Romance: In Love With A Beast (Paranormal BBW Panther Shifter Romance) (Shapeshifter Mystery Alpha Werebear Romance Short Stories) (51 page)

After several minuets her mother pulled away and looked her up and down. A smile spread over her lips. “You look well.”

“I am… how are you?”

“I’m good.” Her mother’s eyes twinkled as she stepped away from her daughter.

Jenny was next. Paige didn’t even realize it until her arms wrapped around her little sister. “Thanks for never texting.” Jenny muttered.

“I text all the time!” Paige protested hugging her sister for a second longer before pulling away. Finally she turned to her father.

He stared at her. A soft smile spread over his lips as he pulled her into a hug. He held her the tightest of them all.

“Paige, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too daddy.” Paige’s voice broke as they pulled away. She could feel tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She turned away, praying they wouldn’t slip past. “Um, I…” She stared at Markus and Ben before closing the distance between them. She held a hand out for each of them.

They glanced past her before taking her hand as she spun around. “Mom, Daddy, Jenny…. I want you to meet Markus and Ben. My boyfriends.”

Her dad’s jaw almost hit the floor as he stared at her. Her mother smiled widely as she reached out to shake Markus’s hand.

“It’s so nice to meet you! Paige hasn’t told has about anyone special in her life for years! My names Sue, and that’s Bill. Jenny’s our youngest daughter. Natasha is at work right now, but she’ll be back for dinner. You three will stay for dinner won’t you?” She spoke so quickly as she turned her attention to Ben and shook his hand.

“We’d love to ma’am.” Ben smiled.

Bill stared at them, but he managed to extend his hand and shake each of their hands.

“Great!” Sue smiled as she turned on her heel. “Come on, you must be hungry let’s get you all a snack.”

Everyone followed Sue inside without saying a word. Jenny shot Paige a look, her eyebrows raised as she looked from her to both Markus and Ben. Paige just smiled.

“Are you three going to be staying with us?” Sue asked.

“We… thought we might stay at the hotel down the street.” Paige answered as they made their way into the kitchen. It was just the way it had been when she left. From the sugar bowl in the window sill to the yellow floor and the wood counter tops.

“That makes sense.” Her father spoke up as they sat down at the table. “So how exactly did you two meet my daughter?” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Markus and Ben.

“Bill.” Sue hissed.

“It’s alright,” Markus smiled he turned his attention to Paige father. “I’d have the same reaction if I were you, what with what we are and everything.”

Paige watched confusion contort her mother’s face. She couldn’t smell the gun powder or the holy water. As far as she realized they were just two nice men. Not the kind of men that could kill Paige in the blink of an eye.

Paige cleared her throat. “They’re hunters Mom…. And deer isn’t their normal target.” She watched the confusion turn to worry before speaking again. “You know when I called you guys and told you I was leaving my place and that if the cops came calling you should say you haven’t heard from me?”

“Yes.” Her father stared at her. “And I think it’s about time we get the full story.”

“A couple months back I was out running,” Her way of saying she was in wolf form. “And I smelt something odd. I smelt death. When I ran to check it out I found zombies. That night I killed them easily but a couple weeks later they came back… and I fought them again but they were a lot stronger than last time. Ben and Markus had read about some stuff in the paper and pieced it together and came across me fighting the zombies. After I got bit three times… I thought the zombies were going to kill me… but they stepped in and save me.” Paige took a deep breath letting everything sink in. “They followed me home because of the blood I was losing and I ended out passing out on my front lawn. I woke up the next… evening in my bed. They were in my kitchen and they made me food.” Paige paused; she glanced towards Markus and Ben.

“We knew your daughter was probably the only wolf in town since she was out alone,” Markus picked up. “And we wanted to keep an eye on her, plus we couldn’t just leave her on her front lawn so we picked the lock and got her tucked into bed before she changed back. Ben tended to her wounds and when she woke up we wanted to keep a close eye on her. She didn’t like it but we explained that we thought a witch would try to use her to summon death. She wasn’t happy about it but she let us stay, and with Ben chiding her so much she didn’t have much of an option. I went out and did a little research, which only confirmed what we’d already thought. When I got back…” Markus paused. Paige’s heart jumped into her throat. When he got back he’d walked in on her and Ben. She’d invited him to join them.
Oh god, please don’t tell my parents that.
Markus reached out and took her hand. “We sat her down and tried to figure out who it might be. We figured it had to be someone she knew, or at least someone who knew her.

