First Shift

by J. L. Weil

  He didn’t really answer what I wanted to know without me having to come out and say it. Did he have a girlfriend or not? “Not a problem,” I huffed.

  “Good, because I would hate to think I was a distraction. You have a long road ahead of you.”

  He more or less threw my words back at me from earlier today when I had asked him to turn around. Devyn was a distraction all right, but in a why-can’t-I-get-you-out-of-my-head way. “You’re impossible.”

  Leaning closer, a glint of trouble lit his eyes. “Impossibly good looking.”

  I resisted the urge to be amused. It would only fuel his ever-growing cockiness. Resting my chin on my hand, I had a hard time taking my eyes off him. Like a magnet, I found myself both pulled and repelled by him. “Why is it so important that I accept this curse?”

  We still sat in the Sushi Shrimp restaurant parking lot, neither of us making a move to get out of the car. “A curse, huh? That is one way to look at it. But I think over time you will find your abilities to be a blessing in disguise. The things you will be able to do … you might even end up as badass as me.”

  “So there is an upside to all of this. I might be able to kick your ass in the distant future.”

  “Someone is feisty tonight. Good, because you’re going to need that kind of fire for what is required of you. Without a ruler, Katsura is dying. It cannot sustain its life force without a ruler to give it energy. And because Katsura is the hub of the other four regions, they too will slowly start to fade. Everything and everyone will die.”

  “The Second Moon will cease to exist?” The idea filled me with surprising anguish.

  He blew out a breath, killing the engine. “I’m afraid so. More and more feys will cross into this world on the chance to survive if it comes to the point that the Second Moon is no longer habitable.”

  “Why doesn’t someone step up as the new ruler? Surely there is a succession of command in place.”

  “It’s more complicated than that, but essentially there is. The throne goes to the next living blood relative. Your fur is white because of your royal blood—a symbol of your importance to the Second Moon. Your grandfather, who was the ruler of all Katsura, recently passed to the realm of the dead where his spirit will live on. With his death, an entire world is without a leader. His throne sits in the hands of his advisor until a member of his bloodline claims the seat.”

  I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. I was that heir. “Me?” I interjected, my voice squeaking. I didn’t want to believe it. How could I be that important to an entire world? It was absurd.

  “You, Karina Lang, are the last royal descendant of Ryo of Katsura.”

  Holy shit. It was one thing to be a shapeshifter. It was another thing entirely to be the heir to a world. I wasn’t a leader. I was a high school senior with plans to go to college. Ruling a world was not part of my plan. “Are you saying that I am the only one who can save Katsura?”

  “Your grandfather has two brothers, who each have a son, Ryker and Talin. They are the heirs of two of the five regions that make up the Second Moon: Orangeoland and Thornland. Ryker and Talin would strike the other dead in a heartbeat to gain control of the Second Moon. The two regions have been at odds for centuries, and it has become a race to see who can claim your power first. With you out of the picture, it would be a fight for the throne.”

  “So they’re sending the assassins to kill me?” I guessed.

  A fierce scowl marred his features. “Yes. And they won’t stop until they have your soul. Without it, neither can reign from the throne of the Second Moon.”

  My fingers raked through my hair. “This is so surreal.” It was hard for me to believe this was a tangible place, never having seen it with my own eyes. Suddenly I felt quite happy with Seaside Heights and had no plans to ever visit the Second Moon.

  “There’s more.”

  I threw my hands up in the small space of the car. “Of course there is.”

  “Each new tail you gain, the harder they will come for you.”

  “What do you mean more tails? Isn’t one enough?”

  “A Kitsune can have up to nine tails. Each one gives you a new ability.” His fingers grazed my neck, picking up my pendent. “This is your soul star: the source of all your powers and a Kitsune’s most prized possession. It is like your life source.”

  My brain shorted out the moment his hand grazed the spot between my neck and chest.

  “But the energy within it can also heal the dying land of Katsura.” His voice had gone soft.

