9
Chapter 9
Paisley’s POV
I feltlike I was flailing around like an idiot in the water as I tried my hardest to get to the edge without sinking or truly panicking. Ollie and I had been careless, allowing ourselves to get caught up in the heat of the moment, to think that it was just about us skinny dipping. Now I was in danger from the man who'd made me feel special. It felt like shit knowing he was the one I needed to run away from right now.
I couldn't believe wolf shifters were real! It was incredible, mind blowing. It was also something that was going to take a long time for me to get used to.
How much of what I’d read was real? There was a lot of online rabbit holes I could go down, and a lot of them didn't make any animal shifter look good, but the wolves were the worst. The most animalistic and unable to control themselves. It was frightening, really, when I thought about it as anything other than a mere hypothetical. It was safe to say that I was terrified.
I grabbed my clothing and started to run. There wasn't time to get dressed or worry about my dignity as I ran through the forest. Right now, all I needed to focus on was keeping myself alive. Even if that left me naked and cold.
"Claire," I called out, desperately needing to see my sister more than ever. "Claire, where are you?" Fuck, my eyes were blurry with terror and I was almost running blindly. I didn't know what direction I was going. "Claire, I'm coming."
She'd had too much to drink, hadn't she? She probably didn't know what the hell was going on. If I didn't get to her, something might happen to her. Something bad. She didn't stand a chance against three wolves.
"Claire, I'm…" Oh God, I couldn't breathe. My chest was tight and my legs were starting to ache. I had no idea where the hell I was or how to get to my sister. Tears were flowing violently down my cheeks because I couldn’t find her. I was lost and those wolves wouldn't stop howling at the moon. "Claire, I'm here."
If I allowed myself to give in, I could do so easily. I could collapse right here in the middle of the freaking forest and just cave. If I didn't have Claire to look out for, it would be much easier for me to do so.
"Where are the tents?" I hissed angrily at myself. "Where the hell are the tents? Where the fuck were we when we were setting up camp?"
Everywhere I turned, nothing looked familiar to me. I honestly wasn't sure that I had ever been here before. How the hell was this me being responsible for Claire? Daisy was going to kill me if I survived all of this.
Oh my God.I stopped dead in my tracks as something caught my attention in the worst way possible. What is that?
Two piercing animalistic yellow eyes glared at me. Lips curled up to bare fierce-looking teeth. Teeth that wanted to tear at my body and rip me to shreds. My heart betrayed me by leaping up into my throat and pounding heavily and ferociously. Almost as if it was trying to get me freaking killed.
"I…I…" I backed away, even though I didn't stand a chance in hell of reasoning with some wild beast, I was trying anyway. "Please, let me..."
I bumped in to a body and span around rapidly, almost tumbling to the ground as I did. Thankfully, it was Ollie, and he still had enough control of his faculties to grab hold of me and keep me from falling. He might have still been in his human form, but he was forcing his wolf to stay deep within him, and that caused him pain. It was written all across his face.
"Get in there." He nodded toward a shack by the pond.
"I can't go in there," I insisted. "What about Claire?"
The only answer I received was the warning in Ollie's eyes. I could see what he was trying to tell me, and it was the fact that I didn't have time to fight this. I didn't have time to find Claire anymore. I wasn’t going to make it.
I still fought that internally for a little while. I wasn't fully ready to give up just yet, but eventually I knew that I wouldn’t have a choice. There was a wolf staring me down, wanting to eat me alive, and Ollie who was about to become a beast himself.
"Fuck," I whispered to myself as I ducked my head down and ran from the wolves surrounding me. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
I hated this. I felt like a coward as I tossed myself into the cabin and slammed the door behind me. I was saving myself from immediate danger, but it wasn't the right thing to do. Not when Claire was still out there.
I reached in to the pocket of my dress and grabbed my cell phone. My hand was shaking so much I dropped the phone and it clattered to the floor. The roars and howls outside, undoubtedly from the yellow-eyed wolf, and Ollie as well, were so noisy they were all that I could hear. "Oh my God, Claire."
