Shadowed Instincts
Read Shadowed Instincts Online
Authors: Wendi Wilson
Tags: #Romance, #Paranormal, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Paranormal & Urban, #Teen & Young Adult
Shadowed
Instincts
Shadowed Series Book 2
by
Wendi L. Wilson
Copyright ©2015 by Wendi L. Wilson
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or distributed, or stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without express
permission of the author, except by a reviewer who my quote brief passages for
review purposes.
This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of
the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover
Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/FrinaArt
For my Mom, who
always encouraged my love of reading with her endless collection of romance
novels and taught me I could do anything I put my mind to.
Miss you Mom.
“This can’t be happening.”
Melanie sat at the kitchen table, her mind whirling a mile a
minute while her life fell apart around her. Wrapping her head around the information
just dropped on her was next to impossible. After everything she had been
through in recent weeks, finding out Jeremy was a shapeshifter, having her
English teacher nearly rape and then stalk her, then enacting a crazy plan to
eradicate Mr. Hughes from her life, this was just too much. She looked back at
her father incredulously.
“How is this possible?”
Darren, her father whom she had just met minutes before,
looked at her with compassion. It was like staring into her own eyes, the way
his emotions were plainly displayed in their depths. Emotions that had been
pent up for seventeen years.
“Melanie, I know this is a shock.” His eyes shot back to her
boyfriend Jeremy, still standing behind her. “Well, maybe not quite the shock
it would’ve been had you not met him.”
“A shock? A
shock?!
Are you freaking kidding me right
now? You come into my life out of nowhere and, without a how do you damn well
do, you tell me I’m a supernatural being? A shock. That’s hilarious.”
“Melanie,” her mom interjected. “Please, give us a chance to
explain, honey.”
Melanie flinched at her use of the word “us.” “Us” had
always been Melanie and her mom. Now it had a different meaning and she didn’t
like it. Her anger flared and she lashed out.
“Oh, don’t get me started on you, Mom. You knew. You knew,
all this time, what I would become and you never thought I should know? It
didn’t seem important enough to tell me? What the hell?”
“Watch your language, young lady. I am still your mother and
this is still my house, my rules.”
With that, Melanie stood, preparing to stomp from the room
in a flare of righteous indignation. Jeremy straightened from his position
against the kitchen counter, ready to follow her out.
“Sit down.”
Darren said this with authority and Melanie felt her muscles
move of their own volition as she plopped back down into her chair. She had no
control. He said sit and she sat.
“What the-”
“Melanie, just listen and we will explain everything to you.
You will come to understand and accept our decisions, but you have to listen
first.” His eyes were filled with sympathy.
“Okay,” she said mulishly. “I’m listening.”
“Thank you.”
He sounded sincere with gratitude, but Melanie had a feeling
he could
make
her listen if she refused. Something strange was going on,
other than the obvious, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.
“Melanie, when your mother and I met, it was love at first
sight. We were young and carefree, doing what we wanted, when we wanted.”
Melanie’s eyebrows rose at that as she looked at her mom.
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
Elaine shrugged and said, “Things change. People change.”
“Then
what
happened
? Why did you split up?”
“As I told you before,” Darren continued, “my lifestyle is
different.” He shot a pointed look at Jeremy. “And unlike your friend, I didn’t
tell Elaine the truth at first. I loved her so much and I was afraid to admit
it to her. Afraid she would run from me as fast as her legs would take her.”
“I guess you were right, because she did,” Melanie said with
an angry glare at her mom.
“That’s not fair,” Elaine started, but Darren held up a hand
to stop her.
“Melanie, listen to me. I finally found the nerve to tell
your mom when she became pregnant with you. I had to not only explain what I
was, but that there was a fifty percent chance that you would be the same as
me. That’s a lot for any woman, much less a newly pregnant one, to take.” He
paused for a second, then continued, “Of course, she didn’t believe me at
first. I had to shift in front of her to prove it.”
His eyes darted back to Jeremy, who sat down at the table
next to Melanie. Jeremy gave a slight nod, confirming that he had to do the
same to prove he was telling the truth.
“To say she freaked out would be an understatement. She ran
from me. Didn’t speak to me for days. I kept calling, kept stopping by, but I
couldn’t get through to her. I’m sure you can understand her fear and
confusion.”
Melanie didn’t acknowledge the truth of that statement. When
Jeremy told Melanie the truth, she
had
freaked out,
had
run away
from him. But that had only lasted for a day. She couldn’t stay away from him.
