Tremble: A Shifter of Consequence Tale (Shifters of Consequence Book 7) Read online

  “I’m at school, and I think someone is following me.”

  A growl ripped from his mouth, and I cringed at the sound.

  “Shit. I knew you would be pissed. I shouldn’t have even called.”

  “No, I’m not angry at you, female. And you should’ve called sooner. How long has he been following you? Can you get to a public area? Where is your car? Do you have your pepper spray? I know Gigi gave you some.”

  Gigi had insisted I keep pepper spray after she watched some criminal motives movie on TV where a girl was kidnapped in a parking lot by some guy with fourteen personalities. I looked at my keys and realized she’d clamped the damned thing to the ring.

  Maybe Gigi had a point.

  “I have it, and I’m taking a public route to my car. I think I’m going to be fine. I just…I needed to hear your voice.”

  “Don’t you ever hesitate to call me, Christie. I would drop anything and everything to help you if you need me.”

  Gods, he picked this moment to say just about the romantic thing I thought he was capable of.

  “Okay. Just talk to me until I get there.”

  He grumped and his pacing grew more furious against the hardwood floors of his office. “Can you get to your car faster than I can get to you?” If I wasn’t mistaken, his voice caught at the end of the sentence. He was truly worried.

  “Yeah. I can see it.”

  “Tell me what he looks like,” Samson said, alpha and seriousness in his tone.

  “He’s tall and lanky. Hooked nose. Looks like he spends too much time in the sun.”

  His breaths carried over the phone lines, ragged and curt at the same time. “Can you run to your car? Are you there yet?”

  I must’ve taken too long to reply. “Answer me, female. Shit. I should be with you. Tris or I should be with you.”

  “I’m fine. Just…can you just say something reassuring, for the love of wolves?”

  My steps hastened, and I put my car key between my fingers to use as a weapon if I needed to. I also had that small pepper spray on my key ring if necessary.

  “You want me to say romantic things to you while you’re being stalked by some man, and I’m all the way over here, away from you, not able to wrap you up in my arms? Female of mine, that is something I cannot do. Get to your damned car right this instant.”

  For someone who claimed he wasn’t romantic, that sure as hell had my heart fluttering overtime. I finally made it to my car and whirled around, making sure tall and skinny knew I saw him—that he wasn’t half as slick as he thought he was.

  Except, when I turned, he was gone.

  “I’m at my car, and now he’s nowhere in sight. Shit. I can’t…” I searched around, even going so far as to peek under my car and in the back seat. “He’s not here. It’s like he vanished.’

  “Get in that car and get your ass back here, Christie. Stop looking around and come home. Stay on the phone with me until you hit the pack gates. I am walking there now. I’ll be waiting. I don’t… I can’t even breathe until you get here.”

  His words came out like a rage-tantrum, but it was all out of frustration that he couldn’t protect me at this moment—that he wasn’t with me when I was in danger.

  “I’m in my car. I’m on my way. I’m going to put you on Bluetooth.”

  While I drove, he distracted me with what had gone on during the day and, truth be told, it was like we were already mated. I was having a shitty day, and, clearly, he was. He told me about all the whining he had to listen to and the disputes he had to settle until, before I knew it, I was at the gates.

  Samson stood in front of them, arms crossed over his chest, that jaw grinding.

  I put my car into Park and got out. I ran to him. He swooped me up into a bear hug and nuzzled his face into my neck, inhaling deeply while his wolf almost purred through his chest.

  “I’m okay. I’m safe. I’m here with you,” I whispered.

  “Are you always going to be trouble, female of mine?”

  A shiver of lust and love wrapped like a ribbon along my spine. “Probably.”

  He pulled back, putting me on the ground and then cupped my face with his hands. “I need a drink. I should probably invest in a still at this point. I’m going to need it with you around.”

  “Probably so. You’re not so easy to deal with yourself.”

  He hung his head and nodded. “I’m working on it.”

