Chapter Two
When he got home that night, it was dark already. This was a perfect time. He got into his car and drove until he reached the forest. When he got to his favorite spot, he parked and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He walked to the twisted tree that had his scent all over it.
Hayden kicked off his shoes first and stuck them in the bag. Then his t-shirt and shorts. He tucked the bag into the crevice in the tree and stood naked in the moonlight. He took a deep breath and fell forward onto all fours. The transition happened quickly, as it always did. He felt his bones thickening and stretching beneath his skin, hair growing on every part of his body in thick black and silver sections. His head grew narrow and his mouth became a snout. He stood tall for a moment and beat on his gorilla chest before roaring and taking off at a run.
He followed the scents through the forest, letting them lead him. He ran for several miles until he caught the scent he was looking for. He turned and ran after her.
It didn’t take long to find her and her sister. When they heard him approach, they called back in shrieks and bounded to him. There was some grunting as they greeted each other, then they took off running together. After a while, they caught up with the last member of their gorilla shifter family and ran together a few miles before coming to a stop in a cave they’d discovered years ago.
One by one, they shifted back to human form, standing naked in the dim light of the cave.
“Hey,” Hayden said to them. “How’s everything?”
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Katherine said.
“I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been online, though.” They had an online group where they stayed connected and discussed things in the human world. He’d posted earlier that he was coming out for a run. None of them had responded, but clearly, since they were all here, they’d gotten the message.
“Another family came through a few days ago,” Bella said.
“Five of them,” Stella added.
Hayden squinted at the twins. “Why didn’t you let me know sooner?”
“They just passed through,” Stella said.
Bella nodded. “Didn’t even stop.”
“I followed the scent for a while, but they were just passing through to head north,” Katherine said.
“Okay. What else is going on?”
The twins exchanged a look and grinned.
Katherine rolled her eyes. “Just tell him.”
“I’m getting married,” Bella said.
“Congratulations.” Hayden was happy for her, but that now meant they were all married except him. If they had been a traditional gorilla family, he’d be the alpha and they’d all belong to him. But they were more human than a gorilla and spent less time shifting than they did living in the real world. “He knows, I assume?”
Bella nodded. “He agreed to meet you.”
Hayden nodded back. This was part of the job of the alpha. He had to talk to her new fiancé and explain the family and gorilla life and make sure he was okay with it. At first, Katherine’s husband had been up in arms at the fact that she was often naked in front of him. Hayden had tried to make it clear that there was zero attraction between them as family members. Though they weren’t related through human means, they came from a long line of gorillas who stuck together and made families. These women were like sisters to him, as much as Gabrielle was. And when she’d still lived in the area, Gabby had been his second in command. Now it was Katherine.
They chatted a bit more, ran a few more miles in gorilla form, then split up and headed their separate ways. Hayden returned to his tree, changed back to human form and dressed before driving home.
It felt good to get out and run like that. He needed it after his week. He went straight to his basement when he got home and worked out for a while on his collection of gym equipment. He went to bed that night feeling better and ready for tomorrow, looking forward to seeing Kaelyn and unwinding a little.
***
Hayden had planned to leave work by 4:30 so he could hit the gym before going home to meet Kaelyn, but his meetings ran long, and it was after 5 p.m. when he got to his car. He decided to skip the gym for the night and go straight home.
When he pulled in, there was no moving van. It looked like everything had gone as planned, then. He hadn’t gotten any messages saying otherwise.
He parked his Jaguar in his garage beside his Lamborghini and Ferrari. He kept the Jag for his everyday use. The other cars in his collection were either for show or for play. There was a new car in the garage tonight, though, a beat up Toyota that had to be several years old. It was grossly out of place among his collection of high-end cars. Obviously, that was Kaelyn’s car.
Hayden went inside and was greeted by his housekeeper.
“Mr. Lynch, Miss Kaelyn would be thrilled to have dinner with you this evening.”
“Great. Thank you.” Though he was tired and wished he could hit the gym, it would be good to relax and share a meal with an old friend. “Where is she?”
“In her room.”
Hayden walked upstairs, to the room that was now Kaelyn’s. He knocked and she opened the door.
