At First Sight: A Timber Wolves Companion (6 page)

“She. Is. Not. Yours.” I ground the words out through clenched teeth. I could feel myself shaking all over and didn’t even give a damn if anyone could see it. He wasn’t touching her. Ever.

Alex was maybe two or three inches taller than me, and he used that height to hover over me as he paced a slow path, circling his prey like the wolf he was under the full moon. “You can’t keep me from my mate.”

I heard Jase say something about Scout not being a Seer, but I didn’t pay attention. As far as I was concerned, Jase was on another planet. Until we came to an understanding, my world was reduced to me and the asshole who thought he could lay claim to Scout.

“Scout belongs to me.”

What the hell was I saying?
Although, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were true. Scout was one of my best friends, but I wanted more. I needed more. We were supposed to be together. In some ways, I had always known it would be the two of us forever and always, but I hadn’t really voiced it to anyone, including myself.

Alex continued pacing around me, and Jase and Toby moved back, giving us the space we needed.

“Damn it,” someone muttered as I launched myself at Alex. He met me halfway, growls in his throat. I struck with a hammer fist, but he dodged it and followed with a punch of his own. His swing was more boxing ring than dojo, so I went low with my next attack, assuming he wouldn’t be able to avoid a leg sweep so easily. A smile spread across my face when he landed on the gravel with a grunt of pain. I was closing in when someone pushed me back just as another person grabbed me from behind.

“Stop it before this turns into a Challenge,” Toby hissed in my ear. Across from me, Liam was restraining Alex in a similar hold to the one Toby had me in. Jase stood in between us, his back to me. I didn’t have to see his face to know he was glaring at Alex, wanting his own go at the guy who thought he could claim rights to his sister.

I jerked against the arms holding me. “He can’t have her.”

“Calm the hell down. I’ve got this,” Toby said, his voice low in my ear.

“She’s mine.”

“She’s going to kick your ass for referring to her like she’s a piece of property,” Toby said before loosening his hold enough to stand up straight. “The entire Donovan family, including Scout, is under the protection of the Hagan Pack. We consider them honorary members since one of our own resides in their home.”

Liam muttered something else to his brother, and then let him go so quickly the smaller guy almost stumbled to the ground. “We accept the terms of your treaty.”

The look Alex threw my way promised a slow and painful death. I welcomed him to try with a smile.

“Liam…”

“We accept the terms of the treaty. You won’t approach the girl. Do you understand?”

Alex and I stood there for a long time staring one another down. It felt like something out of one of the old westerns my dad liked so much. I regretted not having a pistol hanging on my hip. Finally, Alex took a deep breath and licked his lips.

“Fine. I won’t approach her, but I won’t stop her from coming to me.”

I curled up one side of my mouth. “Not a problem. Scout wouldn’t come near you if you paid her to.”

Alex mirrored my half-smile. “Don’t be so sure of that. No one can avoid their destiny.”

***

We were out of the trailer park before I broke the silence. “‘
No one can avoid their destiny.
’ What is that crap? Do you think he read it on a fortune cookie?”

Jase, who had slid into the shotgun position once we broke up the fun party at the Cole’s, turned around to face me. “What the hell, man? What. The. Hell.”

“I’m just saying--”

“Scout
belongs
to you? She’s
yours
?” The muscles in Jase’s jaw looked like they may burst through the skin.

“I love her.”

The car was completely silent for about five seconds before Jase started rattling off a list of cuss words that would make HBO blush. “Are you listening to this shit?” Jase asked Toby. “Do you think he has a brain injury?”

“I don’t really understand how you’re surprised by this revelation,” Toby said, not taking his eyes off the road. “He’s loved Scout just as long as you’ve loved Talley.”

All the blood left Jase’s face. “I don’t love Talley. I mean, I do, but like a sister. What you’re suggesting--” He shook his head rapidly, as if he was trying to sling off water. “That’s just wrong.”

“Whatever,” Toby said, sounding completely bored with the conversation.

