Page 99

AVERY

A fter Cole dropped me off at Stormy’s house, we sat around waiting for… well, we weren’t sure what. Every day, things moved faster and faster toward some inexorable conclusion, and nothing we did could slow it down or stop it.

Zayde was tapping away at his computer, analyzing the video of the attack earlier that day. The walls of Stormy’s house felt like they were closing in on me.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” I told her.

“What do you mean?” Stormy asked.

“I can’t sit around while Cole is out there doing whatever he’s doing. Can we, like, go shopping or something? Anything to get my mind off what’s happening.”

Stormy watched me carefully, then shrugged. “I do need to grab some stuff for Shiloh. I’d planned on going tomorrow, but if you want, we can go now.”

“You two go on,” Stormy’s mom said. She was feeding Shiloh, who was strapped into her high chair. “Me and this little lady will be fine.”

“Porter?” I called, and the other man leapt off the couch.

“Wassup? What’s wrong?” He looked at us blearily.

“Were you napping?” I asked, my lips twitching in amusement.

“What?” Porter looked abashed. “No, uh… I was resting my eyes. That’s all.”

“I could hear your ass snoring,” Zayde said without looking away from his screen.

“Whatever,” Porter scoffed.

“Can you give us a ride to the store?” I asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Porter said.

Five minutes later, Stormy and I sat in the back of the car while Porter drove us into town. The streets were quiet. Most of the people we saw out were those I recognized as shifters. Humans were few and far between, and the ones I did see hustled to and from their cars quickly.

“This is weird,” Stormy remarked.

“It’s the attack,” I said. “The mayor and chief said word had spread, as well as stupid rumors. People are believing a bite from a shifter could turn you into one. It’s fucking ridiculous.”

“You got that right,” Porter said. “If that were true, there’d be loads of shifters running around the world.”

“Why would that be?” Stormy asked.

“Uh…” Porter glanced over his shoulder, looking uncomfortable. “Because… well, you know. Right?”

“My friend, I’m not following.” Stormy stared at him in pure befuddlement.

“People, well, they like to bite sometimes. When things get—” he cleared his throat “—intense.”

Stormy still looked confused, and I giggled.

“What the hell are you laughing at?” she demanded.

“Sex, Stormy. He’s talking about rough sex. Spanking, hair pulling, biting . That stuff,” I said.

“Oh. Oh .” Stormy’s cheeks flamed. “Well, all right, then.”

“I always thought you were the sexually adventurous one,” I teased her.

“Okay, then, time to get out,” Porter said, looking panicked. “Enough dirty talk. Time to shop.”

The department store was basically packed with people, almost all of them humans. Porter waited at the entrance of the store, hiding out of sight in case any of Kyle’s men he recognized tried to sneak in. That was probably for the best.

As we shopped, I caught a few whispers.

“A shifter bit him, and he turned. That’s what David Roy said…”

“It was bound to happen eventually. With those animal instincts, it’s surprising this is the first attack we’ve ever…”

“One thing I know? You can’t trust an animal. If it bites once, it’ll bite again…”

Stormy nudged me as she put a box of diapers into her cart. “This is ridiculous. Everyone knows you can’t get turned into a shifter from a bite.”

“Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. “But fear and panic make people believe strange shit.”

We rounded up most of the items we needed and got into the checkout line. In front of us, two middle-aged women were talking about some government conspiracy. I’d had enough.

“You’re being pretty bigoted, you know that, right?” I said, ending their conversation as they flinched and turned to look at me.

“Excuse me?” one of them said.

“You heard me.” I put my hands on my hips. “Shifters can’t change someone with a bite.”

“Maybe things have changed,” a voice said from behind us.

Turning, I found a familiar woman about my age looking at us with a cocked eyebrow.

“Tess?” Stormy said incredulously.

That’s when I remembered where I knew her from. We’d graduated together.

“Yes,” Tess said, a haughty tone to her voice. “Long time no see, Stormy.” She gave me a withering look and curled her lip in disgust. “You too, Avery. Still chasing shifters to bed?”

“Hang on,” Stormy said, color rising to her cheeks. “Are you really going to degrade Avery for being with a shifter? I recall you being the biggest tail chaser in school.”

