Chapter 21 #3
The change rips through me faster than it ever has, and I hit the bear from the side and take her off her feet.
I hear Jessa’s startled scream, but I keep my attention on the bear.
In my wolf form, the animal stands no chance.
I close my jaws on her throat and rip off her head, tossing it twenty feet into the ferns.
I take the carcass by the shoulder, haul it into the trees for the scavengers, then come back on four legs without changing.
Mia’s eyes are gold when I reach her, her lip pulled off her teeth, her wolf riding at the surface of her and hunting for something else to fight.
I put my muzzle to her neck, breathing myself over her, laying my scent across her collarbone and her hair.
She sags against my shoulder. The gold drains out of her eyes, her wolf sinks back down where it belongs, and the relief nearly puts me down.
Then something smacks me across the muzzle. “You’re covered in blood!” Jessa glares up at me with her hand still raised, and her eyes shoot sparks. “Get away from them, you idiot!”
I sit back on my haunches and stare at her.
She isn’t afraid of me. Her knees are shaking under her, yet she’s standing in front of a wolf twice her weight with a head covered in bear blood, scolding me about her daughter’s shirt.
I lean forward. I can smell her fear, but she refuses to show it. Interesting.
“Your breath stinks,” she mutters, and I lean closer. Her heart is beating so fast that it might just jump out of her chest.
I open my muzzle and lick her face, chin to eyebrow in one long stripe, and she rears back, spluttering.
Bella has both arms locked around Jessa’s waist, and she whispers, “Don’t be afraid. It’s still Uncle Marcus.”
I reach out with my paw and knock Bella’s legs out from under her with my nose. She falls down hard in the leaves, and then I start grooming her, jaw to ear to hairline, ignoring every sound she makes about it.
“Uncle Marcus!” Bella shrieks, kicking. “Stop it, no!”
“You’re scaring her!” Jessa shoves at my shoulder with both hands. “Would you stop, you’re terrifying her!”
“I’m not scared.” Bella comes up spitting hair out of her mouth, cheeks wet, laughing while she tries to shove me off. “He’s covered in drool!”
I let the change come back. I’m on both knees in the leaf litter, naked, my mouth still red, so I reach out to tug the hem of Jessa’s shirt.
She looks down at my hand, then at the rest of me and goes red. Quickly, she drags the shirt over her head and throws it at my face. There’s a thin white tank underneath it, so she’s not naked.
“Thank you.” I knot the sleeves around my waist, covering myself.
“You’re welcome,” she starts, strangled, then her eyes drop to my side and stay there. Blood runs down my hip, my wound still exposed. “Marcus, we need to go to the hospital.”
I press my hand over it. “It looks worse than it is.”
She doesn’t believe me, but I can see her deciding not to fight me about it in front of the girls.
I crouch in front of Bella and take her by both shoulders. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
She shakes her head, and Jessa lowers herself onto the leaves beside her, her legs giving out halfway down. Mia is against her before she’s landed, both arms around her mother’s neck.
“What are you?” Jessa asks me, her voice quivering.
“I’m a shifter.”
“That’s not a word.”
“It’s what I am: a wolf shifter.” I don’t blink. “Bella’s one too. Mia as well.”
Jessa’s arms tighten around our daughter. “You mean half. She’s half human, half whatever you are.”
“She’s half wolf.”
“And what does that mean for her?” Her voice shakes. “What does it actually mean, Marcus?”
Mia hasn’t uttered a word, her face still but her eyes watchful.
“Nothing bad.” I keep my voice calm. “She’ll shift when she’s older.”
Jessa presses her mouth into Mia’s hair and shuts her eyes. “Sloane is one of you, isn’t she? I saw her teeth change. She was actually going to kill me.”
My jaw sets so hard my teeth ache. “I’ll deal with Sloane.”
“She knows what Mia is.”
“She does now.” I hold her eyes. “Which is why I was asking you what she saw.”
“Can Bella do what Mia did?” Her eyes flicker toward my niece. “I mean the claws.”
“Not for years. A child’s wolf is too young to survive the change, so it sleeps until she’s grown enough to hold it.” I glance at my niece. “She’ll get there.”
Jessa looks at me a long time. Then she reaches over and pulls Bella into her chest alongside Mia, holding both girls at once. “You two are cousins,” she says into their hair. “You’ve been family this whole time, and neither of you knew it.”
Mia’s head comes up. “So Marcus really is my dad?”
Jessa nods.
I expect Mia to be a little upset, but to my surprise, she beams. “So he can stay with us now, right?”
Jessa’s lips move, but she doesn’t seem to know what to say.
“His family’s complete now.” Bella’s voice is barely there. “He’s got his real daughter, so he doesn’t need me.”
I go down on my heels and take both her hands. “I’ll need you till the day I die,” I tell her. “You’re mine, just as much as she is.”
Bella’s chin wobbles.
“He’s right. You’re every bit as important to me too,” Jessa adds. “To be honest, Bella, if I end up staying with your uncle, it’ll be about eighty percent because of you.”
Bella laughs, wet and startled. Mia wraps her arms around her. “We’re not cousins. We’ll be sisters. My mom can be your mom.”
Bella hugs her, and I watch the two girls clasp each other’s hands.
Jessa puts her hands on their shoulders. “She’s right. Now why don’t you two head back to the house. Your uncle—father and I will be right behind you.”
They run ahead, and I turn to look at Jessa only to see her slump to the ground, her gaze bewildered.
“Jessa?” Alarm taints my voice as I crouch beside her.
She looks at me, and this time, she lets the fear show. “You’re not human.”
I realize she had been putting on a front for the kids.
“You’re terrified of me?”
“Wouldn’t you be?” She looks at me, and her eyes are enormous. “Put yourself where I’m standing and tell me you wouldn’t be.”
“Do you think I’d hurt you?”
She pauses. “No,” she says at last. “I don’t believe that.”
“Then why?”
“Because there’s an entire world in front of me that I didn’t know existed an hour ago.” Her hand grips my forearm. “My daughter has claws, Marcus. You took a bear apart with your teeth. I don’t know how to deal with that.”
I study her and then ask gently, “Will you be able to accept her now that you know what she is?”
Jessa gives me an outraged look. “Of course! That’s my child.”
I help her to her feet. “You have nothing to fear. From any of us. I know you have questions, and this time I’ll answer them. But for now, let’s head home.”
I hold out my hand, and when she doesn’t take it for a moment, my heart seizes, the rejection obvious.
Then she slowly reaches out and curls her hand around mine, whispering, “Let’s go home.”