I was whimpering, so afraid that my bottom lip trembled as much as my hand. It probably didn’t make any sense, but I couldn't think straight with no clothes on. Bit by bit, I dressed myself, trying to get my head in order at the same time. But there wasn't any real way to prevent myself from falling apart.
This was terrifying, like living in a horror movie.
Once dressed, I slid my eyes closed for a moment and tried to block the rest of the world out. Just for a second. I wanted to think about the men I knew them as, rather than the wolves they'd become tonight. I thought about Sky and his passionate but serious face. I remembered the way his lips felt against mine, the way his body rolled up against me. I loved the way he made me feel protected.
Then there was Jake and his light-hearted energy. The way he could make anyone around him smile. He was a little possessive too, I'd definitely felt that from him, but I kind of like it. I couldn't help but wonder what he was like as a wolf.
Vinnie…sweet and helpful Vinnie. He was so sexy tonight. So much fun to dance with. It was hard to imagine his animal side because he seemed so…human. So normal, I suppose. But I guess that was his edge. I couldn't wait until I got the chance to talk to him about it, to hear all about his wolfiness, once all of this was over. If we got out of it alive.
"Ollie." I actually whispered his name aloud because he was the one I'd gotten closest to tonight. His quiet, sensitive side hid a deep man who I wanted to get to know more…and more intimately as well. "What is going on, Ollie?"
The sounds got louder and more intense. I leaned forward and rested my head on my knees, pressing my hands to my ears. I couldn't handle this, not one bit. If it wasn't for Claire and my powerful worry for her, I might have stayed that way.
I shimmied my body forward, every inch of me aching as I did. Eventually, I managed to curl my fingers around my cell phone, and by some miracle the screen wasn't broken. It still took me way too long to actually put in the video call for my sister. It seemed to take her even longer to pick up.
"Hello? Paisley?" Her eyes were bugged out. She had her face practically pressed up against the screen. "What the fuck is going on, Paisley? I am way too drunk for this shit. Where are you?"
"I'm in a shack somewhere. I don't know where. Near the lake. Where are you?"
"I'm in a tent." She blinked a couple of times, her eyes not really focused. It scared the living shit out of me. "In our tent."
"I'm trying to get to you. I want to get to you, but…"
"But the wolves." She nodded way too slowly. She was definitely sleepy. "It's okay. Sly is outside my tent. He's watching out for me."
"But Sly…" I stopped myself from saying anything else. I wasn't sure if Claire was in the right frame of mind to hear the truth. "Are you sure Sly is capable of looking after you?"
"Yeah, I think it's fine." She smiled. "I'm good. Just worried about you."
"No, no, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm locked away in here."
Claire twisted away from the phone, talking to someone behind her. I could only assume it was Sly, but surely he’d shifted now. Surely he was a wolf too. What the hell was going on? I needed to be there. But how could I get away?
"Claire, I'm going to try to get to you." She couldn't seem to hear me. She was too busy engaging in her other conversation. "I'm going to leave now—"
And then the call abruptly ended. Her freaking phone battery must have died. I called out her name a couple of times, but it was pointless. She was long gone. I suppose it was okay for now. She was safe and Sly was hopefully taking really good care of her.
"Oh fuck." The door to the shack began to rattle. This time as I dropped my cell phone, I was absolutely certain that the screen had been smashed.
I scooted backward. I thought maybe it could have been Claire who had somehow made her way over here, but deep down I knew it wasn't her. Fear raced through my body and tears brimmed in my eyes. The sounds coming from outside this shack were killing me.
I felt like I was going to die here. I wasn't ready to die, but I wasn't going to be able to keep myself alive either. Not against four wolves.
"Paisley?" Wait, that was a human voice. One I knew all too well.
"Vinnie?" What the hell? "Vinnie, you're here?"
He had a crest tattoo, didn’t he? I was sure I'd seen it on his body, and Ollie had pretty much told me that was wolf related. But he was here and talking to me, which meant…which meant I wasn’t alone anymore.
"Can you let me in, Paisley? I'm fine, trust me. I can look after you."
