Page 37 of Happily Undead in Dark River

“Holy shit, where did you even come from? Are you part chameleon?” I hadn’t sensed him there at all. Not his heartbeat. Not his scent. Nothing. My own heart was pounding. Well, the vampire version of pounding. The Protector was huge and pale, not quite albino but almost. Brody wrapped his arm around my waist, and I thought he might have been staking his claim ever so subtly. I was going to have to watch more David Attenborough.

Brody kissed my temple, confirming my thoughts that he was marking me as his, and smiled at the other man. “This is Pierre, but we all call him Ghost. He is the Pack’s best Protector, mainly because he moves like his namesake. It made playing hide and seek with him as a kid frustrating as hell,” he laughed, and there was definite fondness there. “Ghost, this is my Mate, Raine.”

Ghost grunted, but reached out and shook my hand. “Ghost doesn’t speak,” Brody said softly.

“That’s fine with me, I talk enough for two people. It’s nice to meet you Ghost. I won’t bug you for too long, I promise. All of you. I’m only here for a couple of weeks, then I’ll take my problems back to Dark River with me.”

Brody stiffened slightly under my hand, and I looked at him and frowned.

Nell distracted me. “It’s fine, Child. You are now part of the Alpha Pair. This Pack is as much yours as it is Brody’s. Stay as long as you wish.”

I blinked. I didn’t know what to say. When Brody said I was his Mate, I assumed it was much the same way that I was Tex’s Mate. I had to love him, care for him, which was no hardship because I loved that man so much already my heart was basically bursting with it. I didn’t realize it would come with other responsibilities.

I looked at Brody, and he must have seen the panic on my face, because he gave me a squeeze, and nodded to his grandmother. “We best be getting home. There's still some more of the town I’d like to show her before the night is over.”

Nell nodded. “Yes, go show her our Pack lands. It isn’t all assassination attempts, I promise.”

I must have said something pleasant because I was being hustled out between Brody, Tex, and Ghost.

I looked over at the Protector. He was easy over six feet and wide like a mack truck. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Tex slipped his fingers between mine, and I gripped him tight. I meant what I said to Tex; I was at my quota for shifters. I couldn’t imagine loving any other shifters the way I loved Tex and Brody. I didn’t even love my vampires the same way I loved those two. It was like they’d cleaved off a part of my heart and made it their own. There was plenty of love left for everyone else, but the Mate Bond was a different beast altogether.

Nîso was beautiful at night, the petrichor scent of the surrounding forest getting stronger, music and laughter echoing from houses on different blocks. We were walking around in the open, and I was starting to get a little antsy. I mean, I get that Brody had put his foot down, but they did almost shoot me right in front of him, so I wasn’t sure if they were too perturbed by his wrath.

I looked over my shoulder at Ghost, but he was gone. Then he stepped out from between two houses. “Seriously, are you three-quarters chameleon, one-quarter camouflage pants?”

One side of his mouth curled into a smirk, and he shrugged.

“Ghost is a two-natured shifter as well, like Tex,” Brody answered for him. “He was dropped here as a child, much the same as Tex. Actually, they have a lot in common.”

I stopped in surprise. “Are you a python too?”

Ghost shook his head but didn’t elaborate. Not that he spoke. I didn’t know how he would elaborate? Charades? Maybe I needed to learn sign language. Brody signed something to him, and Ghost nodded.

“It’s considered a bit of a faux pas to ask a two-natured shifter what animal they have, but Ghost doesn’t mind. He isn’t a python. He’s a snow leopard.”

I looked at his nearly white hair, his pale, almost translucent blue-grey eyes. While I would never have guessed Tex was a snake, I could see Ghost as a snow leopard.

I gave Ghost an embarrassed shrug. “Sorry, Ghost. If I had an animal, it would probably be a Big-Mouthed Bass.”

He made a hissing laugh, his face crinkling into a grin that made me smile back. Then he gave me the thumbs-up, and his face went back to intent as he searched the town around us for threats.

Brody pointed out landmarks of his town, giving me the tour guide special, but also throwing little hints at his past, anecdotes from his childhood and teenage years that had me gripping my stomach with laughter. Twelve-year-old Brody getting stuck putting rotten fish in the air conditioning vents of a teacher’s house. He stayed there until Ghost came with a bottle of Crisco and they slicked him up enough to get him out. Teenage Brody, not yet Alpha, getting busted kissing one of Kelly’s best friends behind the cinemas by Nell. Brody and Ghost stealing a bronze statue of the first Alpha from the town square and sinking it to the bottom of the hot springs. The more they talked, the more I realized that Ghost wasn’t just the packs best Protector, but Brody’s best friend. I’d been selfishly ignorant of the fact that he had a whole life here. A life I was keeping him away from by dragging him back and forth to Dark River.

I faked a yawn and stilled my feet. “I’m exhausted. Can we pick up the tour again tomorrow?”

Brody’s brows lowered, and his eyes searched my face. I gave him what I hoped looked like a tired smile.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close to kiss my temple. “Sure we can, Red.” We wandered back to Brody’s house in comfortable silence. Tex had been really quiet as well, which made me wonder what was on his mind. We were a group still filled with secrets. We were still new. I was learning four new boyfriends all at once. I had to hope that with time, I would learn them better.

I looked at Tex. Except for him. Tex I knew as well as myself already. As well as you could know your childhood friends. I knew his dreams and his fears. I knew his triumphs and failures. Sure, I hadn’t known he was adopted, or that he was some kind of snake shifter. But I knew that he’d cried the first time he listened to Hurt by Johnny Cash. And my fierce friend never cried. It was a sign of weakness, and his blindness made him feel weak enough. Thinking back to that moment as an adult though, it probably wouldn’t have just been because the lyrics are terribly sad. He would have been about ten I guess, and we’d finally discovered his dad’s Johnny Cash American IV album. Ten-year-old Tex, who was raised a good Catholic boy, would have just been discovering he liked boys as well as girls, and the soul of the shifter inside him would have ensured he’d always feel incomplete. He must have felt so out of place. No wonder he’d cried. He’d been struggling, and I had been oblivious as any other eight-year-old girl.

I super-speeded to his side and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. He squeezed me back gently. “Hey, what's wrong?”

I blinked rapidly. “I was just remembering when we listened to Hurt by Johnny Cash that first time. I just realized how hard it must have been for you growing up. I’m sorry I didn’t understand until now.”

He let out a deep chuckle, one that was edged in dark pain. “You couldn’t have understood, Raine. I didn’t understand.” He kissed me softly. “You know what I remember? I remember being consumed by sadness at the words like he was speaking directly to me. Then I cried, and I never cried, and I got so mad at myself for crying in front of you. But then you came over, wrapped your arms around me even though I kinda still thought girls had cooties, and I felt like it was all going to be alright. I was scared and confused, but you with this fucking tiny ray of sunshine, and you were hugging me, and I felt like I was just soaking all that goodness into myself. I wonder if my Snake knew even then what you were destined to be to mine.”

Now I was crying. Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. I just hugged him until he kissed me one last time and let me go, grabbing my hand until we were walking along again. I realized Brody and Ghost were in front of us a couple of paces, giving us some space. Damn, I loved that Alpha, almost as much as I liked the boy that was holding my hand.

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