As it turns out we were right. We accused her friend of being the witch and Paige was so upset she tried to kick us out, but when she opened the door she was met by more zombies and her friend. Long story short the house kinda got destroyed and we got out just in time to avoid the cops. We encouraged Paige not to go back, otherwise she’d be asked questions she couldn’t answer and told her it would be best to skip town. Ben invited her to come along with us.”

Everyone fell silent.

“They even keep all their silver away from me.” Paige remarked. She felt like she was 5 but she wanted her dad to understand that they weren’t putting her in danger.

“It’s true! She’s not allowed to touch any of our hunting bags in case they have silver content in them and we bought her a set of knives from a trusted friend. They’re pure stainless steel laced with holy water.” Ben smiled. It had been his favorite gift for her.

“And you’re not going to let anyone hurt my little girl?”

“Sir,” Markus spoke. “I would kill anyone who so much as looked at Paige the wrong way. Not that she would need us to. She’s saved our asses plenty of times.”

A smile touched Bill’s lips as he looked at his daughter. “Of course she has.” He sounded like it only made total sense. He pushed himself to his feet. “I’d be interested in what you boys have got in that trunk…. As long as we avoid too much silver.”

“We love showing it off.” Ben grinned as he pushed himself to his feet Markus followed and the three boys made their way to the door. Paige wanted to follow. She wanted to keep an eye on her dad.
Please behave.

Once Sue heard the door open and close she turned her attention to her daughter. “Were you trying to give your dad a heart attack?” She smiled with her hands on her hips.

“No… I just… I didn’t know how to tell you guys.”

“You could have started off by telling them you had two boyfriends.” Jenny offered. She grinned. “That’s awesome by the way. How do they feel about it? Is it weird? Do you have to pick whose bed to sleep in each night?”

“We normally all sleep in the same bed…” Paige confessed. “And not it’s not weird… I mean not for me, but sometimes we get odd looks… I don’t know how they feel about it. You’d have to ask them. I don’t think they care… why are you asking me all these questions? I didn’t come home to be interrogated. If I’d wanted that I would have just turned myself into the cops.”

“Okay, okay.” Jenny raised her hands in submission. “I just wanted to know. I’ve never met anyone who had two boyfriends that actually knew about each other.”

“Well the idea wasn’t mine.” Paige muttered.

Sue pushed herself up from the table. She opened the oven and pulled out a pie. The scent of cooked apples and cinnamon reached Paige. She took a deep breath. It reminded her of her childhood. Paige watched her mother as she pulled down three plates from the cupboard and got each girl a slice of pie.

“Why did you guys call me?”

“Oh we can talk about that later.” Her mother brushed the question away, but she couldn’t hide the fear in her voice. “I hope your father is playing nice out there.”

“I hope so too.” Paige confessed.

Chapter 2

“I’ve got to admit, you boys have got an impressive stock pile. Ever had someone find it who shouldn’t?”

“We’ve had a couple maids come in to clean the bedroom when they’re not supposed to.” Ben nodded. Bill seemed to be warming up to them despite the fact that they were both dating his daughter
and
they were hunters.

“So, have you two killed many werewolves?”

Ben swallowed. “Not many. We don’t going looking for paranormal things to kill. We go looking for paranormal things that are killing. Werewolves tend to stick to rabbits, deer, that sort of thing. Not people.”

“Mainly we have issues with witches and vampires. The witches are always trying to summon go knows what and the vampires… well a lot of them don’t like finding a less traditional way to get their meal.”

Bill nodded. “I’ve met some nasty vampires in my time.”

“But we’ve met a couple nice ones.” Ben admitted thinking about their last case. They’d been too late to save a vampire who deserved their saving. “If you don’t mind me asking, have you always lived around here?”

“Oh no, I’m from two states over.” His hand waved in the air in some sort of attempt to give an idea of which states he was from. “Where about are you boys from?”

“I grew up in Ohio.”

