Rebirth (Rogues Shifter Series) (14 page)

And
yeah, you could say this was a physical reaction to his spectacular looks, but you’d be wrong. He spoke to me with kindness and intelligence. He laughed at my jokes and teased me right back. He helped me to see myself as a powerful, useful member of a community that needed my skills. I started to like and respect myself. I began to feel whole.

Once in a while I’d imagine that he was looking at me with longing, but then it would be gone and he’d be his usual steady self. I’d had a couple of school girl crushes in my life, usually ending with my getting hu
rt, but this was so much more. The logical part of my brain told me that he would never feel the same way about me. Still, I was grateful for every moment that we spent together and when I crawled into bed at dawn, it was easy to close my eyes and dream about him.

Chapter Eighteen

On a quiet morning, about a week after I’d first learned to b
uild my diamond wall, I dreamt.

A huge wolf was stalking me.  My leg was bleeding and my scent was bringing him closer and closer. I was running as fast as I could, but when I looked down I saw with surprise that my feet were human and not cheetah. I was limping, stumbling through the brush, sensing him getting closer. I heard a loud growl and Kyle, in leopard form, was suddenly there, protecting me. I heard one wolf howl and then other howls ring out in answer throughout the woods. They surrounding us. Sinc’s graceful snow leopard leapt down from the tree above me and Ethan barreled in through the brush, all three of them circling me, facing the enemy. I was injured too badly to change. We were outnumbered and I was useless. Frustration welled up in me. I picked up a large rock and threw it at one of the wolves, then another.

I woke up to Ethan shaking me, shouting. “Jackie, you’re having a really bad dream and something crazy is going on here!”

I opened my eyes, grateful to see Ethan’s concerned face,
and not the snout of one of those wolves in my dream. Still feeling a little dizzy, I sat up slowly and looked around. My gaze wandered over to the window where  a cold breeze blew the curtains in toward the bed. I was startled to see that the window was smashed, glass scattered all over the bedroom floor.

“What happened?
" I asked nervously.

“I was
sleeping and I guess I woke up when I heard you moan and then mumble. I think it was ‘run away’—something like that. I saw the alarm clock go flying through that window and then one of my boots smashed through it. Is there a poltergeist in this house that Carly didn’t tell us about?” He was freaked out, but I didn’t know what to tell him.

I
could tell by the light that it was still pretty early, probably around 6 or 7 AM. We'd only slept for a few hours.

"I'll get up and clean up the mess."

After locating the vacuum, Ethan helped me pick up the larger pieces of glass and then vacuum the rest. He was watching me suspiciously the whole time and I couldn't blame him. He probably thinks that I have something to do with the flying objects, but what could I tell him? Garrett made it clear that I shouldn’t tell anyone.

When we finished
, I made coffee and we sat across from each other at the small table. I looked at his worried face and reached across to hold his hand. He was startled and started to pull away but I held on tightly. Trusting my instincts, I made the decision to be honest with him.

“
I have to tell you something."

"Does this have any
thing to do with Garrett and your private lessons?” he asked softly.

“I think it might. I'm going to trust you with
a secret.” I released  his hand and talked about the currents of ley line power flowing beneath us, something that he knew about but had no experience with. I told him about the extra connection I had to this magic and what Garrett had taught me about focusing myself and building my diamond wall. Describing the dream, I explained that the broken windows were probably the result of me using the lines to protect myself. Of course I didn’t mention any of Garrett’s secrets.

“I need you to swear that you won’t speak about this to Kyle or Sinc or Rob or anyone else. I need to learn to protect and defend myself. I may not survive otherwise. I’d also appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell Garrett that I told you any of this.
I’d rather tell him myself. Hopefully, I won’t be doing any extra assignments for disobeying an order, “I laughed halfheartedly.

“I won’t say anything. You know you can trust me.” He leaned over and gave me a hug, then walked to his cell phone lyi
ng on the kitchen counter. “We have to tell Carly about the window. She'll have to send someone over to fix it. I’ll just say we were throwing a ball around and the throws went a little wide.” He laughed and made the call. Within an hour a repair team was there and soon the window was as good as new.

When they left, Ethan and I talked again about my ‘episode’. “If I understand this, you tapped into the power while you were dreaming? How are we going to keep this from happening again? I’d rather not wake up flying through the air and smashing into the window.”

“I think I’ll have to ask Garrett when I see him alone.” I sighed, nervous about what he might say.

Carly and Samson arrived around 3:00 with their usual array of supplies.  She cooked us a wonderful steak supper and joined us this time. I made sure to feed Samson a few bites and to scratch him behind the ears. He wagged his stubby tail and curled up on the floor next to my feet.

Carly looked curious. “Samson doesn’t tolerate many people, but he’s very attached and protective toward you.” I scratched his head and rubbed his belly and he grunted in doggy satisfaction.

Twenty minutes later he was up, growling and barking at the door. At Ethan’s signals, Carly grabbed him and moved back out of the way, looking nervous. Ethan went to the left of the door
, prepared to defend us and I walked to the right, a frying pan raised and ready to swing.

“I don’t think the frying pan will
even make a dent in Robert’s hard head.” Garrett laughed from behind Carly. She jumped and immediately moved to the window, dragging Samson with her.

After the initial shock, Ethan and I cracked up and opened the door for Rob. I gave him a huge hug, which surprised him, and motioned him toward the table. “How are you? Are you hungry?  There’s more steak.” I deposited the pan back on the stove.

Rob dumped my old backpack on the floor near the couch. He'd brought my stuff from the cabin. “Sure, Jackie, thanks,” He gave Carly a hug and then moving to the table to sit. I dished him up some steak and potatoes and Ethan sat across from him jabbering away and catching up on all the news.

