Once Upon a Shifter (110 page)

But he retreated.

He released his grip on my body and pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” he said, turning away from me. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Jackson, wait,” I said as he backed away further. His face closed; his eyes were unreadable. His glowed more brightly than I had ever seen, like a ring of molten gold, heated by the fire inside him, waiting to be shaped. “Please wait,” I called to him in vain as he backed away. But it was too late.

“Forgive me, Emily. I never meant for any of this to happen. I’m a damned fool for letting it get this far.”

“What are you talking about? What the hell is going on?” I protested.

Jackson shook his head. “Thank you, for everything. You have a kind heart, Emily. Please get some rest now. We can talk more tomorrow.”

I could have sworn I heard him growl as he disappeared down the hallway.

Chapter 7

Emily

I rolled over and pulled the sheet up over my face. I don’t know why, exactly. There wasn’t any stray light in the room. But I couldn’t sleep, and seemed like the right thing to do. The soft Egyptian cotton felt good against my skin, comforting me. But it did little to assuage my fears. It was stupid of me to throw myself at Jackson like that. God only knows what he thought about me now.

I decided that I would look for a new place first thing in the morning. I had already overstayed my welcome here, and made a fool of myself in the process.

But then, he did seem like he wanted me. I felt the tension in him just as much as I felt it in myself. I certainly wasn’t imagining the thickness of his cock pressed against me. I’m not an expert or anything, but I’d say that’s a pretty clear indicator that he wanted me.

Which doesn’t explain his reaction. He freaked out so suddenly, like he slammed his hand down on a hot stove. He wasn’t repulsed or disgusted, it was more like pain.

It’s not like I expected to know every intimate detail of his life. In fact, I barely knew him at all. But there had to be something going on there. Some reason why a handsome, gentle, strong, intelligent man led such a lonely life. I’m sure there were throngs of people that wanted to be near him. He was alone by choice. There had to be an explanation. I just had no idea what it was.

And trying to figure it out wasn’t helping me sleep. Considering everything that had happened to me in the last twenty four hours, I should have been exhausted.

But if I had been sleeping, I wouldn’t have heard it.

Jackson tried to be quiet, but he couldn’t mask his heavy footsteps echoing through the hall. Nothing strange about that. Sometimes people wake up at night. He may have needed a glass of water. I was pretty parched, too, after the glass of pinot earlier.

I listened as he paced around the living room, until at long last I heard him coming down the hall again.

The footsteps stopped in front of my door. Great, was he going to kick me out? Maybe he decided that it was too much trouble to have me here after all. He wanted his space and his privacy. I could respect that. I never expected him to take me in in the first place. I braced myself for the inevitable.

But after a long moment’s pause…nothing.

He didn’t open the door to come in. He didn’t knock. But I heard the course breathing just outside the door. The same almost feral hint of a growl that I heard when he left so abruptly earlier.

I nearly leapt out of bed to run to the door. I could comfort him. I could calm him down. I could apologize again for all the trouble that I had caused and then disappear from his life forever.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because I wanted to be here with him. It was more than desire, more than attraction. It was something deeper, and I couldn’t seem to shake it off. Whatever fucked up twist of fate had brought me here, there had to be a reason for it. I got the sense that he needed me here, and I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

And then I heard his footsteps again. He walked quickly back out to the living room and I heard the front door slam.

Fuck.

What just happened?

I ran out to the living room and out into the hallway after him, but the elevator was already gone, and Jackson with it.

Okay, Emily, don’t panic. Maybe he had some reason to run out of here in the middle of the night. Urgent company business or something. What do I know about what’s required of him? Maybe some emergency down at the office that he had to take care of immediately.

I tried to calm myself down, but somehow couldn’t shake the sense that something was wrong. CEO or not, this didn’t feel right. There had to be more to it. Why did he stop outside my door for so long? And where the hell would he go? I didn’t even know how to get ahold of him.

But Noah would.

