The Legacy of Kilkenny (16 page)

“Why did you kiss me?” he asked.

 
His face was crimson; I had thrown him off… good. “I needed to distract you, or you were going to shift and I needed to make sure it didn’t happen.
 
Your emotions were everywhere and I had get you to focus on something else, it was all I could come up with off the cuff.”

“You kissed me to distract me?”

“Yeah,” I felt myself blush.

“You’re evil, you know that?
 
Evil with a capital E.
 
Damn.”

“I’ll take that as enjoyment?” I teased.

I stopped talking to him and put my finger to my lips shushing him for a moment.
 
I could hear bickering between Patrick and my dad.
 
This wasn’t good.
 
Patrick was accusing me of forging a romantic relationship with Abel, my dad was defending me, telling Patrick it wasn’t anyone’s business if Abel and I did have a relationship.
 
It was only natural for two young adults to feel attraction to one another when working so close.

Oh no, what have I done; is all I could think.
 
If my dad thought I was in a relationship with Abel that meant Oakley probably felt the same way.
 
How was I going to fix it?
 
I couldn’t have them believing that about me but at the same time I couldn’t let Abel shift, he wasn’t ready.
 
I wasn’t ready.
 

There were scuffles between the two Packs, nothing to worry about.
 
Some of the guys shifted to wolf form and fought with the O’Connell’s that had shifted, the rest did hand to hand combat.
 
My dad stood on the porch with his arms crossed watching the two Packs, ready to pull everyone back if needed.
 
Blood was shed but nothing we couldn’t handle.
 
After I had Abel in the Pack room shooting some pool, I went out and joined in the fun.
 
I’m stronger as a wolf so I shifted and took on the smart ass that attacked Abe.

The fight lasted about an hour, until everyone was exhausted and filthy.
 
Mom made us go out to the pool house and shower before coming in.
 
I stepped through my dog door to shift in privacy, without a bunch of gawking men checking me out.
 
It was easier for me to shift to a wolf than to shift from a wolf to human.
 
It took me between two to five minutes to complete it, and it wasn’t pretty.
 
The minute I was back to human form, Oakley came up behind me and said ‘boo’.
 
I jumped about 10 feet in the air.

I whacked him on the arm and grabbed a towel to wrap around me.
 
“Hey, can’t a girl get some privacy?”

“I’ve seen you a thousand times over Pru, you don’t have to cover up, your body is beautiful.”
 
He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms giving me his sexy grin.
 

“You’re not standing there naked, so why should I?”
 
My heart skipped a beat as he uncrossed his arms and walked over to me, putting his arms over my shoulders and pulling me into a hug. O M G!

He stood there looking down at me, his eyes, those damn eyes looking directly at me, eye to eye.
 
Our instincts consider it a challenge, but I knew Oakley wasn’t challenging me.
 
Every single nerve in my body tingled.
 
Breath, is what I had to keep telling myself.

“I wanted to know more about the kiss you planted on Abe.
 
Was it real?
 
It looked pretty real to me.”

What
?
 
Really?
 
He was wondering if my kiss was real.
 
Oh no, what have I done?

“No, it wasn’t real.
 
I was trying to distract him and get him out of that state of mind.
 
If I hadn’t distracted him, who knows what would have happened, but I think he would have shifted for the first time and he isn’t ready for it.
 
Why?”

“Because I think it would be problematic if you got into a relationship with him.
 
You know when he shifts and we can confirm he is The Great Wolf, his life will be both guarded and hunted.
 
He will never be completely safe again, and that means his mate will be in danger also.
 
If you aren’t interested in him romantically you might want to let him know, because he is already very attached to you.
 
I don’t want you in more danger then you already are.
 
You’re my friend and I find it incredibly difficult to watch you get hurt.
 
He isn’t the right wolf for you to mate with.”

“Hold up.
 
What?
 
You think I want to mate?
 
Oh my
gawd
, you’re
freakin
’ kidding me.
 
This is a put on right?”
 
I pulled back from him.
 
All tingly sensations were gone, replaced with annoyance.
 

“Pru, don’t be that way.
 
I’m just worried about you.”
 
He reached for me but I jerked my shoulder away.

“I am not in a relationship with him, but if I were, it wouldn’t be any of your business.
 
I’m getting a little tired of everyone acting as if I’m some fragile human girl.
 
I’m not!
 
And I resent you of all people implying I can’t handle a relationship.
 
You really don’t know me as well as I thought you did.
 
I’m done with this conversation, so if you don’t have anything else to say, I’m getting in the shower.”
 
I dropped my towel and walked away from him.
 
It took everything I had not to stick my butt out at him and saunter away.

ABEL

I keep thinking about the kiss, it won’t leave my head no matter what I do.
 
It is bad enough I have trouble sleeping, but that kiss didn’t help matters.
 
