Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Iwake up beside the lake, flat on my back.
Vaden is sitting next to me, wearing black shorts and nothing else, staring out across the water.
“I didn’t want to have to do that,” he says in a low voice, startling me.
I just opened my eyes, and he didn’t even have to look at me to know I was conscious again. “Do what?” I ask, licking my dry lips.
“Scare you.” He looks down at me, his eyes back to silvery-green instead of the silver when he was a wolf. I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but the sky is still black, and the lake bathed in moonlight.
I say in disbelief, "You changed from a wolf to a man." Something so impossible I can’t believe it happened, even though I saw it with my own eyes.
He nods once, a jerky motion. His gaze is watchful, as if he suspects it won’t take much—a word or a small action—to make me bolt.
“Yes.”
After studying him for a beat longer, I sit up. I feel him watching me as I turn to look at the water, wrapping my arms around my raised knees, struggling to process the impossible. “How did you know I snuck out?”
“You ran into your nightstand and then the coffee table multiple times. I’d have to be dead not to hear you."
Wincing, I appreciate that he at least tries to hide his amusement. “I thought I was quiet.”
He flashes me a quick glance. “There’s human quiet, then there’s wolf quiet. You never stood a chance.”
The possessive glint in his eyes makes me think he isn’t just talking about my inability to sneak past a man who’s faking sleep and can turn into a wolf.
He couldn’t have been asleep at all to hear me stub my toe on my nightstand, then bump into the coffee table right beside him.
I must have sounded like a literal bull in a china shop to him.
More than that, he knew I didn’t believe he could change into a wolf, and he suspected I would try to sneak out. And he was prepared for it.
I recall the first scuff I heard in the forest. “I heard you before.”
He nods. “Because I wanted you to. If I appeared out of nowhere without that first sound to warn you that you might not be alone, I’m not sure what you would have done.”
I rub a hand over my pounding temples. “Ran into a tree and knocked myself out. That’s what I would have done.”
Because I wouldn’t have been looking where I was going. I wouldn’t have cared. A wolf suddenly appearing out of nowhere would have completely shattered my ability to think, process, or do anything the least bit rational. I would have lost my goddamn mind.
“Who has you afraid, mate?” he asks so quietly that I almost miss the first couple of words.
I feel my face shutter as I turn to look at him. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He slips one hand around the nape of my neck. He touches his lips to mine, a brief, reverent caress that makes my heart squeeze. “My reason in life is to protect you, mate. Tell me who I need to kill, and they are dead."
I wish I could believe that with every fiber of my being. That, as impossible as it is, someone is willing to fight my corner so fiercely. But it’s not real. I can’t trust it and I can’t trust him.
“You don’t mean that.”
He dips his head and looks me right in the eye. “I absolutely mean it. I was the head enforcer in my pack. It was my job to use teeth and claws to put down threats so they wouldn’t get back up again. Other than a couple of fuckups, I was very good at it.”
Now I’ve seen what he can do, I fully believe that anyone who wants to keep breathing would run screaming if he came at them with teeth and claws.
“What were these fuckups?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Mistakes I don’t intend to repeat.”
Now he’s the one with a closed-off expression.
I feel like I’ve touched on a painful memory or a secret from his past that he isn't willing to share.
That makes sense. From the moment we met, he seemed like someone who doesn't show vulnerability to anyone.
So, why do I want him to share that side of himself with me?
“Sorry I was going to steal your car,” I say, not wanting to dwell on why I’m secretly glad he caught me.
His lips twitch. “I’d have forgiven you, Jane.”
“I’m not in the habit of stealing cars, but I really did think you were crazy.”
“I know.” He studies me for a beat, a tiny frown line forming between his brows. “You’re handling this remarkably well.”
Shrugging, I turn away from him to look at the lake. “There are worse things in the world than a man who can change into a wolf. And if you were going to kill me, I figure you’d have done it when you had sharper teeth and claws.”
“Someone is trying to kill you.”
“I didn’t say that,” I lie.
“Yes, you did.” His firm tone makes it clear I’m not convincing him of anything. “And I have a vivid memory of someone firing a gun at you.” His voice trembles with rage.
That’s the problem with talking to someone. And by letting a person get close. You talk, they ask questions; you answer them. Suddenly, you find yourself revealing a whole lot more than you intended.
I should leave this town before I get this man killed.
Staring at the lake, I ask a question I didn’t want to before. In the cabin, I thought he was crazy. Now, I’m scared to hope. Scared of something I’m not even sure I really want: a future with a man who would burn down the world to protect me. “How can you be so sure that I’m your mate?”
“Your smell.”
A muscle in my neck twinges as I turn to look at him. “My smell!”
“Yes.”
I eye him curiously, afraid to ask, “Is it a bad smell?”
Please don’t let him tell me I stink.
His lips twitch. “No. It’s not a bad smell, Jane.”
My nose wrinkles. “My vanilla and rose perfume then. Maybe you just like that.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not your perfume. The vanilla is nice, but I prefer the way you smell without it. It’s hard to describe, but it’s you. The essence of you.”
