Chapter 35
JESS
I was at my easel and Cade was working over at his compound when someone knocked at my front door. I growled, hoping they’d go away. I was into my work.
But the knocking persisted, and I finally put down my brush and went to the door, wiping my hands on a turpentine-soaked rag.
I was surprised to find Brandon on the front porch. I looked for Suzanne, since they seemed to travel as a matched set, but there was no sign of her. Brandon was dressed casually, like everyone around here, in thigh-hugging jeans and a flannel shirt and jacket. It was cool today; one could feel that winter was on the way.
A stiff breeze ruffled his golden hair. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my own man, I might have found him attractive. He was tall and fit with a bladed nose, a firm jaw, and fathomless gray eyes.
“If you’re looking for Cade, he’s at the compound.”
“Actually, I dropped by to see you.”
There was some kind of edge to his voice, and all my instincts warned me to be careful. Instead of inviting him in, I grabbed my jacket from the hook near the door and slipped it on, thrusting my paint rag into my pocket. Stepping out onto the porch, I said, “I was just about to take a little walk. You’re welcome to come along if you want.”
He gave a twisted smile that told me he knew this was a lie, but he didn’t object. I didn’t care for the idea of being alone with him in the house. Nor did I think Cade would be too pleased about it if he came home early. “Where’s Suzanne?”
He shrugged. “At home, I guess. I wanted to speak to you alone.”
“What about?” I remembered the way he’d looked at me when we’d run into each other hunting a few days ago. If he was going to make a move on me, Cade would probably kill him. Or else Suzanne would.
I led him over to where the chickens were rooting around in their pen. I decided to feed them since it would give me something to do. I headed for the barn where the chickenfeed was keep. Brandon paced alongside me.
I grabbed a bag and started tossing handfuls to the chickens. They waddled over and started pecking the ground.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“You can answer a few questions.”
I blinked at him, bemused by his harsh tone. I barely even knew the man, but he sounded accusatory. “Are you serious? Questions about what?”
He took a step closer to me and I felt aggression rolling off him. Whoa. What was going on? “You’re not a wolf shifter, are you?”
Shit. Where the hell was this coming from? “Of course I’m a wolf shifter.”
“No one in the pack has ever seen your wolf. Why is that? How do we even know you’re really Tom MacLeish’s granddaughter?”
What the fuck? “You may not have grown up in this town, but I did. People know me…I’m not some stranger. Why are you asking me this?”
“You’ve been gone a long time and you’re obviously fooling a lot of people. Darklings can do that. I know what you are.”
I felt the blood rush into my cheeks. How did he know? “Are you out of your freaking mind? Why would you think something like that?”
“Don’t bother to deny it. I saw you fly over the treetops on the edge of Great Meadows the other day when we were out hunting.”
My throat closed or I might have squawked like a chicken, too.
“If you’d intended to hide it, you should have told Cade to pick a more private place. There were several other hunters in the area. The pheasants are thick there.”
Shit. Could he be bluffing? I hadn’t flown for more than a few seconds that day. But he had been in the area, and a bird hunter would probably be watching the sky.
Even though my heart was skittering, I decided to play it cool. I glanced from the chickens to Brandon, feigning disinterest. “So I can fly, huh? Was I riding a broomstick? Playing quidditch, maybe?”
He moved closer, asserting his own alpha dominance. I stood my ground. He wasn’t my alpha. “You’re a darkling. That’s why no one in the pack has seen your wolf. You’re not one of us. I don’t know what the fuck Cade was thinking when he married you, but the sooner this marriage ends, the better for all of us. Shifters don’t mate with darklings.”
“That sounds like a bigoted opinion. Are you equally prejudiced against all races?”
“So you’re admitting it.”
“I admit nothing. Sounds to me as if you were seeing things. Or doing drugs.”
“You know, I am crediting myself with a good deal of rational thought on this matter,” he said pleasantly. “I haven’t told anyone what I saw. I didn’t even share it with Suzanne, whose attention was elsewhere at the time. I’ve let a few days go by because I didn’t want to act precipitously.” His mouth hardened. “But I’m here now, and this is what I’ve decided.”
What he’d decided? Who the hell did he think he was?
“You’re going to leave. Go back to Scotland or wherever you came from. I’ll give you two days. If you’re not gone by then, I’ll tell everyone in the pack who and what you are.”
