From the Shadows (A Shadow Chronicles Novel) (24 page)

“Come join us,” Saphrona was saying, gesturing toward the tables. “Help yourselves to a heaping plate, there’s plenty of food.”

Jake and Anna nodded and walked toward the table where the food was laid out, each filling their plates to the brim. Jake carried the plates to the table I shared with Race, Saphrona, Mark and a few of the pack while Anna carried their drinks. After a few awkward moments everyone relaxed again, and I was thankful that not only had my dad not noticed anything amiss, but that the pack was beginning to acclimate to the presence of the wolf princess.

“Oh, hell,” my dad yelped suddenly,
causing several people to snicker as he yanked his cell phone from his pocket. After he opened the phone and greeted the caller, his expression darkened and he jumped up from his seat next to Mom.

“Yes, yes, I’ll be right there,” he snapped, then looked at the gathering of people looking up at him. Chuckling, he said, “Sorry to have to go so soon, but apparently the alarm’s gone off at the bank. Don’t stop eating on my account.”

His words got a laugh from everyone, and after making sure Mom would catch a ride if he was late coming back, he hurried to their car and left. I knew that as the manager of Charter National Bank, he had to show up each time the alarm went off even if the cause ended up being nothing more than an electrical malfunction. Being that it was Sunday, I hoped that whatever had happened was nothing serious. I mean, who would be dumb enough to try and rob a bank on a day it wasn’t even open?

Conversation soon resumed, with everyone eating, laughing
, and drinking merrily. The pack seemed to like Saphrona rather well, and she was proving to be a naturally graceful hostess. They also appeared to have all but forgotten that Anna was a werewolf, and she in turn had relaxed enough to truly enjoy herself.

A
bout twenty minutes after he’d gone, my father’s departure proved to be fortuitous—given he’d been the only person among us who didn’t know everyone else wasn’t entirely human; Harry Mitchell had called and said he and his boys might drop by later in the evening. When a large diesel truck suddenly came roaring up the driveway, Anna’s gasp of alarm and Jake’s rising to stand protectively in front of her gave everyone an idea of just who owned the black Ford even before the angry werewolf jumped out of the driver’s seat, his eyes blazing with rage.

“Anna Maria Tracey, get your ass in the truck
now
!”

Several of the pack had stood the moment his feet touched the ground, and more than one of them surrounded Jake and his companion. Mark and Saphrona had risen
and moved to block his advance, and Race and I joined them.

“Just who the hell do you think you are, coming up on my land
and screaming at one of my guests?” Mark demanded.

Technically, I knew, the land was not his—it belonged to Saphrona. But he had, perhaps instinctively, known that it was best he take the lead, presenting himself as an Alpha male to another Alpha male.

Kevin Tracey jabbed a finger angrily over Mark’s shoulder. “That is
my
daughter, and I will scream at her as much as I please—especially when the little bitch doesn’t do as she’s told!”

I heard Jake growl even though I was certain Kevin was referring to Anna’s being a female wolf, and not actually insulting her. Or at least, I sure as hell hoped not, knowing without having to look over my shoulder that Jake was on his way over.

Hoping to diffuse the situation, I stepped forward and started to speak, “Mr. Tracey, let’s not make any more of a scene—”

“How
dare
you talk about your own daughter like that!” Jake hollered as he pushed between Mark and Race, stepping right into Kevin Tracey’s face. “She is an adult capable of making her own decisions, and sure as hell deserves a lot more respect than you’ve just shown her!”

“Jake, don’t,” I warned, reaching for his arm.

“Better listen to your little friend, mutt,” Kevin sneered. “My daughter is coming home with me.
Now
. Anna was ordered not to see you anymore and she disobeyed me—I will
not
have my pack’s reputation sullied by an association with an inferior species.”

“We are
all
werekind, Kevin,” Tom Wilson pointed out firmly. “And no doubt werewolves and weredogs share the same common ancestors, as do our wild brethren.”

“I will not have my offspring cavorting with a dog!” Kevin said. “Anna,
get in the truck
!”

Anna choked out a sob. “Dad, please don’t do this,” she begged.

“He is beneath you! You can’t even mate with him, so why bother wasting your time?! This dog is worthless!”

“I’ll show you worthless, asshole,” Jake growled, Anna and I both hollering “Jake, don’t!” in vain as he shifted into his battle form.

Because I was so close to him, Jake’s transformation knocked me backward, though Race’s deft hands caught me before I fell. He pulled me back as Mark did Saphrona, all eyes on the growling, snarling, gigantic Malamute before us. Kevin Tracey laughed harshly before he followed Jake’s example and phased into a giant gray wolf.

“Jake, Dad—
stop this!” Anna cried.

“Mark, take your sister,” Race said, pushing me toward my brother and then stepping forward, shifting as he walked into a large, tawny lion. The lion shook his mane and roared as he shouldered Jake aside and faced off with the wolf.

“Race!” I cried, alarm screaming through me. I tried to go to him but Mark held my arm tight.

My shout was ignored, and more than one gasp of surprise was elicited as the lion suddenly became a bear, the bear then phasing into a huge king cobra before becoming
a dog that looked exactly like Jake’s animal form, before once again becoming the man they had all originated from. I heard murmurs of amazement from behind me about how his clothes were still intact.

Kevin immediately shifted back to his human form and dropped to one knee. “Beast Master,” he said reverently, his head bowed.

I could imagine Race rolling his eyes as he said in a gruff voice, “Get up.”

As he did so, Kevin’s whole demeanor
changed. His eyes now held a look of awe and devotion as he looked over Race’s shoulder at Anna. “Come, daughter, and look at him! He is the Beast Master—
this
is a man worthy of your attentions!”

