13. Archie
ARCHIE
We couldn’t move forward until Walter knew who I was, because if I’d been human, I could have been with him all these years.
But telling him shifters existed, that I was one and I had a wolf inside me, wasn’t something you told the love of your life over coffee.
We were on my couch. The game had ended a couple of hours ago, and Walter had watched me play in person for the first time.
Afterward, we’d come back to my place, and he was tucked into a corner of the sofa with cushions behind and in front of him.
His feet were in my lap, and there was a mug of tea on the coffee table.
He looked as though he belonged in my house, which he did. I hadn’t let myself want something in ages, and now I wanted it so badly, I was scared it was going to be snatched away.
And it might be if a) I didn’t tell him the truth and b) he didn’t want to be with me.
Everything we’d built in the short time we’d been together was a half-truth, and there was a hole where the complete truth should be.
If I didn’t speak up, he was going to topple into that hole and not be able to get out.
It was better that he heard it from me rather than accidentally discovering me furring up. Or seeing me sneak out at night to hunt.
“Can I get you more tea?” I needed to do something before I told him.
“Nah, I’m good with lukewarm.”
Lukewarm was twenty minutes ago, so I got up and began pacing.
“Is this a new hockey move?” He scrunched up his face. “I don’t think it’s going to be effective.”
“I need to tell you something, and it’s going to be hard to swallow.”
Walter gulped the tea and choked but held a hand up and spluttered that he was okay. Perhaps I should reschedule this, but my wolf urged me to tell him.
You’ve been hiding me.
“You might think I’ve lost my mind.”
Water sat up straight. He didn’t appear to be scared, though how well did I really know him? But judging by his expression, he looked like how I imagined a reporter would when he got a hint of a great story. Except this was something that couldn’t be broadcast or written about.
“I’m listening.”
“I have something inside me that you don’t.”
His eyes went wide, and he dragged me back to the couch. “Like a tumor?”
“No, as in I’m not human.”
“You haven’t got another you in there, have you?” He fixed his eyes on me before lifting up my shirt. “I saw that in a movie once where a guy was controlled by the baby on his belly.”
“No and yes. No weird babies, no aliens, but the thing that’s inside me is a wolf.” I held up a hand. “Let me get through this before you say anything.” Or run for the hills.
I spoke at twice the normal speed and explained our history, how we shifted, and how humans couldn’t tell the difference between us and them. “We’re not dangerous in human or beast form, and I’m still me.”
I studied his face and braced myself for fear and disbelief. That was what I’d been taught if humans found out about us.
“Okay.” He steepled his hands. “Okay. This may sound strange…”
After what I’d just told him, he was going to tell me something even more weird? I almost laughed.
“My uncle used to enjoy a beer or two on the back porch before bed, and when he was tipsy, he’d ramble on about people he went camping with once who changed into animals late at night and hunted.”
“What?” I leaped off the couch and ran both hands through my hair. “The same uncle I met at the store?”
He nodded. “Trevor.” He pulled his legs underneath him.
“He traveled a lot for work, and he used to come back with these stories.” Walter told of tales about families who lived apart from others and said he’d witnessed the changing or shifting.
“I half believed him sort of, but now you’re telling me this is true and you have this ability. ”
I had to show him, and I warned my beast not to show off when I offered to show Walter a partial shift. I allowed fur to cover my arms and for my wolf to appear in my gaze. It took a lot to control a half shift, but this was my mate, and I owed him a reveal.
He didn’t cower or gasp but leaned forward. I took back my skin and eyesight and checked to his left and right, making sure he wasn’t recording our conversation. That was what I would have done, especially as he was a journalist.
“Wow. That was amazing.” He let out a shaky laugh. “Uncle is going to be insufferable when I tell him.
“You can’t.” I took his hands. “For shifters’ safety, we can’t tell humans.”
“Humans.” He shook his head. “I never expected to be talking to someone who wasn’t one.”
I kissed him. “You’re amazing.”
But that was the easy part. “There’s more.”
Walter looked under the cushions. “Really? More how, what and where?” He bounced on the sofa. “This is the best day of my life.” But his excitement faded when he looked at my face. “Oh, maybe not. We’re not back to the tumor thing, are we?”
“This is about us.”
Color faded from his cheeks, and he took my hand.
“When a shifter finds the one person they’re supposed to be with, they’re fated mates. It’s instant, and we recognize our mate by scent.”
“Okay.”
He must have sensed what I was about to say because he hugged a cushion with one hand and stroked my cheek with the other. He teared up and his bottom lip trembled.
“That’s why I stared at you in the store. You were my fate.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Why was that scary? I love that we are meant for each other.” Again his face fell when he glanced at my hands shaking.
And so I told him about packs and my pack in particular. I spoke of Garrick and how he’d discovered Walter was my mate.
“There have never been humans in our pack, and he refused to allow me to mate.”
“Is that a big deal?”
I wished I could stop and pretend the rest of the story didn’t matter.
“I told him I’d leave the pack, but he said I wouldn’t survive, and even if I left, you’d still be my mate, and he couldn’t have that.”
Tears trickled over his cheeks. “And you didn’t fight for me, you chose to leave without saying anything and left me wondering what happened.” He shuffled to the end of the couch.
“Gods, no. I wanted you, but I couldn’t have you.”
What I had to tell him now would scare him, and this might be what sent him running. And how could I blame him?
“If you were in my life, we would have mated. There was no way we could just be friends or live together. The connection is too strong.”
“Right. Why do I feel as though there’s a but coming?”
I took his hand and cupped my cheek. “He said he would kill you if we mated because that was the only way to solve the problem.”
Walter didn’t speak, and I charged ahead, saying how I left to keep him safe, how I’d thought about him every day and grieved our loss.
“You did all that for me even though it hurt?”
I couldn’t speak as my own tears tumbled onto his fingers, and we both sobbed.
“But before the gala, I decided to change my life by taking charge.”
Walter asked me how, and I explained that I had to remove Garrick as Alpha and take his place.
“L-Let m-me guess. This isn’t a walk in the park, right? Scary stuff would have to happen.”
“Yes.”