Page 9 of Shifter and the Succubus (The Pack #1)

Jason stood on the back patio of Griffin’s mansion.

The guy—butler?—who’d answered the door told him Bea was waiting for him there.

Which was a little strange since even though they’d had a small break in the weather, it was still cold outside.

Maybe not freeze-your-bits-off cold, but he didn’t want to lounge outside in it.

The patio was empty, and the sun had set a while ago.

But with the snow in the backyard, there was almost a glow to the air.

He looked around for evidence that someone was outside.

Walking to the edge of the patio, he could see where the snow had been disturbed.

Looking closer, he noticed tracks, but they weren’t human.

Was he supposed to follow the tracks? He checked the forest of trees farther down the yard and saw a flicker of light. He took in the outline of something large with glowing yellow eyes.

“Having fun?”

“Damn!” Jason spun around.

Bea stood in front of him with a smirk on her face. “Sorry to startle you. I guess your shifter hearing hasn’t kicked in yet.”

“Funny.” Although he didn’t find it amusing. He should have known she was behind him. His military training had gone to shit.

He looked back over his shoulder to the trees, and whatever had been there was gone.

“What are you looking at?” Bea asked.

“I saw something in the trees. A big something with glowing eyes.”

Bea nodded. “At any given time, we have numerous members of our pack here letting their animals out.”

Before Jason could ask anything, Bea continued. “We can’t have some of our more exotic animals marching through the Cleveland suburbs, can we? This is a sanctuary for anyone in our pack.”

“So shifters can be any animal?”

Bea nodded. “We do have some rare species of shifters, yes. But wolves are most prevalent. And of course there are several feline species as well. And bears too.”

“So what do you think my animal is?”

Bea tilted her head for a moment and stared at him. “I’m not sure. I can’t sense it yet. Normally I can sense most everyone’s animal side.”

“Except Matthew.” Matthew was a shifter who worked from time to time for the Bureau on undercover cases.

“Yes. Matthew is special. His ability to mask himself from other supernaturals in his animal side is extraordinary.”

“It doesn’t hurt that his animal is a house cat either. Makes him inconspicuous,” Jason added.

“Exactly. Matthew is actually more powerful than most shifters.”

Jason looked around. “So why did you want to meet outside?”

“I thought it was time to show you a shift.”

Jason swallowed. “Someone is going to turn into their animal in front of me?”

Bea nodded. “Yeah. Me.”

What now? “I…”

She smiled. “You’ve already seen my animal, Jason.”

“Yeah. But I didn’t see you change into it.”

“I can understand why you’re hesitant. But I think you need to see a shift up close to understand it more.”

He had been Special Forces and had seen some messed up stuff over the years. Hell, he’d seen a man turn into a panther a couple years ago, but he hadn’t been up close and personal. He could handle this. “Okay. Sure.”

She reached for her shirt and started to pull it over her head. Jason spun away from her.

A low chuckle sounded from behind him.

“Shifters aren’t shy when it comes to their bodies.”

“Yeah, well. I wasn’t raised shifter.” He wasn’t a prude, but it just seemed wrong to stare at her like a lab experiment.

“Well, this isn’t going to work if you won’t look at me. Hold on.”

He listened for a moment, and there was no sound coming from behind him.

Was she going to jump out naked in front of him?

And now that he thought about it, why was he facing away from her?

If she didn’t feel like a lab experiment and was okay with him seeing her naked, then what was he doing facing away from her like a virgin?

He heard someone behind him, and he peeked over his shoulder.

Instead of Bea, Griffin stood with his arms crossed, sporting a cocky smirk. “Did my sister scare you?”

“Shut it.”

Griffin’s eyebrows popped up at his response.

“Sorry, I meant to say, ‘Shut it, Your Royal Highness’?”

Griffin stared at him for a moment. Oops, Jason probably shouldn’t have said that. He never knew when to stop.

Griffin’s head dropped back, and he laughed and then laughed some more.

Did that mean Griffin wasn’t going to eviscerate him and wear his intestines as a necklace? Jason wasn’t out of the woods yet, since the laughter did border on the extreme.

Griffin finally stopped laughing and wiped a hand over his face. “Thanks for that. Besides Bea, no one ever stands up to me. It’s refreshing.”

Jason let out the breath he’d been holding.

“But I wouldn’t make a habit of it,” Griffin added with another smirk.

Jason smiled. “Noted.”

Griffin nodded. “So Bea was going to show you a shift. But she said you were getting the vapors.”

He glared at the shifter leader. Apparently Jason wasn’t the only sarcastic one.

“Are you okay with me showing you instead?” Griffin asked, ignoring his glare.

“Sure.”

Griffin pulled the sweater he wore over his head. Then he quickly stripped off the rest of his clothes and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, amber light flared in them. “Ready?” he asked in a lower voice.

Was he ready? But Jason nodded anyway.

Griffin bent forward and a glow hovered around him. His muscles rippled along his back as his body reshaped itself and hair sprouted from him. His nose flattened and his head grew as ears formed at the top and an orange mane grew around his neck.

A moment later the king of the jungle stared back at him. Holy shit.

Jason couldn’t stop his body from taking a step back and raising his hands in front of him as if that was going to stop the lion from attacking. “You know who I am, right, Mufasa?”

The large lion chuffed at him. Was he laughing? Or licking his chops?

He padded over to Jason and circled him, the hairs on Jason’s neck standing up as he walked behind him.

He held still because if he ran, the lion could slap him down and turn him into an evening snack in seconds.

Finally Griffin stopped in front of Jason and sat, his tail switching back and forth, back and forth.

Sweat ran down Jason’s neck even with the cold weather.

What world was he living in? And when did he become Alice in frickin’ Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole?

Light shimmered around the lion as he shrank and reshaped himself into the shifter leader. Griffin stared at him without saying anything. And Jason had nothing to say at the moment. His tongue felt thick and his throat dry.

Griffin reached for his clothes he’d abandoned and pulled them on quickly. “Come inside out of the cold. You look like you could use a drink.”

Jason followed him into the house and down the hall into Griffin’s large living room. Flames licked over logs in the mammoth fireplace that took up a good section of the far wall. Griffin gestured to the chairs by the fire and Jason plopped down.

Griffin brought over two glasses filled with amber liquid and handed Jason one.

Jason took a sip and let the liquor slide down his windpipe in a warm glide. Of course it was premium scotch.

“Better?”

Jason just blinked at him before taking another sip.

“It’s a lot to take in. It’s overwhelming for shifters even when they know who they are.”

And he had no idea who he was.

Griffin took a sip of his own drink. “Do you want to ask me questions?”

Jason looked down at his glass and swirled the liquid for a moment. “How does it feel?”

“Like your body is being pushed and pulled in multiple directions. The more times you shift, the easier it gets. I’m not going to lie to you. The first time can be uncomfortable.”

“And you know who you are when you’re a lion?”

“Yes. If I didn’t, you would have been in trouble out there.”

Jason took a bigger drink of the scotch and let the burn center him. “It’s a lot to take in.” And now he was parroting what Griffin just said.

“I know. Which is why we can take this as slow as you want.”

They finished their drinks, and Jason left shortly after that. He needed to be alone. He climbed into his freezing cold truck and didn’t hike up the heat, instead letting the cold permeate his bones.

He thought back to Griffin’s shift. Would he ever be able to do that? And if so, what would he turn into?

The military had changed him, hardened him, as had the last years learning that evil was alive and well. He didn’t like parts of who he was now.

What happened if he was able to release an actual beast?