, her son was kidnapped. Her son must be Branwell. I found skin just like this outside her apartment building. We need to talk to her!”

  “Mackenzie, slow down. What are you talking about?”

  I yelled in frustration. How could they not understand me?

  “I told you I’m a criminal justice major, and I intern at Major Cases over at 1PP. The kidnapper is a shape shifter!”

  “There’s no way you could know that,” Sebastian argued.

  “Which is why I’m telling you we need to get down to the station. We need to talk to my superiors.”

  “Wait, they know you’re a werewolf?” Jonah exclaimed.

  “No! But they’re holding Jane Hancock in a mental institute because they think she’s crazy. Can you guys just trust me?”

  We all looked at each other and I watched as they wondered if I had lost my mind. But I knew I was right. Jane Hancock knew what I was the moment she saw me. I brushed her off as if she were a looney and didn’t think for a second that what she was saying was true. Knowing what I was, I didn’t believe in the impossible. We lost days because I was reckless.

  “Whether you guys believe me or not, it doesn’t matter, but I’m heading out. This is a break in our case. I know I’m on to something,” I said as I turned around toward the exit of the park.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “He did what?!” Amy exclaimed and I put my hand over her mouth.

  We were a couple blocks away from the station when Amy and I slowed down and walked a few feet behind the wolves. The tension around us was heavy with the bomb I had dropped just an hour ago. Sebastian was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea and Jonah just wanted revenge. I couldn’t blame him, it’s his twin brother.

  With Amy’s arm looped in mine, we dragged our feet to get some privacy. The guys were talking in hushed tones between each other and I figured this was the best time to catch Amy up on last night.

  “Wolves have sensitive hearing, or did you forget?”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  “It’s no big deal, but Amy, I don’t know what to do. This has me freaked out, which is stupid because, why should I be scared about two hot guys liking me? Gosh, I’m such a loser.”

  She stopped walking and faced me. “No you’re not, Kenz. This is already a difficult time, and these guys are just making things worse. It’s not your fault, it’s theirs. Do you want me to set them straight? You know I will,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

  I chuckled. “Nah, it’s cool, shorty.” She slapped her gloved hand on my arm.

  “Hey! I told you not to call me that!” she giggled. “Okay, Kenz, but seriously, who are you diggin’ more?” She wiggled her pierced eyebrows up and down.

  “No way! I’m not answering that,” I started walking again. “They’re both…different. But it doesn’t matter who I like, we’re leaving,” I whispered.

  “I know. Now what’s the deal with this shape shifting junk?”

  “Amy it’s crazy. I can’t believe I didn’t catch on to this sooner. Michaels and I had a case on Wednesday and this lady was a total whack job. She actually told Garrett she was Fae. I thought she had some screws missing, but it was a cry for help.”

  “Kenz, I know how you work. Don’t blame yourself.”

  I nodded but didn’t say anything else.

  We congregated across the street from the 14 story, One Police Plaza build
ing to come up with a plan. I opened up my sensitive hearing, and looked out for Garrett’s voice which surprisingly enough, was easy to find.

  Anderson, I want that report on my desk before I take my next breath!

  The man needed a valium.

  “Jonah and Bern, I want you to compel the guard at the gate to let us in and keep the attention of whoever is at the front desk. Mackenzie and I will find her supervisor and compel him to give us the report on the kidnapping. Keep an eye on Amy,” Sebastian barked orders, distracting me from my snooping.

  “Why compel so many people? I have access to the building and if I just talk to Garrett, he’ll tell me what I need to know,” I said.

  “We don’t have time to experiment, we do this my way, Mackenzie. Instead of risking whether your boss gives you the information we need or not, we can just compel him. It’s foolproof.”

  Did he not get it? “We cannot just go invading people’s rights!”

  “I don’t care, Mackenzie Grey. We do not abide by human laws. This conversation is over.” Sebastian brushed past me and crossed the street with Jonah and Bernard trailing right behind him.

  My nostrils flared and fists tightened as I watched their retreating figures. How could they be so nonchalant about controlling someone that way? It shouldn’t matter what our species was, rights were rights, and we’re taking them away from innocent people.

  “Kenz,” Amy whispered, “it’s okay. They’re not doing anything wrong, there’s always an exception.”

  “There shouldn’t be, Amy! Aren’t you still upset about them compelling you? I know I am!”

  “Of course, but in some twisted way I kind of understand. You didn’t object when they had to compel Ollie. Things aren’t as black and white,” she said. Her flaming red hair blown across her face. “This isn’t our world, Kenz.”

  “That was different!” With narrowed eyes, I watched my best friend and realized how much being around the Pack was affecting her moral compass. She never would have said that before. I understood things weren’t clear cut, but there had to be rules—boundaries—that shouldn’t be crossed.

  We crossed the street together and passed the gate as Bernard compelled the guard. Once inside the building, Amy stood by Jonah who was talking with the female officer at the front desk and I followed Sebastian who was waiting by the elevators.