Shadows of the Ancients (2 page)

I shifted back, as easily as just standing up, with a scream on my lips. “NOooo! Sierra!”

The boy stood over Sierra, shock evident on his face. He knew what he had aimed for, and now he stood over a bleeding and naked girl.

I stalked over to where they were, naked as the day I was born, and told him to back off. His sister Ashley hadn’t been far off from him, and was now standing there, staring at me like I had two heads. It took her a minute to process what was going on, but then she yelled at her brother to give me his sweatshirt. He did, without hesitation, as he mumbled about shooting at a wolf and not seeing us there.

I was angry and didn’t have it in me to keep my tongue. So I yelled, “Of course you shot at a wolf, that’s why she’s bleeding to death, you idiot. RUN!” I pointed in the direction of the pack. “Go get my family. Tell them Sierra’s been shot, HURRY. She won’t last much longer, and I can’t fix this all by myself.”

Ashley, surprisingly pulled herself together, and asked what she could do to help. I had her apply pressure to Sierra’s wounds on her abdomen as I rolled her up slightly to check the exit wound, that I knew would be there. It was a mess. These weren’t the kinds of bullets that a person should use for hunting. These were the bullets that killers used. They made a mess on the way out. “Shit!” I hissed through my teeth. I made sure to apply pressure to the wound on Sierra’s back too, trying to keep the bleeding under control. It would be best if Sierra could phase back into her wolf form, she’d heal quicker that way, but she was out cold, and today was the first time, I’d been through the third phase of our transformations, so I didn’t have the power to force a shift on another person.

Once my pack came and collected Sierra, they had no choice but to take Ashley and her two brothers back to the sanctuary, and explain things to them. They were sworn to secrecy, and Ashley became my best friend, my very human best friend. My only human friend. Her older brother Jack was actually indoctrinated into our clan two years after that. He was one of the lucky ones and survived the process, although our leader Marcus wouldn’t have agreed to it if he thought Jack wouldn’t make it. Of course, I think Marcus had a soft spot for Jack’s reasons for wanting to become pack.

Jack had spent the next two years at the beck and call of a little wolf girl named Sierra. He felt responsible for what happened to her, especially after Sierra got the devastating news that she’d never be able to have children. Something in the bullets that were used, wouldn’t allow for proper healing, and when the bullet broke apart inside her, a fragment or two was left behind. They ended up having to surgically remove her uterus since it was rotting away from the inside thanks to the fragment. That immediately killed any hopes of her finding a mate anywhere near her age. Those who didn’t already have children would not want her. Jack did though. He begged our pack leader, Marcus, to let him become wolf so that he could take care of Sierra. He promised that he would be her mate, and that he didn’t care about having kids. I still tear up when I think about the sacrifices Jack ended up making for Sierra.

I had been walking the whole time I was thinking about them, so it didn’t surprise me that I ended up in front of the cottage belonging to Jack and Sierra. I still wasn’t Sierra’s biggest fan, but I loved Jack like my own brother. There was a part of me that wished he could convince Ashley to join our pack, but I knew well enough that female humans rarely survived the change, and I wouldn’t risk losing her like that.

“Hey, Jessie,” Jack said to me as he opened the door before I had the chance to knock. “Sorry, I heard you coming up. Too many fall leaves around here to sneak up on anyone.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, noticing the leaves for the first time since I started out.

“Sierra’s with her parents right now. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Yes,” I smiled at him, and then I shot forward and popped him in the head with the palm of my hand.

“Ouch! What the hell was that for?” He took it good naturedly enough, laughing the initial shock away.

“That was from your sister. She said your parents are worried again, it’s been months since they’ve heard from you. Really, Jack? I see your parents on a semi-regular basis. The least you can do is call once a week and go see them once a month, maybe closer to the new moon than the full one, so there’s a low chance of phasing.”

He groaned, but added, “I know. I understand they worry about the choice I made, but I just don’t want to get there and lose control when they start giving me the fifth degree about it, you know?”

“I know. I can always go with you, if you need me to.”

“Thanks, Jessie. I’ll give them a call, I promise.”

“Good, because next time, I’m not gonna go easy on you.”