Tail chaser had been, for as long as I could remember, a derogatory slang term for anyone who sought out sexual relations with shifters for the excitement of the chase.

“If my friend Porter is right,” Stormy said, “then I bet you’ve had a lot of bites from shifters, and I don’t see a tail on you. A wet nose, maybe, but no tail.”

“Oh, screw you, Stormy,” Tess said. She pushed her cart to the side and stomped toward the door.

“You all should stop blaming the pack for what happened to that man,” I said, raising my voice so everyone within earshot could hear me. “They had nothing to do with it, and all this whispering only makes you all look like assholes.”

A few people grumbled, but no one argued back. We paid, and as we made our way to the door, a woman approached us. She was in her late twenties and obviously pregnant. She was also a shifter. I recognized her from Cole’s pack.

“Thank you for that,” she murmured.

“For what?” I asked, unsure what she meant.

“For sticking up for us,” she said. “The last few weeks haven’t been easy for the pack, and now the rumors are starting about this man who turned into a wolf.

” She shrugged helplessly. “It’s rough. None of us know what to believe, and the humans are giving us all wide berths.

It’s nice to hear a human say something good about us. That’s all. So, thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank us for being decent people,” I said. “None of the shifters in this town have done anything wrong.”

She cast her eyes down and gave me an embarrassed smile. “That’s true, I guess. It’s just that we don’t know what happened. We’ve been hearing a lot of crazy stuff the last couple hours, and it spread like wildfire. I’ve got human friends who won’t return my calls or texts because they’re afraid.”

“Listen,” I said, touching her arm. “I promise you, Cole is going to get to the bottom of this. You can be assured of that.”

I wasn’t a wolf, and I never would be, but it still made me feel good. After another awkward smile, the woman hurried from the store, and Stormy and I met up with Porter outside.

“Shit’s getting hairy,” Porter said. “I got a lot of dirty looks from folks heading inside.”

“Cole’s got to do something,” Stormy said. “This place is gonna be like a powder keg in a day or two.”

She was right about that, and Cole didn’t waste any time.

When we got home, Cole and the others were there, along with the most terrified wolf I’d ever seen in my life.

Until the moment I came upon the poor beast in the garage, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what a depressed wolf looked like, but the moment I saw the creature, I knew that was exactly what this wolf was.

The sad, dejected look in its eyes made my heart hurt.

It would have been bad if it had only been an animal, but knowing that an innocent man was stuck inside there was almost too much.

“He’s not doing great,” Cole admitted. “After what happened with his wife, he sort of fell apart.”

I stepped out of earshot of the wolf. “What happened with his wife?”

Cole cast a regretful look into the garage.

“We didn’t know what to do with him. We can’t change him back, and I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to.

On the way back, we decided to stop by his house, thinking his wife would take him in.

Let him live there until we finally figure out what kind of drug Kyle is using.

” Cole shook his head. “We fucked up. It was a bad idea. The woman lost her shit. Totally fell apart. She couldn’t even look at him, much less take him in.

You could tell it broke the poor guy’s heart. ”

I put a hand to my mouth, looking back in at the poor animal—no, the poor man trapped in an animal’s body.

“I wish I could do something for him,” Cole said sadly. “I told him he had free reign of my property and could run around in the yard, but all he wants to do is sit here in the garage.”

When Stormy and I had returned home to find this new arrival, all the men looked uncomfortable and sad.

They understood the gravity of this, knew that Kyle was upping the ante even more.

It made me wonder if this was part of his plan.

To sow enough chaos that Cole wouldn’t be on his A-game when they finally met face-to-face.

“What’s the plan now?” I asked as we headed back to the house.

“Farrah and Trent are making calls. Pack meeting tonight. I want everyone there. I need to get the word out and try to calm things down before panic ensues.”

Three hours later, we were getting ready to head to the high school auditorium for the meeting, and I was preparing a plate of food for our guest.

“What’s that?” Trent asked.

“It’s for Gabe.” I refused to call him it , or an animal or wolf. He was a person and deserved to be called by his name.

“You can try, but I haven’t seen him eat or drink anything since we found him.”

“It’ll be there if he wants it,” I said.

