Undone: A New Adult College Bad Boy Romance (Mature Young Adult Fun Contemporary Romance) (42 page)

~

Stacey wasn’t sure what compelled her, but she searched for the strange man for the next four days. Instead of taking pictures, hiking trails and sleeping in until noon, Stacey was looking for Nathan. The woman shook her head as she peered through a pair of binoculars.

“I must be crazy,” she mumbled to herself, hidden in the shade of the trees, “what normal person does this?”

Something moved just out of sight. Turning quickly, she saw it. Stacey’s heart began to beat quickly. Not far from her there was a big, brown bear. It moved slowly, it’s head swinging back and forth as if it were searching for something. It lifted its nose to the air as another bear moved beside it.

What happened next amazed Stacey. The two bears seemed to be talking to each other. She leaned closer, fascinated. Both of the bears looked around once more before they changed.

Stacey watched as the fur on their bodies disappeared. They grew smaller. Eyes wide, Stacey didn’t so much as blink. Right in front of was Nathan. There was a woman beside him, long brown hair cascading down her sides. Both of them were naked, chatting as if nothing had happened.

As Stacey leaned forward, a branch beneath her hand broke. The loud, splintering sound that echoed throughout the quiet forest caught the attention of Nathan and the woman. Both of them turned towards her immediately, staring at the trees intensely.

She ran. Stacey wasn’t sure where she was going, but her instinct screamed for her to keep moving. What had she just seen? Had her mind been playing tricks on her? The image of them turning back into humans was too real, even if it was impossible.

Out of breath, she stopped. Leaning her back up against a tree, she rested her hands on her knees trying to draw sharp breaths into her lungs. Finally, she sighed.

“Shit!” She screamed as she turned right into Nathan’s chest.

“What are you doing out here?” The man asked, his brow raised.

Nathan was no longer naked. He’d slipped into a pair of jeans, the woman who walked up beside him wore a long, gray maxi dress. Stacey stumbled over her words as she glanced first from Nathan to the woman and back.

“I-I was taking a walk,” she tried to say casually.

“Kind of deep into the forest to be taking a walk,” the woman said, her eyes narrowed.

Nathan gave a small chuckle. “I’m sure she was just exploring the woods,” he said with a shrug, but there was an uneasy look on his face.

“Did you see us?” The woman asked bluntly.

Stacey swallowed thickly. She wasn’t sure what she’d seen, but she knew it was best to lie. Quickly, she shook her head.

“See you what?” Stacey tried to act as calm as possible.

“Don’t mind her, she’s just paranoid,” Nathan said, that crooked grin coming to his lips easily.

“I’m telling you, she saw us,” the woman said unfazed.

“Let it go, Kristy.”

“You know the rules,” Kristy said, scowling at Nathan. “Clearly you know her and she’s lying. What are you going to do?”

“We don’t know that she’s lying.”

Kristy walked up to the Stacey. She grabbed Stacy's hand before pulling it to her nose. Stacey hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a long scratch on her hand from the breaking tree branch. Small droplets of blood dotted the scratch.

“She was there. I told you,” Kristy said dropping her hand.

Nathan frowned. “I think we need to talk, Stacey.”

Stacey wanted to run. Everything in her was screaming for her to run, but her feet seemed to be glued to the spot. If they were acting this way, what she’d seen was true. They were some kind of shape shifters, it was real. Stacey had seen dozens of movies based on it, had read more books than she could remember, but it was all fiction. Seeing them here, in the real world, it was a little too much for her to handle.

The thought of her cozy little cabin popped into her head. Stacey wanted nothing more than to go back there, wiggle beneath the blankets and go back to sleep. She wished that she’d stuck to her agenda, watching birds and wandering the woods instead of following a strange man through the forest. She thought about running, but that was impossible. In the time it had taken her to run away from them, both Nathan and Kristy had gotten dressed and caught up with her. The thought of the little cabin wasn't even comforting. No way would her tiny, vacation cabin compare with two, large bears.

Nathan took her elbow gently as he began to steer her through the trees. She wondered where they were going, what would happen to her now that she knew their secret. A shiver passed through her body. What if they were simply going to kill her? It was a simple end to what could end up being a messy situation for them.

“Don’t be scared,” Nathan whispered, interrupting her thoughts, “we’re not going to hurt you. We just need to talk.”

Stacey nodded numbly. They trudged through the woods for a while, the sun beating down on Stacey making her hot. Both Nathan and Kristy seemed perfectly at ease however, moving through the trees without so much as breaking a sweat. Finally, they left the ever thickening forest and stood before tall, black gates.

As many times as Stacey had poured over the maps or wandered through the trees, she’d never come across this house. It was tall, white, imposing behind the automated gates that protected it. Kristy was leaning over, her eye to a small box before the gates rolled back allowing them to walk inside.

Up the long, dirt driveway there were several cars. Stacey wondered if they belonged to Nathan and Kristy or if there were more of their kind who lived there as well. She stepped through the door behind them. The inside of the house was even more immaculate.