  With all this new information, I wasn’t positive my brain was categorizing the necessary facts or understanding it. And I wouldn’t get the chance to sort it out, not at the moment.

  As I stared at Devyn’s face, everything about his demeanor changed. His shoulders stiffened. His eyes hardened, but the glow brightened. And most importantly, the dual swords appeared at his back. “Kitten, duck!”

  Chapter Nine

  Devyn threw his arms over my head as I dropped below the dashboard. The window shattered, glass raining down over me and tangling in my hair. Whoosh. Something whizzed over our heads. Thump. It sunk into my side of the car.

  Devyn lifted his head. Whatever he saw, he didn’t like. Anger blew off him in waves of heat, his green eyes radiating like radioactive goo. My eyes went from Devyn to the door. A dagger with some seriously serrated teeth was embedded in the plastic interior.

  Holy crap.

  I had barely processed what had happened, and Devyn was already on the move. He wrenched open the door to his car, the twin blades suddenly in his hands. Wrath and Fury hissed as they wound themselves around his wrists. “Stay here. And lock the door.”

  “You’re leaving me?” I squeaked.

  “Never. I’m saving you.”

  “Right.” I exhaled, but he was already gone.

  I quickly hit the lock button, my heartbeat frantically pattering in my chest. Looking left and right, I searched for any sign of Devyn. He had told me to stay put, but the not knowing where he was or what was out there made my anxiety spike. And as I learned today, strong emotions, like fear, were triggers. If I didn’t calm down, I was going to be a caged fox.

  “Dammit, Devyn. Where are you?”

  Something crashed onto the top of the car, making me jump. My head practically hit the dented ceiling, and I let out a screech of surprise. Two bodies tumbled down the windshield, rolling off the hood before hitting the ground.

  “Devyn?” I straightened in my seat, trying to see over the car.

  A group of girls burst through the doors of The Sushi Shrimp, laughing and completely oblivious to what they were about to stumble into. They drew my attention away from the front of the car momentarily. Then Devyn and something else popped up, swinging.

  The being from the Second Moon threw a punch, but it didn’t have an ordinary fist; it was accompanied by a yellow light that encompassed his entire body. Devyn ducked, springing up behind him with both swords drawn.

  This dude wasn’t a Silvermyst, like the ones before.

  But what was he?

  I stared in awe at Devyn, watching the twin snakes climb up his wrists, fusing the sword to part of his arms. Spinning around, he planted his boot into the back of the guy, sending him stumbling forward. The glowing man turned and spun around, baring a row of razor-sharp teeth.

  The group of girls got one look at what was happening on the other side of the street and took off screaming and running. I could have cared less. My gaze zeroed in on Devyn and the guy headed in my direction.

  “Are you kidding me?” I muttered.

  Raising his glowing hands, he slammed them down on the hood of the car, and I felt the charge, a bolt of electricity that had the tiny hairs on my arms standing up. I pushed myself farther back into my seat. It didn’t help. The longer he had contact with the car, the more powerful the electric current became, to the point that the shit really began to hurt.

  Devyn came up behind him, jam
ming both swords into the electric dude’s back. Sinking in deeper, the tips of Devyn’s blades pieced through his belly like a shish kabob. The guy stared at me for a moment, his eyes wide and mouth open. A burst of gritty smoke ballooned in front of my face through the glass. It coated the car a moment before Wrath and Fury sprung forward off Devyn’s wrist. Mouths open, the snakes feasted on the being’s remains, a rather unappealing sight.

  Devyn wiped the ends of both blades on the thigh of his jeans and secured them behind his back. He slid into the car like nothing happened. He seemed as cool, calm, and collected as he had been ten minutes ago.

  I, on the other hand, was not. “What was that?”

  His jaw set in a firm line as he flicked his gaze to mine. “An Aureus.”

  No clue what that was, but the details didn’t seem important. Devyn was bleeding—nothing life threatening, just a small cut by his lip. “Are you okay?” I asked, leaning over in my seat to get a better view of the wound and dabbing at bit of blood with the pad of my thumb.

