by Amelia Jade
With the mood right, including a thick cloud cover that had rolled in during the afternoon, Gray set out into the town, moving at a slow jog from the embassy to the south side of town. It wasn’t far, and even at his easy mile-eating lope he crossed the distance inside of ten minutes, taking the shortest route, cutting through several residential neighborhoods instead of sticking to the main streets.
By the time he arrived, night had well and truly fallen, and much of the area was dark. The buildings were on the outskirts of town, and to the south of them was forest, thick and impenetrable at this time of day. To a human perhaps, he thought, stepping over the theoretical boundary of the town and calling upon his bear.
Power surged through his limbs and concentrated in his core as he opened up the mental connection between him and his beast, letting it rush out from where he kept it contained to spread through his body. Bones split and enlarged, doubling and then tripling in size in the span of a heartbeat. Fur of a vivid auburn brown burst from his skin, covering his body in a thick protective coating. Mass appeared as if from nowhere, thickening his size over and over again until he weighed close to two tons, over twice the size of the average wild bear.
A snout protruded from his face as he fell onto all fours, the ground shaking slightly from the impact, the final piece of the change. To Gray it had felt like a handful of seconds had passed, when in reality he’d gone from human to two thousand pounds of bear in the span of less than two seconds. The speed of it all never ceased to marvel him.
Giving his massive head a shake, he focused on the mission at hand and began to test the air. Trying to identify an individual human scent this close to the packed ranks of units, each of which held an individual in it, would have been a pointless exercise. Gray would have no way of telling if one of them was his quarry or not. So instead, he didn’t look for anything human.
He looked for bear.
His beast ambled around the tall grasses at the edge of the forest and then into the trees themselves, patrolling, trying to pick up the scent. Nothing leapt out at him, no signs of someone who had perhaps set up shop nearby and was moving in and out of the forest to stalk the women nearby.
Gray had just come out of the forest when it happened. He happened to be looking up, his head swinging from left to right, just as a shape detached itself from one building and went darting across an open space toward another. The bear shifter froze, muscles quivering as he tried to chase after his prey.
That would have been a mistake, however. Even in his bear form, the other shifter—if it was indeed the mystery man he was seeking—would be able to outrun him and lose him There was just too much open ground for Gray to have to cover, and too many areas for the other shifter to lose himself.
Crouching low to the ground, he willed his bear back into his mind, returning his body to its human form with nothing more than a mental grumble from the beast. It knew better than to make an audible noise. There were no cars out here, and the forest, even though it was awake with the creatures of the night, wasn’t loud enough to cover something like a bear’s growl from the sensitive hearing of another shifter.
I’ve got you now, Gray thought as he slithered forward through the long grass, sneaking up on the stalker like a predator with its prey. His eyes were only on the meal now, getting as close to it as he could before he made his move. One chance was likely all he was going to get. If Gray screwed up and the mystery man made his escape, the odds were slim that he would come back once he knew the other shifters had found him.
The other shifter disappeared between two more buildings and Gray went after him, closing as quickly as he could. The night was young, and if he could apprehend the man now, he’d still be able to catch Kelly before she went to bed, and perhaps spend some more time with her.
That thought spurred him on some more, and Gray moved along between buildings. The back of each unit was the same: a pathway to one side coming from around the front, with a small grass area, separated by the path between buildings. Pausing at the corner of one building, he slowly poked his head around the corner.
He froze. His quarry was at the front of the unit, less than fifty feet away. Luckily his attention was focused forward, or else he would have seen Gray and the chase would have been on. Ducking back around the corner, Gray sucked in a silent breath and prepared to go after him. With the element of surprise Gray could easily be two or three steps around the corner before the other shifter had time to react.
That was all he would need.
Steeling himself, he stood.
The bedroom window on the unit across from him opened and light spilled out as the curtain was pulled back.
“Hey!” a woman yelled, looking at him. “You can’t be here! I’m calling the police! Stay right there!”
Gray cursed and ran around the corner. As he’d suspected, the other shifter had bolted at the first sign of noise. He was far more on edge than Gray, and knew he would be detained if caught.
So much for surprise.
He saw the other man sprinting down the little gravel roadway that wound around the front of all the units, and went in pursuit. The lead was great, however, and his quarry surprisingly fleet of foot. Gray was no slouch himself though, and his booted feet crunched down hard on the gravel as he went after his man.
“Stop!” he shouted once, not really expecting it to help.
It didn’t.
Helping the unknown shifter run faster was definitely not a help. Gray raced after him as fast as he could, but he was being forced to react, not act, and it paid off. Before they’d even made it halfway through the maze of buildings Gray had completely lost him.
“Shit,” he muttered, coming to a halt.
Droplets of rain were beginning to fall. Not hard, but enough that mixed with the hundreds of other scents, he couldn’t pick up his foe’s trail. Angry at himself for not identifying it earlier, he kicked at the ground, stones spraying up from the gravel.
“Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he cursed over and over again, furious at himself. Identifying a scent was the first damn thing he should have done!
