Page 13

First stage transfer camp: Olympic National Park

A month later

J ayden stood in the shadows. Her body felt stiff and unnatural, as if her soul had been ripped from her physical form.

She listened to the drone of voices. Some were as familiar to her as her own.

Her mother and father, were chatting with several shifters.

Her focus turned to Mitchell. Who she had always looked up to and believed in—until today.

Today it felt that the world was dissolving around her. It was the day she had thought she would be prepared for—the day the world ended.

No… not the world. Just me. It’s going to be the end for me.

She had argued and fought for the past month against moving the clan, but she had been overruled…

again. The realization made her nauseated.

She breathed deeply through her nose and gripped the spear in her hand until her knuckles turned white from the pressure and her fingers grew as numb as the rest of her body. Rage fought with disbelief.

How could Mitchell support moving the rest of their clan to this faraway place? He didn’t even stay with them here! He traveled with Tracy.

Why had her parents and the other elders been so accepting of all of this? If they stayed here, they would at least be close to the mountains and forest that they knew.

I would be close to them, she thought as grief filled her.

How could they forget what the shifters had done to humans? Even in the past month, they had been forced to stay within the confines of the compound. Regardless of what Mitchell and the others said, they were caged like animals.

The overwhelming need to run, to be free from the wired fence, from the curious eyes burned through her until she thought she would scream. She felt like she was slowly suffocating.

“Jayden.”

She stiffened at the soft voice calling her name. It was one she hadn’t heard in over eight months. She tightened her jaw, refusing to show her conflicted emotions to the one person who knew her better than anyone else. Turning slowly, she faced the one person she had been purposely avoiding.

“Ella.”

When she spoke, her voice carried a cool, curt edge.

A pained expression flickered across Ella’s face, and she winced at the sharp tone in Jayden’s voice.

Ella’s hand gravitated towards her extended stomach, a silent testament to the life growing inside her, and Jayden couldn’t help but be aware of it.

Her stomach churned with a sour, burning acid sensation.

“Please… don’t be mad,” Ella quietly pleaded.

As Ella advanced closer, Jayden instinctively took a step back, maintaining the distance between them.

In warning, she shook her head vigorously.

In that moment, she could feel her emotions teetering on the edge of control, unsure if she could rein them in completely.

She couldn’t bear the idea of causing harm to Ella, or to the innocent creature growing inside her.

While she knew she would never hurt Ella physically, she knew that sometimes words could cut sharper than any blade.

“You should return to the… group,” she replied.

Ella’s eyes followed the movement of her hand when she waved toward the large group of people sitting around the fire. Ty Bearclaw was watching Ella with an intense, protective scrutiny.

“I wanted to say hi… to talk to you,” Ella said.

She could feel her head shaking. “There’s nothing to talk about,” she stated through clenched teeth. “You made your choice.”

Ella winced at her blunt tone. “It doesn’t have to be a choice.

You know that. Things are already better.

Look at your grandfather. He would have died if not for Ben.

If Mitchell and the elders didn’t accept what Ty, Tracy, and Michaela were offering, there won’t be anyone left.

Those other shifters would have wiped everyone out. ”

“What’s the difference? At least, that would have been quicker,” she retorted.

Jayden knew she was being unreasonable. It wasn’t Ella’s fault and she shouldn’t take it out on her friend, but she felt out of control and just wanted to be left alone. The problem with being stuck in the compound was there was no place to disappear.

She knew part of the reason she was feeling on edge was because of the two men standing in the shadows on the other side of the firepit.

The last month had been a wild dance of avoidance.

From the time she woke until she retreated to the cabin that she shared with her parents, she felt that she was walking along the edge of a crumbling cliff.

It was impossible to ignore the challenge in the two men’s eyes whenever they came within spitting distance anywhere inside the compound. That was another reason she wanted to escape. It was getting harder and harder not to throw herself into their paths.

“You don’t mean that,” Ella chided.

Jayden adverted her eyes. She hadn’t missed the healthy flush or the love shining in Ella’s eyes when she looked at her shifter.

Everything about her friend screamed that she was happy—including the very obvious roundness of her stomach.

She looked back at the group, desperate to turn the topic to something else.

“Is that the leader of the shifters?” she asked.

Ella partially turned and nodded. “Yes, that’s Michaela. She’s really very nice. She is the President of the United Species of North America and Ty’s aunt. She is a powerful person,” Ella explained.

“She looks pretty pleased with herself. I guess she got what the Others always wanted, a cage full of humans,” Jayden muttered, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“It has been a lot of work convincing the other shifters to create a home for us. There were some who—well, not everyone feels the same,” Ella acknowledged before she looked down at her clasped hands. “Ty and his family are doing everything they can to make it easier for us.”

