Chapter Five
Tessa couldn’t believe what she heard. The man who she’d fantasized about, would have missed her? He had feelings for her? Why? They didn’t know each other. He’d just been a voice on the other end of the radio. A man she spied from a distance. What had changed? She kept her thoughts to herself and started to walk again. Henri didn’t say anything either. The grounds were huge, and she couldn’t hear any evidence of the outside. The compound reminded her of an old school, one very large building which probably housed multiple rooms and living spaces. There was also a fenced off garden. A young man, who was watering the plants, waved as they walked pass.
“Another shifter?”
“We’re all shifters. I don’t really know how much you know already.”
Now she knew why he seemed so powerful and in control all the time. He was a shifter.
“I’m the Alpha of the Coldwater Pack. You’ve met our resident healer, Jo. Everyone who works under me at the job are members of my pack as well. I don’t think you’ve met any of them.” She shook her head. “There’s also a few cubs, but they’re in the nursery on the other side of the compound now. Willow’s in charge of them.”
Something clicked. “Cubs? That means you’re all wolves?” He nodded. “And what am I?”
He glanced at her, studying her. “We’re not sure yet. The man who attacked you didn’t say, and now I can’t ask him.”
The way he said it sent tendrils of dread twisting in the pit of her stomach. “What happened to him?”
“He died.”
Tessa stopped in her tracks. “You killed him?” All she wanted was for Henri to deny it, but he didn’t. Instead he watched her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Was he worried she might judge him for killing him? It wasn’t that. Tessa didn’t know much about being a shifter. They were the dark parts of humanity. The secrets nobody talked about. Something she didn’t give any thought to because in her own isolated world, they weren’t a part of it. Did Henri expect her to be able to kill? Tessa hadn’t even been in a fight before, if she didn’t count last night. She’d tried to fight the man off, but she didn’t think she had it in her to kill someone deliberately.
“He was going to rape you, Tessa, and probably kill you. You should know I didn’t go there with a plan to kill him. Just to stop him. Call the police. I thought he was human.” Henri ran his fingers through his dark hair and sighed. “But when I found out he wasn’t … and what he planned to do to someone who belonged to me.” He curled his hands into fists.
“I don’t belong to you.”
“I’m the Alpha of the Coldwater pack, sweetheart. Every shifter in this area belongs and reports to me, but that doesn’t matter right now. It happened quickly. I threw him, and he hit the bar. Broke his neck. A shifter can take a lot of damage but even we have our limits.”
“It was an accident?”
Henri frowned. “What difference does it make? I would do it again. If he went for you, if he’d killed you?” He reached out and touched her shoulders. Tessa flinched and caught a flash of pain in the depths of Henri’s icy stare. He took a deep breath and some of the tension in his shoulders relaxed. “I won’t lie to you sweetheart. I would have torn him apart. It’s what I am. I’m a shifter. I hurt those who hurt what’s mine.”
There was a weird energy around him, and part of her wanted to curl up against him and tell him everything was all right, that she was overreacting, but fear nearly overwhelmed her again this time for another reason.
He called you his.
“You’ve gone through a lot, Tessa. You need some time to adjust. There’s other people here, wolves, who can talk to you about the life you’re facing. It doesn’t have to be me if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”
“Even if I don’t end up being another wolf?”
He touched her cheek and guided her face up to meet his. His touch left a trail of heat against her skin. God, I hope I’m not blushing.
“Pack has nothing to do with what animal you change into. It’s deeper than that. You’re a part of this,” he gestured around her, but she couldn’t look away from him, “and it might scare you but, there’s a home for you here. Your life has changed, but you’ve gained a family, with us.” He picked up her hand and rested it on his chest. “With me.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. It had been such a long time since she had a place she could call home. A person who cared about her. But if she was still human would they still be standing here, with him offering her a place to live?
Probably not.
Did she have the strength to ask?
“I think I need to be alone. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” The compound was quiet, but she needed to get away from Henri. It wasn’t because she feared him, but being around him confused her. She liked him, but she couldn’t make any good decisions fueled by her libido. The way he stroked her cheek with his thumb was distracting as hell.
“I really want to kiss you.”
Her mouth dropped opened in surprise. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“I heard what you said.” He traced his thumb across her bottom lip. “You make a hell of lot of sense, and Goddess knows you need time and space to figure it all out. You look so beautiful now, and all I’ve been thinking about is kissing you.”
Her mind went blank. “I need time,” she managed to stutter. Her bottom lip was overly sensitive, and her eyes drifted to his lips as if they had a life of their own. God, she wanted him, too.
His eyes went completely black as he stepped closer until their bodies touched. “You might not have time, Tessa. The change is dangerous. It leaves a shifter’s mind and body vulnerable.”