Rain came down harder, and he knew it was washing away any hope of him picking it up.
Not willing to go back to the embassy and admit defeat, he looked around, taking stock of his location and pulling up a mental map of the place. A red dot pulsed in his brain, a “you are here” sort of thing. He noted his location in reference to Kelly’s, and headed off to her unit, letting the rain clear away his frustration. He wanted to be in a good mood when he arrived, so that she’d ask him to stay.
Who knew, maybe she’d even let him stay the night.
Chapter Fifteen
Kelly
There was a sudden knock at her door.
She jumped, startled by the noise. With a flick of the remote she paused the television, glad for advances in technology that allowed her to deal with such interruptions to a good show.
The power went out while she was halfway to the door, killing the television and her paused show.
“Really?” she asked, looking at the sky. “Was that really necessary? What did I do?”
The power came back on. Her television show did not.
With a defeated sigh she reached the door and pulled it open. It was later than normal, but Gray hadn’t told her he was going to stop by today either, so she hadn’t been expecting him. It didn’t matter; she was happy to see him at almost any time, as long as she wasn’t sleeping. Then he would be in a lot of trouble. A big smile on her face, she pulled open the door.
It wasn’t Gray. The smile died as Jacen walked inside, rain droplets falling from his shirt to splatter on the floor.
“Uh, hi,” he said lamely. “Can I come in? It’s raining.”
“I guess I don’t have much choice in the matter,” she said, stepping back out of the way so he could close the door.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, stepping back and giving him a long look.
After he’d arrived the first time, Kelly had let him use her shower and had washed his clothing for him. It looked like he hadn’t done a thing to keep clean since. Dirt was everywhere, and his lungs were rising and falling rapidly.
“Yeah, sorry about the unexpected arrival,” he said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to just dump it on you. But I was nearby and thought I’d stop in to see how you were, how the baby is, things like that.”
“It’s been nearly a week. No change,” she said, making plain her unhappiness at the late, unplanned arrival. “The next big change will be when I give birth. That’s still a few months away.”
Jacen nodded. “Okay.” He looked around, afraid to meet her eyes.
“What else?” she asked, her patience already wearing thin.
Kelly hadn’t expected to see Jacen again so soon. She’d barely had time to truly think about what his being alive meant, and his request to be involved with the baby’s life once it was born. It had all come on so suddenly, she was still processing the fact that he was alive.
She wanted to seek a second opinion on her thoughts on the issue before telling him her answer. Mainly, she wanted Erika’s opinion. But her best friend had been too busy to sit down and have the serious chat necessary. They’d planned to get together in a few days, after a flurry of work was finished on the house she and Harden were building together. Erika had been so busy, Kelly hadn’t even told her what it was she needed to talk about.
Nor had she told Gray. Things had been going well with him, and she wanted to keep it that way. But it was still so new, she had no idea how he was going to react to hearing that the biological father to her child was still alive, and now wanted to be involved in raising the child. Hopefully he was happy and supportive of whatever she chose, but Kelly wasn’t sure. Things like that can bring out the darker nature of people. She’d seen it before. The last thing Kelly wanted to do was to unleash the darkness she’d seen lurking in Gray. Not until she better understood what it was.
“I was wondering, if, uh, if you’d had time to think,” he said at last, interrupting her thoughts on the subject.
“Not enough to come to a decision,” she said bluntly. “It’s not something I ever expected to have happen, and I want to make sure I come to the right decision.”
Jacen nodded. “I understand. I was gone for so long, it’s tough to just bring me back into your life. You weren’t ready for that, and I kind of surprised you by showing up out of the blue.”
Kelly nodded, but there was something in the way he was speaking that set her at ease. Something she was missing. It was like they were talking about two different subjects, yet using the same words. He hadn’t ever really been “there,” in the sense that he would be coming “back” into her life. Back at the facility where she’d conceived the child, once it was confirmed she was pregnant, Jacen had sort of faded away, into the background. She’d seen him here or there, and they’d exchange words and pleasantries, but that was about it. There was no lingering connection between them.
“But I’m here now,” he said, gaining confidence somehow.
Perhaps he was misinterpreting her nod as confirmation of something. Kelly wasn’t sure. What she did know was that she needed to put a stop to things, before he got a crazy idea in his head.
“Now we can be together, and raise the child properly.” Jacen smiled. “Maybe we can even give them some brothers or sisters.”
Like that.
“Whoa,” she said, holding up both hands. “Full-stop, Jacen. Emergency brake time. Back right up. I never said anything about us being together. All we talked about was you being involved in the child’s life. Not mine.”
He looked flustered. Kelly hadn’t told him about Gray when he’d shown up, because she hadn’t wanted to deal with it. Now though, she was regretting not telling anyone. There is no way it could have been any worse than this. At least if she’d told him from the start she was seeing someone, he wouldn’t have gotten the crazy idea into his brain that she should be with him!