Jayden shook her head. “What power does he have over you? What power does Tracy have over Mitchell that he would turn his back and agree to this? How can I?—?”

She bit off her last desperate question.

She didn’t want Ella—or anyone else—to know that she felt a strange attraction to the two wolf-shifters.

She knew she was acting crazy. There was a small part of her that wanted to push Ella—and everyone else—away.

If they hated her, it would be easier to be alone.

That realization hit her hard, and her gaze flickered over Ella’s shoulder to the men. They were still staring in the two women’s direction. Panic coursed through her.

Can they smell my desire? Do they know that I want them?

The thought sent a wave of dismay through her even as a shiver of awareness ran down her spine. The choking feeling of being hunted swept through her. What horrified her the most was the sense of excitement at what it would be like to be caught and held by the men.

“Love.”

She blinked, frowning at Ella. “What?”

“You asked what power Ty has over me. It’s love. I love him so much and I know he loves me just as much in return,” Ella said.

Jayden studied Ella’s expression. Her friend believed what she was saying. Was it possible to love a shifter and not just desire them? She looked over at Mitchell. He was talking to Michaela. Tracy was sitting next to him and they were holding hands.

Mitchell smiled at the woman and nodded. A chorus of agreement rose among the two dozen human members of her clan. They had voted—again. They would allow the shifters to take them away to the place far from here.

The piercing pain of betrayal hit her again. She bowed her head and breathed deeply. Her worst fear had become a reality. Once again, she knew she had no one else to blame for what was happening but herself.

Acceptance flowed through her along with a sense of serenity with her clan’s final decision to accept what the shifters were offering. She could not change the past. The only thing she could do was accept the present. The future would always be filled with uncertainty, but she was used to that.

She reached out and touched Ella’s cheek. A sad smile curved her lips as memories of them running wild and free through the forest flashed through her mind. Time had moved on… and so had they.

“I wish you… happiness, Ella,” she murmured.

“Jayden?” Ella’s voice held a hint of confusion. “Everything will be alright. You’ll see. Ty won’t let anything happen to the clan. He’ll protect them.”

She dipped her head in agreement and lowered her eyelids to shield the emotion in them. She gave Ella a strained smile and nodded toward the group. Ella’s shifter husband had risen and was heading towards them.

“Your… husband is looking for you,” she said.

Ella turned when she mentioned Ty. Jayden took advantage of Ella’s distraction to slip further into the darkness. The wolf-shifters were walking toward them along with Ella’s husband. The last thing Jayden wanted was to give the two shifters a chance to work any more of their magic on her.

She slipped into the shadows between two of the cabins. Striding toward the back, she turned near the tall fence and followed it around until she came to the back of the cabin that she shared with her parents.

She paused along the back, worried that the two wolf-shifters would follow her.

A wry smile curved her lips. If they did, they were in for a surprise.

She walked around to the edge of the small, covered porch.

Hopping up on the railing, she used the notches in the natural wood pillar to climb up onto the roof.

Once she was on the roof, she twisted and sat down.

Drawing her knees up, she wound her arms around her legs and rested her chin between her knees…

and waited. The moon hadn’t risen yet, so the sky was dark.

The lights around the compound were shielded, limiting the amount of ambient light.

Between the artificial lights, the campfires, and the stars, there was more than enough light to navigate.

Lucky for her, it was all aimed downward or low to the ground and her grandparents’ cabin was on the outer rim.

She straightened when she heard the low crunch of leaves. From her perch, she watched as the two wolf-shifters emerged out of the shadows between the cabins and paused. They sniffed the air before they looked around with a frown.

“How the hell did she disappear so quickly?” Van muttered.

“She probably went into her cabin. She looked pretty upset earlier. I don’t know what she and Ella were talking about, but it didn’t look good,” Peterson said.

“I’ll be glad when we can get her out of here,” Van replied.

Peterson snorted out a sharp laugh. “Hell, I’d be happy if she just wasn’t so skittish. It’s driving me crazy the way she’s avoiding us. Why won’t she give us a chance? That’s all we are asking for. Talk to us. Get to know us.”

“I know. I thought for sure once we got here that it would be easier,” Van grumbled before emitting a loud sigh.

“Van, Peterson, Michaela would like to speak to you both,” Ty called out.

“Coming,” they responded together.

The tenor of their voices rolled over her.

She bit her lip and watched as they glanced once more between the cabins before they walked away.

The quiet murmur of voices carried on the gentle breeze.

From the rooftop, she could see the firepit where everyone had been sitting.

The scene was bittersweet. It reminded her of all the nights when her clan had gathered to listen to the elders tell their stories.

Now, she couldn’t help but wonder if any of the stories the elders had told them were true.

“Was everything a lie?” she whispered.