Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (35 page)

               
“Shut up and go downstairs!”

               
He just laughs and carries her suitcase down the steps for her.

               
When they get into the car, Jackson sighs and then looks at her.  “I want
to kiss you right now.  I have this undeniable urge to kiss you. 
Just jump on top of you and have my way, but that has to be the hormones
talking, right?”

               
“On that note, I wouldn’t mind crawling into your backseat and seeing where it
gets us.  So, yeah, it has to be the hormones and pheromones all mixed
together.”

               
“Okay, as long as we understand that's what it is.”

               
“Yeah, with these thoughts I’ll need to take a cold shower.”

               
Snorting, Jackson says, “Those thoughts of me will be replaced by thoughts of
Damien as soon as you get near him and sense his pheromones.”

               
“No, usually it’s still you.”  She slaps her hands over her mouth,
realizing what she just said.  “I mean, that came out wrong.”

               
“What?  You think of me when you’re with Damien?”

               
“No, that came out horribly wrong,” Kayla replies.  “There have been a few
times when you’ve popped into my head, but I think it’s because we are so…I
don’t know…attracted to each other.”

               
He clicks his tongue.  “I think we should end this conversation.  We
both agreed not to pursue anything, and I don’t want us to attack each other
and regret it.”

               
“Yeah, the conversation is going to get us nowhere.”

               
Jackson starts the car.  “It’s just something we can’t control.  We
need to keep that in mind.”

               
“Yup,” Kayla murmurs.  Jackson pulls away from her house and they make the
drive in silence.

               
When they get to Jackson
’
s
house, Jackson stops and looks at her.  “Are things weird between us
now?  I don’t want them to be weird.”

               
“Oh!  I don’t want them to be weird either.  I want us to be able to
be honest with each other.  So what if we want to tear each other
apart?  There are other people out there who have been in this situation,
right?”

               
“Yeah, of course, it only makes sense.  We just won’t tell Damien about
it.”

               
Kayla nods. “I really like him and he may take it the wrong way.  So,
yeah, we keep it between the two of us.  You’re my friend, and I don’t
want to mess that up.”

               
“Nope.  Let’s go in.  I’ll grab your suitcase.”  Jackson opens
his door and gets out of the car.  Kayla exhales loudly as she rubs her
forehead. 

               
When she looks up, Damien is coming out the back door.  Kayla smiles and
gets out of the car.   “Did you get everything you need?” Damien
asks.

               
“Yup,” Kayla answers.  “I’m all
set.”           

               
“Did you bring any lingerie?”

               
Rolling her eyes, Kayla says, “I don’t own any.  Why would I own any?”

               
“Don’t girls like to wear fancy things for themselves?  Oh well, I was
just hoping.”

               
“You wouldn’t be seeing it anyway,” Jackson states sharply.  “So it
doesn’t matter.”

               
Damien laughs. “I was only joking.  You protect her like she’s
your
girlfriend.  Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

               
“Enough,” Kayla interjects.  “I want to unpack my stuff.”

               
“All right, Jackson, you can give me her suitcase.”

               
He shakes his head. “I have it.”

               
“No, I’ll help her.  Please, I would appreciate it if you gave it to me.”

               
“Damien, I’m already carrying it.  You don’t have to do everything for
her.”

               
With a groan, Kayla walks over to Jackson and grabs her suitcase from
him.  “I got it.”

               
“Don’t be silly,” Jackson says, grabbing the handle from her.  “I’ll carry
it for you.”

               
Kayla giggles and tries to pull it away from him.  “No, give it to
me.”  Jackson just holds it with one hand and laughs.  Kayla pulls as
hard as she can, but it doesn’t help.  “Give it to me!” she yells, still
giggling.

               
“Nope, you can fight it as much as you want, but I’m going to win this.”

               
“No fair!  You’re so much stronger than me.”

               
“Tough, now will you let me carry your suitcase inside?”

               
Crossing her arms, she mumbles, “Yeah.”

               
“I would rather do it.” Damien sighs. “Not that it counts for anything.”

               
She walks over to Damien.  “You can escort me inside.  That’s much
better than the suitcase.”

               
“Good point,” Damien replies.  He bends over and sweeps Kayla up in his
arms.  “Carrying you is much better.”

               
“Damien!  Put me down!”

               
He shakes his head.  “Nope, come on, Jackson, let’s get her inside.”

               
Jackson groans and goes to the door.  Kayla looks at Damien.  “This
is silly.”

               
“Come on, most girls would be all happy about a strong guy carrying them
around.”

               
“Am I like most girls?”

               
“Definitely not.  So you don’t like this at all?”

               
Biting her lip, Kayla whispers, “Okay, maybe a little bit; I won’t lie.”

               
Damien laughs. “That’s what I thought.”

               
With an annoyed look, Jackson holds the door open for them.  Damien easily
carries her inside.  They walk to Kayla’s room with her giggling the whole
way.  When they get in there, Damien tosses her on the bed.  She
spins around and says, “Don’t you dare follow me.”

               
“Oh,” Damien gets on the bed, “you shouldn’t have said that.  Now I’m
going to.  I want to see how ticklish you are.”

               
“No,” Kayla yells.  “Jackson, help me!”

               
Jackson chuckles. “I’m going to leave the room if you’re going to start rolling
around on the bed together.”

               
“Why don’t we make it a threesome?” Damien retorts.

               
“What!” Kayla screams.

