Shift (Castlerock Shifters Book 1)

by Michelle Leeson

  She knew he was stalling, trying to get her to stay. But, in all honesty, she did want to say goodbye to them as well. She nodded her assent as they separated. Seff hollered at Jack and they headed out.

  She drove Yellow Jeep down to the village. It was still early morning, so there were only a few people out as they entered the ring of homes and Jack was off to say hello to them all. However, a quick search of faces didn’t find the one she had wanted to see the most. Aatu was sitting on his porch rocking in his favorite chair.

  He nodded hello and smiled brightly at them.

  “I’m glad you didn’t leave without saying goodbye,” the old man called out to her, instantly making her feel ashamed. How had he known that she was planning to leave?

  “I just figured it was time. I should be getting back to real life,” she explained, pulling up a chair.

  The old man smiled again, “Real life? And what sort of life are we living?”

  She tried to smile at his joke, “You know what I mean. I can’t stay up here forever. Thank you for being so kind to me.”

  “Jaisey, you’ll always be welcome at my hearth and in my home,” he replied.

  “Thank you,” she said in return. They sat in silence for a few moments and she found herself listing reasons in her head to stay. Once again, she stopped her thoughts. She rose and hugged the old man, choking back tears and turned back to see Seff standing nearby, the other boys gathered around in a loose group. That was all it took. The tears started flowing.

  “I’m going to miss you guys so much,” she said in a shaky voice.

  “Then don’t leave,” Caleb said quietly.

  “I can’t stay. This isn’t my home guys,” she said, trying to avoid the hurt in their eyes.

  She wiped her tears away and went to hug each of them in turn. It was clear they didn’t want her to go, and that was making it so much harder. She finally cleared her throat and took in all their faces one last time before heading back to Yellow Jeep. Seff followed alongside her, clearly miserable.

  “Would you stay if I asked you to?” Seff asked, watching her intently.

  “You know I’d love to stay Seff, but I just can’t,” she replied. She wasn’t sure she could tell him no if he truly asked.

  “You still owe me from our game…” he said, barely covering the sadness in his own voice.

  “Oh, Seff.”

  “Would you stay if Quinn asked you to?” he demanded.

  Her head snapped up at that question. “Quinn? Why would he… I don’t… I don’t think that’s what he wants,” she replied. Again, the sadness crept into her voice, her heart breaking into even more pieces with the knowledge that she wanted nothing more than that.

  “What if that’s exactly what I want?” the deep voice came from behind her. She whirled around to find herself facing Quinn. He was standing a few feet from her; his eyes intensely searching hers.

  She couldn’t find her voice to respond.

  “Please… stay,” he said. His voice was so full of emotion. Her doubts and fears that the intensity between them hadn’t been real, dissipated. He wanted her here; wanted her to stay.

  “I…” she couldn’t find the words.

  He crossed the space between them and took her in his arms. He lowered his head to hers, searching her eyes, “Please.”

  And then before she could respond, he pressed his lips to hers – kissing her tenderly, but intensely. Everything settled into place in that moment. The connection she’d felt snapped so solidly into place that it became a real, nearly tangible, bond between them. It was as amazing as it was unbelievable.

  Her head was swimming when he pulled his face away from hers. Tears of joy were filling her eyes. A look of concern crossed his face, but before he could doubt her, she simply whispered, “Yes.”

  She heard a whoop from Seff somewhere behind her and Jack started barking like crazy, but she couldn’t pull her own eyes from Quinn, and the love she saw there.

  Twenty-two

  Quinn

  Quinn took Jaisey by the hand and led her to his porch. There was so much he wanted to say to her, and yet, so much he couldn’t say – it left him feeling completely uncertain once again. She took a seat on one of the chairs and he pulled another next to her.

  Jack followed them to his porch and twirled a few times before nudging Quinn’s hand as he had the night before. Jaisey just smiled and shook her head at his antics, wiping the last of her tears away. He could go the rest of his life and hope to never see her cry again. Her tears were painful to see.