“And I,” Markus spoke up. “Was born in Indiana, haven’t been back there in ages though. My dad had be out on the road when I was 5 years old and I’ve been living in motel rooms ever since.”

“What brought you out here?” Ben asked.

Bill shrugged. “Seemed like a fresh start would be a good idea.”

It was a common answer for people like them. None the less Ben couldn’t help but wonder what he needed the fresh start from, though he didn’t dare to ask about it.

Bill turned back to the weapons. “So all of these are meant for something?”

“Yes sir.” Markus nodded. “That,” He pointed to an arrow. “Is very useful for a vampire. That old stake thing, well an arrow’s pretty much the same thing as a wooden stake. It’s a lot easier to soak in holy water too. That,” He pointed towards a long knife with a curved edge. “Works wonders against demons, unless of course they’re still a fog in which case you can normally get away with just giving them a good bath in holy water.”

“Where exactly do you get demon hunting knives?”

“They’re around if you know where to look. We have a couple friends who can normally get us what we need or we make it ourselves. A church will always give you holy water. They’ll think you’re crazy if you go in with a two litre bottle and want them to fill it, but most won’t say no.” Markus grinned.

Paige stared out the window at the boys and her father. Markus was smiling, that was good. She couldn’t see her dad’s reaction or read his lips but he didn’t look like he wanted to kill anyone.

“They look like their getting along.” Her mother padded up beside her.

Paige closed her eyes. She took a deep breath of her mother’s scent. It had been so long since she had smelled it. It reminded her of being little. She felt her heart drop into her stomach.
I miss being home
. She realized.

Paige turned to face her mother. They stared at each other for a few seconds in silence.

“You’re really okay?” Paige asked. “Like, everything is okay here?”

“Everything’s fine.” Her mom promised with a smile. “Are you okay? Is everything fine for you? It must have been hard to just pack up and leave like that.”

“It was… it was really hard but Ben and Markus were right, I couldn’t go back there. I wouldn’t be able to explain what happened to anyone.” Her mother nodded in agreement. “Anyways, I like being on the road with the boys. They’re fun to be around and… and other than home they’ve been the only people to really make me feel like I belong somewhere. They know exactly who, what, I am and they don’t care. I mean, they do care. That’s the point. They still care about me even though I’m…” What? A monster?

That had always been her biggest fear hadn’t it? Being called a monster.

Paige turned to face her mother. “It’s not hard being with them. I don’t need to lie or make up excuses about where I’m going on the full moon. It’s…”

“Comforting?” Her mother offered.

“Yea.”

“You’re father always said that once he told me about… his other side.”

“Did you believe him?”

“Of course no!” Sue laughed. “It wasn’t until he changed right in front of me that I believed him. And even then I thought he might be playing some crazy prank on me. I wished he had been. I was so scared I thought he was going to kill me.” She laughed.

“Did he ever hurt you?”

“Oh no. If he’d ever hurt me I wouldn’t have let you girls play with him when you were little. You’re father… he’s always been so in control of himself when the wolf takes over.”

“I wish I was half as in control as he is.” Paige confessed.

“It’s not as hard as you think it is.” Bill spoke from behind them. Paige gasped as she turned to face him, Ben and Markus. She’d been so wrapped up in the conversation she hadn’t heard them come in and so focused on the scent of her mother she hadn’t smelled them. “Are you busy? I’d love to go for a run with you before dinner.”

“Sure.” Paige’s heart jumped into her throat. She’d wanted this for so long. It felt like it had been forever since she went running with her dad. She followed him out of the house. Ben and Markus turned to watch them but didn’t follow.

“Have you been running much?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You can’t stop running at least once a month, more is ideal.”

“I know Daddy. It’s bad for the wolf and it affects your emotions and you can’t allow that to happen otherwise you might hurt someone you love or you might just turn into a wolf in the middle of the mall while you’re out shopping one day.” She smiled repeating the same words he’d always told her growing up.

Bill smiled. “Exactly.” He led the way to their backyard.

It was still the exact same as she remembered it. The yard backed onto a valley for a mile before the tree-line came. The rest of their land was woods. Paige had tried to explore every inch of those woods with her sisters when she was younger.