Shadowed Instincts Read online

  Shadowed

  Instincts

  Shadowed Series Book 2

  by

  Wendi L. Wilson

  Copyright ©2015 by Wendi L. Wilson

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or distributed, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without express permission of the author, except by a reviewer who my quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/FrinaArt

  For my Mom, who always encouraged my love of reading with her endless collection of romance novels and taught me I could do anything I put my mind to.

  Miss you Mom.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 1

  “This can’t be happening.”

  Melanie sat at the kitchen table, her mind whirling a mile a minute while her life fell apart around her. Wrapping her head around the information just dropped on her was next to impossible. After everything she had been through in recent weeks, finding out Jeremy was a shapeshifter, having her English teacher nearly rape and then stalk her, then enacting a crazy plan to eradicate Mr. Hughes from her life, this was just too much. She looked back at her father incredulously.

  “How is this possible?”

  Darren, her father whom she had just met minutes before, looked at her with compassion. It was like staring into her own eyes, the way his emotions were plainly displayed in their depths. Emotions that had been pent up for seventeen years.

  “Melanie, I know this is a shock.” His eyes shot back to her boyfriend Jeremy, still standing behind her. “Well, maybe not quite the shock it would’ve been had you not met him.”

  “A shock? A shock?! Are you freaking kidding me right now? You come into my life out of nowhere and, without a how do you damn well do, you tell me I’m a supernatural being? A shock. That’s hilarious.”

  “Melanie,” her mom interjected. “Please, give us a chance to explain, honey.”

  Melanie flinched at her use of the word “us.” “Us” had always been Melanie and her mom. Now it had a different meaning and she didn’t like it. Her anger flared and she lashed out.

  “Oh, don’t get me started on you, Mom. You knew. You knew, all this time, what I would become and you never thought I should know? It didn’t seem important enough to tell me? What the hell?”

  “Watch your language, young lady. I am still your mother and this is still my house, my rules.”

  With that, Melanie stood, preparing to stomp from the room in a flare of righteous indignation. Jeremy straightened from his position against the kitchen counter, ready to follow her out.

  “Sit down.”

  Darren said this with authority and Melanie felt her muscles move of their own volition as she plopped back down into her chair. She had no control. He said sit and she sat.

  “What the-”

  “Melanie, just listen and we will explain everything to you. You will come to understand and accept our decisions, but you have to listen first.” His eyes were filled with sympathy.

  “Okay,” she said mulishly. “I’m listening.”

  “Thank you.”

  He sounded sincere with gratitude, but Melanie had a feeling he could make her listen if she refused. Something strange was going on, other than the obvious, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

  “Melanie, when your mother and I met, it was love at first sight. We were young and carefree, doing what we wanted, when we wanted.”

  Melanie’s eyebrows rose at that as she looked at her mom. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

  Elaine shrugged and said, “Things change. People change.”

  “Then what happened? Why did you split up?”

  “As I told you before,” Darren continued, “my lifestyle is different.” He shot a pointed look at Jeremy. “And unlike your friend, I didn’t tell Elaine the truth at first. I loved her so much and I was afraid to admit it to her. Afraid she would run from me as fast as her legs would take her.”

  “I guess you were right, because she did,” Melanie said with an angry glare at her mom.

  “That’s not fair,” Elaine started, but Darren held up a hand to stop her.

  “Melanie, listen to me. I finally found the nerve to tell your mom when she became pregnant with you. I had to not only explain what I was, but that there was a fifty percent chance that you would be the same as me. That’s a lot for any woman, much less a newly pregnant one, to take.” He paused for a second, then continued, “Of course, she didn’t believe me at first. I had to shift in front of her to prove it.”

  His eyes darted back to Jeremy, who sat down at the table next to Melanie. Jeremy gave a slight nod, confirming that he had to do the same to prove he was telling the truth.

  “To say she freaked out would be an understatement. She ran from me. Didn’t speak to me for days. I kept calling, kept stopping by, but I couldn’t get through to her. I’m sure you can understand her fear and confusion.”

  Melanie didn’t acknowledge the truth of that statement. When Jeremy told Melanie the truth, she had freaked out, had run away from him. But that had only lasted for a day. She couldn’t stay away from him. She loved him too much.

  “So, what? You just gave up? Never gave us another thought?”

  “No! Never! I loved her, and you, too much. I broke into her apartment and held her captive until she agreed to talk to me.” A smug smile pulled at his lips.

  Melanie looked at her mom. “Then what happened?”

  “He explained to me what it meant, to be a cynanthrope.”

  “A what, now?”

  “A cynanthrope. A weredog,” Darren clarified.