  Quinn had realized the truth of what Kenyon had told him. It had been solidified in their kiss. They were most certainly soulmates and he would claim and mark her soon. He needed only to wait for her to hear about her true heritage. There was a moment of worry over that, but he pushed it away. Instead, he focused on the beautiful woman sitting in front of him, who was suddenly blushing. He couldn’t help but smile.

  She returned his smile shyly, and said quietly, “I know this doesn’t make any sense, but I feel like I’ve known you forever, and yet, I don’t really know anything about you.”

  “I know exactly what you mean. Perhaps our hearts and souls already know what our minds would have told us eventually,” he suggested.

  “I like that,” she said with a nod. “My mother told me once that when you’re given a gift of love, you shouldn’t question it, but that you should just accept it and let it be,” she said.

  Quinn smiled, “It does feel like I should be questioning this, but to let it be, sounds so much better. Besides, we’ve all the time in the world to get to know every little thing about each other.”

  Her smile deepened at that, pleased. It made his heart flutter. How well he knew the effects she had on him, but now he was able to see her reactions first hand. That she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her… it was more than he had dared to hope for.

  “So, your birthday wouldn’t happen to be on May 14, would it?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he responded, surprised. “How did you know?”

  “Seff mentioned he had a friend with the same birthday as mine. It just had to be you,” she said with a shy smile.

  He chuckled, “Seff.”

  They both turned and looked toward Seff, who was still standing next to her Jeep. He was trying very hard to restrain himself – clearly wanting to be on the porch with the two of them.

  “Shall we allow him a few moments of enthusiasm?” Jaisey asked with a wicked glint in her eyes.

  Quinn laughed, “I think we’d better.”

  She crooked her finger and motioned the boy over. It took him only a few moments to close the distance he’d barely kept between them.

  “So, you really are going to stay, right Jaisey?” he asked apprehensively.

  “Well Seff, it would seem my leaving has been put off, but for exactly how long… well, that I’m not really sure,” she replied with a glance at Quinn. “I did tell my brother we’d spend Christmas together. But I was even thinking the other day how nice it would be to have them spend Christmas up at the cabin with me.”

  “Oh yeah, you don’t know yet,” Seff replied.

  Jaisey looked confused, “Know what?”

  Seff looked at Quinn questioningly. The boy wanted to tell her they were related. Well, it couldn’t hurt anything and could help keep her closer, longer. He couldn’t deny that was what he wanted. He nodded. Jaisey watched this interaction with interest.

  “What?” she finally demanded.

  “Jaisey, I’m your family,” Seff said with satisfaction.

  She smiled at him, but it was clear she didn’t believe him in the literal sense.

  “Seriously, we’re cousins. Your dad and my mom were brother and sister,” he said in a rush with a huge smile.

  She sat and just stared at him for a moment.

  “It’s true,” Quinn verified for her.

  “But, cousins,” she stated. She shook her head. A smile sl
owly began to spread across her lips, and she nodded, “Cousins.”

  “It fits doesn’t it?” Quinn asked.

  “Yes, just like everything else,” she replied looking into Quinn’s eyes.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Seff said with a roll of his eyes. She and Quinn both chuckled at that.

  “But wait,” Jaisey looked at him, her smile gone. “Why didn’t you say something before…” she trailed off.

  “Well, I only just found out myself,” he said.

  “Seff… how did you find out?” she asked, her voice sounding strained.

  “Well, I sort of went and talked to your dad the other night and he told me,” he explained.

  Quinn watched her process the information. She was upset at the mention of her father, but there was something more there that Quinn didn’t understand.

  “What is it?” he asked her, his voice full of concern. He wanted, no, he needed to know what every expression and nuance meant.

  She met his eyes again, “I just… oh, it’s nothing.” She shook her head and then looked up at Seff again. “So, cousin, what should we do today?”