He smiled an all too attractive smile at me then, “Really?” He started dancing around gracefully on the balls of his feet, fists up in a fighter’s stance. I think I can take you.”

“You think?” I sighed, and gave him a playful push, realizing for the first time in our conversation that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Oh dear lord, my hormones needed to be put in check, because Ashley’s brother was something to look at! “You’re a werewolf, you have to be more convincing than just ‘thinking’ you can take someone.” I had never really been interested in guys much. Since I had gone through my final transition, my hormones seemed bound and determined to change that though.

“You’re right! How about this,” the grin that graced his face turned into a thousand watt smile, and he winked at me as he said, “I can take you, because you’re too distracted by my lack of a shirt to put up a fight.”

“Ugghh,” My face immediately went red! “You wish,” I threw over my shoulder as I turned to leave.

“I can smell your excitement, remember?”

“You need to learn some wolfy manners, Jack!” I laughed at him. We could smell the chemical changes in the body that were indicative of overexcited hormones, just like we could sniff out fear, and anger. He wasn’t wrong, but usually we tried not to call each other out on it. It was like an unwritten rule, unless you were in the middle of vying for a mate, then everything was fair game. Jack already had a mate, and he was just tormenting me. “See you later, Jack. Call your mommy!”

“Yeah, yeah.” He shut the door, then reopened it quickly, “tell my annoying sister hi for me to, will you?”

“She has a phone too, you know?” He didn’t answer, just shut the door.

I walked back to my house, and grabbed my car keys and my overnight bag. When I came back out of the house Zach was there, leaning against my car. I dropped my bag onto the porch, figuring this might take a few minutes.

“Going somewhere, Jess?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” I looked him up and down. He wasn’t wearing much, just a pair of board shorts and flip flops. His golden tan made all those abs look really good though. I couldn’t deny that he was yummy to look at. The grin that lit his face up then, said I’d been caught with my hormones showing again. Damn.

“Like what you see? It can all be yours, you know? All you need to do is say yes. It’s really not that hard. Y-E-S.” He smirked at me when I rolled my eyes. “See, it was really easy, you should try it.”

“Can you move your ass off my car? I have places to be.”

He stalked over to me in that regal way that only Alphas could move. “I came over to invite you to the lake.” His arms snaked around my waist and started to pull me towards him until I threw my hand up in between us.

“Hold up there, lover boy.” I felt the wave of anger that rolled over him then. And that was just one of the many reminders of the things I didn’t like about Zach. Sure, he was good looking, confident, sexy, hot… um, smart, and in line to be the next pack leader, but he also had a temper and a dark side I couldn’t get behind. I’d seen his cruelty first hand when he had tormented Sierra. Back when she thought he’d still accept her offer to be her mate one day, he had destroyed her publicly, calling her tainted, and unusable. Sure, he’d been younger, and had been firmly admonished by his Uncle Marcus for his behavior. I didn’t believe he’d changed though. He was just a lot more careful about what he said and did in front of witnesses. “I already had plans, I’m headed out to hang with Ashley for the day.”

I saw as anger rippled across his body in a physical manifestation. He wasn’t used to not getting his way. “You can change your plans. I’ve already said yes to Marcus. It wouldn’t kill you to spend some time with me.”

“How about tomorrow?”

“I don’t want you tomorrow. I want you now.” There was a demanding quality to his tone. He was trying to force my hand in this with the power of suggestion. If a wolf was alpha to you, they could bend you to their will by forcing power into their words. Zach was trying to do that to me, only he was failing, and it was pissing me off.

“How fucking dare you!” I was yelling so loud that my mom ran out of the house. Zach’s eyes got big then. Rage flared through my very essence. “I will not be forced to do anything with you! Do you understand me? You ever try that shit again, and I promise you that ‘YES’ is the last fucking word you will ever hear me utter.” I pushed him away from me then, and tossed the door of my Jeep open, slid in, slammed the door shut, and got the engine started so I could take off before I did something truly stupid.

I heard my mom apologizing to him as I started to take off, and I shot her a warning look, but she didn’t back down. She kept staring after me as I pulled away. Fury still ate away at my insides. I couldn’t even think clearly. I saw red all the way to Ashley’s apartment. It probably wasn’t the best idea for me to wander around the human world when I was this angry, but if I had stayed with the pack, I would have lost my shit on Zach. That would have consequences I didn’t want to think about, especially since I knew in my heart that even though Zach was an alpha, he was not alpha to me.