I glanced over at Carly who stared straight down at Sa
mson, avoiding Garrett’s eyes. Garrett was gracefully walking toward her, an amused expression on his face.

“Hello Carly,” he said in greeting. “How have you been?”

“Garrett”, she said curtly, obviously uncomfortable. She looked up, her anger giving her some courage. “Judging from the hour, I’d guess you’ve been feeding from shifters again.” She frowned and squatted down beside Samson, petting him nervously and not looking at Garrett.

“Only the ones who ask me to.
I’m quite popular, really. Don’t worry. I’m not hungry at the moment.” He smiled wickedly and squatted down beside her.  Samson stopped growling and started wagging his tail the minute Garrett began scratching him behind the ears.

“Good Boy, Samson.” Garrett grinn
ed at Carly, arching an eyebrow in a well-look-at-this kind of expression.

Furious, Carly yanked on Samson’s collar, pulling him away from Garrett, then grabbed her coat and said as she headed out the door, “Good night all, I’ll see you tomorrow around noon.” The door shut firmly behind her.

Garrett leaned elegantly against the large double window sill, staring after her and looking a little sad. I hesitated, afraid to intrude on his private moment, then gave in and walked over to ask quietly. “What’s up with you and Carly?”

“We grew up together. Our parents were close friends and
she was like a sister. When I was made vampire and discovered that I could feed from shifters without taking blood, I did, indiscriminately. I never hurt anyone, but it was wrong and I made some enemies. Carly’s never trusted me since. I like to tease her, but I wish we could get past it.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m a child of the revolution,” he chuckled.

“Umm,
which revolution?”

“You know, General
George Washington, John Adams. That revolution.” I was made a vampire in 1883.” His expression had grown serious again, making me think that there was a lot more that he wasn’t saying.

“But then Carly’s that old too? How is that possible? She’s not a vampire
, but she looks so young. And if you were made a vampire in 1883, then you’d been a shifter for over a hundred years. That can’t be right.”

“Carly's
a shifter, a leopard.” When I didn’t react, he stared at me strangely for a moment and then turned to Rob. “I believe Rob has left out a vital piece of information regarding life as a shifter.”

“You know that she had to leave suddenly, before I was finished training her. You could have told her.”

“Told me what?” I looked from Rob back to Garrett.

Garrett continued. “Shifters age normally for a few years after their first transition, but then they stop. As long as they continue to shift a few times a year, they don’t age. I know several shifters who are around four hundred years old, but look about twenty. And there are two thousand year old shifters in Europe.”

I sat down with a shaky thump on the window sill next to him, trying to deal with this newest bit of information.  Seeing my reaction, he put his arm around my shoulders in support and I leaned into him, not even thinking about what I was doing. I couldn’t seem to process what he’d just said. It was surreal. But then everything from the past two weeks had been out of some fantasy novel.

“Werewolves
also stop aging as long as they continue to transition every month, which is not even a choice for them, unless they're ill. My cousin Aaron’s a pack leader and he’s two years older than me. We grew up together.”

“He wasn’t a shifter?”

“No. His mother was a shifter but his father was human. It can go either way. He chose to be bitten when he was around twenty-five. I think his latent shifter genes made him stronger and helped him gain the Alpha position.”

“But Garrett, there are older people living here in the town. I saw them.”

“Some shifters decide to stop transitioning when their mates die, but our community is comprised of many human friends or mates of the shifters who live here in Crescent City. They all know about us and are sworn to secrecy. If it was all shifters, practically everyone would look like they’d just started college.” I was amused, imagining a town populated only by eighteen to twenty-two year olds.

“What about all the touri
sts or truck drivers, you know, the people passing through?”

“Would a human who ran into Rob on the street think he was anything other than human?
. The shifters here are good at hiding what they are. All supes are, and humans don’t usually sense the difference. We gently discourage non-supernaturals from settling here if they aren’t part of the community.”

"Gently discourage, huh? Using magic?"

He grinned in response. “How’s your wall holding up?” He'd whispered so only I could hear, then tightened his grip on my shoulder. His breath smelled sweet and clean and his closeness made my heart beat a faster.

I whispered back.
“I haven’t had any pain the whole day. I sense the current, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable.” His hand moved up and down my bare arm and I wondered if he even realized he was doing it. I relaxed just a tiny bit more against him, hyper-aware of every place our bodies touched as we sat together on the wide windowsill. Rob glanced at us curiously, so I got up and moved toward Ethan, who was still chatting about our training.

Garrett
interpreted my standing up as a sign of impatience. “Let's go, we have lots to do tonight. Rob will be working with the other three.” He stood and offered me his hand, looking excited about something. I took it shyly, even though touching him just made it harder. It was obvious he had no clue as to how his touch affected me, because if he did, he’d stop training me and run the other way.

I was afraid
. Was there any hope at all? I owed it to myself to find out.

Chapter Nineteen

As Garrett drove, I peeked at him nervously, thinking through how my feelings toward him had changed so dramatically in such a short time. They’d gone from awe to
respect to friendship to—what? Desire? Or was I in love? I’d never been in love before. Can you fall in love in only a couple of weeks? He’d been my silent guardian for a few years but I hadn’t known he existed until recently, at least not that I'd remembered.

Again I wondered
for the hundredth time if this was simply a physical attraction. I took another sneaky glance at his strong build and those delicious lips that I wanted to kiss so badly and his brilliant blue eyes that seemed to pull me directly into his heart. Any normal girl would want him.