The weight of his words hit her like a ton of bricks. She stepped back and away from his touch and before she had any real chance to question the doubt which tried to creep into her mind, she slapped him. Henri barely flinched. Besides the outline of her hand on his cheek it didn’t look like he’d been hit at all. Tessa’s hand throbbed like she’d broken every bone in it. Damn, that hurt.
“I might die in a week and you’re trying to get me into bed?” She flexed her fingers. Her hands had healed from the cracks due to her twisting her fingers, but being a soon-to-be shifter didn’t dull the pain. “I’m going to go to my room and get my head around what you’ve just told me. Leave me alone, Henri.”
“Tessa, wait.”
Suddenly something dawned on her, and she spun around, glaring at him. “That’s why you’re so in to me now, isn’t it? I’m the ultimate no strings attached. There’s no risk of falling into a relationship with you because the chances I’ll die are high.” Her vision swam with tears on the verge of falling. She didn’t want it to be true, but it was the only thing that made sense to her.
“Do you really have such a low opinion of yourself and of me?” Henri hadn’t moved from his spot, and his eyes were unreadable again with that stupid square jaw she wanted to kiss and slap again in equal measure. “Tessa, you are beautiful to me. I wanted to keep you safe.”
“From what?”
“From me.” He gritted his teeth. “Relationships between human and shifter are dangerous. I knew the moment I saw you, you were someone special, and I also knew I couldn’t do anything about it. Now I can.” He took a step towards her, her breath caught. There was something about him. Even now when she’d learned the truth, she still wanted him. “Don’t think I’m trying to take advantage of you, and please don’t think I want you to die. I can’t imagine a world without you in it. We have a word for it. Mates. Tessa, we’re supposed to be together.”
Tessa raised her hand, and he stopped in mid-step. “Please don’t.” If he touched her she’d be lost.
He didn’t close the distance between them. It might have only been a few feet, but it felt like miles to her. “We’ll talk later.”
****
He watched her leave and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to follow her. His wolf wanted to. Hell, he wanted to, but he knew he’d only make it worse. The urge to kiss her, to silence her fears would be pointless when she didn’t believe he truly wanted to be with her, that she was his mate. No, she needed time, and even if she might not have much of it, Henri had to respect her decision.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and Henri retrieved it. “What is it?” He didn’t bother to check for the name. Only people on the compound knew the number.
“It’s Matthew. I’m calling from the computer room. You better get here quick. I don’t think you’re going to want to hear this over the phone.”
The phone went dead in his hand. He ran to the other side of the compound using shifter speed and releasing some of the pent-up need which churned inside of him. Five minutes couldn’t have passed before he opened the door.
From the outside, the compound looked like a place suited to a certain type of folk. Preppers who were worried about the apocalypse and kept away from civilization. They learnt to live without shopping centers and things other people took for granted. Henri’s pack mostly followed the same rules. They hunted in their wolf forms and either ate the animals they caught raw or cooked them when they were become human again. The small farming area made sure they had steady supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. One of the bonuses of being a shifter was their inability to get sick, so they didn’t need human medicines. It made it very easy to remain isolated, but Henri liked his job and it kept him in touch with the world. Some of his pack stayed in the compound, but most them had jobs outside of it.
Matthew Knot, a man who was in his fifties but looked like he was barely out of his twenties, looked up from the screen he’d been working at. He ran his hand though his longish blond hair, and it stuck up in random directions.
“What’s wrong?”
Matthew smiled wryly. “What gave it away?”
“The fact you usually call me ‘boss’.” Henri walked behind his chair and rested his hand on the back of it. “What’s up?”
“It looks like the man who attacked your human isn’t a rogue as we originally thought. I’ve been doing some research online, and I managed to find him. Paul Bolton.” He brought up a page on the screen for a popular social media group, and Henri was greeted by a picture of the man, smiling and next to a man he instantly recognized, red hair slicked back from an angular face and bright blue eyes which held no real warmth. If Boyd O’Hearn was involved in any way it wouldn’t be ending well.
The Reynard wasn’t originally from the US. He’d been born and raised in Ireland, Dublin to be precise. A fox shifter. The skulk he’d belonged to in his home country hadn’t wanted him around. Even then he’d been a bad excuse for a shifter, itching for a fight, and he’d taken a few followers loyal to him overseas. They were thugs, but they’d never tried to take over another area before. In a fair fight wolves would beat them hands down, but foxes didn’t believe in a fair fight. They were a sneaky and secretive bunch at the best of times, at the worst, incredibly dangerous. “This isn’t good.”
“What are the chances it’s just a coincidence?”
“Slim,” Henri admitted reluctantly. “I couldn’t get a bead on Paul’s animal, but it would just be Boyd’s style to send someone in and when they were killed demand a fight or something as compensation. Get a call out to every member of the pack to keep an eye out for anything strange. I wouldn’t put it past Boyd to have someone watching us.”