  Quinn let it go, knowing full well he would talk to her later. He realized that he could have no secrets from her – just as he didn’t want her to have secrets from him. They would have to see Kenyon soon, so she could be told everything.

  Seff’s smile was full of mischief, “Well… I am pretty hungry.”

  She laughed, “I guess we should go make something to eat then.” She turned to Quinn, “You’ll come too?”

  It wasn’t really a question – would never be a question again. Wild horses couldn’t drag him from her now.

  He nodded with a smile, amazed that she wanted him to stay with her. It was such an odd sensation; this undeniable love.

  “You might as well grab the other boys too,” she told Seff.

  Again, his mischievous grin appeared. “Okay, I’ll ride up with them. You two go on ahead. I’ve got Jack too.”

  Seff took off and whistled for Jack to follow, which he did immediately.

  Quinn rode up with Jaisey to her cabin. He had to fight off the panic when he saw the boxes she was packing. She wasn’t leaving now, he assured himself. She took them to the bedroom and then returned and busied herself in the kitchen.

  Quinn watched her; unable to keep his eyes from her. Now and again she would meet his eyes and the familiar rush of emotion would hit him. He wanted to talk to her about her father, but he also didn’t want to ruin her mood. He would save that for another time; now that he knew he had time with her.

  So instead, they began talking about anything and everything else. It amazed him how natural it felt to be with her. He knew he had a head-start in getting to know her, but she seemed just as interested in getting to know him.

  When the boys arrived, Jaisey had lunch ready. They ate and sat around talking for a while and then the boys put on a movie. They all accepted Quinn’s presence as naturally as they did in the village. Jaisey had seemed anxious when they first arrived, but things quickly fell into a comfortable rhythm. It was clear the boys had a natural rapport with her.

  Quinn sat next to her, watching her, unable to take his eyes from her. She was so at ease with them all. It was clear the affection she held for each of them. He wondered how they had managed not to tell her anything about their secrets. He wanted to tell her everything himself.

  She met his eyes more than once. In fact, it seemed she was searching out his gaze as often as he was hers. She’d reached to hold his hand and hadn’t let it go through the movie. The touch felt intimate in a way he couldn’t even describe. His wolf could though - in one word.

  Mine.

  As darkness approached, she agreed to make dinner if the boys would get a fire going in her small fire pit in the clearing. They were out the door collecting firewood and setting up the folding chairs before she could even get to the kitchen.

  She had Quinn get her grill out of the shed and they cooked hamburgers. She pulled together all the fixings, including, much to Seff’s delight, french-fries. The boys got a nice fire going. They all sat around it while they ate. Seff made yummy noises after each bite of a fry, which had Jaisey giggling. Quinn committed the sound of her laughter to memory.

  He had taken a seat in the biggest lawn chair. Jaisey had pulled another up to sit next to him. When they were done eating, he pulled her over to sit with him. She didn’t resist him. She just leaned back against him comfortably for the rest of the evening. The feeling of rightness made him sigh in contentment.

  He kept his arms draped around her protectively. He’d never felt so alive, just sitting there with her so close. They watched the fire and listened to the boys talking. It felt so natural to be touching her and holding her. He never wanted to let go.

  Quinn chuckled when the talk switched to the girls of the pack. He hadn’t realized the boys had even noticed the girls – in that way. Jaisey had tilted her head so she could see his face and she laughed at his expression.

  “They want to be like you,” she explained quietly.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

  “They want this too,” she said, reaching up to touch his cheek lightly. He thrilled at her touch.

  He realized she was right. They were all watching how he and Jaisey were interacting, but somehow, they were managing not to stare. It occurred to him that this wasn’t something the younger kids ever really got to see. The adults weren’t usually affectionate in public.

  In fact, now that he thought about, he couldn’t even remember ever seeing his own parents kiss beyond the closed door of their home. How odd. It felt so natural to just be with her, he hadn’t even thought about it being unusual.

