Chapter 2

2

The stranger Reed had called Preston was massive, almost as big as Tonka, had black hair braided close against his head, and a matching beard, also braided. On either side of him were muscular males with ice cold eyes and deep scowls. They didn’t look like they wanted to sit down for a nice chat and a drink. The Pixie Lite had hit me harder than I’d realized to have ever considered them for a target to hustle.

“Mate?” I demanded, standing upright, and feeling fully sober.

Reed set the cue down and stepped between the strangers and me. “I’m not going back. I made that clear when I left. I have no interest in an assigned mate.”

Back? Were these fellow werewolves from his clan? What did he mean “assigned mate?”

The trio walked closer to us.

“You don’t get to decide that,” Preston snarled.

“I’ve got a pack and a bond already,” Reed said sternly. “Plus, I was exiled, remember?”

“Your exile is now lifted,” Preston said.

“Wh-what?”

The shock in Reed’s tone was evident.

He looked down at his feet and back at me, conflicting emotions in his eyes.

Was he going to leave me?

Preston grabbed Reed’s arm and pulled him away from me.

I partially shifted, my head turning fully shark, but kept my human arms as I punched Preston in the nose while grabbing Reed with my other hand.

“Tonka!” Zara, one of Silver’s adopted daughters who I considered a sister, yelled when she saw me as she stepped inside through the side door.

Immediately, Tonka, Theo, and my other boyfriends ran into the room.

One of the other men tried to punch me, but Reed had finally snapped out of his shock and kicked him away.

“Don’t touch her!” he roared.

Tonka grabbed Preston and shoved him towards the side door. “You three, out!”

“We’ll be seeing you soon, Reed,” Preston called over his shoulder.

The door shut and you could have heard a pin drop.

Reed turned to me and ran his hands down my arms. “Are you hurt?”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shift back to my human form. The anxiety and fear that Reed might leave was too much. “I need to go,” I said and ran out of the front entrance, ignoring the voices calling my name and the shouting people as I barreled by them.

I continued to run across town, through the park, ignoring Captain Two Teeth and his shark pirate crew, across the beach, and into the water. As soon as the gloriously warm water closed over my head, my body fully shifted and I let myself drift lazily along the pier.

Running was childish, I knew that, but the look Reed had given me was seared into my brain.

Reed hadn’t mentioned his exile to me, but there was a lot we didn’t know about each other still. Well, he knew way more about me than I knew about him, thanks to Bastian showing up.

Once I’d calmed down enough to shift back, I would sit down with Reed and talk to him.

Not being able to shift back wasn’t a common occurrence for me and I hoped part of it had been due to the Pixie Lite.

A huge shadow covered me, snapping me out of my numbness as my survival instincts kicked in. Something that cast a huge shadow over me like that could eat me and that was not something I wanted to happen. Swimming under the pier for safety, I looked around, but quickly realized it had to have been something flying since I was near the top of the water and nothing that large could swim above me.

Peering out from beneath the pier, I saw Grant circling overhead.

I swam out from beneath the pier, beached myself, and shifted into my human form. Not bothering to get up, I waited for him to land.

He spotted me quickly, shifted into his human form thirty feet up, and did a superhero landing on the beach ten feet away from me. “Are you okay?”

I sighed and put my arm over my face. “I think the Pixie Lite and stress of the situation prevented me from shifting back. I ran here to see if it would help.”

“Are you hurt?” he asked and sat beside me, keeping only his feet in the water.

“No.”

“What did they say to upset you guys? Reed wouldn’t talk to us.”

“Did … did he leave?” I asked, my throat constricted as I asked and it became hard to swallow.

“Leave? He left the bar to try to find you, we all did. Kass, what’s going on?”

“They rescinded his exile and told him he has to return to claim his mate,” I answered, dropped my arm, and looked at him with tears in my eyes. “Is he going to go?”

Grant’s eyes widened and he stood. “Shit.” He turned towards the city and pulled his cell phone out, calling someone. Whoever answered, he didn’t bother with formalities, just said, “I found her. Meet at the house. Tell the others.”

His response was not instilling confidence in me about the possibility of Reed leaving.

“Grant, if he leaves … will you three go, too?” I got to my feet and brushed the sand off, once again glad I could shift my scales to look like clothes when necessary. Grant and the others could magic clothes on themselves. I was trying to do it, but was only successful on rare occasions.

Grant put his phone away, turned around, and hugged me. “I’m not going to abandon you, Kass. Never. Come on, let’s go home and talk to Reed.”