Jackson told me to call Noah if I needed anything. Not that I felt great about waking him in the middle of the night, but I was concerned. And if something
was
going on with Jackson, surely he’d want to know, right?

I found his number from the pad where Jackson had scrawled it earlier and dialed him up.

“Noah? Hi it’s…yes it’s me. No, no I’m fine. I’m sorry to bother you so late over, well, nothing probably. But…Is there something going on at the office tonight? Jackson just left in a hurry…and I’m worried.”

Fortunately, he didn’t seem upset about being called so late. But his the concern in his voice was palpable when I mentioned that his friend left here in such a hurry. He told me to stay put, and that he’d be here right away. I didn’t think it was really necessary for him to come, but he insisted. He seemed genuinely shaken.

Maybe I was right to be worried after all.

Chapter 8

Emily

The moonlight cast an eerie glow through the canopy of trees as Noah tore down the path through City Park. I struggled to keep up with his pace, and the sheet of torrential rain didn’t help me keep my footing.

“Noah, please, wait up!” I said. I don’t know what came over him, but the urgency in his search unnerved me.

“Emily, I have to find him. Now. You shouldn’t even be here.”

“Be here in the park?” I said as I tripped on a stray branch laying across the path, managing to catch myself just before I toppled over onto my face. “What’s going on?”

“It’s not my place to tell you that. If Jackson wanted you to know, he would have told you already,” he said as he continued along the path. His brow furrowed as he turned his head into the roaring wind and took off towards the lake.

“Told me what? What did he need to tell me Noah?” I said as I chased after him. If I was going to get anything out of him, he probably would have told me already. Whatever it was that he didn’t want me to know, I got the feeling from the way that he looked at me that it was somehow my fault.

He was hiding something, and so was Jackson. I didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark, especially when whatever it was clearly had to do with me. If running off in the middle of the night was normal behavior, Noah wouldn’t have been so concerned. And Jackson wouldn’t have reacted so strongly earlier.

He tried to stop me from coming along at all. He told me to be calm. But I sensed the desperation, the panic in his voice. I couldn’t let it go. I was going to set this right.

“Noah, please!”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said. “But since I can’t stop you from following me, you could at least hurry. We need to find him fast. Before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what? What the hell is going on, Noah?”

“When we find him, you can ask him yourself.”

Noah stopped in his tracks, listening. “Shhh,” he said, reaching out a large hand to hold me in place. The hard lines of his face scrunched up as he…was he sniffing? “Dammit, I can’t…this damn rain,” he said as he sniffed hard again. It couldn’t have been anything else. Weird. Absolutely fucking bizarre.

“Noah, what are you…”

He held a finger to his lips and looked at me sternly, water dripping off the strong lines of his hardened cheeks.

I took my cue. This was not the time.

His eyes narrowed as he looked off to the east and took off at a dead sprint towards the white marble pavilion in the distance.

I followed as quickly as I could manage, kicking my sandals off to run after him faster. The wet grass felt natural on my feet as I sprinted towards the pavilion. This is how we were meant to run. My clothes were soaked and my heart raced, as much from the thrill of the moment as from the exertion. But it wasn’t enough to silence the worry growing in the back of my mind.

Purple and yellow hyacinths and gladiolas, glowing in the moonlight, peaked up from their neatly arranged beds as we neared the imposing structure. Tall evenly spaced marble columns supported a terrace adorned with small intricate carvings, like something straight from ancient Greece.

And then I saw the flash of color as lightning illuminated the sky. Jackson, bare-chested and dripping wet stood in the rain behind one of the columns. He shouted something, but I couldn’t make out his words over the roar of the storm.

I saw him send Noah off in the other direction, back out towards the road for god only knows what reason. But that didn’t matter now. I was going to get to Jackson and find out what the hell was going on.

And then he saw me.

The thrill I had felt only moments ago vanished when I saw the look on his face. Terror. Regret. Not the reaction I hoped for.