She loved him too much.
“So, what? You just gave up? Never gave us another thought?”
“No! Never! I loved her, and you, too much. I broke into her
apartment and held her captive until she agreed to talk to me.” A smug smile
pulled at his lips.
Melanie looked at her mom. “Then what happened?”
“He explained to me what it meant, to be a cynanthrope.”
“A what, now?”
“A cynanthrope. A weredog,” Darren clarified.
Elaine continued, “I knew he lived in a tight-knit community
with his family in Kentucky, where we’re from. What-”
“Wait. Wait. Wait. You’re from Kentucky?”
“Melanie, sweetie, I’m never going to get this out if you
don’t stop interrupting me.”
Melanie crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. Jeremy
draped his arm over the back of Melanie’s chair and rubbed her arm. She took a
deep breath, relaxed and nodded at her mom to continue.
“What I didn’t know was that they were all cynanthropes. Every
one of them.”
At those words, Jeremy stiffened, his arm becoming a steel
bar around her shoulders. She looked over at him, but he gave a slight negative
shake of his head. She looked back at her dad.
“So what happened after you explained?”
“I wanted to take your mom home with me. I wanted to marry
her. I wanted to be a father to you. I tried, so hard, to convince her it would
all be okay and that we’d be happy.” He glanced over at Elaine with a sad look
in his eyes. “But she said she couldn’t take the chance.”
“Why not?”
“My father went to see her.”
Elaine blanched. “You knew about that?”
“Yes,” Darren said with a frown, “but not until ten years
had passed. He told me on his deathbed.”
Elaine gasped and grabbed Darren’s hand. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t know.”
He squeezed her hand and smiled. “It’s okay. I found peace
with his death, but not with what he did to you. To us.”
“What did he do?” Melanie asked.
“He came to me a few days after Darren showed me the truth.
He said that he knew I was pregnant and that I was in love with his son. He
told me that Darren was in line to be the alpha.” Melanie shot a quick glance
at Darren, but he was staring at Elaine with sadness in his eyes. “The alpha
cannot marry a human. It’s their law. He said Darren would be cast out,
ostracized and banned from ever returning.”
Melanie sucked in a deep breath and looked at Darren again. His
lips were pressed in a tight line and his shoulders looked rigid, but he
remained silent as Elaine continued the story.
“He also told me that as the alpha himself, he possessed certain
abilities. He had the ability to tell if you’d be human or not. He placed his
hand on my belly and closed his eyes. After several minutes he opened them and
declared you human. I guess he was wrong.”
“Elaine,” Darren said softly, “he lied to you. The alpha doesn’t
have that kind of power. There is no way to tell if a child conceived between a
human and a cynanthrope will be human or not.”
Elaine gasped and reared her head back as if she’d been
slapped. “What? But, he said…”
“I know. He also told me that he said our child would be hated
and ridiculed. Also untrue.”
“But, why?”
“He wanted me to be the alpha. He knew that if I married
you, I would have left our home to make one with you in the regular world, to
raise our child as a human. I would have done anything to make you happy.”
“So why didn’t you come find us after he told you what he
did?” Melanie asked, still reeling from information overload.
“Because he died,” Darren answered, “and I became the alpha."
At Melanie’s blank look, he continued. “Melanie, you were nearly ten years old
when I learned of the lies he told. I hadn’t heard a word from your mother, but
I did check in on you both from time to time. I knew you were happy. I didn’t
want to disrupt your life. I knew that your mother would call me if you needed
me.”
“And if she never called you?”
“I decided to give her until your high school graduation. If
she hadn’t contacted me by then, I was coming for her, and you, regardless.
Eighteen years is long enough to wait.”
After that intense and extremely uncomfortable conversation,
Melanie needed to get away from her parents for a while. She and Jeremy went
back to Chris’s apartment, where he was staying while his parents were out of
town. As she paced the floor of Jeremy’s bedroom, he sat silently on the bed. She
finally stopped pacing, threw her hands up in the air and groaned.
“Jeremy, I can’t believe this. How is it even possible? How
is it possible that I met you, we fell in love, and we are both freaking
weredogs?”
“Sorry, what?”
Realizing that she had been focusing solely on herself, she
asked, “What’s going on with you? You seem really distracted and you’ve barely
spoken since the big reveal. Are you disappointed that I’m not human?”