The sunlight streaming through the trees as Toby barreled down the curvy country road at eighty miles per hour made me a little queasy. Or maybe the nausea was coming from the realization that one of us could have died back there. Either way, I wanted nothing more than to lie back, close my eyes, and figure out what I was going to do to keep this jerk away from Scout. I didn’t want him anywhere near her. I meant every word I said back there. She was mine. Maybe I hadn’t realized it until a few minutes ago, but that didn’t make it any less true. No one in the world made me feel as comfortable and happy as she did. When the whole world went to hell, it was her voice I wanted to hear. Her smile, a rare thing she reserved for a very few, was what I wanted to see when I felt I might never have the desire to smile a smile of my own again. The thought of her sharing those smiles with someone else - with
him
- made me want to do acts of violence. If that wasn’t love, then what was?

“She’s my sister,” Jase said, not allowing me to relax.

“I have noticed that over the past seventeen years, but thanks for pointing it out to me all the same.”

“You can’t date my sister.”

“Who said anything about dating?” Dating was dinner and a movie followed by attempts to get to second base while parked in her parents’ driveway. That isn’t what I wanted from Scout. I wanted to be near her. Protect her. Wake up next to her.

I wasn’t going to mention that last part to Jase.

“She loves me, too,” I said instead.

“It’s a crush.”

“We’ll be happy together.”

“You sound like a girl.”

I wanted to lean up between the seats and punch Jase in his already broken nose, but that would end with me having to clean all the blood out of Toby’s car, so instead I tilted my head back and tried to rein in my temper.

“Would you rather see her with Wolf Boy back there? He seems like the nice, upstanding type. I’m sure he would wait until at least the second date before trying to get her out of her clothes.”

Okay, so maybe there would be blood spilled after all.

“No one is getting Scout out of her clothes.
No one.
” Jase shook all over as if his Change was imminent. “I swear to God, if you even think about touching her--”

“If she wants me to touch her, I’ll be damned if you--”

“Stop it.” My eardrums nearly burst from the volume of Toby’s words. “We’ve got two unknown Dominants encroaching on our Territory, one of them bearing the mark of the Alphas on his hip, and you two are seriously going to try and rip out each other’s throats over Charlie finally manning up and admitting he’s obsessed with Scout? What the hell is wrong with you two?”

“Hey, wait a minute. I’m not obsessed--”

“What’s wrong with me?” Jase asked, completely drowning me out. “What’s
wrong
with me? She’s my sister!”

We turned left onto the highway, the wrong direction if we were heading back to town or Jase’s house. There was only one place we could be going on this side of the county, and it wouldn’t exactly make my night any better. Mrs. Matthews always made me feel like a misbehaving eight year old.

“So what if she’s your sister? Is she supposed to stay a virgin her whole life? Be the world’s first Baptist nun?” If I had said it, Jase would have exploded again, but since it was Toby, he just seethed. “Anyway, I’m not giving you a choice on this. Charlie will pursue Scout, and you’ll help him.”

I might have thought it was funny the way we both asked, “What?” in the exact same tone at the exact same time if I wasn’t so appalled that he would turn my love life into an order from the Pack Leader.

“Talley had a vision,” was all he said in reply.

There was no sound other than tires speeding over blacktop for a few long seconds, and then Jase said, “Talley doesn’t have visions.”

“She had one.”

It didn’t make sense. Talley hadn’t shown any Seer abilities until a few months ago, and when they finally showed up, they were of the Touch-and-See variety. Visions of the future weren’t included in that package deal. I should have been dismissing the whole idea on principle, but instead my gut twisted. “What did she See?” I asked, but somehow I already knew. Maybe it was in the set of Toby’s jaw, or maybe it was the coyote’s natural intuition coming out, but I knew.

“If we allow the Coles to get near Scout, they’ll hurt her.”

I closed my eyes, and I could see her lying in a coffin, her silver hair spilling onto a simple black dress.

“You believe her,” Jase said, and it wasn’t a question.

“I believe it’s a possibility.”

My mind was still on that coffin, on Scout’s hands folded over her chest.

“And you let them stay?” Jase’s fury was barely contained. “You believe it’s possible he’s going to hurt her, and you let him stay?”

“Damn it, Jase, he had the mark. What was I supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to protect her! It’s your job to protect her!”

Jase was right. It was Toby’s job to protect her, but no more. Now I would be the one to make sure she stayed safe and out of that coffin.

“I’m trying to protect her.” The steering wheel gave a squeak of protest under Toby’s grip. “If we don’t let them near her, they can’t hurt her.”

“And what if you can’t keep him away?” Jase asked. “He didn’t exactly look like he was willing to just back off just because you said so.”

