Beautifully Unnatural: A Young Adult Paranormal Boxed Set (85 page)

As we left the bank, cashier’s check in hand for fourteen grand, my stomach protested. I wanted a burger. “I’m hungry.”

“Me too.”

“Uhm, I think I’ll go back to being a vegetarian though.”

“Why would you do a thing like that?”

Why, indeed? It was nearly unthinkable. “I don’t like what it does to me. It’s weird losing control over food.”

He chortled. “But you enjoy it so much.”

“Whatever. I’ve survived my whole life without meat.” I groaned anyway.

Zack laughed. “Atta girl.”

I ordered a bean and cheese burrito while Zack got tacos. I did my damnedest to ignore the aroma of the beef while we ate. After we made the exchange with Mr. Peters, we headed to my house, me in the Mustang and Zack in his Jeep.

The top was still down and the breeze whipped around me. It felt almost as good as my nightly runs, free and unchained. I lovingly steered my beloved car into the driveway and Zack pulled in right behind me. Locking the Mustang, I tossed the keys into his waiting hands. As I walked with him to the front stoop, his eyes scanned the area. For Daniel, I assumed.

Once inside the house, I dropped my purse. “Thank you for everything today. You keep rescuing me.” I tilted my head and shifted my weight from one leg to the other, my gaze meeting his. “Except for John, I’ve never been friends with a guy who didn’t hit on me.”

Zack’s lips curved. “Who says we’re friends?”

Irritation crept up on me. I opened my mouth to tell him how right he was and that we weren’t friends, but he cut me off by holding up a hand. “Just kidding. Speaking of hitting on you, whatever possessed you to date a guy like Daniel?”

Backing up, I sat on the couch and took off my shoes, folding my legs under my butt. “Daniel could be charming when he wanted to be.”

“There’s nothing charming about him now.” Zack sat on the other end and turned to face me.

“Agreed.” I pursed my lips in thought. “So, why are you helping me?”

“When I went through this, I was alone and it sucked.”

“Went through what?” I asked.

“What
you
’re going through. You’re changing. You’re stronger, your senses are heightened and you heal almost instantly. Right?”

“Yes,” I whispered, wondering how he knew. “Why did I change? In the library, you told Daniel that you and he were the same. I’m like you guys?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Then what am I?”

He sighed. “I’m not a hundred percent sure. But you’re definitely not like us.”

Great. He didn’t know what I was. But he knew what
he
was and he knew about the black wolf. I wanted my theory ruled out once and for all. “What are
you
?” I held my breath.

His gaze fixed on me. “I already told you the other day.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

He’d said he was a werewolf. If he was just messing with me, I didn’t want him to think I half believed him. I narrowed my eyes. “Tell me again.”

Zack glanced at the window. “It’s dark. Let’s go for a walk.”

“Why?”

“So I can show you.” He rose from the sofa.

We left the house together and I walked with him in silence, trying not to think about the reason for our outing. Why was I even going with him into the woods when the whole idea was absurd?

He led me to my spot in the clearing and stopped in the center. How did he know where to go? The little hairs on my arm stood at attention as chills swept over my body. No, it couldn’t be. “How did you know I was changing?”

Zack bent one leg with the other bearing his weight, hands in his pocket. “For days, I kept catching a hint of something extra when I got really close to you, something not human. Since it was so faint, I kept thinking it was my imagination. I found myself following you, just to see if maybe I could catch you doing something superhuman.”

That explained why Zack always seemed to be everywhere. He’d been watching, but not because he liked me. He’d probably never like me. My throat tightened.

Oblivious, as usual, to my inner turmoil, Zack continued. “Every time I tried to go in for a better whiff, you were onto me. I couldn’t satisfy my nose without you thinking I was a perv. So when I walked you home after dinner last night, I poked around while you went upstairs. Your sweater was draped over the couch, so I sniffed that and anything else I could find. I still wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling. Like, I just knew.”

“Knew what?”

“You’re not human.”

Considering my strength and other abilities, not being human wasn’t a stretch. I took a shaky breath. “And you’re not human either?”

“No. I told you about that our first day of car shopping.” The corners of his mouth lifted. “But you didn’t believe me.”

“Of course I didn’t believe you.” Werewolf. Werewolf. Werewolf. The word echoed in my head, but the idea was too crazy for me to fully let it in.

“Oh, and I forgive you for laughing at me,” he said dryly. “But, in all fairness, you looked way hot that night and I’m still a guy.” He gave me a lopsided smile.

Right. I’d told the wolf about Zack stuttering when he’d seen me.

“You’re the black wolf,” I said, trying to make myself believe what I’d just said. I covered my face and squeezed my eyes shut, disappointed that the connection I felt with the wolf probably wasn’t felt by Zack. Wait, was I going to buy into this and believe in werewolves? I took a step back. “This is getting out of hand. I’m not sure about this whole supernatural thing. It’s too much. I think… I think I need to go.”

“You want to see me change into a wolf?”

No, because then it would be real. “Y-yes.”

“Damn.” He pointed to his pants. “When I morph, I’ll leave a pile of clothes. When I turn back, I’ll be naked. Before I become human again, I’ll bark twice so you can turn around.”

“You’re going to morph right now?”

He closed his eyes and spread his arms like wings, his body shimmering. Then he disappeared. That lasted a split second before the black wolf stood on all fours, a pile of clothes at his paws.

There he was. My wolf. With his beautiful green eyes. I had to be losing my mind. But Zack just changed into a freaking wolf, which meant werewolves existed and I was perfectly sane. How was that possible?

He barked, but I only stared. He barked two more times. Still, I couldn’t move.