  His lips split into a grin, regardless that the movement had to sting. “Don’t tell me you were worried about me.”

  “Hardly,” I replied. A wet spot on his shirt caught my attention. I don’t know how I spotted it against the dark material, but I felt positive it was more blood. “Jesus. How many jabs did he get on you?” Before I thought about what I was doing, my fingers were at the hem of his shirt, wrestling it up to expose his chest.

  He stilled, raising both brows. “You’ve been itching to get my clothes off since we met.”

  Without saying a word, I ran the tips of my fingers along the series of marks along his right side, just under his arm. They were teeth marks. “He bit you,” I whispered.

  A shiver rolled through him, and the muscles on his belly tensed. “It’s nothing. Now, as much as I know you’ve been dying to get your hands on me, this isn’t the time or place. We need to go. Where one Aureus is, others follow. They tend to travel in pairs.”

  What had possessed me to lift up his shirt? My cheeks flamed as I jerked my hands off him. “I have not been dying to touch you as you so pompously assume,” I argued, but it didn’t explain the sense of disappointment inside me.

  His gaze locked with mine for what felt like an immeasurable amount of time before he finally spoke. “We can argue about how much you don’t want to touch me on the way home.” The engine roared to life.

  I slumped in my seat. We were so not going to argue that point.

  With my stomach still in knots, I didn’t even mind that we drove off without dinner.

  “How was self-defense?” Jesse’s voice sounded strained. He appeared out of the shadows, walking toward me from across the yard.

  I stopped, waiting for him to reach me. Clouds hid the moon, casting an eerie darkness to the night. “It was enlightening,” I told him. Jesse was fishing for information on Devyn. It was cruel to tease him, but I couldn’t help it. Jesse had never acted so possessive before. Then again, there’d never been a guy like Devyn before. I’d dated casually, but nothing serious. My studies had always come first.

  “I bet,” he snapped.

  My lips pursed. “What’s your deal?” It had been a long day, and I just wanted to get inside and hit the bed for at least eight hours of uninterrupted z’s.

  Scowling, he said, “I don’t like the guy. He gives me bad vibes.”

  Funny, those weren’t the vibes Devyn gave me. “He would never hurt me”—literally. The guy had been born to protect me. How many girls could say that? It was intense to even consider.

  A breeze picked up pieces of Jesse’s sandy hair, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t know guys like him.”

  “And you do?” I shot back. He was being ridiculous.

  “I’m a guy,” he said, stating the obvious. “I know what is going on inside his head when he looks at you.”

  My annoyance bubbled to the surface. I didn’t have the energy to go a round with Jesse about Devyn. “Really? Don’t leave me in suspense. What is he thinking?”

  “He is wondering how quick he can get into your pants.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sex. How very stereotypical of you. Is that what you think about when you look at me? I mean, you are a guy after all, as you so blatantly pointed out.” I started walking toward my house, not really caring if he followed me or not.

  He did, his long strides catching up to me in no time. “No, of course not. You’re my best friend.”

  We reached the porch, and I spun around. “So you’ve never thought about what it would be like to kiss me?”

  He made a face. “Ew. Have you?” He peeked at me from under his lashes.

  I couldn’t help but smile at his apparent awkwardness. This conversation made him very uncomfortable, and I loved it, but in truth, it was probably long overdue. “Sure. I’ve been curious a time or two.”

  “You have?” His stormy eyes deepened, and he rubbed a hand over the stubble under his chin.

  “But I’d never do anything to jeopardize our friendship,” I quickly added. Any girl would be lucky to have Jesse. Just not me. Our friendship was too important.

  He exhaled. “Right. Neither would I.”

  Shifting, I leaned my weight on my left foot. “What makes Devyn so different?”

  His lips turned down, seemingly not thrilled that I was defending Devyn—a guy Jesse clearly had a problem with. “I’ve known you forever. And I don’t look at you as if I’m picturing you naked.”

  I nibbled on my lower lip. “He does that?”

