by B M Griffin
“You heard all of that?”
“Yeah.” Megan was confused. Jared looked like he was having a hard time believing she had heard his thoughts, but Shayla had told her that was common. “Why do you look so shocked? I thought it was normal for mates to hear each other’s thoughts.”
“It is, if we are intentionally communicating with each other. What you heard was me dreaming.”
“So, does that mean something is wrong with me or something?”
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it seem that way. It’s just that, Shayla is the first and only werewolf any of us have met who can hear others’ thoughts when they aren’t purposely sharing them with her. We always assumed it had something to do with Adam being the one to change her; like his powers somehow just amplified within her giving her additional gifts.”
“So, I might have gifts?” Megan couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice.
Jared shrugged. “Other than my strength, I had no gifts to pass along to you, but you were in the sleep for longer than anyone I’ve known. Even Shayla.”
“How long was I out?” Megan asked.
“You’ve been asleep for a full week.”
Megan felt her eyes grow wide. “Seven days?”
“Yes.”
“It feels like we were just at my house last night.”
“Yeah, when we are in our transition, time feels like it stands still. One thing I do know, powers or not, you are going to be one tough wolf.”
“You think so?”
“Definitely. The longer we sleep during our change, the stronger we come out on the other side. Combine that with all of the strength you already have within you, and you are going to be one badass werewolf, Megs.”
Megan lifted up onto her knees and leaned forward, resting her arms on Jared’s shoulders on either side of his head. She smiled down at him and clasped her hands behind his head. “So, you think I’m strong, huh?”
Jared grinned and brought his hands up to her hips. He ran his thumbs along her skin just beneath the hem of her shirt. “Oh, babe, the way you took chargeback at your house. I know wolves who wouldn’t have had the will to fight back in that situation. You saved us.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m glad that you finally saw that I can protect myself.”
Jared’s smile fell before replying, “Yeah, well, do me a favor. Try not to put yourself in that kind of danger again. I thought I was going to lose you.” He looked away for a minute and she noticed his throat bob when he swallowed hard, and she knew he was trying to get his emotions back under control.
Placing her hand on his cheek, Megan turned his head back so he was facing her once again. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want you feeling guilty about something I did. I told you, I will never sit by and allow someone I love to get hurt protecting me again, and I meant that. Whatever comes of all this, I am going to be by your side through it all. I need you to trust me to do that. To fight for us, for our friends and pack, to keep us all safe, myself included.”
He closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath inward, before slowly exhaling. “I am trying hard to accept that,” he said after a minute of silence. “I know how important it is to you, and I understand why you don’t want to allow anyone to get hurt to protect you because I feel the same way about you. As much as I want to make you happy, I’d be lying to you if I said I can just step aside and allow you to fight your own battles in our world. What I can agree to is a compromise.”
“A compromise?” Megan questioned.
“Yes,” he nodded. “How about we just agree to watch out for each other? Keep each other safe?”
Megan dropped her forehead to his. “I think I can agree to that.”
“Good.” Jared tilted his face upward and brought his lips to meet hers, kissing her until she melted against him, her arms wrapped around his neck while she straddled his lap. He groaned when he pulled away. “I love you, but we should stop.”
“Ugh, why?”
He chuckled. “Because, I want to take my time with you, and your first shift is bound to come on anytime now.”
“After?”
“Absolutely.”
Jared laid back in the bed and pulled Megan down with him. She rested her face against his chest while he held her in his arms. Given the events that led to her winding up in this room, in this bed for the past week, she should be worried about what was to come, yet she could not wipe they smile off her face. She was in love with someone who loved her back just as hard, and for the first time, she had someone in her life who understood her and saw her as an equal. She would take down anyone who tried to tear them apart.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Megan
The bedroom door crashed in, smashing into the wall. Megan and Jared were out of the bed in an instant, when Shayla burst into the room. Shayla’s eyes landed on Megan, and even through the worry that was written all over her face, Megan saw the relief that flashed behind her friend’s eyes when she saw that Megan was awake. “I’m so glad to see you up,” Shayla said. “But we’ll have to celebrate later.” She turned to Jared. “There’s a pack of wolves approaching, and from what I’ve picked up in their thoughts, they are after blood.”
“Revenge for Demetri,” Jared stated.
“That’s what I’m hearing,” Shayla confirmed.
“Let the pack know and get everyone in a position to fight them back.” Jared turned to Megan and gripped her arms. “Megan, I need you to stay here. Lock the door. If anyone tries to break in just call out to me I here.” Jared points to his temple. “If you want me to hear your thoughts, I will.”
Megan lifted her arms and shook his hands away from her. “I’m not hiding in here while the rest of you fight. You should know not to ask me to do that, Jared. You just said we would watch out for each other.”
“Megan, your transition isn’t complete. You haven’t shifted yet, and you will have no control over when it happens. You need to be somewhere safe when it happens.”
She crossed her arms over her body and glared at him. “Yeah, I don’t see why that means I need to hide up here. If I shift then I’ll be able to help.”