  “So I see.”

  Chapter Nine

  That afternoon, tensions were high. Tris and Samson decided to debrief me, which meant they paced and asked pointed questions while I sat on the edge of Samson’s desk, feeling like a shackled criminal while they played good cop and, well, good cop.

  I went to my room later for a shower and had just gotten out when Samson burst in. “We found another scorch mark. This time, it’s right outside this house!”

  His voice boomed so loudly I nearly dropped my towel.

  “Don’t you knock?” I screeched, on edge and mostly done with the day. Anything would crawl all over my last nerve at this point and make me absolutely snap.

  His brow drew down, and he put his fists on his hips. “Well, Tris was downstairs, and I thought…”

  I chuckled and tightened my hold on my towel. Of course, I’d chosen the shortest towel in the whole damned bathroom to dry off with and then wrap around me. The thing was tucked into itself right above my breasts.

  “You thought that because Tris was somewhere else, there would be no reason in the world for me to be naked? I don’t shower or change clothes? Goodness, Samson, you’ve got some things to learn about women. Go on, tell me about these scorch marks.”

  Still in my towel, I fidgeted in my dresser drawers and fished out a pair of black lacey panties and a matching bra, on purpose of course. I tossed them onto the bed, and Samson went entirely ghostlike, his face devoid of all color while his mouth hung open.

  “Can you get dressed and stop flinging your…your things around?”

  He acted like I was stark naked and juggling my boobs.

  “No. You busted in here, you deal with it. Besides, you’ve seen me naked plenty of times.”

  He cleared his throat and diverted his eyes, but only for a second. I crouched down and took my time fishing out a sweater and a pair of jeans.

  “Not like this, female. Not…not like this.” His voice caught in his throat, and a thrill rushed through me. He was completely turned on. He wanted me. Why couldn’t he just give in?

  It would be everything for him to give in.

  “Fine.” I wrestled on a robe then pulled the towel from underneath once I’d tied the belt around my waist. “Now, can you talk?”

  He shifted from one foot to the other. “Maybe. Yes. Yes, I can talk. It’s another mark from Opal. And it’s right outside your window. It wasn’t there earlier. I passed by that tree when you were on your way home from school. It happened right here, right under our noses. And right under your bedroom window.”

  I walked to the window, my stomach pulling into knots. This was too close to home. There was someone following me at school, and marks under my bedroom window? Maybe all coincidence but my wolf was on full alert. To her, this was a direct threat.

  To me and to my mates.

  “It’s there,” Samson said over my shoulder. His breath lightly touched the side of my neck, and despite the fact I was supposed to be looking for the marks, I closed my eyes and took in this moment.

  I broke myself from his spell and parted the blinds. Sure enough, her mark was burned into the tree right outside my window and facing my bedroom.

  Without a second thought, I leaned into Samson’s chest and put my head back so it hit his shoulder. “Why me? I mean, it means they’re after me, right? It feels like this is just for me.”

  “I believe it is.” His arms wrapped around my middle and pulled me tighter against his torso. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, female. Neither of us are. I’ve already told T
ris. He and I will switch off watching you all the time.”

  I scoffed and turned but kept myself in his hold. “That’s ridiculous. You can’t watch me twenty-four seven. Besides, I can take care of myself.”

  He tore away from me, and his face evolved into all-business Samson right before my eyes. “I’m ordering you to stay in, then. You are not to leave this house until the threat is stopped.”

  I cracked up, going so far as to snort. “You’re kidding right? Last time I checked, you don’t tell me when and where I can go somewhere, Samson.”

  “I am not kidding. And as your alpha, I can order you to stay here.”

  I stomped. Yes, it was childish, but I did it anyway. “That’s bullshit and you know it. I’m not going to be prisoner in this house.”

  “You will because that way you are safe. I have to have you safe. I won’t settle for anything less. You will be protected here, and I can know that you are…well, that you are…here.”