“What? No!” He stood up and pulled her into a hug. “Melanie,
this is amazing. I’ve never met another person like me and my parents. I didn’t
think there were any. That’s the problem. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.
“Well, my parents told me that we were the only ones. I
accepted it, never questioning how they met. How
did
they meet? Were
they drawn together like you and me? What are the odds this would happen more
than once in a lifetime?” He shook his head and frowned. “I think they’ve been
lying to me.”
Melanie hugged him tighter and asked in a soft voice, “Why
don’t you ask them?”
“Oh, I’m planning to. As soon as they get back from their
trip and I move back home.”
He was silent for a few moments. Melanie basked in the feel
of his arms around her, the only comfort she had as her life seemed to spin out
of control around her.
“Anyway,” he said, breaking the silence, “I’m sorry I made
this about me. How are you holding up? Do you have any questions you want to
ask me about the change?”
Melanie sat down on the bed and pulled him down next to her.
He held her hand, drawing little circles on her palm. She took a deep breath
and released it.
“Will it hurt?” she asked quietly.
“Not really,” Jeremy replied. “It’s uncomfortable, for sure,
but it’s not true pain. All that strength and stamina you’ve been building up prepares
you for it. Your body is getting ready so that shifting will be as easy as
possible.”
“Does it happen against my will? Or can I control it?”
“At first it’s hard to control it. You’ll feel it coming
though, so you can at least prepare yourself and get somewhere private.”
“What does it feel like?”
Jeremy laid down on the bed and pulled her down with him,
tucking her head against his shoulder. He rubbed her back lightly as he spoke,
sending shivers down her spine. She smiled against his skin.
“It kind of feels like ants crawling under your skin, itchy
and stinging.” She shuddered and he squeezed her tightly. “It’s not that bad,
honestly. You’ll get used to it. After the itching starts, you’ll feel pulling
in your muscles, almost like a Charlie horse, but without the pain. That’s when
you need to make sure you’re alone. It happens fast.”
“But how do I make myself change back?”
“At first, you won’t be able to. You’ll be a dog until you
wear yourself out and sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be human again, so be
careful where you lay down to rest.”
Melanie looked at his face and saw him smiling. She smiled
back. He could always lighten the mood and make her smile.
“Because I’ll be naked when I wake up?”
“Bingo.”
“How long does it take to learn to control it and shift back
and forth like you do?”
“Not long. I mean, I’ve only been doing it for six months,
remember? It shouldn’t take you more than a few days to figure it out. You have
to learn to do it, to control the muscles, like when you learned to walk and
run.”
“Jeremy, I’m scared. My birthday is in nine days.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you a killer present. Maybe a purple
collar with blinged out dog tags?”
Melanie punched him in the side and the air left his chest
with a grunt. “Ow, that hurt.”
She sat up quickly. “Oh my God, Jeremy. I’m sorry. I forgot
how strong I…eek!”
He yanked her down on top of him and kissed her quickly. As
she relaxed and kissed him back, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her
in tight. Melanie spread her knees and straddled his hips, pressing even
closer.
Just a few weeks before, she would have been too self-conscious
and worried about her weight crushing him to relax in that position. Now
everything was different. She had lost some weight, but it was more than that.
She had the confidence to take what she wanted, not only from the change in her
body but from the unconditional love Jeremy had shown her.
He started to slow things down and between nibbles, he
whispered, “We need to stop.”
“Nope,” she said. She wound her fingers into his hair and
pulled his lips back to hers.
“Mel,” he said as he put his hands on her cheeks and pushed
her head back so he could look into her eyes, “seriously, we need to slow down.
I don’t want this to go too far.”
“You don’t want me?”
“Hey,” he whispered, dragging his thumbs under her eyes to
wipe away the moisture gathering there. “Don’t do that. You know I want you,
always. Just not like this. Not when you’re all wound up emotionally and
looking for an outlet. We’ve talked about this before.”
“I know.” She sniffed.
“I want our first time to be perfect, Mel. Not some quickie
to relieve stress.”
“I know,” she repeated. “You’re right. Sometimes I hate it
when you’re right.”
She rolled back to his side and laid her head on his chest,
listening to his rapid heartbeat. She smiled a little, knowing she was the
reason his heart raced like that. It still felt surreal. She never dreamed
Jeremy would ever look at her as anything other than a friend, much less fall
in love with her.
“I love you,” Jeremy whispered, seeming to read her mind.
Her smile grew bigger. “I love you, too.”