I finally opened my eyes and met Toby’s gaze in the review mirror. “Then I’ll kill him before he can lay a hand on her.”

Jase

Sitting in the corner of the Mathews’s living room is a pink chair with a bunch of buttons dimpled into it. The dimples give the chair a plush, soft look, but they’re a lie. In truth, it’s one of the most uncomfortable chairs in the entire world. It had been wedged in that corner my entire life, and as a child I spent at least half of my days trapped there for one crime or another. Now that I am well past the Time Out age, I refuse to get anywhere near it.

“Good grief, Jase,” Talley said from the couch. “Sit down. You’re making me nervous.” Mrs. Matthews cut Talley a look, no doubt a reprimand for her filthy “good grief” language.

I could have sat in the empty spot next to her, but then I would run the risk of her touching me and getting into my head, and I was not cool with that. Not to mention, I didn’t want to give Toby any support for his new ridiculous Jase-loves-Talley theory. It’s not that I don’t love Talley. I do. A lot, actually. But I love her in the way you’re supposed to love the girl whose mother was sent by the Alpha Pack to watch over you since your mother refused to move closer to the pack after your father died. The way Toby had meant it…

That was just wrong.

“I’m good,” I said, even though I felt like collapsing on the floor. Some days there has to be more than sixty minutes in every hour. Maybe a hundred. A hundred minutes per hour, and I had been going on full-steam through all of them. First days of school are obnoxious enough, but when you add a parking lot fist fight and some life-and-death Shifter stuff on top of it, it moves into something beyond exhausting.

Hell, the past three days had been a lesson in exhaustion. Ever since Liam Cole ruined a perfectly good day at The Strip my life turned into a giant cluster f…

My eyes darted over to Mrs. Matthews, and sure enough, hers were narrowed at me as if she could hear my thoughts. Everyone said she Saw colors and patterns, but I didn’t believe it. The way she knew I was misbehaving even before I had a chance to do the actual deed was completely unnatural.

“Jase, sit,” she said. And because it was her - and because I didn’t doubt she would give me my seventy-eighth spanking despite the fact I was now seventeen years old - I obeyed. I didn’t, however, sit in the Evil Pink Chair of Punishment. Instead, I straddled the arm of the couch. She didn’t approve, it was written in the tiny lines bracketing her mouth, but I did it anyway. I could be a good boy, but there was no need to be a saint. Charlie, who was sitting on the end of the couch where I was perched, ran his hand over his mouth, no doubt rubbing away a smile. When it came to Mrs. Matthews, he and I were in complete agreement: You do whatever you must to keep your skin attached to your body, but nothing more. And if you can do it and still annoy the piss out of her? Bonus points.

“What happened to your nose, Jase?” Mrs. Matthews didn’t ask because she was concerned about my well-being. No, she was more concerned about how exactly I screwed up this time.

I could have explained the situation. She should approve of the way I stood up for our pack by confronting Alex Cole. It’s what good Shifters do. But, of course, Mrs. Matthews never approves of anything I do, so instead I said, “I picked a fight with a football.”

Toby closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Turns out the Shifter Jase saw at The Strip last week wasn’t just passing through. When his brother showed up at Lake County High today, Jase had a typical Jase reaction.”

Mrs. Matthews shot Talley another reproachful look, which caused Talley’s face to burst into flames. Obviously, she hadn’t ran home and told Mommy Dearest about our new classmate. It was probably stupid of me to feel proud of her over such a small act of defiance, but I did anyway.

“Shifters? In our Territory?” Mrs. Matthews’s shock wasn’t misplaced. The Hagan Pack isn’t exactly some weak family of three or four Shifters, none of which have enough dominance to stand up to a Girl Scout. Most other Shifters steer clear of us, and for good reason. We’re pretty fierce about defending our Territory... usually.

In my head I saw Toby agreeing to allow the Coles to stay. My fingers dug into the arm of the chair, leaving moon-shaped holes in the tacky upholstery.

“I was able to get their address from the Board Office, and we paid them a little visit this afternoon,” Toby said.

Talley looked up from her careful examination of the carpet. “So, they’re leaving?”

“No.”

Mrs. Matthews lowered her head, one hand fisted on her chest. I watched her lips move in silent prayer before she lifted her eyes and asked, “When is the Challenge going to happen?”