Oh God, I had no freaking idea if I was doing the right thing, but I scooted over to the door anyway. The idea of seeing Vinnie was just too much for me. I needed a familiar face, I needed someone to take care of me. If Claire had Sly, and she seemed to be talking to him, then maybe Vinnie could be here for me.
It was with great trepidation that I unlocked the door and let him slip inside. My heart pounded as I ran my eyes over his gorgeous human body.
"You aren't a wolf shifter?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "What the hell?"
"No, no, I am." He nodded vigorously, shutting the door hard behind him. "But I am very well versed in controlling it. I shifted for a bit but now I'm back." He must have spotted the intense worry in my eyes, because he was quick to assure me, "Don't worry, it's fine. I'm not going to shift again. You're safe with me. It's fine."
I gulped and nodded. "Okay, thank you."
He took a seat on the floor of the shack and indicated for me to sit with him. I practically fell into his lap and into his arms. I had to admit that I did feel much better and safer as the warmth of his body surrounded me. Even if I was here with a wolf shifter, I knew with absolute certainty that he could protect me.
"It's scary, I know," he whispered as he ran his fingers through my hair, a sweet and gentle gesture that went a long way toward easing my fear. "But it won't take too long before everyone else gets control of themselves as well. Ollie and Jake have stopped fighting already."
I didn't like that. I hated those sounds being two people I cared about so much fighting. It was horrible, but I suppose the nature of wolves.
"Why didn't you tell me this?" I whispered to Vinnie. "I knew about wolf shifters. I would have been understanding. This just comes as a bit of a shock."
He didn't reply for a while, but continued softly touching my hair. "It's just one of those things that's easier to keep to ourselves," he eventually replied stiffly. "It isn't always accepted. The reactions vary a whole lot. Sometimes people get freaked out, sometimes people get angry, sometimes people think we're science subjects that should be tested on. It's just one of those things we don't talk about."
I nodded, accepting that. From what I knew of shifters, it was underground for a reason. One of those things that certain people knew about on a need-to-know basis. It was just kind of hard to accept that I wasn't included in that.
"I'm sorry, I get it." I turned my head to look deeply into Vinnie's eyes. "But I hope you know I would have accepted it right away. Although I might have tried to talk Claire out of the camping trip if I'd known this was going to happen."
"Sly is also very much in control of himself," Vinnie reassured me. "He’s keeping your sister safe. Trust me, it won't be long until Ollie and Jake are back too."
"Tell me about it," I said, curious. "About being a wolf shifter."
"You really want to know? It doesn't freak you out too much?"
"I want to know," I insisted. "I want to know everything."
He leaned his head back thoughtfully for a moment, then started to speak. "For me, and for Sly as well, it was puberty that set off our shifter abilities. We were in high school. I guess that's why we're better able to control ourselves." He sighed heavily. "We might not have known one another until recently, but we both had the same idea to take the one job that would be suited to us. In the military, there are branches for people just like us, where our abilities can be put to good use. Same with security. RedEye gave us a great opportunity."
"They did?" I was so fascinated by this, I could hardly hear the sounds any longer. The fight might have still been going on, but I could barely take it in.
"That's right. Jake actually didn't start on his wolf journey until he was in basic training. Luckily for him, Sly was there already to help him through it."
"And Ollie?"
Vinnie's head hung low. "Ollie was more recent. I think he had always had the ability deep within him, but it didn't happen until war traumatized him. Then, of course, it got worse when his marriage fell apart. Because of his wolf shifting."
"Whoa, that's heavy."
Thinking about all four guys and the challenges they must have faced was too hard for me. I thought I'd been through a lot in my life, but it was nothing compared to this. This was on another level. It was agony. I snuggled in closer to Vinnie, drawing even more comfort from him. How anyone could hate a wolf shifter for what he was baffled me. Ollie's ex-wife had missed out on a lot.
But some other woman would be happy to be with Ollie because he was a great guy. All the guys would find love easily.
It was more than a little sad that I would end up without them in my life one day. When Claire’s Las Vegas residency was over.