I haven’t kissed a girl since the eighth grade prom so I’m not an expert on kissing but it felt right.
 
It is the worst feeling
ever
to have a girl say she only kissed you to distract you.
 
Fail.
 

Oh man, the dogs are barking.
 
Just what I need, Parker to be outside of my window, or one of those Irish wolves waiting patiently for me to go outside so they could gobble up my guts and throw me out in a field never to be found again.
 
Allie came in my room complaining about my window being open and how the stupid dogs won’t shut up.
 

“Abe, come here, you should see this.
 
There are two giant dogs in the front yard.
 
Com’er
”

I have a role to play, hopefully there will be an Oscar for my acting abilities. Ha!
 
“I don’t think those are dogs Allie, they look more like wolves.”
 
It’s true, so now to convince her wolves are common in Piedsville.

“Those are big damn wolves, dogs or whatever they are.
 
I wonder why they’re in our lawn.
 
You haven’t been leaving food out for the neighbor’s dog have you?”

“Yeah, I just can’t stand for her to be left outside alone all of the time.
 
They go out of town almost weekly.
 
Bad habit on my part.”
 
Great excuse for the wolves.
 
Now to make them go away.
 
I have no idea who they were but I am getting tired of them making the dogs bark. I popped my screen off my window and stuck my head out.
 
“Scat!
 
Get out of here.
 
You’re making all of the dogs bark and my sister and I can’t sleep!
 
Go away!”
 
I’m sure Allie thinks I’m slightly mental.

“I don’t know how you did it, but look, they’re gone.
 
That was really bizarre Abe, talking to them like their human.
 
You’re
kinda
off.
 
Just
sayin
’.
 
Let’s go make some ice cream, I need something sweet.”

The next few days are chaos at its best.
 
I had every O’Connell Pack member on my case about going back with them.
 
I took test after test, from martial arts to memory tests.
 
My abilities are more in tune and I can actually feel my blood under my skin, I can feel it coming alive.
 
I wasn’t going to go back with them. Even if they offered me money, it was a no go from me.
 
They are persistent to say the least.
 
I can sense them all, I know their real feelings.
 
Half of them want me dead, especially Patrick, and the rest?
 
They want to befriend me.
 
I just want to be left alone.
 
I am a little tired of everyone.
 
I just want some sleep and time with my family.

PRU

The O’Connell’s were relentless in their quest of taking Abel home.
 
It was getting harder and harder on our Pack to be gracious.
 
We were the hosting Pack so under Pack Law they were in our territory and Patrick really hated being the second Alpha.

Although the O’Connell Pack was the oldest and most feared Pack in the world they weren’t always right.
 
Patrick was ruthless; many would compare him to the Dom of the mafia: well organized and not tolerant on betrayal.
 
They were what humans would call hit men, the Omega’s of the Pack...
 
they would snap your neck in an instant.
 
They guarded Patrick and his inner group like the Pope is protected in Rome.
  
By Pack law, they couldn’t legally take Abel back to Ireland with them, and they knew it.
 
We couldn’t prove Abe was The Great Wolf, and until he shifted we wouldn’t know for certain.
 
We knew he was a supernatural but we didn’t have any proof of his powers.
 
They couldn’t just take him, they could kidnap him but lawfully they couldn’t take him back with them.
 
It was my job to keep him from shifting while they were in town, so distraction was the game plan.

It was harder to do than expected.
 
The O’Connell’s had test after test they gave Abe. They knew the more frustration they put on him the greater the risk of him shifting.
 

 
Abe and I sat in front of the TV watching videos of Jeff Dunham, my favorite being
Achmed
the terrifying terrorist.
 
We had an inside joke calling Patrick “
Achmed
” and using the infamous line “
silence, I kill you
”.
 
When I think of the Irish Pack it brings shivers down my spine.
 
We’d finally won the argument, Abel would stay in Oklahoma and they would go home.

One of our guys had heard from a friend that they left someone behind, to keep an eye on us.

A few years ago we recruited Lincoln
Allingham
, a two time winner of The Abbey Information Technology award and he so happens to be a
shifter.
 
With his help our command center became highly sophisticated.
 
We can rival the news stations’ weather equipment and the CIA with the GPS systems we have in place. A large operation like ours has the technology to use GPS on every member, just in case one goes rogue or is missing.
 
A small chip is inserted in the middle of the spine while we’re in wolf form. It sounds more painful than it really is.
 
Everyone used GPS these days so Lincoln was able to unlock the code for every member of their Pack. When one of the codes stayed in Oklahoma while the rest of them left, we knew they left a spy.
 
The spy may have stayed in Oklahoma, but he/she set up shop in Norman and stayed away from our territory throughout his stay.
 
Lincoln ran inventory on all GPS devices daily and the leftover stayed put.
 
Like the saying goes ‘it is better to be informed.’
 
Leftover
didn’t have a chance to sneak up on us. That was reassuring.