“You guys are gonna break my ribs,” I said.
“Nah, Shan, you’re just getting soft, hanging with that pretty vet of yours,” Jaz said with a grin.
“So you hittin’ that or what?” Rita asked, waggling her eyebrows.
“Shut up, you,” I said, going to shove her, but she didn’t move an inch. They might be built like supermodels, tall, whip thin, with long wavy brown hair, but no one was gonna move one of them if they didn’t want it. Rita cocked an eyebrow at me for even trying, as if to say, ‘you forget, Shan?’ “He’s my boss,” I said.
“So?”
“And he’s a lot older than me.”
Both the girls looked at each other and then smirked.
“How about we’re not interested in each other then?”
“Probably for the best. Uncle Rob, he’s got plans,” Jazz said, nodding to the pack. “I think he sees a whole lotta kids coming your way. Little babies who can twist the animals like you can.”
I frowned and studied the girls’ faces. They came from a people that had survived and thrived in a tough environment, as well as against human prejudice, both for their two legged and four legged forms. They had strict rules about who married who, to make sure the bloodlines stayed strong and incest was avoided, but also to keep the community safe by marrying strong women to strong shifters. Outsiders were considered when one of the young people formed a connection, but otherwise, we were largely ignored.
She just laughed at my confused expression, dragging me over to the log they were sitting on, her teeth gleaming white in the low light.
“Who you got your eye on?” Rita asked me, nodding to the pack.
I swallowed hard, a lump forming in my throat the moment she said the words. The girls cackled when they heard that tiny little movement.
“Still Jai, huh? Nice choice, girl,” Jaz said, resting her elbows on her knees. “My brother… Well, for a while there, I thought his dick was gonna drop off with all the girls he was taking home from the pub.”
But not me, I thought, feeling the selfsame pang I’d felt when I was thirteen, watching the tall, graceful boy with the ready smile lavish his affections on almost every other girl in the class.
Get your head straight, Shan, I snapped at myself. Jai is pack.
“But you know Uncle,” Jaz continued. “Always looking for ways to make the pack stronger. Jai and the boys… It’s time to settle down.”
“So, you’ll be married ladies soon?” I asked, grateful for an opportunity to change the subject. “Do I get to throw you both hen’s nights with those skanky male strippers that came to town for Rita’s birthday?”
“Ew…those Fabio looking boys? Looked like a stocking full of walnuts,” Rita said with a snort, all of us laughing at that. She was right, the strippers had been cheap, that was about it. They were much more interested in each other than the ladies at the pub, and let's just say the stuff about steroids shrinking important body parts… “Getta better show at the end of the rugby game… Now, look. Here comes trouble.”
“Hey, Shan.”
My eyes jerked up to see a pair of long muscular legs encased in jeans before me, my eyes sliding up until I saw it was Jai, Eddie at his side, Jarrah, another pack mate, on the other. That long, wavy, brown hair shone gold at the tips from long days out in the sun, on the back of a horse or a motorbike on the farm, matching those eyes that regarded mine steadily.
Look away! Look. Away. Now! I shrieked silently, but that warm gaze of his held mine, pushing all thoughts of that out of my mind. I was captured by it, my stupid pale face flushing red in response, but still I didn’t look away, not until he moved his hand, holding out a bottle.
“I got you a drink. One of them girly rum pre-mixes you like.” His wrist twisted slightly, drawing my attention to the bottle, the condensation sliding down the side.
“Oh, OK, thanks,” I said, going to take it, but he waited until I was gripping it to reach down and twist the top off for me. “Thanks…” I said lamely. Again. Fuck… I had to find out what the bloody old fellas needed and GTFO. I wasn’t gonna drink tonight, since I needed to drive home and be in bed at a reasonable hour if we were visiting the bloody Capricorn Institute tomorrow, but I found myself putting the bottle to my lips and taking a long swallow.
This was met by chuckles and oohs from the girls, leaving me blinking when I put it down on the ground beside me.
“I can drive you home, if you like,” Jai said, watching all of this with a sly smile. “If you’re worried.”
So, so worried, I thought. About everything, anything. For once, my constant anxiety, prompted by a hypervigilant grandmother and being burdened with weird powers, worked in my favour. My friends, the pack, they could all sense my anxiety, my heart rate, my fear—which apparently, had an alluring stink to it—but my turmoil was so pervasive, it was hard for them to narrow down exactly what was worrying me.
“I can’t…”
My throat closed on the words. “One doesn’t say no to the pack,” Nan had said. “If they offer you something you don’t want, ask for something you don’t want to give, you might be able to weasel out of it or try to get out of it in an oblique way, but you never outright say no, not to one of the pack. Beth and the girls, you might be able to swing it but…”
I glanced up, something that all three men seemed to find amusing before dropping my eyes hurriedly.
“I have to be up at the new institute at eight am tomorrow, so I better not, but thank—”
My words were cut off by a hiss from the girls, the men immediately tensing up.
“Whaddya doing in a place like that?” Eddie asked.
“The alphas fought the council, fought them wanting to build on that site,” Jarrah said. “Too many of ours died in that prison. They wanted it turned over to them, but this new lot came in flashing money around.”
“It’s a bad business, what’s going on in there,” Jai said finally, everyone else falling silent.
Stay down, little brother… The words from Diablo’s memories came rushing back, my fingers tightening around my bottle, but I didn’t dare look up.
“I’ll bring you some food,” Jai said. “Eat, and then we meet with the alphas.”
“Someone’s gonna get it…” Jaz said in a low singsong voice as the men paced away, the two girls threading their arms through mine, then they burst out laughing. Eddie and Jarrah took a look at us over their shoulders as they went over to the food table, something that quietened them down, for a minute at least. “Nah, but serious, Shan. You always was my sister from another mister. Now you really will be.”
Don’t say no. Don’t contradict them.
“So which one gets Eddie and which one gets Jarrah?” I asked, shooting them side eyes over the mouth of my bottle.
“Well, we had to fight it out…” They started laughing again when I looked at them in shock. “Shan, we’re not that feral! Jaz and Eddie, me and Jarrah.”
Rita’s tone had softened somewhat as she watched the men pile plates up with ridiculous amounts of food. The girls might have that amazing metabolism that meant they could pack away the food and still remain willowy, but I couldn’t. The guys caught us watching, grinning amongst themselves before ambling back.