               
With a devilish grin, Damien says, “Yeah, Jackson can hold you down and I’ll
tickle you.”

               
“Don’t you
dare!
”

               
“Oh yeah,” Damien murmurs, creeping closer to her.  “Don’t pee in your
pants.”

               
Kayla closes her eyes and shifts into a dog.  Jackson raises his eyebrows.
“What are you doing?”

               
Wiggling her butt, Kayla barks and jumps off the bed.  Damien laughs.
“That isn’t going to help.  Sooner or later you’re going to have to shift
back and then it’s on.”

               
With a flip of her tail, Kayla turns and runs out of the room.  “Kayla,”
Jackson yells.  “Don’t break anything!”

               
Tearing off through the house, Kayla goes into the sitting room.  She runs
and ducks down behind the couch.  A minute passes before Damien walks into
the living room as the
akita
.  He shifts back to
himself.  “Kayla, you’ll eventually learn that when you’re an animal you
can trace the smell of someone else, just like a dog.”

               
Kayla growls. She jumps up and runs past Damien.  She sprints through the
house and to the backdoor.  Quickly, Kayla shifts back to herself. 
She frantically opens the door and runs out.  Turning around, she sees
Damien and Jackson, both of them as dogs.  Kayla turns and jumps off the
porch.  Mid-fall, she shifts into a dog.  As she hits the ground, she
tucks and rolls, hearing barks from behind her.  Laughing inside her head,
Kayla gets on her feet and tears off around the house.

               
She can hear Damien and Jackson behind her.  She books it down the driveway
and then across their massive lawn.  With everything going on lately,
there is nothing more freeing than playing with the boys in dog form. Suddenly,
Damien is next to her.  He leaps and tackles her, causing them to roll
across the grass.  When they stop, Damien is on top.  He barks and
then licks her face.  Kayla shifts back to herself.  “Stop
it, that
feels weird!”

               
Damien is himself again.  “Well, you shouldn’t have run then.”

               
“Kayla,” Jackson yells.  “You shouldn’t shift like that.  You could
have gotten hurt!”

               
“I’m fine,” Kayla exhales, worn out from the run.  “See, nothing wrong.”

               
Lifting himself off of her, Damien says, “She shifted on the fly.  That is
a huge leap forward.”

               
“Does that mean I get to change into something other than a dog?” Kayla
exclaims.

               
“Maybe.” Damien laughs.  “We’ll see.”

               
“No,” Jackson snaps.  “It is too early for that!  I don’t want
anything happening to her.”

               
Turning to him, Damien replies, “I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, and in
the end, it’s my decision, not yours.”

               
“I should have a say in this.  She’s my friend.”

               
“But really, in the end, it’s my call.” Damien sighs.  “She’s my ward.”

               
Kayla looks at Damien. “Ward?”

               
“Yes, I’m your trainer and protector.  The council has appointed me to
you, which is better than having you with a stranger.”

               
“Yeah, I don’t know how happy I would be if it were someone else.”  She
rubs her head and yawns.  “I’m tired.”

               
“Could be because you just ran yourself out,” Jackson suggests, shaking his
head.  “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

               
Kayla hums, “Mmhmm,” and then passes out.  She wakes up as she is laid in
bed.  Damien moves down and starts to take her shoes off.  “I’m
sorry,” she whispers.

               
“Shh, you should go to sleep.”

               
“I want to put on pajamas.  My clothes are dirty from the grass.”

               
Damien quietly replies, “Okay.”  He opens her suitcase and grabs a pair of
pajamas.  Chuckling, he says, “Cute, penguins.”

               
“Shut up.  I love my penguin jammies.  Don’t make fun of them.”

               
“I would never really make fun of you,” Damien replies.  He brings over
the pajamas.  “Here, you can put this on.”

               
She grabs it from him. “Thanks.”

               
“I’ll leave you to get ready.”

               
“No comment about helping me put them on?”

               
He smiles. “Well, if you're
offering.”       

               
Vigorously, she shakes her head.  “No way in hell, buddy.”

               
“That’s what I thought. If you need anything you can come get Jackson or
me.  We’re going to bed too, since you wore us out.”

               
“Okay,” she murmurs, yawning again.

               
Bending over, Damien kisses her.  Kayla returns the affection.  Then,
unexpectedly, their energies collide.  Kayla yanks him down on the bed
with her.  They kiss each other deeply.  Damien lifts her up and
moves her back farther on the bed.  When he is back on top of her, Kayla
rips his shirt off him.  They embrace each other tightly.  Damien
reaches down and starts to undo the button on her pants. 

               
“Damien,” she whispers.

               
“Mmm,” he hums, shutting her up by kissing her.  She gives in and pulls
him hard against her.

               
Suddenly, he is yanked off her.  Kayla gasps and yells, “What in the
hell?”

               
Jackson pulls Damien off the bed by his pants.  “That's enough.  You
both just came out of a shift.”

               
“I’m so sorry, Kayla,” Damien pants.  “That wave of energy wasn’t coming
from me.”

               
“It was from me?”

               
Breathing hard, Damien bends over and puts his hands on his knees.  “Yeah,
holy cow, you’re powerful.”

               
“Oops?
”
She wrings her
hands together, not knowing what else to say.  Both guys stare at her, and
she feels her face growing hot.
“
This
is kind of embarrassing.”

               
“Why don’t you get your pajamas on, and
you
go to bed,” Jackson says
sternly to Damien.