Page 21 of Destined Prey
Jack pointed at him. “You’re lying!”
“I don’t knowallof what’s happening,” Ben amended. He sighed and pushed a lock of hair off his forehead. “I don’t know about the…the hearing each other’s thoughts part.” Jack’s shoulders sagged. The admission landed heavier than a denial would have. He’d been braced to be gaslit. He hadn’t prepared for agreement.
“You can hear mine, too?” Jack hadn’t realized his voice could get so squeakily high-pitched.
Ben shrugged. “Sort of? Like not whole sentences, just bits, just feelings, maybe, is more like it. Whatever, it comes through with a lot of noisy interference.”
“Why are you afraid I won’t want anything to do with you?” Jack demanded. “I know you thought that.”
“I’m not denying it.” Ben licked his lips, then bit down on the bottom one before releasing it. “I can’t stop thinking about you, and not in that creepy, if I can’t have him, no one else can kind of way. It’s like—like I’m drawn to you, something deep inside me feels like you might be my home.” He canted his head to the left and looked at Jack. “And possibly, that I could be your home. That we belong, and I’ve never felt that way with anyone else.”
Jack had to turn away, because that confession threatened to undo him and make him lay himself out for Ben, bare not just his body but his heart and soul as well. “It’s hormones. Pheromones. Chemistry.”
“Then let’s explore it together,” Ben urged. “You feel it, too.”
Jack still didn’t face him. “Tell me the rest.”
“Show me,” Jack said, surprising himself with the steadiness of his voice. “Whatever it is, show me.”
There was a long moment of silence before Ben said, “The rest?”
Jack walked to his door and grabbed the handle.
“Okay, okay! The rest, you’ve got it,” Ben rushed out. “Just, remember, you pretty much made it impossible for me not to tell you.”
Jack turned to him. “Yes, so—” He gasped. “What the—?”
Ben wasn’t sitting on the bed. A big, floppy-tongued wolf-coyote-coywolf was there, in his place.
Jack felt like he was going to pass out again. He braced himself, locking his knees and shaking his head rapidly, trying to get the blood flowing like he needed it to.
“Okay,” he whispered to himself. “Okay. Okay.” The word didn’t make sense of anything. It just kept him on his feet. The explanations he was coming up with couldn’t be real.
Then the animal shimmered and blurred, and Ben was there again, arching, stretching like his bones needed to fall back into place.
Ben canted his head again. “Well?”
Jack barked a laugh he couldn’t stop. The motion was so dog it shattered a little of the terror. “You can’t do that and then be cute about it,” he muttered, and the absurdity kept him breathing.
Jack thought the move very dog-like. He bit down on his tongue to keep from giggling.
Ben’s mouth curled up on one side in a crooked smile. “You haven’t thrown me out yet.”
“What are you?” Jack blurted, nervous, excited, and disbelieving even though he’d seen what he’d seen.
“Coywolf shifter,” Ben answered, raising one hand up and inspecting his nails. “Wearepretty badass, but none of the other shifters like us. Well, the wolf and coyote shifters don’t, and neither do the actual animals. Makes it hard sometimes.”
Jack pressed a hand over his heart. “And the other night, out here?”
“Turf war.” Ben lowered his hand. “We aren’t trying to claim this territory, but someone else is intent on making sure we have nowhere to run.”
The memory of Rhett saying “traps” knifed through Jack. Metal jaws. Blood. The house felt smaller all at once, like danger could seep through the window frames.
“Who?” Jack’s whole realityhadjust been altered. “There are other shifters?” God, he was talking to a human coywolf!
“We don’t know who, exactly, and Casey says he could be wrong. Just seems like there’s an awful lot of coyote and wolf shifters gunning for us lately. All we want is to be able to liveour lives in peace, run under the moon, and just…be. As do other shifters, sure. In just about every species, as far as I know.”
“What?” Oh, there went his voice, squeaking again.
