Page 31 of Shadow Wolf
“This is why…”
“Clare? Sweetheart?”I blinked a few times as I looked over my shoulder at Frankie. He ran his fingers over my forehead, pushing wet strands of hair away.
“Hey, I think you almost fell asleep there.”
I didn’t know what to say. How would I even start to explain that while he was washing my hair for the first time, I had a vision that someone else had done it before him?
Chapter20
Frankie
Clare was keeping something from me. In the shower I had sensed her change of emotions. I didn’t know what to say when she tensed up… like she was confused… lost. I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, so I told her she almost fell asleep. It was partially true, it was as if she was so deep in thought that she was sleeping. But then I could almost feel her guilt.
Whatever she had been thinking about made her feel guilty and I wished I didn’t have these senses. That I was just a regular human, who didn't know what others were feeling. Then I didn’t have to worry myself about what made her feel that way. Was it me? Did I do something she didn’t like earlier?
I had run back downstairs to the room I was staying in to grab fresh clothes. I had kept it clean and made the bed. I didn’t think anything would impress Clare’s parents, but I didn’t want them to add to their growing list that I was messy also. Them accepting me wasn’t something I was after being here. I didn’t need them to accept me. Would it be easier? Yes, if Clare was close to them. But she wasn't.
I just needed Clare to accept me for who I really was. Something I should have done from the start. I will, starting today. I had to be honest. It was the only way for us to truly move forward in our relationship. Not the shifter stuff, that was too much and too soon. But my mom and Alex. Reapers, and drugs. And the fact I wasn't actually a college student.
When I made it back to Clare’s room she was talking on the phone. It was Vicki. I listened for a few moments before Vicki mentioned my name. She mentioned it a few times in fact, knowing I would be able to hear her. She wanted to talk to me urgently. My heart dropped, my phone showed no missed calls. But I instantly thought of Alex. Was he okay? He had messaged me earlier telling me that Liam was mean and made him go to school sick. As if Liam didn’t know he was faking it either.
“You’re not talking to him. You told him I had never been kissed at the party, that’s embarrassing.” Clare whispered into the phone. I could tell whatever Vicki had to say to me was important so I walked into the room.
“Hey, is that Vicki?” I asked, and Clare spun around and nodded.
“Can I talk to her?” She rolled her eyes and nodded. But I could see the hint of a smile there, she wasn’t truly upset with her friend.
There was a knock at the front door and we both spun, Clare quickly passed me the phone.
“It’s probably a package, I’ll go answer that. But don’t talk about me while I’m gone.” She teased me, pointing at the phone.
“I can’t promise you anything, sweetheart.” She laughed as she skipped away. I wasn’t sure if I should follow her, but the property seemed to have cameras and was secure, so I assumed the person knocking was someone Clare’s family would let in past the gates, like a delivery driver.
“Hey, Vicki. Is everything okay?” I didn’t know what she was about to say, and I was bracing for bad news. Just please don’t be Alex.
“Frankie, thank god. I have been trying to call Clare all night and morning. I didn’t have your number.” I nodded to myself; Clare had turned it off last night. I didn’t have the luxury to switch off my phone, but she seemed more relaxed than ever without it on.
“They know… her mates.”
I stood up straighter and turned to where I last saw Clare. What mates?
“What?” I growled. My panther was so close I could shift in a moment.
“I fucked up, okay? I should have said something when we first met. I didn’t want to because she was so happy for the first time and her happiness means everything to me. I thought you were human… well until I met you. You were a shifter.
“But I thought okay, this was still okay. I could work with this, keep this a secret from them. She’s my best friend, Frankie. But there are things she doesn’t even know and you're about to find them out real soon.”
“Tell me what is going on, so help me, Vicki.” It was as if she was speaking in riddles. Mates? I wanted to know what she was talking about.
Wolf shifter. I could sense one now the front door was opened. I didn’t hear anything Vicki had said as my panther was reacting to the intrusion. I growled.
“Frankie, are you listening to me? My going here depends on her going here, okay? You understand. They pay me to protect her, pay for my college and everything. Her wolf shifter mates, they compelled her to leave and go to college. That's what they told me. They set me up as her roommate and I watch over her. Let them know she is fine and keep her from trouble.”
I was controlling my breathing, I didn't want to shift inside her house. I couldn't scare Clare like that.
“But Frankie… I think they compelled her to forget them as well.”
I couldn't hear this anymore. I threw the phone onto her bed, I couldn’t be up here anymore when I knew one of them was downstairs. Not once had Clare mentioned wolf shifter mates, if that was the case she wouldn’t be thinking she had her first kiss with me, everything she had done so far she didn’t fake. I knew that. Because in her mind, I was her first kiss.