“Emily!” he yelled as he ran towards me, gripping me tightly in the protective cover of his arms. “Emily you can’t be here,” he said softly as he kissed the top of my head.

I melted into his arms. “I’m sorry, I was just so worried. You disappeared in the middle of the night. What was I supposed to think? I was worried, especially after…I had to find you. Even if you never want to see me again. I had to know,” I said, grateful that the pouring rain masked the tears trailing down my face.

“I didn’t mean to scare you. Believe me, it’s the last thing I want. But Emily, you’re not safe here.”

“Why!” I shouted. “Why does everybody keep saying that? Won’t somebody please just tell me what the fuck is going on?” I sunk my fist into the hard muscles of his chest and wrapped my arms around him. “Jackson…”

“You mean she doesn’t know?” came a voice from the other side of the column. “Oh, that’s fantastic. Well done, Halloran.”

The speaker looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place why. I didn’t know anyone here. I’d barely had contact with anyone at all, except for…

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” Jackson said.

“You’d never kill anyone. You don’t have it in you. You’re a traitor to your pack. And a coward. You should have just let me have her.”

He saw the recognition dawn on my face. “You remember me now, don’t you, girl.”

The man who attacked me. But what he said didn’t make any sense. A traitor to his pack?

“Watch yourself, Ash. This is between you and me,” scowled Jackson.

“You’re a damned fool. Even if you kill me now, which you won’t, your mate will never be safe.”

“Your
mate?
” I asked.

“I’ll protect her,” he said. “I will always protect you,” he said as he gripped me tighter. His muscles were tense and slick. There were too many things running through my mind to make sense of any of them. I clutched at Jackson like a lifeboat, hoping that he’d get us away from here safely.

“Like you protected your family?” said Ash. “I wouldn’t trust him, girl. This one’s weak. And after I kill you, he’ll have nothing left to hold on to.”

“I gave you a chance to run, Ash. I showed you mercy when you attacked her the first time. I won’t do it again. Leave this place and never return.”

“Interesting offer. But I think I’ll
stay!
” said Ash as he sprung forward towards me, and with a loud crack his body snapped into the form of a giant yellow cougar in midair as he flew towards my body, claws extended in midair.

Jackson shoved me out of the way, hard, and I crumpled to the wet pavement. The gravel cut into my hands as I broke my fall, but the pain was nothing compared to the shock as I saw the massive cat spring for me again.

“No!” Jackson roared, a raw and primal cry, and as the lightning flashed behind him he was no longer himself. A towering grizzly swiped its massive arm, knocking Ash from the air as his body spilled to the ground beside me.

I forced myself to sit up, pressing my back into the marble column as the grizzly, Jackson, edged his way between me and the cat. The fur on his back bristled, droplets of water reflecting in the moonlight as his powerful roar tore through the air.

Jackson turned his head back to look at me, and I saw the familiar molten gold eyes. Of course! He was there that night. He was the one who saved me.

But he held my gaze just a moment too long. Ash leapt at him again, razor sharp claws extended as he collided with Jackson’s body, sending him to the ground in a flurry of blows. The blood spilled from Jackson’s side as he reared up on his hind legs, raising his paw to the sky before he descended on the cat with the full force of his weight. Powerful bear jaws tore into the skin of his neck, and the cat went still in a pool of dark crimson and rain.

I strained to hold my focus as the grizzly approached me slowly. Jackson. His golden eyes pierced me, searching for understanding. The look told me more that I was safe. That he wanted my forgiveness. That he felt responsible for everything.

“Jackson,” I said as I reached out to him, running my hand through his course brown fur. He nuzzled his head into my body as I hugged him tightly too me, grateful for the warmth and the softness of his coat. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked as the hair receded slowly back into his body.

“Would you have believed me?”

“Does it matter?”

He took my hand between his own, holding it tightly. “Of course it matters. You’re too important to me. I needed to wait until the time was right.”