“You need time to adjust Megan. Please, just don’t fight me this one time! I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to get downstairs.”
“If she’s anything like me,” Shayla interrupted, “her instincts will kick in when she shifts. I really think we need as many people out front fighting as we can, Jared.”
Jared jerked his head in Shayla’s direction and yelled, “No!” Then he turned back to Megan and did something she never imagined he would to her. “I command you to stay here. Do not come downstairs until I come to get you.”
She felt the power of his words wash over her, and although it was not something she was familiar with experiencing she’d heard talk around the house from other wolves describing the complete lack of control they had to disobey their Alpha’s orders—Jared’s orders. She could understand why they wouldn’t have been able to defy an order from Jared. The power behind his command was astonishing, and she could feel it all the way down to her toes.
“I cannot believe you just pulled that shit, Jared Nichols.”
“You didn’t give me a choice.” There was regret in his eyes but he didn’t say another word before he walked out of the room.
Shayla moved closer to Megan and reached out a hand to squeeze Megan’s arm. “He just wants to keep you safe.”
“Yeah, well, I want him safe, too. And I damn sure won’t be forced into anything I don’t agree with.”
Shayla grinned. “I never thought you would,” she said, then she also left Megan alone to stew in her anger.
Megan walked over to the dresser, wrested her palms on the edge of the wood, and leaned in to stare at herself. “Listen here,” she said to her reflection, “I need you to go ahead and make your appearance. It’s been long enough, and we need to change now so we can go down
and help protect our pack.” She took a deep breath. “And our mate.”
Megan squeezed her eyes shut when heat rushed from her core throughout her entire body, filling her all the way out through her limbs. With the heat came a power greater than anything she ever imagined. The strength she’d felt when she woke up in bed with Jared earlier was pipsqueaks in comparison to the current of energy and power she felt rolling through her in that moment. She gripped the dresser so hard the wood crumbled beneath her fingertips. When she forced her eyes open again, she was shocked to see her normal hazel eyes replaced by flaming orange rings.
Before she had the chance to really examine her new eye color much her head was thrown back and a howl escaped her throat. The heat racing through her body morphed into what she could only describe as an inferno right before she felt her body begin to shift. Mere moments later she was standing on all fours, her body covered in fur, and she was staring into the flaming orange eyes of a stark white wolf—she was staring into her own eyes, her face transformed into that of a beautiful but terrifying wolf.
Megan tried to move, to make her way toward the door to go downstairs and join her pack, but the weight of Jared’s Alpha order was bearing down on her. Her feet felt like they were encased in cement and anchored to the ground. She looked herself in the eyes in the mirror in front over her, briefly noticing that she stood at least a foot taller than the top of the dresser, and she ordered herself to move.
“That’s our pack down there, our friends, and our mate. We need to get down there and make sure they stay safe,” she told herself, hoping to force her wolf to the surface.
Megan shut her eyes and focused all of her strength on overcoming Jared’s order. She felt herself slowly breaking free but it wasn’t until she heard the sounds of fighting, then a wolf yelp in pain, that she was able to rip herself away from the invisible hold Jared’s order had on her. In an instant, she was out of the room and on her way downstairs.
She spotted Jared from the front door. He was backed up against the building on the other side of the lawn, surrounded by six other wolves and she was immediately aware that the wolves around Jared were not members of their pack. Megan turned her eyes away from him when she sensed a threat drawing closer to her and there were three wolves running straight for her. She glanced back toward Jared just in time to see two of the wolves surrounding him lunge and take him down to the ground. The need to get to him was overpowering and before she had a chance to consider how she was going to make it passed the wolves headed her direction to get to Jared, she was standing directly behind the circle of wolves who had ganged up on her mate.
She didn’t waste time trying to figure out how she’d gotten to him across the large yard. Instead, Megan leaped over the four wolves nipping and growling around Jared and speared the two who had jumped him, knocking them off his back and the three of them went rolling through the grass. Quickly Megan got back to her feet and in seconds she had her teeth buried in the neck of the first wolf and she used his body like a bowling ball, throwing him into the four wolves who still surrounded Jared. The second wolf jumped, trying to leap onto her back and take her down the same way he had Jared. In the next instance, Megan found herself on her back and when the wolf landed, she gripped his sides and dug her claws in deep so he couldn’t escape. The wolf was shocked and it slowed his reaction, giving her time to clamp her jaws tight around his throat. His howl slowly morphed into a gurgling sound, a sign he was choking on his own blood, and Megan released her hold and shoved him away with her feet.
When she got back up, Jared was staring at her with such intensity she was certain he was looking straight through her and into her soul. His bright green eyes bored into her own and after a moment she heard his voice in her head.
“Megan?”
“Yes,” she replied with her thoughts, and a nod of her head.
“How did you…” his thoughts trailed off for a minute and she thought he was about to let it go, but then he sounded off in her head once more. “How did you leave the room?”