The wolf locked the pants in his teeth and dragged them into a clump of bushes. A moment later, Zack emerged wearing them, still naked from the waist up. Since his boxers were still on the ground, I knew they weren’t on him. At a time like this, I really didn’t need to know he was going commando.

A spattering of hairs over Zack’s chest made a narrow trail leading into the waist of his jeans. His chest was well-defined; above his hips, the muscles at his sides flared up and out. I swallowed. At that moment, I couldn’t think of anything more beautiful than him.

Plucking his boxers off the grass, Zack shoved them into his back pocket, then slipped his arms through the shirt, leaving the front unbuttoned. “You were supposed to turn around.”

His voice distracted me from his washboard stomach and brought me to the present.

Oh. My. God. Zack was a werewolf. It had been him, the black wolf, every night in the woods. The werewolf theory fit with Jeff’s story that Daniel had been dragged away by a wolf, before Daniel’s drastic change.

“We ran together. I talked to you as a wolf. Trusted you. All this time, you knew and I didn’t. You should’ve told me.” I glared at him. “You sneaky—”

“I
couldn’t
tell you.” His voice rose, matching mine in volume, his hands balled into fists. “You were a human.”

“According to you, I’m
not
human.”

“I didn’t know that at the time. Besides,” his muscles relaxed, a smile forming, “I
did
tell you.”

“You were joking and knew I wouldn’t believe it.” We were getting nowhere and I was no closer to finding out about myself than before.

“We don’t reveal ourselves to mortals. The penalty is death. When I realized you weren’t human, I tried to tell you, but you shut me down. You weren’t ready.”

I searched my memory for anytime he’d hinted, then gasped in disgust.

“Informing me that I
stunk
was your way of telling me you were a werewolf? Are you kidding me?” I breathed deeply to keep from slapping him.

He opened his mouth, but shut it when I held up a hand.

“Never mind.” I squeezed my eyes shut for an instant in an effort to wipe away the frustration. Now was the time for prying information from Zack, not arguing. “Let’s move on. You said we can’t reveal ourselves to mortals. Where does your mom fit into all this? Does she know?”

“No. At first, I thought I was coming down with something and didn’t want to worry her. By the time I figured it out, I didn’t want to burden her with all the things that went with it. Then I learned some werewolf law and realized I couldn’t tell her because she’s human.” He gave a quick laugh as he bent down to put on his socks and shoes. “All this time, I haven’t been able to tell anyone.”

He’d been all alone in his weirdness, unless… “So someone bit you? Is that how you turned?”

“No, my mom had no clue she was marrying a werewolf.”

Which of my parents were supernatural? Did the other know? Maybe it wasn’t hereditary in my case. For all I knew, they could be human and I would be alone in this, too. Except for Zack, but he wasn’t exactly a friend. More like he was just fulfilling a duty.

So what was I? My head spun with too many questions that weren’t going to get answered tonight. Suddenly, my limbs sagged and I just wanted to crawl into bed. “Do you ever wish you were just a normal person?”

“It is what it is. I deal.” He slipped on a shoe and glanced up at me. “And so will you.”

But I didn’t want to anymore. Not tonight. “I’m going home.” I turned to leave.

Zack leaped up, leaving his laces untied. “What?”

“Maybe I just need a good night’s sleep.” I shook my head, my throat aching.

He grasped my hand and pulled me to face him. “It’s a lot to absorb and you’re confused. You’ll get through this, just like I did.”

I nodded, staring at his chest. His beautiful, smooth chest.

He pressed me closer and stroked my hair. “Soon, it’ll all be second nature and you’ll wonder how you ever survived as a mere human.”

“Why don’t you like me?” I mumbled into his shirt.

Zack chuckled softly in my ear. “I just morphed into a wolf right in front of you and you ask
that
?” He gently pushed me away, turning around to tie his shoe. “It doesn’t matter if I like you. I’m not staying here and wherever I go, you can’t come with me.”

“Why?” I sounded pathetic, but at that point didn’t care.

He stood and stepped toward me. “I don’t have much experience with… whatever you are — none, actually. I suspect you’re a shifter. If I’m right, couple months from now, you’ll be lucky if you’re still alive.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Lucky if I’m still alive?” I squeaked.

“Yeah, you’re in enough danger without hanging out with a werewolf.”

“How would I be in danger, just because I’m a shape-shifter hanging out with you?”

Pacing a few feet from me, he ran a hand through his hair, then spun and faced me again, his expression solemn. “I don’t know for sure
what
you are.”

“But you have a pretty good hunch I’m a shifter or you wouldn’t have suggested it.”

“Yes.” He surveyed the forest. “We should finish the conversation at your house. Daniel could be lurking.”

Back at my house, we settled in my living room, me on the sofa with my legs curled underneath me and Zack in the recliner.

“Why is it dangerous to be a shape-shifter? Explain,” I demanded, locking my fingers together so I wouldn’t chew my nails.

“Werewolves don’t get along with shifters. We either hunt them for sport or use them as slaves. Which is why you can never let Daniel get close to you again. He didn’t figure it out today, because your scent is still so light. He probably doesn’t even know about shape-shifters yet. But if he pulls something and you fight back, he’ll see how strong you are and know something’s up.”

I’d been feeling like a wuss for getting pinned by Daniel, but now relief washed over me that I hadn’t struggled more. He would’ve figured it out and I’d be toast right now.

“The man in the cowboy hat and the guy in black — the ones we saw at the dealerships? If we see either of those guys again, you have to remember to stay away from them. If they smell you…” Zack pressed his lips into a straight line.

“I could become a slave?” I cut him off before he could finish. “If you have no experience with shifters, how do you know they’re slaves? It’s ridiculous to think slavery would still be going on in this day and age.”

“There’s always been slavery of one kind or another throughout history. Besides, werewolves are old-school. They still have a king and they follow werewolf law above human law.”