  Clearly, he hadn’t gone over the points of his argument before coming in here. While I was pissed to all hell and back, I couldn't help my body’s reaction to his nearness. My core pulled taut, and my nipples perked, grazing the soft fabric of my robe. “I can take care of myself! You can consider this order disobeyed, alpha.”

  He took a step forward. “What do you want me to do here, Christie? I want you safe and protected but you fight me at every curve in the road. You want us to be mated, but when I show you how much you mean to me, you refute my efforts. Why can’t you just—”

  “I know,” I said, the realization of what was really happening crashed down on me like a burning ball of fire. “I know that’s what you are doing, but this is not the way.”

  His face was right in front of me, his hands gripping my hips. He was clinging to me for dear life as his eyes searched mine for the answer.

  “Then tell me what to do, female, because I sure as fuck don’t know.”

  That might’ve been the smartest thing Samson had ever said.

  “What we need to do is to fight this together. We are stronger together. Don’t you feel it?” I brought my body flush against his, our hips lined up, the evidence of his want very present between us which made me absolutely sway toward him in raw need. I pushed my hands under his shirt, his skin hot under my palms. My wolf howled at the connection.

  He needed this just as much as I did.

  “See that? We need each other. The three of us. We are meant to go through this life together. I am strong and capable of handling myself.”

  His eyes darted down to my lips then back to my eyes. “I know you are. You’re the strongest female I know. But I can’t help this overwhelming urge to protect you. It’s woven into who I am, Christie. How do I do both? How can I protect you when you’re so damned stubborn?” A smile played at one side of his mouth.

  “Be beside me instead of in front of me, Samson. We will stand side by side and fight this. Locking me up isn’t the answer.”

  He chuckled, the sound reverberating through him and spiraling into me. “You wouldn’t let me anyway.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.”

  He sighed and pulled away. “That’s why I have to decide for us both.”

  “What?” I scream-asked, my hands going to my hips. I was well-aware my robe had come undone and was showing the majority of my naked breasts but didn’t give two shits about it in the moment. Maybe they would distract him from his ass-ness.

  “This is for your own good.”

  Before I could cross the room, he had fled, the lock clicking behind him.

  “What the fuck, Samson?” I turned the knob, and when it didn’t give, I beat on the door. “You can’t do this! Ugh, what an asshole! I can’t fucking believe you!”

  I must’ve screamed and cried for an hour before giving up and slumping against the door.

  He had betrayed me by doing the one thing I feared the most, making me a female in a cage, locked up, useless, and broken.

  Exhausted from my tirade, I fell asleep right there, my fists bruised from punching the door, my throat on fire from all the screaming.

  Serious didn’t begin cover the level of trouble Samson was in with me.

  I might not even be able to forgive him for this.

  Chapter Ten

  Samson had to push the door with my limp, sleeping weight against it just to get in, some hours later. Or so he told me. At some point, I’d begun to cry in my sleep, and when he gathered me into his arms, I woke enough to grab on to his shirt and continue the pathetic non-warrior like tears. If I hadn’t been so completely worn out, I might have demanded he leave me alone, but I didn’t want that.

  It was the last thing I wanted, right next to being told when I could come and go like a child or a prisoner. He didn’t understand the terror I felt at that prospect. The betrayal at having it come from one of the two people I loved most. And the reason he didn’t understand that was because I’d never told him about the most terrifying experience of my childhood. And as he tucked me gently into one arm and laid me on the bed, I knew I’d done both of my mates a disservice.

  He went to my dresser and checked the drawers until he found a long, white cotton nightgown then returned and undressed me, one piece of clothing at a time, with gentle hands and his eyes averted. My tears stopped. I was behaving like a child coming out of a temper tantrum. No wonder he was treating me like one.

  Samson tucked me between the sheets and comforters then went to straighten up, but I reached for him. “I need to tell you something.”