“Anna is a lovely young woman, but if you’re hoping for a bonding between us, it’s far too late for that,” Race told him
sternly. “She has seen me with her human eyes, and I have seen her with mine. There is nothing but respect for a fellow shapeshifter between us.”

I yanked my arm out of my brother’s grasp. “Not to mention that the Beast Master is
mine
,” I snapped fiercely, stepping up to Race’s side.

Kevin looked at me, his expression becoming disgusted again. “A
dog
claims the Beast Master?”

Race took another step forward; now he was standing nose-to-nose with the werewolf. “Take care how you speak,
wolf
. The Siberian is my mate, and I will not hear her insulted by the likes of you.”

“But my Lord—there are women worthier than a mere dog for you!”

In the blink of an eye, Race’s hand was around Kevin’s throat and the older man had been lifted several inches off the ground. “This is your final warning—do
not
insult Juliette again,” he snarled, then unceremoniously dropped Kevin to the ground.

“Jake and Anna have declared their feelings to one another in spite of not being bonded. They know the risk they take of hurting themselves and each other should a mate come along,” Race went on. “If their relationship is a mistake, it is theirs to make, and not for any other to interfere.”

“But my Lord—”

“I think you’d better leave now, Mr. Tracey,” Race said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kevin stood straight as he said firmly, “I’m not leaving without my daughter.”

Race shook his head. “Oh, I think you are. You weren’t invited, and she was. Jake will bring Anna home when they are ready to leave.”

“Please leave, Mr. Tracey,” Saphrona said then. “I don’t think you want me calling the police to have you escorted off the property, not in your present circumstances.”

Kevin looked down at himself, as if just realizing his clothes were gone. He looked at Saphrona with a scowl on his face, the scowl shifting to an expression of loathing as he glanced at Jake, who was still a massive dog. His look returned to one of respect as he turned his gaze to Race
and nodded stiffly. “I’ll go—but only because you have asked me to, my Lord. Not because some filthy, half-breed bloodsucker has threatened to call the cops.”

Good grief, the guy just didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, did he? First he was insulting
Anna, then Jake, then me, and now Saphrona. Had he not turned and marched back to his truck as soon as he’d spoken, I had no doubt that Mark would have come forward and decked him.

Without another glance at any of us, Kevin climbed into his vehicle, gunned the engine, and backed quickly down the driveway. His daughter sobbed loudly and said, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I never should have come here!”

Jake was in human form and taking her into his arms before she had a chance to drop into her chair. “No, baby, don’t say that!” he told her, his voice anguished.

“Anna, Jake is right,” Martha Jensen spoke up. “Do not regret choosing to accompany him—you are among friends.”

“But my father…” Anna said, sniffling. “He’s ruined everything!”

“Hey, he’s only ruined the party if we let him,” retorted Danielle.

Anna lifted her head and smiled tentatively at her as Tom and Martha came around the tables to stand before Race.

“You did well, my Lord,”
Tom said, his pride evident. “Your instinct to protect those who serve you is strong.”

“Yes,” his sister replied with a smile. “You will make a fine Beast Master.”

Race held his hands up. “Tom, Martha… Please don’t. I appreciate the sentiment, really, but I’m nobody’s master. Nobody serves me. And please don’t call me ‘my Lord’—this is the twenty-first century, not the Dark Ages.”

The Alpha pair looked at one another, then back at Race. “But you are the Beast Master. If not ‘my Lord’, then how should we address you?”
Tom queried.

Chuckling, Race reached for me, placing an arm around my shoulders as he said simply, “My name’s Race. How about calling me that?”

Tom and Martha laughed, then nodded.

Perhaps hoping to return the atmosphere to a happier one, Saphrona went to her truck, a Ford Explorer SportTrac, and turned the radio on, settling on a rock station and cranking the volume up. Mark went into the house and returned a few moments later with a pair of gray sweatpants and a t-shirt for Jake to wear, as he had shredded his clothes when he’d phased. I salvaged his wallet and car keys for him and picked up the remains of his and Kevin Tracey’s clothing, depositing the shreds of cloth in the trash.

Though it took some coaxing on behalf of several of the pack members present, Anna finally stopped shedding silent tears and rejoined the conversation, though she only picked at her food. Jake kept an arm around her shoulders, every so often giving them a gentle squeeze or placing a kiss on her temple or her hair. I watched the two subtly from where I sat a few people down, making note of how she leaned into him, deferred to him, how Jake made sure Anna had everything she wanted, kept her in his sight at all times. I remembered the fear in her voice
when she she’d called out his name during the confrontation with her father, and I would never forget the relief in her eyes when he had taken her in his arms after it was over, nor the pain in his voice when spoke to her as he held her. Jake Anderson and Anna Tracey were in love, truly in love. What right did anyone have of trying to break them apart?

And what right did I have to be fearful of an end that might never come,
of a little sharing of blood that only needed to be done one time to link me with Race for the rest of our lives—and lift the binding magic that kept our brethren from bonding with one another? If their love was this strong now, it just might be possible that Jake and Anna were
meant
to be together.

A strong feeling of resolve
washed over me as I silently made perhaps the most important decision of my life. I didn’t know if it would work out for my friends, but I owed it to them to give their happiness a chance—and if that meant I had to accept that I was the mother of the next generation, that I would in essence become the Alpha female of all werekind…

…then I guess that’s what I had to do.

Now I just had to convince Race.

I reached for his hand then and clasped it tightly. When he looked down at me, I realized that while I had been afraid for him when he’d challenged Kevin, I had at the same time been absolutely certain that should a fight ensue, he would win.
A questioning look came into Race’s eyes as his piercing gaze bore into mine, and so I offered him a reassuring smile and whispered softly “Later,” to which he nodded and went back to the discussion he’d been taking part in.