29. Shay

TWENTY-NINE

Shay

A fter a night of tossing and turning in an unfamiliar bed with scratchy blankets, I woke up with a deep-seated sense of unease wrapped around my chest like a vise grip. To ward it off, I curled around Dirge like he was my own personal body pillow.

Which, to be fair, he kind of was now.

But other body pillows didn't lick you in the face before your eyes were fully open.

"Eww! Dirge, that's gross."

"Ha! Get her again, Fluffmeister!" Leigh crowed happily from her position on the bottom bunk across from mine.

"You suck too," I groused as I shoved Dirge's nose away from me and pointed at her accusingly. "Can't a girl have five minutes to think before she jumps out of bed? That's not too much to ask, is it?"

"It is today, because I want out of this place. I'm ready to get to this island, meet some hot poly bears," she punctuated that statement with a salacious hip wiggle, "and then get back to the pack grounds. Frankly, I want Bri-Belle better and to move on with our lives. "

I wasn't even going to ask what qualified as a hot poly bear . Nope, not happening, skipping over that like it never happened.

Hell, maybe I would get lucky and this would turn out to be just a sleep-fueled hallucination.

Although, wait.

"You want to stay in Alaska? Not Texas?" I sat up slowly, pondering the question and ignoring the strange feeling of foreboding in my chest. Did I want to go back to Texas? I hadn't even considered it in the whirlwind that was the gathering, Bri's bonding ceremony, and then getting shot.

Hell, when had my life gotten so crazy? I hadn't even composed a new piece since… well, since Texas.

"Heck no. I mean, Gael sometimes makes me pine for the days of PT at the little gym with no psychotic jealous wolf exes, but no. I couldn't leave Bri to turn into a wolf-cicle without us in the frozen tundra alone."

"True, and Kane can't leave his pack." Bri had married the Alpha of a different pack, which by default meant she was now a member of Pack Blackwater. But Leigh and I still belonged to the Johnson City pack, and it would be paperwork and a headache to officially move to Alaska. "I guess we're not going back to Texas, then."

The thought was strange, but deep down, I agreed with Leigh. Bri was family. While, yes, we were part of the Johnson City pack, they weren't my family. Three single females, we hadn't really fit in with the rest. All of us had no biological family left, so we'd become that for each other, and as such, we stuck out like sore thumbs.

Bri popped out of the bathroom, looking half-asleep. I needed a few minutes to think when I first woke up, but she took not a morning person to a whole different level. "What are you two talking about?" She rubbed her eyes, then wandered back toward the bed. Leigh grabbed her by the shoulders and gently turned her toward our luggage, piled in the corner.

"Get dressed."

"Right, right," she murmured, but still shot us an answer the question wave over her shoulder.

"Well, when this is all settled, we're still going to need to go back to Texas and pack. Also, I'm pretty sure there are transfer forms."

Brielle shimmied into a pair of jeans with a confused expression. "Transfer forms for what now?"

"Switching to Pack Blackwater."

She blinked slowly as she buttoned the pants, while I headed to the bathroom to get myself ready. Dirge rolled around on the empty bed, tongue lolling with glee at having the space to himself.

"Rub it in, why don't you?" I muttered.

I heard Bri gasp from the other room as I went through my quick morning routine. As soon as I opened the door to come out, she was there to squeeze me in the world's tightest hug.

"You're joining my pack. Oh my Goddess, I love you guys so much, you know that?"

She continued gushing and swiping at would-be tears while we finished dressing, but that was our Bri. She never expected kindness, even though she knew we were together for life. She wasn't getting rid of us, just because she married the most powerful male in the shifter world. Far from it.

Breakfast was a quick affair of granola bars and water bottles in the van back to the airstrip, but it sat like a rock in my gut. Brielle got a single bar of service, and sent off a text to her Aunt Kari's number, since we didn't know how long we'd be on Ushagat Island. Hopefully, by the time we got back, she'd have responded.

Leigh had politely abstained from the paltry food options, citing airsickness and taking a motion sickness tablet Brielle gave her instead.

I pretended not to notice when Gael handed her a lemon-lime soda as soon as we got off the van. Whatever there was between those two, I hoped her false heat passed quickly and my bestie got back to her usual self soon.

The pilots had preflight checks to do, so I stood near the edge of the woods so Dirge could run before the flight. He wouldn't go far, even though we were well protected by the other males in the pack and in the middle of nowhere.

Leigh jogged over, grinning despite the early hour. "This airstrip is perfect for a run. Wanna go?"

I looked around, assessing the terrain. She was right; it was basically a flat field, with little dots of wildflowers clustered here and there making it idyllic. But I didn't share Leigh's obsession with fitness, so I declined with a shake of my head.

"Fine, but you're missing out. Runner's high, man. There's nothing like it."

"I'll stick to pack runs on the full moon, thanks." Shifters had such high metabolisms that we didn't really need to run or exercise to stay fit. She just liked it. Back in Texas, she'd worked as a personal trainer, and all her human clients had wondered at the fact that she had such strength "for a woman." Even that was less than half power, so she didn't give herself away as other .

Brielle wandered over a few minutes later, a cup of pale, steaming coffee in hand that she was sipping slowly. I could smell the hazelnut creamer from here. "Did Leigh try to get you to run too?"

"Yep." I rocked back on my heels, hands under my arms for warmth. If we were going to be moving here, I'd have to get used to the constant chill, even in warmer months .

"She's something else." She shook her head and took another sip.

We stood there in contented silence for a while, until a strange ripple of magic in the air brushed over my skin, instantly sending the hairs on my arms standing on end.

"Did you feel that?" I turned a worried gaze on Bri, but she shook her head.

"Feel what?"

"Strange magic. We should call—" I spun on my heel, but before I could wave the guys over, I saw him.

An unfamiliar man armed to the teeth bolted out of the woods, arrowing straight toward Brielle. He was unnaturally fast, even for a shifter. I didn't think, I didn't hesitate as he pulled a forearm-length dagger from the scabbard on his side.

"Brielle!" I screamed as I lunged, shoving her aside.

I saw it all peripherally, out of the corner of my eye. The men surging forward. Dirge's form swerving out of the woods, teeth bared in a horrible snarl.

But none of them made it; none of them intercepted. And as the attacker swung, a hot stab of pain tearing through my chest, everything narrowed down to that moment. Shock and searing agony, white-hot and drowning in its intensity. I looked up, meeting the man's crystalline gaze for a split second before he fell away, Dirge's teeth tearing out his throat.

But I couldn't turn my head, couldn't turn my gaze as my body grew cold.

Brielle was there, then, trying to stanch the flow of blood. My unflappable doctor bestie… She was crying.

Saying something I couldn't hear through the ringing in my ears.

Her hands scrabbled at me for a second before a man was there, dragging her away. Shock poured through me, pricking the bubble of pain I was in.

He was the man from my dream.

Dirge had finally shifted.