I’d put together the healthiest meal I could for a wolf based on what was in the kitchen. A few slices of sandwich meat, a hot dog, a can of tuna, and some carrots and sliced tomatoes. He looked at me with doleful eyes as I stepped into the garage and put the plate down along with a bowl of water.

“Hey, Gabe. I brought you some dinner,” I said, reaching out to pet him, but he flinched away.

Pulling my hand back, I nodded at him. “I get it. No worries. Eat up, though. You’ve got to keep your strength.”

His nose twitched as he smelled the food, and I hoped that meant he’d eat something while we were gone.

“You ready?” Cole called from the driveway.

“Coming.”

T he parking lot was nearly full when we arrived. Not surprising, given the situation. Everyone wanted answers. I stepped out of the truck and went to join Trent and Porter in the audience, but Cole waved me over.

“Come up on stage with me. They’ll want to see you up there with me,” he said.

“They will? ” I asked incredulously.

“Of course,” he said. “You’re the mate of the next pack alpha.” He took my hand and led me on stage.

Once we were up on stage, Cole lifted his hands for quiet. The steady rumble of conversation slowly died out.

“Good evening, everyone,” Cole said. “I guess you’re wondering what happened today.”

“We heard some pretty crazy shit,” a man called from the back of the auditorium, and a low titter of laughter rippled through the room.

“I’m sure you did,” Cole said. “Let me go ahead and lay things out for you.”

He proceeded to tell them what happened to Gabe, and how it was believed to be one of Kyle’s men who did it. Shocked gasps shot through the auditorium.

“I know there will be people who are afraid. I’ve already been told some of the humans think a shifter bit Gabe and transformed him.

We all know that’s not possible, and that Kyle is at the root of this.

The problem is, we can’t reveal that to the humans yet.

If they are panicked at the thought of a bite transforming them, how terrified will they be if they think an injection can do it? ”

One of the men in the front row raised his hand, and Cole called on him. “Oliver? Go ahead.”

Oliver fiddled with his baseball cap as he stood up. “Yessir, I was wondering how Avery there was handling all this? Is she okay?”

Surprise shot through me, and it only deepened when others murmured in agreement to his question. Heads nodded, and more voices called out, asking after me. Did they truly care that much? It was honestly heartwarming.

“If there’s anything you need,” a woman called out, “we’ll do it. I can’t imagine losing my boy like you have. Anything. You say the word.”

More of the residents agreed, and a lump formed in my throat. Tears welled in my eyes. Cole was right. This town cared about me. About my son. I hadn’t expected that at all.

Wiping my eyes, I took a step forward and cleared my throat. “Thank you. Thank you, everyone. I’m doing as well as can be expected. The only thing I need from you is your support for Cole and his team. I have a good feeling that this will all be over soon.”

I quickly stepped back. I snatched Cole’s hand, and he squeezed it. The crowd gave some mild applause, then Cole continued answering their questions until everything that needed to be said was covered. The people began to file out, looking much less stressed and anxious than when we arrived.

Cole led me behind the curtain on the stage and cupped my cheeks in his hands. “You did good. I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d have to talk.”

I shrugged in answer, not trusting myself to talk. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, all my emotions would tumble out and I’d become a blubbering mess. Cole’s face softened as if he could see what was going on inside my mind. Leaning forward, he kissed me long and deep.

When he pulled away, he looked into my eyes. “I promise, when this is all over, I’m going to prove to you how happy I can make you and Ashton. I’m never ever letting you two out of my sight again.”

“I’d really like that.” My voice came out in a thick croak.

Cole licked his lips, looking nervous. When he spoke, his voice trembled with emotion.

“I’d really love it for you guys to move in with me. We can live under one roof as a family. Would you be okay with that? I never want to be apart from you again.”

“Of course. I’d love that, and I think Ashton would as well.”

Cole beamed at me and pulled me close. “I’m bringing our son home,” he whispered into my ear. “This will all be over soon.”

All I could do was clutch him, digging my fingertips into his shirt and fisting the fabric, holding on for dear life as more tears sprang to my eyes.

I threw out every ray of hope I had, casting it into the universe, praying something would latch on.

God, fate, luck, anything. I didn’t care.

Whatever it took to give me my life and my son back.