  Elaine continued, “I knew he lived in a tight-knit community with his family in Kentucky, where we’re from. What-”

  “Wait. Wait. Wait. You’re from Kentucky?”

  “Melanie, sweetie, I’m never going to get this out if you don’t stop interrupting me.”

  Melanie crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. Jeremy draped his arm over the back of Melanie’s chair and rubbed her arm. She took a deep breath, relaxed and nodded at her mom to continue.

  “What I didn’t know was that they were all cynanthropes. Every one of them.”

  At those words, Jeremy stiffened, his arm becoming a steel bar around her shoulders. She looked over at him, but he gave a slight negative shake of his head. She looked back at her dad.

  “So what happened after you explained?”

&n
bsp; “I wanted to take your mom home with me. I wanted to marry her. I wanted to be a father to you. I tried, so hard, to convince her it would all be okay and that we’d be happy.” He glanced over at Elaine with a sad look in his eyes. “But she said she couldn’t take the chance.”

  “Why not?”

  “My father went to see her.”

  Elaine blanched. “You knew about that?”

  “Yes,” Darren said with a frown, “but not until ten years had passed. He told me on his deathbed.”

  Elaine gasped and grabbed Darren’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  He squeezed her hand and smiled. “It’s okay. I found peace with his death, but not with what he did to you. To us.”

  “What did he do?” Melanie asked.

  “He came to me a few days after Darren showed me the truth. He said that he knew I was pregnant and that I was in love with his son. He told me that Darren was in line to be the alpha.” Melanie shot a quick glance at Darren, but he was staring at Elaine with sadness in his eyes. “The alpha cannot marry a human. It’s their law. He said Darren would be cast out, ostracized and banned from ever returning.”

  Melanie sucked in a deep breath and looked at Darren again. His lips were pressed in a tight line and his shoulders looked rigid, but he remained silent as Elaine continued the story.

  “He also told me that as the alpha himself, he possessed certain abilities. He had the ability to tell if you’d be human or not. He placed his hand on my belly and closed his eyes. After several minutes he opened them and declared you human. I guess he was wrong.”

  “Elaine,” Darren said softly, “he lied to you. The alpha doesn’t have that kind of power. There is no way to tell if a child conceived between a human and a cynanthrope will be human or not.”

  Elaine gasped and reared her head back as if she’d been slapped. “What? But, he said…”

  “I know. He also told me that he said our child would be hated and ridiculed. Also untrue.”

  “But, why?”

  “He wanted me to be the alpha. He knew that if I married you, I would have left our home to make one with you in the regular world, to raise our child as a human. I would have done anything to make you happy.”

  “So why didn’t you come find us after he told you what he did?” Melanie asked, still reeling from information overload.

  “Because he died,” Darren answered, “and I became the alpha." At Melanie’s blank look, he continued. “Melanie, you were nearly ten years old when I learned of the lies he told. I hadn’t heard a word from your mother, but I did check in on you both from time to time. I knew you were happy. I didn’t want to disrupt your life. I knew that your mother would call me if you needed me.”

  “And if she never called you?”

  “I decided to give her until your high school graduation. If she hadn’t contacted me by then, I was coming for her, and you, regardless. Eighteen years is long enough to wait.”

  Chapter 2

  After that intense and extremely uncomfortable conversation, Melanie needed to get away from her parents for a while. She and Jeremy went back to Chris’s apartment, where he was staying while his parents were out of town. As she paced the floor of Jeremy’s bedroom, he sat silently on the bed. She finally stopped pacing, threw her hands up in the air and groaned.

  “Jeremy, I can’t believe this. How is it even possible? How is it possible that I met you, we fell in love, and we are both freaking weredogs?”

  “Sorry, what?”

  Realizing that she had been focusing solely on herself, she asked, “What’s going on with you? You seem really distracted and you’ve barely spoken since the big reveal. Are you disappointed that I’m not human?”

  “What? No!” He stood up and pulled her into a hug. “Melanie, this is amazing. I’ve never met another person like me and my parents. I didn’t think there were any. That’s the problem. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, confused.

  “Well, my parents told me that we were the only ones. I accepted it, never questioning how they met. How did they meet? Were they drawn together like you and me? What are the odds this would happen more than once in a lifetime?” He shook his head and frowned. “I think they’ve been lying to me.”

  Melanie hugged him tighter and asked in a soft voice, “Why don’t you ask them?”

  “Oh, I’m planning to. As soon as they get back from their trip and I move back home.”

  He was silent for a few moments. Melanie basked in the feel of his arms around her, the only comfort she had as her life seemed to spin out of control around her.