  Jesse’s brows drew together. “You like him.” His hands forked through his hair. “I can’t believe you fell for a guy like that. You deserve someone better, K. Don’t you see that?”

  Jesse cared about me, but his standards where my dating life was concerned were too high. There would never be a guy good enough for me. I’d be a nun if Jesse and Dad had their way. “You’re being impossible. Did I say something to you last year when you dated that bimbo, Amber Reed?”

  “No, but maybe you should have.”

  I grinned. “Nah, it was too much fun watching you figure it out on your own, and you did. You’ve got to trust me enough to let me decide who is good for me.”

  “I still don’t like him,” he grumbled, leaning back against the porch railing.

  I stared up at Jesse’s face highlighted by the soft yellow glow from the porch light. He had amazing cheekbones and a jaw with a hint of stubble that made him appear older. “You might if you gave him a chance,” I said.

  “Doubt it.”

  “Can we agree to disagree?”

  A slow grin spread across his face. “Yeah. Just promise you’ll be careful.” He was more or less humoring me now because neither of us liked to fight.

  I bumped my shoulder lightly into his. “Always. Besides, I have more important things going on than dating.” It wasn’t Devyn Jesse needed to be concerned about. The bigger problem was all the feys coming after me to steal my soul. But I couldn’t tell Jesse that. Regardless of the fact that the urge was there to spill my guts, I refused to get him and Hannah mixed up in another world’s drama.

  Chapter Ten

  The next few days flew by. School, the café, Devyn, and obsessing over the astonishing fact that I was a Kitsune. It was hard to roll back into my daily life when I constantly worried about accidently shifting into a fox. My control was still on the fritz. I could be in the middle of a lecture in environmental science or making a cinnamon dolce latté at the shop, and I’d recognize the familiar tingles I now associated with a shift. The unknown of when my new ability might strike kept me up at night.

  I glared at the ceiling, wondering what Devyn was up to—if he was out there doing what he was born to do: keeping me safe.

  Most nights the thought comforted me, but today it made me restless, and I couldn’t figure out why. So what if I missed him? It didn’t mean anything. The harder I tried to convince myself, the less sleep I got. I ended up losing
the battle.

  Morning dawned bright and early for me. Forget that it was Saturday and I didn’t have to work for once. I couldn’t even sleep in!

  Kicking off the covers, I sat up, catching my reflection in the mirror. Good God, I needed a trim. My hair looked a little frizzy at the ends. I reminded myself to deep condition my hair the morning before school. But as I stared at myself, I noticed something else off.

  My eyes.

  They were different.

  I leaned in. A speck of gold dotted the center of my irises.

  It was as if the fox inside me wanted to make itself known.

  Oh, I know you’re in there. How could I forget?

  And if I could see it, who else could?

  The longer I stared at my reflection, the more my curiosity spiked. What did I look like as a fox? Once the thought took root, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Before I gave myself a chance to second-guess the fact that I was about to shift in my bedroom, I took the plunge.

  It was becoming easier to shift, which scared me. The moment it became effortless meant I’d fully accepted what I was, and I definitely wasn’t at that point yet.

  One moment I was a person and the next a fox—pure magic. I had just stepped from one form into the next right in front of my own eyes. I wiggled my nose to shake away the last tingle of the change. It always took a few seconds to adjust to moving on four feet instead of two.

  Holy guacamole!

  I couldn’t stop staring at myself. My fur was a soft, fluffy white with a beautiful sheen that shone in the moonlight. The pads of my paws tickled from the carpet as my nails sunk into the fibers. Turning left and then right, I noticed that I was a lot bigger than I’d imagined and darn cute. If this weren’t me, I’d want to keep me and cuddle me like a puppy. And then I showed my fangs. Whoa. I jumped back. My canines were scary and could do some serious damage. Let’s just put those bad boys away before I hurt myself.

  Other than the blue hue of my eyes, nothing of my human form resembled the fox. It was impossible to believe that under the fur, I was me.