  “It can wait until the morning, Christie. You need to get some rest. I just came to check on you and make sure you were all right.” He brushed his lips over my forehead. “Tris gave me hell, said I was being a dictator and that there was no real way I could stop you from leaving if you really wanted to.” His eyes looked so sad in the light coming from the open doorway that my heart squeezed. “And that if I wasn’t careful, I’d drive you away from us entirely.”

  “Oh, Samson, that’s not going to happen.” I scootched over to the other side of the bed. “Sit down or”— I flipped the covers back—“better yet, climb under the covers with me. It’s cold up here. I have some things to tell you that I should have long ago.” My throat was so raspy from my hysteria earlier, I could barely get the words out, but it was important. I’d scared them both, and they probably didn’t have a clue why.

  “Are you sure you don’t just want to sleep? We can talk in the morning.” He took a step away.

  My whimper seemed to galvanize him. In two seconds, he had kicked off his shoes and toed off his socks, yanked his shirt over his head, and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m going to take off my jeans because I’ve had them on all day, and they’re dusty. Also not comfortable for bed, but I want you to know I’m not making a move on you.”

  “Of course not,” I muttered, then snapped my lips closed. “Samson, if you think a ‘move’ on your part would not be welcomed by me, you’ve had your head up your…I mean, in the sand for months.” No point in using trigger phrases. That would not help me break the last barrier between us. “Just get in here and warm me up. I’m pretty chilled.”

  He lay beside me, and I pulled the covers up over us both. Then my alpha, my mate, one of two males I’d been destined to spend my life with., slipped an arm under my shoulder and brought me against his body.

  “You’re like a furnace,” I marveled, snuggling in closer. “Mmm.” My head rested on his chest, his heart beating under my ear at a mile am minute. “I’m warmer already.”

  “So, what’s this story you want to tell me?”

  I swallowed hard because it wasn’t one I liked to tell. Wasn’t one I even liked to think of because remembering could trigger anxiety. “You’ll probably think it’s silly, and it might not be a big deal to most people, but I think I need you to know—”

  “Christie, you’re one of the bravest people I know. If something happened to you that caused you to react the way you just did, I
pretty much only need to know who to kill.” He stroked my hair, and the tension I felt at bringing up this piece of the past eased enough I could get the words out. My mates were fierce warriors, and they made me feel safe in a way nobody ever had.

  “When I was very small, maybe four or five—oh gods, you’re going to think it’s stupid that it still gives me nightmares.”

  “As your pack alpha, I demand you tell me what is troubling you.” He dropped a kiss on my hair. “It’s my job to make things better.”

  “Hmm. Well, pack alpha, here goes. When I was four or five, I followed my mom down into the basement. That’s where the laundry room was as well as the furnace, a bunch of storage, all the basement things. I’d been down there a lot of times, with her, and it never seemed frightening at all. With the lights on, it was just a big open room with a concrete floor, brick outer walls, and a slightly musty smell. No biggie.”

  “Yes. I get that.” His lips tailed down to my ear, his warm breath tickling there. “Go on.”

  “As I said, with the lights on, it wasn’t anything to worry about. After all, Mom wasn’t scared of it. But that night, she didn’t know I’d followed her. It was well after dark, and I’d already been tucked in bed with my mountain of stuffed animals. All safe and asleep as far as she was concerned.”

  “Yes, of course.” Samson’s arm tightened around me, and I thought he had an idea what was coming.

  “So, I was poking around a box of Christmas ornaments in one corner, and not paying much attention to where my mother was, and then click! The overhead light went out. Before I could react, the door to the kitchen opened and closed, and then it was dark. All dark.”

  “Oh, Christie.” He tugged me to lie on top of him, hands stroking up and down my back. “That must have been beyond terrifying.”

  “I was so little, I couldn’t even come up with a plan, what to do, how to…how to find my way out. I was so scared to make a sound, and I crawled behind the boxes of ornaments and things and curled into a ball.”