Then again, if Jacen were delusional, telling him that she had a…whatever she and Gray were, might not be the best idea either. For all she knew Jacen might overreact in any number of ways. Things could go very poorly if he found out about Gray in the wrong manner. Perhaps then it was best to keep Gray hidden and deal with this herself.
“Look, Jacen. I understand that we were paired up at the Institute facility. That we had sex several times. I’ll even stroke your ego and tell you it wasn’t terrible. But there was no connection between us. Nothing like that. You practically disappeared after I was confirmed to be pregnant!”
“I didn’t want to,” he protested. “They made me.”
Kelly saw the truth etched in his gaunt features. “Be that as it may,” she said. “I still wasn’t what I would call romantically interested in you.”
“But for the child,” he said immediately, the line coming so fast it could only be rehearsed.
She sighed and prepared to let him down as gently as she could. But before that could happen, the door shuddered slightly as someone knocked on it.
Jacen’s eyes grew hooded and narrow as his faced closed down. “Who is that, Kelly?”
Shit.
It was Gray. It could only be Gray. Nobody besides him—and Jacen, apparently—would come calling this late into the evening.
“Uh.” It was as lame as she knew it sounded.
“Why is someone knocking on your door this late?”
The sound came again, followed by a muffled voice. “Kelly?”
It was Gray.
Jacen, looming large and angry, waited between her and the door. He made no move to allow her to get back, and something about her body language told her she shouldn’t try it either.
“Open the door,” she said quietly, resigning herself to the inevitable. It was going to happen, whether she wanted it to or not it seemed.
“Who is it?”
“I said open the door.” In no mood to play games, Kelly glared at him.
Jacen shook his head. “Who is at your door at this hour?”
Gray knocked again.
“Open it.”
“No.”
Something inside her snapped. Anger at Jacen’s presumptiveness, angry pregnancy hormones, or maybe just the sheer rage at the two men and the power for interrupting her television. Whatever it was, it coalesced into a ball of pure fury that she hurled at Jacen.
“I SAID OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!” she screamed, feeling herself shaking as she unleashed on him.
The door opened from the inside and from the outside at almost the same instant. Gray stumbled forward while Jacen took a step back. Then the two of them came to a halt. Jacen stared daggers at Gray, his body language indicating he wished to try and rip the other man apart.
Gray’s eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them, and while she’d thought the anger was bad enough, what blossomed there was even worse. Betrayal ripped through Gray’s features as he erroneously put two and two together, assuming that she was also with Jacen, a fact that was just blatantly untrue.
“Gray, Jacen. Jacen, Gray,” she said, making the introductions.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jacen asked, inhaling deeply as he stood up to his full height.
Gray, not intimidated, stood still. “You first.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “This ought to be good.”
“It doesn’t matter who I am,” Jacen returned. “You need to go now. Kelly and I were having a talk.”
“You know what,” Gray said conversationally, as if he wasn’t confronting a huge pile of angry muscle that happened to be a shifter. “No. I think I’m going to stay. I’d love to hear this explanation from Kelly. It ought to be fantastic. Amazing, really. Hilarious, perhaps. I don’t really know. But I think I’m going to hear it.”
Kelly began to talk, but Jacen’s outstretched hand in her face silenced her. Not because she was doing as he’d commanded, but out of sheer shock that he w
ould even try to do such a thing.
“Go away,” Jacen said, leaning toward Gray slightly.
Kelly, despite her fury at Jacen, just sighed. It was coming, she couldn’t deny it. Why bother, really? There was nothing she could do. They were going to do whatever they wanted regardless of her.
“No,” Gray replied. “I think you need to step outside. Kelly looks distressed.”
“I do, do I?” she muttered to herself. Then, deciding to give it one more try, she spoke up louder. “Can you two knock it off so I can talk?”
Jacen shook his head. “He needs to leave. Now.”
“Make me,” Gray said petulantly, obviously not afraid or willing to give in.
Jacen snarled and his hands went for Gray’s throat. The two of them tumbled backward until Gray got a knee between them and flicked Jacen backward off the steps to her upper level unit.
Kelly screamed in frustration, but there was nothing she could do. Gray went after Jacen, leaping over the railing while she yelled at them to stop.
It didn’t help.
Chapter Sixteen
Gray
He watched Jacen sail down the stairs, hitting the third from last one and rolling onto the front lawn. Without a care he leapt after him. It was petty to beat up on him, he knew that. But the long-haired, long-bearded fellow was in dire need of being taught a lesson on manners. Gray hadn’t done anything to deserve such a hostile reception, and he took offense to being treated rudely when he didn’t deserve it.
The other shifter had rolled to his feet by the time Gray landed on the ground, his feet sinking several inches into the soft sod upon landing. The two charged forward and locked arms, trying to overpower one another in a contest of sheer strength. It became clear almost immediately that Gray was stronger, and his opponent disengaged, showing a quickness that would help soften some of the difference in power between them. Even though Gray was stronger, it was a mere technicality. The difference wasn’t enough to let him overwhelm his opponent.