“It’s not,” Toby said. “At least, I hope it’s not.” Toby rubbed his face again. “The older one, Liam, is a member of the Alpha Pack.”

“The Alpha Pack? Here? In Timber? But why?”

Talley, who normally stayed completely silent in all Shifter matters, ignored her mother’s list of questions. “What did he look like?”

“Liam?” I shrugged. “Tall and ugly.”

Toby was a little more specific. “Over six foot tall. Maybe 6’3”. Broad shoulders. Brown hair that leans more toward red than blond or black. Eyes are one of those muddled colors. Not really blue, but nowhere close to green or brown. You remember Alex’s coloring and bone structure, right?” Talley nodded her head in agreement. “In that way, they are pretty similar. They’re definitely brothers.”

“Doesn’t sound ugly to me.” Talley’s voice shook just a little, her evident fear in complete opposition to her words. “If he looks anything like Alex, then ugly is probably the absolute last word anyone would use to describe him.”

No, they would probably start with hulking, crass, cocky, rude--

“It matches what you Saw, doesn’t it?” Toby asked.

“I don’t See--”

“What she Saw?” Mrs. Matthews looked back and forth between the Pack Leader and her daughter, a Seer who only discovered her ability to See thoughts and emotions a month ago. “Who did you touch? What did you See?”

“I didn’t touch…” She drew a deep breath into her lungs. “I didn’t touch anyone. I mean, I did. You can’t go a day at high school without--”

“Talley had a vision over the summer,” Toby said, interrupting. “Right before her other Sight kicked in, she Saw the future.”

“Wait. I’m confused.” Not a totally new state of being for me, but normally I understood this Shifter and Seer stuff better than square roots or split infinitives. Still, ever since Toby dropped this little information bomb on Charlie and me in the car, I couldn’t figure out what was going on here. “Seers can only See one thing, right?”

Talley and Mrs. Matthews, the Seers in the room, said, “Yes.”

Toby, Pack Leader and general Know It All, said, “Maybe not.”

“I shouldn’t have even told you--”

“Yes, you should have.” Toby fixed Talley with his most fierce look. “Actually, you should have told me before today.”

“Talley, why are you bothering Toby with this nonsense. You’re a Soul Seer. It’s a perfectly good Sight to have. There is no need to go around begging for attention by making false claims about having visions of the future.”

Of all the stupid things for Mrs. Matthews to say. Like Talley went around begging for attention. It’s more like she seeks out shadowy corners to hide from it. I blamed her mother for that. Talley is pretty much one of the most awesome people alive, but her mother seems to work hard at making sure she never realizes it.

“What happened?” I asked, turning towards Toby to let Mrs. Matthews know I wasn’t asking her.

My Pack Leader leaned forward and settled his elbows on his knees, assuming his let-me-put-this-simply-for-you-morons pose. “Apparently, over the summer, Talley had a vision, or what she thought was a vision. Why she didn’t call me then--”

“I wanted to make sure it was something worth your attention before disturbing you,” Mrs. Matthews cut in. “Obviously, once her
real
Sight kicked in, there was no need.”

“What was it you thought you Saw?” Toby already told me it had something to do with the Coles hurting Scout, but I wanted to hear specifics.

Talley looked at her lap and started twisting some of her hair around her finger. “There was this guy... a big guy with grey eyes and this aura of power or something. I could tell he was a Shifter even though he was in human form. He was walking towards me, no shirt or shoes on. Just jeans. And in his arms he was carrying…” Talley’s finger snagged in her hair. “He was carrying a girl. She was all ripped up. There were claw marks across her stomach, and blood was everywhere. I… I think she was dead.”

A large block of ice moved into my chest. “Scout?”

Talley wouldn’t look at me.

“You’re sure it was her?”

Talley gazed at her knee as if it might hold a different answer as she shook her head.

“Oh, for the love of all things holy, this is ridiculous,” Mrs. Matthews said. “Toby said this man is a member of the Alpha Pack. They’re the most honorable and sacred Shifters in the world. He’s not going to hurt Scout.”

The ice in my chest expanded until it filled my entire body. My toes and fingers went numb. Chill bumps broke out across my skin. My teeth even threatened to chatter against one another.

“So, it was her?” How I managed to force the words out was a miracle. “You Saw him kill Scout?”