She glared at him, or she hoped that was how it appeared since she wasn’t really sure how it might look while she was in wolf form. “My wolf and I broke through your Alpha command, and trust me, when this mess is over,” she jerked her head towards all the fighting still happening around them, “I’ve got some pretty strong words to share with you about how you better not ever pull that crap again.”
Jared turned his head toward the front of the house then looked back to where she was standing. “How did you get over here so fast? I saw you come out of the house right before those assholes jumped me, and then you were just here and knocking them off me.”
“I haven’t really figured that part out myself, but maybe right now isn’t a good time to worry about that.” She nodded her head toward a group of wolves headed in their direction.
“You’re right,” Jared agreed.
They both turned to face the newcomers, with their teeth bared, ready to take them down. Out of the corner of her eye, Megan could see Shayla. Well, she couldn’t so much see her friend as she could see the bright purple glow that surrounded Shayla whenever she pulled all of her power to the surface. Glancing toward the other end of the property she spotted a similar blue glow and knew that it was Adam. Apparently, the gifted couple had decided they could make the best use of their abilities if they separated, going after their enemies from each end of the lot. It gave Megan an idea and she focused on the wolves who were running toward Jared and her, focused on the distance just beyond them. It only took a moment before she found herself standing a couple of feet behind the wolves. The wolves stumbled which slowed their progression toward were Jared was still standing, and Megan smiled inwardly assuming her little disappearing at must have thrown them off her game.
“How’d you get over there?” Jared interrupted her thoughts yet again.
“I focused on where I wanted to be, and then I was here. Not sure how it works or why, but I thought it would give us the advantage against them.”
“Good thinking,” Jared agreed.
Before the wolves could get over their shock and continue making their way toward Jared, Megan ran up behind them and took two of them out, clamping her teeth down into their hind legs one at a time, and tossing them to the ground. Jared made quick work of the other two while Megan finished them off by burying her claws in their necks.
“Well, it seems this pack is full of all kinds of surprises,” someone said from behind Megan. The voice was strange. A man for sure, but something about his voice was off, sinister, and it was almost like there was an echo to it, and it sent chills through Megan’s spine. She knew that she needed to turn around and face whoever the words had come from, but she had to take a moment to rally in her fear and put on her big girl shoes before she faced him. She would not show an ounce of fear, especially not with Jared so close. She’s spent so much time convincing him she was strong enough to take care of herself, not that she was sure he was convinced, and she would not give him any further ammunition to feel like he had to protect her.
When she turned to face the voice, she knew exactly who it belonged to. It was not because he looked anything like the man she remembered seeing pictures of while researching to pitch his company a new marketing campaign months ago, but Shayla had described the grotesque creature Kevin had become to Megan. The thing that stood a few feet away from her was the real-life epitome of Shayla’s description. In truth, Megan had always believed the Shayla exaggerated the horror that Kevin had become after he supposedly sold his soul to the devil, but if anything, he was even more grotesque and terrifying than Shayla had described. His whole body was made of up black scales, and his teeth were long, sharp razors, far sharper than Megan knew hers had become. His eyes were truly disturbing; they were completely black like an evil abyss, but his pupils, holy hell, those blood-red pupils inside of those black orifices were enough to scare even the bravest of souls.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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Jared
When Jared turned and saw Kevin Hall, or the demonic creature he had become after selling his soul, mere feet away from Megan his spine stiffened, and every fiber of his being was on fire with a need to get his mate as far from that S.O.B. as possible. Then, once he knew she was out of harm’s way, he knew that he was going to have to kill Kevin. Once and for all; making sure he couldn’t pull whatever shit he’d pulled to bring himself back from the pits of Hell where he belonged. The way he was looking at Megan, that was the part that scared Jared the most. There was lust in Kevin’s wicked gaze, and a greed for power above all things. Kevin had been after Adam, and then Shayla, when he learned of their unique gifts. Judging by the way he was ogling Megan; Jared was certain that Kevin had witnessed Megan’s ability to just pop up wherever she wanted. Hell, Jared was impressed by her new-found ability, and he had no deep-seated desire to have power over anyone like Kevin did.
Jared shifted because he wanted to be absolutely sure Kevin heard him, and in his new demonic state, Jared wasn’t sure he could still hear another wolf telepathically. He moved to stand in front of Megan, blocking Kevin’s view of Megan. “Stay the fuck away from her!” Jared demanded, the words rolling out with a growl.
He heard Megan’s growl behind him and she moved around until she stood beside him. Even as a wolf it was obvious she was glaring at him. She really did hate when he put himself between her and danger. He had hoped that with her becoming a werewolf she would begin to understand his need to keep her safe as his mate; feel how important it was to him through their bond. Maybe that would just take a little more time. She was still a brand-new werewolf after all.
A loud, echoing sound came from the mouth of Kevin and Jared was pretty sure he was laughing. Damn, giving his soul to the devil didn’t just make Kevin ugly, it made everything about him like something straight out of a Stephen King novel. The guy was scary, Jared wasn't fooled enough to pretend otherwise, but that didn’t mean he would back down. When it came to the safety of his pack, and even more so Megan, he would face the devil himself and never back down.