  Jaisey had turned her head back to the fire, so he leaned down and kissed her gently on the neck, relishing in his ability to do so.

  The shiver that ran through her made his heart race. Having her so close - it was making his more animal instincts rise to the surface, again. The cord of her neck was exposed perfectly for a mating mark. She turned her face to him again, making him fight off the urge.

  “I think maybe we should invite a few of the girls up next time,” she suggested conspiratorially.

  “I don’t know if they,” he nodded at the boys, “would know what to do with the girls.”

  “Oh, they’ll figure it out,” she said with a laugh.

  They sat quietly for a bit longer and Quinn realized he needed to get the boys home. Jaisey sighed, quietly. Had she realized the same thing?

  “I think you guys should probably get going,” she said rising.

  The boys started to protest, so Quinn rose as well, “C’mon guys. Let’s let Jaisey get some sleep.”

  He knew they would not debate him on anything, especially anything that had to do with her, now that they knew he had claimed her. Even if that claim was unspoken, it was obvious. The mumbled protests slowly ceased, and they started cleaning up. Jaisey tried to stop them, but they persisted.

  “Let them do some work for a change,” Quinn suggested.

  She reluctantly agreed, and Quinn pulled her back down into the chair.

  She sighed and leaned back against his chest again and said quietly, “This is nice.”

  Quinn smiled at how content she sounded. The little noises she made filled him with satisfaction.

  “Yes, it is,” he replied. He wrapped his arms around her, and she covered his arms with her own, keeping him where he was. Not that he wanted to be anywhere else. They sat like that until the boys were ready to go.

  Seff cleared his throat, getting their attention.

  “So… swimming tomorrow?” Seff asked, with a grin.

  “Sounds good,” Jaisey replied.

  Quinn was sure she sounded a little sad. Was that because he was leaving for the night? He hoped so and smiled to himself, once again pleased at her reaction. Of course, she wouldn’t know that he would be in the forest just beyond her sight – keeping watch.

>   Quinn walked Jaisey up to her door and gave her what he meant to be a very sweet, brief kiss goodnight. It turned into a heated and passionate embrace the moment their lips touched. He had to force himself to pull away from her.

  With regret, he took a step back, stooped to give Jack a quick pat, then turned to head to the truck. The boys were all loaded up and watching in wide-eyed wonder. Caleb and Seff had claimed the bench seat in the cab; the other boys had piled in the back.

  Quinn got in and started the truck. As he pulled away, he heard Caleb chuckle softly.

  “What?” Quinn asked.

  “Took you long enough,” he replied with a smirk.

  The boys all seemed pleased with this turn of events - Jaisey was staying. He was still a little puzzled by that. It was one thing to have someone new in the pack, but these boys and even Quinn himself were all so taken with her. He had to wonder if there wasn’t more to it.

  He dropped the boys at the village and drove back up toward Jaisey’s. He stopped where the road wound closest to her clearing – near where she had stumbled onto their road so many weeks ago. He parked and walked the rest of the way back to her cabin.

  He expected to find the lights out and Jaisey in for the night, but there she was back sitting in the chair they had shared, Jack next to her. She was staring into the fire, completely lost in thought. He felt a bit of alarm at her being outside, exposed to any threat, but he shook the thought off. She was perfectly safe at the cabin. He knew if the Ishaks crossed the boundary, he could get to her before they could, even if he were in the village. The ability to call on the power of the valley when he ran ensured that.

  He stood watching her for a few long moments. He wanted to cross the distance between them and take her in his arms again. It took every ounce of self-control to keep him back in the woods. With a groan, he shifted and ran a circuit around the cabin, finding nothing out of the ordinary.

  When he settled again, he watched her from the distance. A slight breeze was stirring, blowing her hair into her face now and then. She would reach up absentmindedly and run her fingers through it to put the strands back in place. Again, he was struck with her beauty, her ease. She was so completely self-possessed.