Rebirth (Rogues Shifter Series) (5 page)

I yanked on the bottom of my tee shirt and twisted it to tie it into a knot. I tried to roll up my sweatpants, preferring to run in shorts, but
the legs kept falling down. In frustration I ripped a jagged 4 inches off the bottoms. The morning was getting warmer and I could feel sweat start to bead at my hairline. I leaned down to tighten the laces on my sneakers which had been left outside my bedroom door.

“There’s nowhere to go.
“ Ethan had followed me out and watched me adjust my clothes with an amused expression.

I stretched out my hamstrings
, calves and quads the way I always did before a run; “Says the guy who tried to escape the other night.”

“You don’t want to end up chained to a bed, believe me. It’s really boring.” He watched me stretch
for a few moments longer. “On second thought I could come and visit you. I’m sure we could think of something fun to do.” His impish smiled annoyed me enough to throw a small rock at him, which he dodged easily. Too bad his reflexes were so good.

“I'm going
for a run, so tell the big bad leopard to chill. I’m not trying to get away; it’s just what I do for tension, although if I really wanted to get off the island, I could.“ I narrowed my eyes in challenge, but Ethan wisely chose not to argue.

Rob yelled from inside
the cabin. “You two will be back here in an hour. Stay on the trails.” Not a question, just a statement.

“Whatever.
”

I took off at an even pace
, moving along a forest trail with Ethan loping next to me.

“You’re nuts if y
ou think you can keep up.“ I taunted.

“You’re crazy if you think I can
’t.” He grinned and winked. I kicked into first gear and sprinted off. Ethan did his best for a while, but was tiring quickly. His muscular body was designed for strength, not speed, and although I’m sure that he ran for exercise, he was totally outclassed. 

It had started to rain steadily and the path was softening. Ethan disappeared for a minute or two, only to reappear in his cougar form.
“Cheater,” I yelled, smiling. He actually stuck his tongue out at me, or was he licking his nose?

His brown and tan body was a streamlin
ed work of art. I admired the way his powerful muscles bunched and relaxed as he ran beside me, passing me gracefully. He seemed to be having a great old time making me stare at his tail, until I decided I was warmed up enough, kicked into super gear and left him behind me in the dust. He could watch my human tail for a while.

Chapter Six

An
hour later, I appeared on the cabin porch, soaked from rain and sweat yet much more relaxed. I’d come back because, well, I wasn’t an idiot. I needed their help if this was really going to happen, and more and more I was starting to believe that it might.

Ethan was sprawled out in cougar form growling at me softly. He rolled over onto his back practically demanding that I rub his belly. Nope, not happening.  Still his eyes were pleading with me for attention, so instead, I scratched under his chin and behind his ears and he purred loudly. Just keeping that male pride intact. I smiled at him in superior female satisfaction.

Suddenly he leaped up and started licking my face with his rough and gooey tongue. I raced into the cabin, laughing, and headed for the shower.
Bleah
!

Rob was waiting for me when I came out and suggested that I throw my dirty clothes in the washing machine by the back door. 
I was not excited to see that he had the blood test kit set up at the table. Sighing, I sat down, slumping in resignation. He took three vials of blood in a very professional manner, giving me a good whiff of his familiar wintergreen fragrance to relax me.

He smi
led, his dark eyes glittering with humor.“This is the real me, kid. I seem to have a gift," he joked. I noticed a small dimple on the left side of his mouth when he smiled, and his skin was smooth and perfect, not a wrinkle anywhere.

“Why do you call me kid? You’re not much older than me.” He didn’
t look a day over twenty-three.

“Sorry, I’ll stick with Jackie. But I’m older than you think.”

We both laughed suddenly as the sound of gentle snoring drifted in from the porch. Rob was turning into kind of a nice guy. Or maybe I was just starting to see him that way. “I guess you’ll be using that minty scent often with me. I get pissed off a lot.”

His
expression turned serious, making him look slightly older. “We didn’t know you existed at all until about three years ago when Garrett discovered you running on a deserted road alone. We’ve watched you since then and we know you haven’t had an easy life. We can all understand and relate to your anger. In fact, we’re counting on that controlled fury of yours to become useful in our future operations.”

I frowned at him. “Are you breeding an army?” I turned away angrily and thought about being secretly observed duri
ng the last few years. I spoke quietly, my voice tight with emotion. "Maybe you should've thought about showing up earlier and saving me from—some hard times.” I stood and walked to the window, hoping he hadn't seen my eyes tear up. “I sure could have used a white knight.”

His voice softly echoed his concern. “We work under certain restrictions dictated by our laws and for that reason, we couldn’t take you any earlier. We had to wait for certain physical markers which indicate that your change is close, like those headaches you’ve been having and the change i
n your scent. Those things happened within the last three weeks. We couldn’t make assumptions without that kind of strong evidence.”

He stood and gave my arm a squeeze. “You’re smart and you're strong. You channel your anger and make it work for you in a positive way.
We're going to help you through this.”

I thought about what he’d said as I watched him label the vials and pack up his blood kit, bundling up the medical waste in a special container. “Do all the new shifters get this kind of treatment?”

“No. Most of them grow up in shifter communities and know what they are at a young age. A few slip through the cracks like you and me. Changing for the first time outside of a community can be dangerous for the humans who witness the change and also the new shifter. Occasionally someone dies. The other supes try to remain hidden as well.”

“Supes?
Like in supernatural creatures? Jeez, this is so messed up.” I groaned and leaned my back against the wall. “Vampires?  Werewolves?  Really? I feel like a character in a graphic novel. I don’t want to run into any other
supes,
if it’s all the same to you.

” I stretched my arms over my head to relieve the stiffness in my back just as Ethan walked through the door having changed back into his adorable human form, sweatpants twisted and his hair a crazy mess.