  “Anyway,” he said, breaking the silence, “I’m sorry I made this about me. How are you holding up? Do you have any questions you want to ask me about the change?”

  Melanie sat down on the bed and pulled him down next to her. He held her hand, drawing little circles on her palm. She took a deep breath and released it.

  “Will it hurt?” she asked quietly.

  “Not really,” Jeremy replied. “It’s uncomfortable, for sure, but it’s not true pain. All that strength and stamina you’ve been building up prepares you for it. Your body is getting ready so that shifting will be as easy as possible.”

  “Does it happen against my will? Or can I control it?”

  “At first it’s hard to control it. You’ll feel it coming though, so you can at least prepare yourself and get somewhere private.”

  “What does it feel like?”

  Jeremy laid down on the bed and pulled her down with him, tucking her head against his shoulder. He rubbed her back lightly as he spoke, sending shivers down her spine. She smiled against his skin.

  “It kind of feels like ants crawling under your skin, itchy and stinging.” She shuddered and he squeezed her tightly. “It’s not that bad, honestly. You’ll get used to it. After the itching starts, you’ll feel pulling in your muscles, almost like a Charlie horse, but without the pain. That’s when you need to make sure you’re alone. It happens fast.”

  “But how do I make myself change back?”

  “At first, you won’t be able to. You’ll be a dog until you wear yourself out and sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be human again, so be careful where you lay down to rest.”

  Melanie looked at his face and saw him smiling. She smiled back. He could always lighten the mood and make her smile.

  “Because I’ll be naked when I wake up?”

  “Bingo.”

  “How long does it take to learn to control it and shift back and forth like you do?”

  “Not long. I mean, I’ve only been doing it for six months, remember? It shouldn’t take you more than a few days to figure it out. You have to learn to do it, to control the muscles, like when you learned to walk and run.”

  “Jeremy, I’m scared. My birthday is in nine days.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get you a killer present. Maybe a purple collar with blinged out dog tags?”

  Melanie punched him in the side and the air left his chest with a grunt. “Ow, that hurt.”

  She sat up quickly. “Oh my God, Jeremy. I’m sorry. I forgot how strong I…eek!”

  He yanked her down on top of him and kissed her quickly. As she relaxed and kissed him back, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight. Melanie spread her knees and straddled his hips, pressing even closer.

  Just a few weeks before, she would have been too self-conscious and worried about her weight crushing him to relax in that position. Now everything was different. She had lost some weight, but it was more than that. She had the confidence to take what she wanted, not only from the change in her body but from the unconditional love Jeremy had shown her.

  He started to slow things down and between nibbles, he whispered, “We need to stop.”

  “Nope,” she said. She wound her fingers into his hair and pulled his lips back to hers.

  “Mel,” he said as he put his hands on her cheeks and pushed her head
back so he could look into her eyes, “seriously, we need to slow down. I don’t want this to go too far.”

  “You don’t want me?”

  “Hey,” he whispered, dragging his thumbs under her eyes to wipe away the moisture gathering there. “Don’t do that. You know I want you, always. Just not like this. Not when you’re all wound up emotionally and looking for an outlet. We’ve talked about this before.”

  “I know.” She sniffed.

  “I want our first time to be perfect, Mel. Not some quickie to relieve stress.”

  “I know,” she repeated. “You’re right. Sometimes I hate it when you’re right.”

  She rolled back to his side and laid her head on his chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat. She smiled a little, knowing she was the reason his heart raced like that. It still felt surreal. She never dreamed Jeremy would ever look at her as anything other than a friend, much less fall in love with her.

  “I love you,” Jeremy whispered, seeming to read her mind.

  Her smile grew bigger. “I love you, too.”

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, Melanie decided to stay home from school. Darren spent the night on the couch and he and her mother wanted to talk. She didn’t argue, however uncomfortable the situation made her. She wasn’t ready to go back. There were going to be so many questions and rumors at school about Mr. Hughes, the attack, and his arrest. She just wasn’t ready to face it yet.

  They sat at the kitchen table, silently eating breakfast. No one had spoken and the tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Melanie didn’t even glance up from her plate, afraid to make eye contact. She wasn’t sure what to say or if she even wanted to talk about it yet.

  “This is ridiculous.” Elaine’s voice was so sudden, it made Melanie jump.

  “What?” Melanie asked, deciding to play dumb.

  Her mom levelled and impatient glance at her. “If you don’t have any questions for me or your father, then I have a few for you. How is it that Jeremy is a cynanthrope and why am I just now finding out about it?”

  “What did you expect me to say, Mom? ‘Jeremy and I are dating and, oh, by the way, he turns into a dog whenever he wants’?”