Chapter Ten
Dean
I was still waiting for that other guy, Ruston? The beta in charge of assigning jobs for the pack, anyway. Waiting for him to come up with something for me to do was leaving me at loose ends. I’d been up to the main part of the compound a few times but always managed to miss him. Meanwhile, Jillian still had her own jobs to do that kept her busy from before dawn most days until well after dusk. Although the days weren’t terribly long this time of year, I had the impression she was slaving away as long as it was light enough to see in the woods even in the height of summer.
I wished I had a better way to communicate with her. Although I’d tried many times to explain that understanding one another was more important than correct spelling. If she wrote out what she wanted to say phonetically, I’d be able to figure it out, and of course I’d be glad to help with correcting it—when and if she wanted me to. Because if there was one thing I did not want to do, it was make her feel less than intelligent. Every hour I spent with her showed me how bright she was but also that she didn’t see it.
At loose ends, I decided to try to shift again. Jillian had to be tired of showing me how to do it, and wouldn’t it be great if I could show her my success on her return? We were deep in the forest here, and I’d noticed the others seemed to have no worries about taking off their clothes prior to shifting. Even Jillian—and it took every bit of self-control in me to act as if her gorgeous nudity did not drive me nearly mad.
But with her likely to be gone for many hours, I stripped down and marched outside the cabin to try to achieve wolf status or die trying. Well, not die, but at the very least give it my best shot. Two hours later, I was still trying two hours later when a rustling in the brush at the edge of the clearing had me running back inside for a pair of shorts. I might not have a job yet, but I had been granted access to the clothing stores—something Jillian apparently did not have, or not very much anyway.
When I emerged, it was to find a tall, muscle-bound type standing only a couple of yards from the door. “Can I help you with something?” He was not someone from the pack, unless it was maybe the elusive Ruston. But somehow, I didn’t think so. This man didn’t have the attitude I’d seen in the other betas, a competent confidence. Rather, he kept flicking his gaze from left to right in a furtive way. “Are you lost?”
“I’m looking for someone. Is there a woman who lives here?”
Okay, I hadn’t been part of the shifter world for long, but even in the non-shifter world, we didn’t assist some guy in stalking a woman, and he bore all the earmarks of a stalker as far as I was concerned.
“Well, that depends,” I drawled, “on who’s asking.”
He took a step closer to me in what I figured was supposed to be an intimidating move, but I’d been through too much recently to be easily scared, even when his voice took on a growl. “If you don’t want trouble with me, you’ll talk now. I heard in town about a woman who lives in a dump all alone in the woods. And this is sure a dump.”
“It is not a dump!” I reared back and donned my most insulted tone. “How dare you call our love nest such a thing. Not every newly married couple can afford a palace, you know. We plan to fix it up as soon as I get a job. Until then”—I shrugged, trying to give the impression Jillian had married poorly—“the wifey is helping out.”
“You the kind of guy who lets his wife support him?”
“Not long term.” I tilted my head to the side. “But what kind of a husband would I be to deny her the pleasure?” I leaned on the doorframe. “But the one thing that gets the old battleax going is coming home to find me hanging out with the guys. For some reason it makes her think I’m not looking for work.” I yawned wide and tried to look bored. “So you’ll have to go.”
“Battleax?” He frowned. “I was told a young woman, very attractive in fact, lives here.”
“I don’t know where you got your information.” I peered past him. “But she gets off her day job soon and if I don’t have dinner on the table, Annika is going to have my head. Mid-life has not made her any more cheerful—even with a stud like me on hand to see to her...needs. If you get my drift?”
“Annika? Are you sure that’s her name?” He was starting to look doubtful. “I thought it was something else. Also...there’s something special about her, something unusual she can do.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” The sun was behind the trees now, and if I didn’t get rid of this guy soon, Jillian might show up. And something deep inside me was warning me not to let him see her. In fact, that something was growling!
“I hear your wolf, man.” He sneered at me. “And your wife, she a wolf, too?”
He could hear my wolf...whoa. Another growl sounding a little like a tummy rumble and yet not like that at all. Which I also could hear. But the intruder, who was obviously also a shifter, since his eyes were now amber and glowing like one of the betas who often did a partial shift when he was angry, watched me closely, and I had to keep up my facade as the lazy shifter husband of a not-shifter older woman willing to support him.
“Hell no. And don’t you be coming back here when she’s around and telling her, either. As far as she’s concerned, I’m just her stud muffin and I won’t be having you wreck my meal ticket by freaking her out and telling her I turn furry. Annalise doesn’t even know there’s such a thing.”
“Annalise? I thought you said her name was Annika.”
Damn.“No...it’s Annalise, and she is getting off shift about now. Expecting some good lovin’ and dinner. Which I have not started cooking.”
“So you are like the house husband?” Now he was laughing. “Dude, you’re pathetic, but I don’t want to make your life any worse, so I’m out of here. But I’ll be around, so if you’re lying to me, I’ll find out.”
Before I could find a good response, he blended back into the forest, and a moment later I heard a howl. He’d shifted, the jerk, and probably shredded his clothes in the process. I wasn’t sure why I even cared about that, but maybe it was because I’d left nearly all of my belongings behind in a life I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to rejoin.
Certainly not until I learned how to handle my dual self. It wouldn’t do to shift in the middle of class. Although it would break up a boring lecture.
Shaking my head at the image of Professor Hawks fainting away when a wolf suddenly appeared in his class, I then dismissed the silliness. As soon as Jillian got back, I had to tell her what happened. Someone was looking for her. But why?