Chapter 26

With long strides Devin stomped off the deck and back into the house. She wanted complete honesty, she was damn well going to get it. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Turning, he stripped off his shirt and kicked off his shoes as he headed back towards the deck. He only paused long enough to figure out how he was going to take pants and the water back out with him.

Shifting when you’re angry or upset doesn’t give you the same rush as when you’re doing it because you want to. He felt robbed of that and it made his mood even blacker. Devin didn’t take the time to stop and consider what he was about to do, he just grabbed the cuff of his jeans and flung them over his shoulders and then with the top of the bottle between his teeth he trotted back though the open door out to where Rayne was sitting.

He stood behind her long enough to hear that she had managed to regain some of her composure while he’d been gone, but she still chuckled quietly. Lowering his head, he backed up so the jeans would drop to the deck and then went around the chair without any hesitation and dropped the bottle of water in her lap. Devin could never have anticipated what happened next. Rayne shrieked so loud he thought his sensitive ear drums would be pierced right through. She dropped the cane and then reached down for it with one hand as she threw the bottle of water at him with the other, hitting him right between the eyes. He hadn’t even seen that coming. Devin forgot about taunting her in his wolf form and shifted back to skin, as he rubbed the spot between his eyes he went over and picked up his jeans, keeping his back to her as he pulled them on.

When Devin turned again she had both hands over her mouth, her eyes couldn’t have been any wider and her chest heaved as she hyperventilated, and now he felt like slime having been the cause. He squatted down a few feet away from her and rubbed a hand over the throbbing target on his forehead. “I’m sorry,” he managed to whisper. Leaning his head into hand, he let out a slow breath and hoped she’d look calmer when he finally managed to look at her.

She didn’t. The shock was still there, but there was something else now, anger.

“I didn’t know how to show you without startling you...”

“Startling?” she squeaked. “I think that’s an understatement!”

He took a long-ragged breath. “I know. I’m sorry...”

She held up a hand to silence him. Now looking at him like he’d grown two heads, and his heart fell deeper into his chest. He’d seen that look before. Words like freak and monster usually came with that expression. She opened her mouth and then closed it, frowning at him for a second or two more.

“Are you saying my parents could do that?” Her voice shook, but there wasn’t fear behind it. She sounded hurt.

Devin looked right into her eyes and hoped she’d see the truth in his own. “Yes.”

She stared so intently in his eyes, he was afraid to blink. “And you think I can? I’m pretty sure I’d know if I could.”

He didn’t move from where he was, still not sure if she’d bolt and hurt herself or throw something else at him. “Both of your parents could and you will be able to. Males can shift at the onset of puberty and females a few years after that.”

She frowned, but continued to look at him. “I am well past puberty and I’d know if I could grow a tail by now.”

Devin was so out of his depth in this discussion he didn’t know where to go with it. “You’re not going to just suddenly grow a tail, it’s a gradual thing.”

“I’m gradually going to turn into a wolf?”

He shook his head. “No, once you can shift, and have a few times, you should be able to change almost instantly, but leading up to it there will be gradual changes...”

“Because turning all furry isn’t enough, there’s more?”

Devin struggled to figure out how to explain this better, but he didn’t know. He’d grown up knowing, everyone knew in his clan grew up knowing. “I don’t know how to explain this and we’re running out of time...”

“What?” She sat forward and gave him an annoyed look.

“I have more to tell you, Rayne.” He took a chance and stood up slowly. His ego wouldn’t let him go right over to her or sit next to her, so he went back to the railing and stood there. “Aiden Tomas isn’t going to just let you drive away.”

She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. “I know, he’s going to be so...”

“No, you don’t know.”

Her eyes popped open.

“The people I mentioned that end up indebted to the Tomas family have always been shifters from one clan or another...”

“There’s more than one kind?”

Devin nodded, but didn’t take the time to explain it. “He knows what you are, what your parents were, and he is not going to let you get away from him that easily.”

“Oh.” Turning, she looked all around the deck. “I have to go.”

She started to stand up and he wasn’t about to let her just walk away. Devin went over and knelt in front of her. “No, you have to stay.” Her eyes were filled with questions and weariness, reminding him of what she’d been through the day before. “I can protect you here.”

“No, if I keep going there’s no way he’ll...”

“The police have already been notified that the car is stolen.”

Her eyes widened. She huffed out a breath and then leaned back and closed her eyes. “I kept hoping he’d just get mad and leave it at that, but if all that you’re saying is true, he’s not going to, is he?” She opened her eyes and he shook his head. “Why, if I’m what you say, would he even want me?”

Devin knew that tone and he’d felt the shame at times when he was young. “There’s nothing wrong with what you are, it makes you extraordinary if you ask me.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes back at him. “To a Tomas, having a half breed with our little extras would make them stronger and their empire better.”

“Extras?”

“We’re faster, our senses better and we’re stronger...” He stood up when she grasped the cane in both hands.

She held up her head and looked offended. “Are you saying Aiden only wanted me so he could get a puppy from me?”

He didn’t smirk at the way she worded it, it was far from a funny matter, but her dignified manner pleased him. “More or less.”

Sliding to the edge of the wooden chair, she picked up the cane. Devin didn’t try to stop her as she got to her feet and took slow shuffling steps towards him. He wanted to hug her for taking things as well as she was, but still wasn’t sure if he should attempt to touch her. He’d fallen for women who said what he was worked for them, but they hadn’t meant it. She stood only a few inches from away and looked up at him. “You said you could protect me. How and what is the cost of this?”

He didn’t blame her for the question, but it still hurt that she had to think like that now. “No one knows this area like I do, it’s where I’m the most comfortable and have the advantage.” Her eyes remained fixed on his. “My firs-friend is on his way to help and my father is working with the Alliance to find out what Tomas is doing.” He knew he should explain the rest to her, but if he’d just found out everything she had, there wasn’t room for any more just yet, never mind the detail of who he really was to her and the pack.

“I need to think.” She looked into his eyes for a second more and then turned. “Please help me get back to my tent.”

Devin didn’t want her to go back there and be alone. He wanted her right here where he could watch her and make sure she was going to be okay. “Rayne...”

When her eyes met his, he felt the full impact of her sadness.

“Please, Devin.”

He grasped the railing to stop from taking her into his arms. She was hurting and although he wasn’t the cause, he was still the one that had put that look in her eyes. “Okay.”