Some asshole had the audacity to cut me off while I was angry driving. The growl that escaped my lips followed by a curiously hairy middle finger was my cue to settle my ass down. My wolf was close, and she was just as furious as I was. She was pacing, just under the surface, fueled by the anger. Zach had just basically tried to werewolf roofie me into a date with him. He was trying to compel me with alpha power. What a douchebag. Clearly, he wasn’t as smart as I once thought he was.

STRANGE FATES

Once I got to Ashley’s I realized I never grabbed my overnight bag. “Damn it. I dropped the bag on my porch when I saw Zach. I was so angry I didn’t even think to pick it back up.”

“It’s okay. I think you’ve left half of your wardrobe over here anyway. At least the good half,” she whispered conspiratorially. I had to keep my more questionable clothing at Ashley’s house, because my pack didn’t approve of any of our single females going out looking indecent around humans. It didn’t matter if the whole pack saw us naked. Our pack leader, Marcus, didn’t want us drawing attention to ourselves. I wasn’t entirely sure why we had to hide our cleavage from the humans, but Marcus was always adamant. When I complained about it at home, my father had told me once that it had nothing to do with humans and more to do with the possibility of other weres spotting us out and about. That made sense since the balance between males and females in each generation was always off a bit. The fear of our females being courted by someone out of the pack was all too real, according to my dad. Not that I had ever heard of that happening. Ever.

“It just makes me so angry. He tried to basically roofie me. Like, he couldn’t get me to go out with him, so he was going to force it with a werewolf version of a date-rape drug. He was trying to pull alpha power over me…”

“Yeah, I knew what you meant when you said roofie, hon. Also, I think you should calm down a little before I have to explain to my neighbors why I’ve got a large dog here when I haven’t paid a pet deposit.”

I looked down at my fingernails that were currently turning into claws. “Damn it. I hate what he did, and I hate that it leaves me in this kind of mood too. Sorry, Ash.” I sat down for a minute, and started working on calming myself. I closed my eyes, breathed in slowly, and then letting it out. Each time I exhaled another breath, I was expelling the negative feelings too. Hanging onto them was drawing my wolf out. Ashley knew how to deal with it. We’d been here before. She sat quietly waiting until I had myself under control again.

“Sorry you didn’t get out before he stopped by.” She handed me a shot of liquor. I knocked it back like it was Kool-Aid. Ashley smiled. “That’s my girl. Feel better now?”

“I’m better. Now, let’s figure out what I’m going to wear.” A smile spread across my face, and I’m sure my eyes were lit up from the inside. “I’m going to torment the shit out of the human male population tonight.”

“Yes! There’s my favorite wingman! You draw them in with that unnatural wolf beauty of yours, and I will keep them enthralled with my crazy awkward social skills.” She laughed at herself as I side-eyed her from where I was sitting. Ashley was gorgeous. She didn’t need any help from a wingman, and she knew it. Her naturally vibrant red hair was all the rage whenever we went out, and her long curling locks only caused her bright blue eyes to stand out even more on her face.

“What would we ever do without each other, Ash?”

“No clue, so let’s not find out.” She smiled at me, then bounced up onto her feet and took off for the closet. “Now, time to get you dressed. What’s it going to be tonight? Leather? Lace? Little black dress?” She held up a too die for dress that I bought a few weeks ago. I’d left it here, because I didn’t want any of my family to find it and start in on lectures about inappropriate dresses. At 5’10” tall, and most of that being legs, I was stretching the limits of how short a dress could be before you had to consider it a shirt. It wasn’t really my style to wear something so revealing, even when I went out for a night of mayhem with Ashley, but I was in full on rebellion mode. I took my shower, and slipped into the dress. It came about an inch and a half below my ass. Luckily for me, at some point after puberty and the calling hit, Mother Nature decided I deserved a few curves along with some of the muscle I had packed on. I had a nice, firm body, but I definitely had a defined ass, and some smallish, but perky boobs. Staring in the mirror, I couldn’t help but saying out loud, “damn, I make this dress look good!”