I struggle to believe that. He notices my doubt because he adds, “It’s not just your smell. My wolf wants you too.”
I tense. “To eat me?”
“Not that kind of eating,” he says, his voice husky.
It’s been a long day full of excitement, so I’m a little slow to realize there are two different meanings to the word. He is not talking about a predator eating meat. He means a man with his mouth…
My cheeks burn as I look away. “Oh.”
He’s definitely secretly laughing at me when he says. “Are you not going to ask what kind I meant, Jane?”
“No need,” I blurt out, face hot. “I know what you mean.”
He chuckles. “Do you have any other questions?”
I look at him. “Is it like a soulmate thing?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know about soul mates. I just know you’re mine.”
He sounds so sure about it. So definite. It’s hard not to believe him. “Am I supposed to feel something?”
“You’re human, so probably not.”
“And humans don’t usually become mates of… what was that word you used before?”
“Shifter. And no, I don’t know of any human mates. Just you.” He cocks his head. “I don’t know that you’re supposed to feel the same pull I do for you. Maybe you would find me as attractive as I find you. I would be surprised if you, my mate, hated the way I looked.”
He looks at me expectantly, waiting for my answer. It’s important to him, even though he’s trying hard to hide how much.
Considering it wasn’t that long ago that I thought he was a psycho, I can’t believe what I’m about to admit. “No, I don’t hate the way you look.”
Every time I look at him, I want to touch him.
He nods as if a decision has been made. “Then that’s a good place to start. Deeper feelings will come later.”
“Will they?” I ask, confused by his utter certainty that I’m going to fall in love with him.
“They will.”
As he speaks, my gaze is drawn to his teeth. They’re straight and white, but he’s sometimes a wolf, and I’ve heard stories about werewolves and vampires and what can happen to a person when bitten by one of these mythological beings.
“If you bit me, would I be like you and live forever?” I ask.
“Would you like to be?” There’s nothing in his expression to suggest what he would like my answer to be.
I shake my head. “No. I want to stay human.”
Maybe I’d be able to deal with threats easier as a wolf than a human, but I’m not willing to give up my humanity for sharper teeth and claws.
“Then I won’t.” He frowns. “It’s not always safe. Fisher nearly died after an attack, and the transformation saved his life. And we don’t live forever, Jane. We heal fast, and we’re a lot harder to kill than the average human.”
My jaw hangs open. “Fisher is one of you!”
“Yes.”
“But he looks totally normal.” I wince, noting his amusement and knowing the reason for it. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to insult you. I just thought I would be able to tell.”
“We’re very good at hiding what we are because we have to be. Not everyone is as accepting of differences as you. That’s why every shifter grows up knowing how dangerous it can be to reveal what we are to the wrong person.”
I frown. “But you told me.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulder when I shiver, drawing me closer to the warmth of his chest, and even though he’s in literally nothing but a pair of shorts, he’s still radiating heat.
“You are not the wrong person. You’re my mate.
This is something you needed to know about me or we could never work. ”
“So that’s why Fisher can’t work at the store anymore.” Mart told me his son had stopped helping out recently. I figured it was because he met Averie and wanted to go traveling, but there must have been more to it than that, especially with Fisher moving out of his house and into a cabin near here.
“His life as a human couldn’t continue the way it was.
He was looking after his dad’s dog, for one.
Dogs smell us and react as if we’re predators, even when we’re in our human form.
And shifters do better in a pack. He’ll learn faster surrounded by other shifters rather than living alone, especially as a new shifter. ”
I look at the house on my right, far in the distance. No wonder I was walking for so long. I was going the wrong way. “Does everyone live in the house?”
He nods. “Mostly. There are a couple of cabins in the forest. My sister said Dayne, the alpha here, is building more. Sometimes being around people is good. Sometimes it’s good to just be with your mate.”
I consider everything he’s told me. It’s a lot. A new world exists right under the one I know. It’s going to take time to absorb it all, and for it to stop seeming like I’m dreaming it up.
“And you’re sure that I’m your mate?” I ask him again, searching his face.
He takes my palm and covers his heart with it. “I feel you here, Shelby. And my wolf hasn’t stopped wanting you to pet him. You’re mine, and I’m yours. There’s never been any doubt in my mind since I saw you.”
My hand spasms against his warm chest. “Pet him?”
His head lowers a few inches, bringing his mouth closer to mine. His lips brush mine, and I suppress a moan. “I prefer a different kind of petting, Jane.” His voice is husky and so sexy.
Why do I love it so damn much when this man calls me Jane?
I’m torn between shoving him away and letting him kiss me when he jerks away from me and yanks me up so fast my head spins.
“Go to the house. Now!”
“What!” I look around for a threat that I don’t see and most definitely did not hear.
He nudges me toward the house, drops his hands from mine, and shreds his shorts.
Within seconds, a large reddish-brown wolf stands inches away. He throws his head back and howls so loud that my blood turns cold.
Terror explodes in my veins. I spin and sprint toward the house, too terrified to look back.