He watched me stretch for a moment and then sighed. “Time for a shower.” This time I giggled when he passed me and winked.

Chapter Seven

Rob gave me orange juice to drink and told me to rest up for a little while. In an hour or so he was going to give me several physical ag
ility and endurance tests. I laid down in Ethan’s spot on the couch, and caught a whiff of eucalyptus, Ethan’s signature scent, kind of an outdoorsy spicy odor. I picked up the book that he’d been reading and read the synopses on the back cover. It was a mystery about a park ranger who works to solve a murder in one of the US national parks. Ethan was definitely a guy who liked his outdoor drama. I laughed to myself and started to read.

The next thing I knew, Ethan was sitting on the edge of the couch poking me gently in the stomach and saying, “Wake up, Speedy. You have to get tested.” I yawned and started to stretch, thought better of it, and stood up. He'd already run out the door to the front yard and
so I followed him. The rain had stopped, but the ground was still soggy.

Rob put me through my paces all right. He timed me running, although I didn’t run as fast as I could, no reason to give everything away, and measured the distance and height of my jumps. He had me doing sit ups, pull ups and running in place for what seemed like hours. Ethan lounged on the porch grinning and laughing. I wanted to drop kick the annoying asshole over the cabin roof.

Finally Rob pointed to the right indicating an enormous oak tree and told me to climb it. Now here’s something I may not have mentioned. I really don’t like heights. When I was around eight years old, one of the other foster kids pushed me off the top of a tall slide in the playground. I broke my wrist and never climbed up another slide. From then on, I've freaked when I was up high and too close to an edge.

“Uh, sorry, but
heights aren’t really my thing.“

‘You can do it; just push yourself past the fear.” He looked at me confidently.

I shook my head. “I said that I don’t like heights…ever. How about asking me to climb it when I’m a jaguar or whatever it is I’m going to be? Maybe it won’t be frightening when I’m an animal.” I shrugged and started to turn away.

“Your human fears will affect your abilities in animal form. You need to get over this one fast.” His voice had taken on a sterner quality and I felt beads of sweat form along my hairline. Just thinking about climbing that tree was making my throat dry
up.

“Oh
, c’mon, Jackie,” Ethan chimed in pushing me toward the tree, “This is easy!” He started climbing. He was like a freaking machine, pulling himself up smoothly branch by branch, until at last he sat smugly near the top, maybe 100 feet in the air, grinning down at me.

My eyes narrowed as I looked up at him. What an arrogant ass. He
'd heard me say that I don’t like heights and he pulls this move in front of Rob. I looked up. He was actually waving at me.

"C'mon up." I
f anything was going to get me up that tree, it was Ethan sitting there taunting me with his no-fear-of-heights attitude. My fear drained away as anger spilled in to take its place. I glowered and stretched my arms in evil anticipation of shoving him off of that top branch and hearing him scream as he fell.

Up I went, all the time keeping my eyes on Ethan,
passing branch by branch never looking down at the ground.  Before I knew it I was sitting on the branch right next to him.  But instead of making a snide comment, he patted my shoulder, smiling, and said “Wow, you can really climb fast! That was cool.”

That remark destroyed my murder-by-pushing plan as
I stared into his gleaming brown eyes in surprise, seeing only genuine admiration in his gaze. Rob called out from below, “Good work, both of you! Now you can come back to earth.” Stupid me glanced down and the world instantly flipped and spun in a nauseating tumble. I grabbed onto Ethan’s shirt for dear life and closed my eyes, shocked to hear myself whimpering a little. He put an arm around my shoulders to steady me, his other hand on a branch above us.

My voice sounded squeaky but I was too scared
to feel embarrassed. “Ohgodohgod! I can’t move. I'm gonna pass out.”I was shaking so hard I thought I'd break the branch in half.
Don’t think about the branch breaking. The branch is sturdy. The branch will not break. We are sitting on the strongest branch ever grown on a tree. This is the freakin' super branch of all branches.

My head was nestled against Ethan’s shoulder and I could smell
his uniquely spicy scent, For some reason, it calmed me a little. He held me securely, murmuring words of encouragement into my hair. He seemed very calm, not phased at all by my fear. Still, I could've used a dose of Rob’s wintergreen tranquilizer to stop the trembling.

Ethan continued to speak softly. “Try to relax. You’re going to get down one branch at a time exactly the same way you got up here. I’m going to help you." Placing
a finger under my chin, he forced me to look at him. "You’ll have to trust me.” He spoke to me calmly but with authority, not like the goofy, flirting Ethan that I’d seen so far.

"I can’t do this, I really can’t.” My eyes were glued shut as I dug my face back
into his chest and desperately clutched at his shirt . I think I heard a seam rip, but I was way beyond caring.

“H
ow do you expect to get down if you don’t climb down?”

Swea
t dampened my brow and palms and my trembling hadn't subsided. I continued to cling to his shirt as I answered him, my voice sounding muffled against the material. “I don’t freakin’ know, Ethan. Maybe you can knock me out and carry me down unconscious? I definitely can’t do this the normal way."

"Nah, you're
too hard-headed." I knew he'd meant it to cheer me up, but I wasn't really in the mood to laugh. He grunted, then took a firm hold of my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye again. Our faces were only inches apart. “You will do this. You will climb down and I'll be behind you the whole time. I won't let you fall. I'll keep you safe.” He let that sink in for a minute. “Tell me you trust me.” I shook my head  up and down quickly. I did trust him.

"Say it. O
ut loud."

"I trust you." The words were a shaky whisper, but he seemed to hear them.

“Good. Face the trunk. Put one hand here next to mine and the other there on that smaller branch. I’ll be here for every step. Don’t look down at all.”