Page 96 of Shrouded in the Dark
“That was an honorable fight.” The bear, Axel, sat on the toilet lid with his hands laced together. “You know what this means now that you’ve fought for the alpha position of the pack and were left alive?”
I gave a short nod. My animal growled angrily, but he understood as well.
“I’m not a loner anymore.” I shifted with a wince, rubbing my jaw. “Are you here to put me in my place?”
The bear gave a shout of short laughter. “I’m not stupid. I know how powerful you are. I’m here just to make sure you heal up so that our shared mate doesn’t worry herself into a tizzy about you.”
My body relaxed under the spray of water. It may be cold, but my body temperature was high enough that it wasn’t a shock to my system after the first splash. I ran a hand through my hair as I looked at Axel.
“I know that this is a lot for everyone. Myself, included. I know you have questions about Felicity. Ask them.” It had to be bugging him.
He glanced down at his hands. “The feelings that I experienced when I was with her, those weren’t real, were they? They were a product of this ‘spray’ you talked about?”
I closed my eyes, tilting my head back against the tiled wall. “It’s a pheromone spray that has to be used multiple times to become effective. It’s why it’s only used as the graduation step to Venandi. Her pheromones attracted you to her, like a love spell, the more time you spent with her.”
“So, because of the space we’ve had over the summer, it’s worn off on me,” he grunted and I could feel the rage rolling off of him.
“She did it on purpose, you know.” Squinting at him with one eye, I ran a hand down my chest. “She doesn’t want to be a Venandi. She was supposed to have killed you before she left school, but she stalled long enough that my aunt and uncle gave her an extension as long as she trained at the academy this summer.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly. “I can’t imagine how hurt Becca must be.”
These guys confused me. They worried more about our mate, a girl that they hadn’t known for very long, instead of focusing on the wrong that had been done to them. My animal grumbled at me. I grudgingly acknowledged that I felt the same pull with her as they did. I just wanted to see her smile.
“She looked ready to kill my cousin. Seems like she’s ready to defend your honor.” I chuckled, wincing as it pulled on my newly healed wounds. “Damn. That cat can sure use his claws.”
Axel’s lips twitched in amusement. “He is a bit protective of all of us.” He stood. “Welcome to the family, Wyn.” He held out his hand to me.
I took it, grunting as he pulled me to his feet. “Just like that?”
He walked to the door, stopping as he opened it. “Just like that. You have a lot to learn about us, the same we have with you. But Seth’s animal has accepted you, and he’s the alpha. We listen to our leader. Plus, Becca really didn’t give him a choice.” He grinned at that as he left the room.
Becca. My own lips curved at the thought of the curvy, spunky kid. She’d gone through Hell, even before the shift. Felicity talked about her a lot. She admired her best friend for fighting her mental demons as hard as she did. I’d wanted to get to know her the first time I’d stepped into their dorm room and saw her speaking with my cousin.
She’d glared at my aunt and uncle without realizing it and I’d been hooked. My animal had gotten a whiff of her scent and wanted to bury our cock deep within her. It had been a very awkward ride back to the compound. Luckily, no one had paid me any mind.
When I’d gotten the call from Gary, I hadn’t known that Becca was the same girl. When I’d arrived at the cabin, with it reeking of blood, gore, and pain, I hadn’t expected that Gary’s stepdaughter survived.
Then I’d seen her. Laying there so pale and barely starting to breathe again. I’d had to fight my animal for control. It wouldn’t have done anyone any good if I had raged.
Now, here I was. She was in the same house. She didn’t look at me like I was a freak. She acknowledged her animal right away. It had taken me months to get to the control she naturally had in just a few short days.
Plus, she was in heat. With five males that were her mates in the vicinity. The control these boys had was impressive. It took everything within me from yanking her from whichever one she was with and fuck her senseless.
Axel had taken me to the room that they set me up in the first night. I pulled on a pair of jeans as I sat down on the bed with a sigh. This trip to help Gary’s stepkid had not gone according to plan. Not that I regretted it, I just had issues with change that I couldn’t control.
My phone vibrated on the night stand where I had it plugged into its charger. As I picked it up, I sighed again. It was my aunt, wanting a status update. I went back into the bathroom and shut the door before calling her back.
“Where have you been, Wyn?” she demanded as soon as she answered. “We expected an update over twelve hours ago.”
“Sorry about that, Aunt Nina.” Not really. “It took some time to get here. I’ve been tracking the bastard. It just seems like a rogue and, if I’m right, he’s already left the area but I’ve been expanding my search area, just in case I can catch him.”
I’d been lying so long to my so-called family for years, it didn’t bother me anymore. At first, I’d believed all the lies they spewed about shifters and magic. How only the human race was pure and anything else was an abomination. That changed gradually over time as I got to know Gary. I owed him a lot. He opened my eyes, not to mention saved my life when I’d been thrown into the experiment.
“That’s no excuse not to contact us. I was getting ready to send out a patrol to find you.” Aunt Nina had a nasally voice that had always been annoying, but now as a shifter, it grated on my nerves to the point of pain. “I want it caught and dealt with, Wyn. It’s intelligent for a rogue, I’ve looked at the autopsy reports of the victims. There was precision in the way it killed them. Bring me its body.” She hung up.
I snorted. What body? The guys had taken care of it. They left the head, though. If I had to, I could bring that back with some explanation.
I’d just put the phone in my pocket when it went off again, making me curse. This time, it was Gary. My annoyance lessened.