“Hi!” She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here. You’re the best.”
“Anytime.”
She dropped her arms and stepped back from him. Now he could see her well for the first time, and what he saw shocked him. The Kaelyn he’d known in high school had always been a little on the chubby side. Though she was pretty, it seemed her parents were never happy with her appearance and they’d put her through a string of diets and exercise programs. He’d felt kind of sorry for her and remembered Gabby being frustrated over it and saying, “Why couldn’t they just let her be her?”
But, apparently, something had changed in the last years. She was still curvy. Thick hips and voluptuous breasts. But she’d grown into her curves now and she owned them. This was not an insecure overweight woman, but a happy and confident woman who was comfortable with her body, and it showed.
“You look great,” he said. He was trying not to stare, but her cleavage was so visible to him, and it was hard to keep his eyes off her. He was no small guy himself. Being a gorilla shifter gave him something of a gorilla-like body with thick arms and legs and a broad chest. He didn’t like tiny little women who looked like they would break if the wind blew on them too hard. But Kaelyn, a woman with some substance, was exactly his type.
“Thank you.” She gave him a playful smile. “You don’t look too bad yourself. All grown up and everything.”
“Did the move go okay?”
“Oh, sure. I didn’t have much stuff in my dorm room. A few boxes, really. I’m already all unpacked.”
She gestured to the room and he glanced around, amazed at how the space had transformed. On the desk was her laptop, complete with purple cover. Nail polish bottles sat beside it. On top of the dresser were perfumes and hair things. The bed had the comforter that had been there—white with black flowers—but now there was a bright turquoise pillow in the middle that he’d never seen before. The closet, which he had thought was rather large, was packed full of clothing in bright colors and sparkling fabrics. She’d already hung several photos on the wall of her and her friends, including some with Gabby. He couldn’t see it from here, but he guessed that the bathroom was covered in makeup and hair products.
His own room seemed stark in comparison. He had nothing this colorful in his room. It was all suits and ties and workout clothes. Was this what people meant by ‘a woman’s touch’?
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” he said.
“So, where are we going? What should I wear?”
He hadn’t thought that far ahead, but there were plenty of restaurants that would find a table for him if he merely gave them his name. Most were dressy to semi-formal.
“Do you have something like a little black dress?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“That would be perfect. Want to go in about an hour?”
“Great. I’m starving.”
He closed the door behind him and went to his own room to shower and dress. This could be a problem, he thought. When he’d agreed to let her stay here, he hadn’t pictured the gorgeous woman who was now living in his house. He’d pictured the overweight girl from high school. Even if he’d had a little crush on her then, it was nothing compared to what he just felt looking at her now. How was he going to be so close to her all the time when she was so good looking?
Even as he got dressed, he couldn’t help thinking about her. The biggest problem was, he knew her already. He had known her for years. And most importantly, he’d known her since before he was rich. Which gave him little reason to turn off his feelings for her.
Hayden had been on countless dates and in a few relationships. But it seemed like it was always with the same type of woman. She was pretty, but full of herself. From a wealthy family, so she had plenty of ideas of how to be in public—and how different to be behind closed doors. She spent a ton of money because she was used to it. She thought the world should be handed to her.
It was hard for him to get into those sort of women since he hadn’t grown up with money. They had done okay, but his family had been strictly middle class. When he went off to college and discovered a talent for business, things started to change. His uncle died and left him a little money, which he invested. It grew and multiplied and he invested it again. And then again. By the time he graduated, he was a millionaire. He started to get attention and big dollars backing him and in a few years became a billionaire who owned his own company with hundreds of smaller companies. He’d given companies to his sister and parents and many family members. They ran them and got paid handsomely. He’d made his whole family rich.
But he hadn’t grown up with money like most of the women he encountered. And if he went outside of the circle of the elite, he ran into gold diggers and women who wanted to use him for his money. It had been difficult, and this was why he was still single. Why he’d gotten used to the idea of being single and figured he would be for a long time.
Not that Kaelyn couldn’t be someone who ended up using him, but at least he knew the real her. She’d known him for years, and they’d been friends. It was a much better place to start from than a stranger who knew him as a billionaire. She knew him as Hayden.