I tried to see it myself. Scout’s body lying limp across Liam’s arms. Her blood smeared across his bare chest. Her own chest unmoving as her lips turned the same shade of almost-blue as her eyes. That image managed to melt the ice and turn it to steam. Anger was a raging inferno inside me.

“It will be your fault.” I bounded off the couch, and Toby immediately followed me up. In the blink of an eye, I was in his face. “You knew about this, and you just walked away. You made a treaty with the guy who is going to kill my sister.”

Scout and I weren’t related by blood, but she was just as much my family as anyone else in the room, maybe even more so. That twin thing may be a joke to everyone else, but to us it’s real. We might as well have shared a womb since we’ve shared everything else in this world.

“He’s a member of the Alpha Pack,” Toby said, as if that excused his behavior.

“So what? You’re too scared to Challenge him? Fine. I’ll do it.”

Toby leaned in until I could feel his breath all over my face. “I’m not afraid.”

“Funny. Looks like it from where I stand.”

We lunged for each other at the same time. There was a moment when we just stood there, two unstoppable forces becoming an immovable object, but then Toby shifted and we plowed backwards. Charlie, Mrs. Matthews, and Talley were all sitting on the couch, but we still pushed it back a few feet before my back smacked against Charlie’s face.

“I am sick and tired of you questioning every single damn thing I do,” Toby said as I landed in Charlie’s lap.

“Yeah, well, I’m sick and tired of you sucking at your job.” I pushed off the couch with a little extra nudge from Charlie and plowed right into Toby’s stomach. I managed to push him back about three steps, but got nowhere close to slamming him into the sharp edge of the fireplace like I intended. Instead, a punch to my gut stopped me in my tracks right before my legs got kicked out from under me.

“He’s Alpha Pack,” Toby growled.

“And she’s my sister.” How many freaking times was I going to have to say it before people started to understand? I wasn’t just going to sit around and let someone hurt her. I didn’t care if they were Alpha Pack or my cousin, Scout was off limits. I would do anything -
anything
- to keep her safe.

I leaned back, moving all my weight to my hip, and then swung out my left leg. Toby caught it with a single hand. I braced myself to be flipped, but instead felt a shock of cold water splash against my face. And then it happened again. And again.

“What the hell?”

Another blast of water shot towards me, this time finding its way into my eye.

“You will watch your language in this house, Jase Stewart,” Mrs. Matthews said, spray bottle in hand.

Toby wiped a stream of water from his forehead. “We’re not cats.”

“Well, you’re certainly hissing around on the floor like a pair of kittens.” She resettled the bottle on the side table where it had resided most of my life. Although, once I thought about it, I had no idea why. It’s not like she owns any pets. “Now, get up the both of you. This may be the way some packs settle things, but not us. You will talk this out like civilized human beings, or you will leave my house. Do you understand?”

With a muttered “yes, ma’am”, Toby and I peeled ourselves off the floor. I probably should have said something to Toby in the way of an apology, but there was no way I was doing it. I still thought he was wrong, and no one was talking me out of that belief. I didn’t care if they were Alpha Pack or Alphas themselves, I didn’t like the Coles. They didn’t belong here, and I would rip their faces from their heads before I let either of them touch Scout in any way.

“In the event it matters to anyone,” Charlie said, stretching back and taking his life in his own hands by throwing his feet up on Mrs. Matthews’s coffee table, “I’m on Jase’s side here.”

“You’re always on Jase’s side.” To the ultra-observant eye, which I was in possession of, Toby limped slightly as he moved back to his chair. I made sure there was no stiffness to my own movements as I climbed back onto the armrest. It wasn’t hard. I just had to bite my lip until I could taste blood to divert my attention from the bruise forming on my spleen.

Charlie and I didn’t need words or hand signals to communicate. With one glance he asked if we were cool after our argument from earlier, and I told him we were. I still wasn’t thrilled that he thought he was in love with my sister, but it was Charlie. He thinks stupid things all the time. He always eventually realizes he’s a moron, so I wasn’t really worried about it.

“Just happens this time his side is the right one,” he said, sounding reasonable for the first time in hours. “There is something about those guys that isn’t right. You should have made them leave.”

Toby slid down in the seat. The light shone off of something, and after a few moments deliberation, I decided it was a grey hair. “I swear, you both were dropped on your heads as babies.” For at least the tenth time in thirty minutes he rubbed a hand over his face. “Do either of you have any concept of what the Alpha Pack is?”