Annie used the key Bill had given her to access his house. He’d given her one before he’d left for New Orleans and she wanted to be there when he returned. The meeting with Gerri had blown her mind, and she and Bill now needed to talk.
Gerri had answered all her questions, and she had many. Gerri had explained everything to her over three cups of coffee and one more sampler plate. But instead of cookies, they’d gotten the decadent plate of mini cheesecakes and cake pops.
Gerri described their history, the hows and whys of changing. How packs, clans, and pods worked. Pods? There were tigers, lions, wolves, bears, seals, dolphins, and many more creatures. There were even elephants. Goddamn elephant shifters. She explained how mates could turn humans. But Gerri also let her know that choice was hers to make. A human and shifter could be very happy together without turning. There were a few problems though, like clan acceptance, and the fact that humans were weaker. Shifters could heal more quickly and often lived longer lives unless there was a hunting accident. She’d told Annie about Bill’s sister, who’d been shot by a hunter while in her wolf form. That was why it was important to only shift in secluded hunting areas that they had control over. If they hunted on someone else’s land they were putting themselves at risk. Luckily, the early founders had purchased up a lot of the land on the western side of the mountain that was clearly marked as private property. That kept most human hunters out though on occasion they did have trespassers. That was what had happened to his sister. Some men out hunting deer on pack land had spotted her and killed her. She had managed to get far enough away to not be discovered, but it had been a tragic lesson for them all.
It had been a lot to take in, but surprisingly it hadn’t scared her off. She was in love with Bill. In fact, she was happier finding out he was indeed a shifter and not some kind of a kook, as crazy as it sounded. The paranormal world that was so popular in TV and film, and books, was a reality. Blow her fucking mind! Shit balls.
She fumbled with the key. It was dark. And it felt like a summer storm was coming. A tropical depression possibly if the weather report could be believed. Tropical Storm Keriann might become a reality! There were no stars to help and Bill’s porch light was out. She would have to tell him about it so he could have it changed.
A noise to the right caught her attention. A set of bright, electrically green pinpoints off in the scrub. Fireflies? No. Too close together. A trickle of trepidation tickled along her spine. A deer? She searched deeply. She saw it again, and then there was another two pinpoints of blue. One set green. One set blue.
Her key finally plunged into the knob, and she twisted until she heard the click. Her imagination and the stories Gerri had shared over their repast had her thinking of the swamp ape, the Florida legend of the hairy Big-Foot like creature that lurked in the mucky Florida sawgrass. Or was it?
Annie rushed in slamming the door behind her. She locked the door and fastened the security chain for extra measure. Silly. She’d just learned about a part of the world she thought imaginary. It was enough to spook anyone. Feeling silly, she still began to flick on all the lights, feeling safer in the brightness.
What was she going to do? She had decisions to make, but one thing was for certain. Giving up Bill was not going to be one of them. She would suck it up and grow a pair, she thought smugly as she made her way into Bill’s massive bedroom and dropped her purse on top of the dresser he’d purchased for her to use.
She would grab a quick, hot shower and snuggle into Bill’s big soft bed. Tomorrow, when Bill arrived was soon enough to think about what the future would hold.
* * *
The two wolves padded softly back from whence they came. When they reached the car along the dirt road, they shifted back into their human form.
“That was her? Wasn’t it?” Dwayne asked getting behind the wheel of the car.
“It was,” replied Danielle. She had googled the realtor who looked even prettier than her realtor’s picture. Blond with big tits! Bill must be in his glory, she growled within herself not wanting Dwayne to see her jealousy. Her wolf wanted to rip off Annie’s face. Bill was theirs, hers and Dwayne’s. He belonged to them and needed to come back to Cazenovia to make their triad complete. She liked Dwayne and the power he would wield someday, but Bill was the man she had always craved. After six months with Dwayne, she had known he alone would not satisfy her, and that was when she had come up with the plan to convince Dwayne he needed to lead the clan with a triad.
And convincing Dwayne had been easier than she imagined. With the help of some herbs from a witch she knew, she had been able to make his mind susceptible to her suggestions. The only problem was she had to keep giving him the drugs to keep the effect going. There had been another concoction she needed as well. Dwayne’s mate had died and to convince him that she was another mate she’d needed a powerful brew. That brew worked in two ways. It made her scent over powering to him, convincing him that she was his life mate. He’d been in love with Bill’s sister and he lost her to a hunting accident. Although at first he had been suspicious, the mind control drug, and the brew made him believe he was special enough to have two mates roaming the world, and that forming a triad with his first mate’s brother would make the circle complete. It was perfect.
That was until rumors in Cazenovia that Bill had found a mate began to circulate. It was what had brought her here. While at Dave’s Diner, Bill’s father had been bragging that Bill had found his life mate in Florida. Her cousin had been there and overheard it all. Though her cousin, Isabelle, wasn’t aware of the plan, she knew she had felt something real for Bill in the past so she’d called her right away.
Danielle had been green with envy, and knew this was something she couldn’t allow. Bill was hers. A fantastic lover, an omega that she could not live without. She needed both Bill and Dwayne to claim her in the ritual way in order to secure her position as part of the triad that would rule the Cazenovia pack.
“What should we do?” Dwayne asked as he started the ignition on their rental.
“We need to get rid of her.” Her words were said calmly though her inner wolf was howling in anger. It wanted out and wanted revenge on the woman who was stealing her man.
Dwayne nodded numbly, focusing on the drive back to the hotel where they were staying. He would do whatever Danielle asked of him. He didn’t think clearly when she was around. All he knew was that when she was near he needed to have her, and do whatever it took to make her happy. She was his life mate after all.