The hardwood floors were shiny as if they’d just been cleaned that morning. Walking down the long entrance hallway, they stepped into a living room. It had the feel of a grand house in the country. There was white furniture everywhere with earthy tones decorating every inch of the room from the pillows to the curtains and rugs. Kristy disappeared. As Stacey glanced around, another woman walked into the room.

Stacey wasn’t sure what gave it away, but she knew instantly that the woman was related to Nathan. They had the same wide, deep eyes. Both of them seemed to hold themselves the same way too, with a powerful grace that made them almost look regal. She wore a black dress, her chestnut hair pulled into a bun where Stacey could see streaks of gray.  The woman smiled softly at Stacey as she approached her.

“You must be Stacey,” she said as she extended her hand, which Stacey shook politely. “I’m Emily. You look like you could use a bite to eat.”

Stacey shook her head, but her stomach growled in protest. She blushed as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. Emily simply smiled before she beckoned them onto the back porch. There was a table already set, an extra place set for Stacey.

“You can wash your hands inside, then come join us.”

“Mom,” Kristy hissed, “what if she takes off?”

Emily rolled her eyes. “She’s not a prisoner. I’m sure she’ll find her way back.”

Stacey walked back into the house. Everything in her body was screaming, run. Still, she was almost fascinated with the things that were going on around her. She’d wanted a good vacation, a break from the world that she knew. She definitely had that now.

Stacey dried her hands before she took a deep breath. Nathan, Emily and Kristy were already sitting at the table. As she glanced through the doors, Nathan’s eyes caught hers. He gave her a grin before she walked out onto the patio to sit with them.

Food was brought out to them by a quiet man. He barely seemed to pay Stacey any attention before he disappeared back into the kitchen. Stacey turned her attention to the food in front of her. Steak, mashed potatoes smothered in gravy and biscuits. Stacy's stomach growled loudly again. Still, she waited until everyone was eating before she began, the thought that they might try to poison her not leaving her mind.

Stacey ate quickly, despite her thoughts of poison. Around her, Emily and what she guessed were her children, made pleasant conversation. Every once in awhile, Kristy would throw an eye narrowed glance every once in awhile, but other than  that it was a quiet lunch. When they were finished eating, Emily dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a napkin before she turned to Stacey.

“So, I take it you saw my children,” Emily said casually making Stacey’s heart flutter nervously. “You know what we are then?”

Stacey shrugged. “I have no idea.”

Emily shook her head, but her smile stayed in place. “You do know. What are we?”

Stacey bit her lip nervously. “Shape shifters?” She finally blurted out.

Emily snapped her fingers. “That’s right. We’re shape shifters. Well, in our family bear shifters really.”

“How is that possible?” Stacey asked before she could stop herself.

Emily gave a small shrug. “I can’t say that we’re all too clear on it ourselves. It’s run in my family for as far back as I can remember. Then, I passed it on to Nathan and Kristy. We’ve mostly learned to live with it, but we can’t let people know about our...condition.”

“Why not?”

“People,” Nathan started, “like to hunt what they don’t know. They like to take it apart, study it. I don’t want to spend my time running from hunters or scientists. All of us feel that way.”

“All of you?” Stacey asked, her eyebrow raised.

Emily nodded. “There are other families, other kind of shifters. We keep in contact with a few here and there, mostly to make sure that we’re all being safe.  That we’re not drawing the wrong kind of attention.”

“What happens if someone does draw the wrong kind of attention?” Stacey asked, her stomach turning nervously.

“We have our ways of dealing with that,” Emily said as she leaned forward, lacing her fingers together. The woman rested her chin on her fingers. “There are two options,” she said, the smile from her face gone. “One, we can keep you locked up. You’d essentially be a prisoner.”

“What’s the other option?” Stacey said, her heart pounding against her chest.

“Since it was my son’s foolish actions that started this-”

“How was it foolish?” Nathan asked, irritation in his voice.

“I told you about fighting,” Emily said, narrowing her eyes at him. In that moment, Stacey could see the resemblance to Kristy. “You know there are consequences,” she said simply before she turned back to Stacey. “The other option is that you marry my son and have a child.”

“What?” Both Stacey and Nathan’s voice asked in unison.

“Why would that even be an option? How does getting married and having a child keep me from telling your secret?” Stacey asked.

Emily smiled. “Well, if you have a child with Nathan that baby will be a shifter, like us. Naturally, you’ll want to protect your child, so you’ll keep our secret.”

“I’ll keep your secret now!” Stacey protested.

Emily shook her head. “That’s not good enough and there’s no way to know if that’s true. You’re not from here, are you?”

Stacey shook her head.

“Exactly. You could very easily change your mind when you return home, try to make some money by telling our story. Then we have people crashing into our home and changing the way that we live. We can’t have that. Even if you said that you would keep our secret, we would still have to leave. I don’t want to have to abandon my home.”

“What if I don’t like either option?” Stacey mumbled.

“There are only two options,” Emily said coolly. “If you don’t want to choose, then one will be picked for you. We’re reasonable people, Stacey. However, I will do anything to protect my family. Take a little time to decide.” She stood up before she smoothed her dress. “Come on Kristy, let’s leave them alone to talk.”