I’m not sure what I’d expected, but this took my breath away. Inside me, something stirred. The air around me turned sharper and my fingers flexed. The aggressive forces were sick of being restrained. It wouldn't take much for them to burst their bonds. I could hear it in my own voice as I said, “How dare you threaten me? You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re wrong. I’ve dealt with darklings before. I might be the only one in this pack who has. A vicious darkling clan in Texas murdered my entire family. That’s how I ended up here, in Montana, when I was a young teenager on the run. If you think I’ll let another one of those foul creatures destroy this pack, you’re motherfucking mistaken.”
“I’m not a darkling. I’m a wolf shifter.” I was mad at myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth. It sounded defensive, and it was a bad idea to get defensive with an alpha because he would seize the advantage and walk all over anyone who did.
“Right,” he sneered. “So I was hallucinating? I saw you. You’ve already killed one person, haven’t you? That biker who died a few weeks ago was torn apart by a paranormal creature. We were afraid it was someone from the pack, but it was you, wasn’t it? Did you sate yourself on biker blood? How long until you turn on one of us?”
That was a kick in the gut, since I’d feared the same thing myself. I couldn’t let him see it. But I could feel the perspiration breaking out on my palms and the tingling running up and down my spine.
“I don’t know why Cade married you or what hold you have over him, but you’re alone here. One darkling, powerful though you may be, is not enough to do battle against the whole pack. And if Cade takes your side in this, we’ll destroy him, too.”
“That sounds like what you’ve wanted all along. To take his brother’s place in his family? To lead the pack? But you didn’t defeat him in the election and you’re sure as hell not going to do it now.” I took a step toward him. “Maybe one darkling can’t take out the whole pack, but she can easily deal with a single shifter.”
I caught the flicker in his eyes, even though it only lasted for a split second. If he feared darklings from whatever had happened to him as a child, he controlled his emotions well. Had his family really been murdered by darklings? Full-blooded darklings? So they did exist on this continent?
He gave no ground. I understood now why he had been considered a worthy rival to Cade. Brandon had a core of steel.
“Kill me, darkling, and you destroy yourself. The entire pack will be down upon you before the day ends. Even your precious lover will not be able to let that crime stand.”
I could see only one way out of this, and transforming to my darkling self and ripping out his throat wasn’t it. But could I do it? The fear that I couldn’t control my own shifting had been tormenting me now for months.
Focus. Control the shift. You decide which aspect to present to the world. You are the alpha of your own being.
“If you’re deluded enough to challenge me over some mad fantasy of yours, let’s play it out in the ancient manner.”
I went inside. I reached for my wolf and focused on her form, her senses, her bones, her blood.
Pain wracked my body as I began to shift.
It hurt more than usual because I was so tightly wound, so desperate to do it correctly. I needed to keep the wilder and more ferocious darkling in. I summoned my wolf. I’d have pleaded with her to come and the other to stay contained, except I needed discipline now. Not weakness.
My fingers elongated as my claws sprang forth. My skin prickled everywhere as it flowed differently over breaking, changing bones. Silky fur sprouted as my spine cracked and my muscles remolded. My skull screamed with pain as bones reshaped and pressed my brain into a different conformation. I had the familiar sense of my brain being compressed, rewired, certain connections vanishing and others taking their place.
It was always traumatic, and the lore proclaimed that some shifters suffered more than others in the process. But when it fully formed, my shifted body felt strong and lithe, and my senses of smell, sight, and hearing magnified a thousand fold.
I sprang into the air and thought for a moment all was lost. But no, it was the leap of a wolf, not the flight of a darkling. New scents swirled around me as the air pumped into my lungs, I pranced among the chickens, who scattered, shrieking.
I was not the only wolf in the yard. No sooner had I begun to shift than Brandon did the same. He completed his shift before I did, too, probably because he was much more practiced at it. He was a gray wolf, large and majestic. Bigger than I was and probably stronger. Male and dominant. He stood stiff and straight, his tail high, ready to attack.
We circled one another, both of us snarling. I stared at him through my wolfish eyes. I caught his smell as he caught mine. And I sensed his surprise.
He knew about darklings. But apparently he did not know about multiform shifters. He was trying to unravel the fact that he believed he had seen a darkling. But what he now saw before him was clearly a werewolf.
He growled. I lowered my tail a smidgen to let him know that I did not really want to fight him. I had made my point. I’d said I was a wolf shifter and I’d proved it.
Your move, alpha.
I remained still and let him approach me. I was damned if I would exhibit any submission to a male who was not my mate, but I did let him sniff me. Suck it, Brandon. When I was a wolf, I was all wolf. He would not find a trace of darkling in me now.
We were still assessing each other, narrow-eyed, when my ears pricked up at the sound of an engine approaching. Motorcycle. The same engine my wolf had first heard on the night of the accident.
Cade was home.