Quin grinned at her gently, and then nodded. “Look at my eyes,” he said in a hypnotic voice. She did. Those beautiful blue eyes that she had noticed the first time she saw him. Then she was staring at the same eyes, except they belonged to a big dog. Shit a huge dog, no, a wolf! Wait a minute. Her brain refused to accept what it was seeing. A minute ago, a good looking, crazy man stood before her stripping, and now there was a huge wolf with the same eyes, in its place.
Cami had read all the books about werewolves and shifters. Hell, she even dreamed she had been one a few years ago, and had told Barry about the dream. The old man had smiled, and nodded, listening to her story. Never once calling her crazy, or strange, since when she woke it seemed so real. She loved that about him.
Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind. The wolf walked toward her, and she jumped up on the couch. “Good boy,” she said holding out her hand, hoping the wolf stayed where it was.
It cocked his head and looked at her. If she did not know any better, she would have thought it was laughing at her. It threw back its head, and made a gruff noise. Cami jumped over the back of the couch, and turned to make a run for it when two strong arms closed around her.
“Cami?” he whispered in her ear. “Let me explain.”
“Explain! You turned into a wolf! What is there to explain? Seems normal to me, you know just last week I saw a little girl turn into a bunny!” she screamed. She was becoming hysterical she knew, but really, who would believe her? She could call the cops and tell them a man who could turn into a wolf had taken her home. They would lock her up quicker than she could say werewolf.
“Cami, I am a shifter, the leader of a Were Pack here in Denver, werewolves to be exact. I was sent here by my parents to help establish a much needed Pack when it became clear the Were community was spreading to the United States. Our traditions were being ignored, lost over there, and we needed to establish some order. I am ninety-five years old and will live another hundred or so years. My mate will have the same life span as me when I claim her, no matter if she is human or Were. We mate for life, I can never have sex with another person, nor would I want to. I would cut off my right arm before I would hurt you,” he said calmly, turning her so she could look him in the eyes when he spoke.
She looked at him and thought, I should be committed for even sitting here listening to this.
Quin led her back to the couch and pushed her easily back to where she was sitting. He calmly walked over and pulled his pants back on. Foregoing the shirt, he came back and sat next to her. Taking her hands in his, he continued to explain. “Shifters are real. I am a wolf shifter, but there are others. I can only tell you about us. My Pack has about fifty—sixty members. We live in the three blocks that I own. We do things a little different from humans but essentially, we are the same. We just shift into wolves, when we want; during a full moon, we have to shift. We have our own laws and customs, all of which I will explain to you, but first we have to talk about us. I was explaining before when I first saw you that I felt different. You are my mate. The one chosen for me, the one meant to help me lead and guide the Pack where it needs to be. I am the Alpha and you will be the Alpha Bitch. You will have the same power as I do. First, there is the claiming, then, the introduction to the Pack, and last, the ceremony that puts you as the head female. The claiming is just as it sounds. We have sex and I mark you, then some of my life force is given to you.”
Cami sat and tried to process all he said. Seriously, she had to be having a nervous breakdown. He was talking about claiming and ceremonies, as if she was going to just accept this.
Frantically she looked around her, looking for the camera to explain what was going on. She was a boring librarian for god’s sake. She knew werewolves did not exist, but here there was a man sitting in front of her, she saw him change into a wolf, and then back to a man.
“I really need to leave now,” she said desperately.
“Honey, I need for you to understand. You are my mate, we need to be together,” he said. Quin tried to keep his voice gentle, but even he could hear the tension when he spoke. If she left, he would never see her again. Of that, he was sure.
“So you are telling me I can’t leave?” she asked, thinking she was going to go crazy if she could not get away from him.
“How about we compromise? You can sleep in the spare room. Take all the time you need to get used to this, and when you are ready to talk, I will be here. It’s not that you can’t leave. It's that if you do leave, I will feel the need to go with you until you are claimed as mine. My wolf is not going to let you out of my sight, or out of this building for that matter,” Quin reasoned. He could not stand it if she left him.
“Your wolf says I have to stay?” she said with a giggle bubbling from her lips. No way was she staying here. She needed space to think.
“Please, I will be here to answer all your questions. I will not bother you, unless you come to me,” he whispered.
“Fine, but I need space,” she said firmly. How had they gone from sex to this? It didn’t make sense. The first chance she got, she was going to go home. She wondered if there was a phone in the bedroom, she could call the police and have them come and get her. She just wanted to get out of here alive, and then she would re-evaluate her plans, and find another place for her store.
Quin stood and guided her to the hallway she saw when she first came into the apartment. He led her to the master bedroom. If she were going to stay here, she would be where she would eventually live. His bedroom was decorated very similar to the living area. He found the colors soothed him, and reminded him of the outdoors.
“I will leave you. If you need anything, let me know. I have arranged for a few of your things to be brought here,” he said, which earned him another frown.
“What do you mean you have arranged for some things to be brought here? I haven’t even given you my address,” she said.
“I got it from the lease,” he said sheepishly.
“You can’t just go around, trying to run my life! I barely know you, we just met today!” she said frustrated.
“I am sorry. I was just trying to make you comfortable,” he replied. Quin knew he was lying to her but he wasn’t going to tell her that she wasn’t going back to her apartment, tonight or any other night. She belonged here with him, and she was going to stay here.
“Whatever,” she grumbled and pushed him out of the room and closed the door. She was sure he wouldn’t be able to get into her apartment. The doorman would call the police if he didn’t have verbal permission from her to go into her apartment.
The man was arrogant and bossy. She wanted to try to wrap her mind around what he had told her, but it seemed like the more she thought about it, the worse and more unrealistic it became. Maybe he had tricked her and used illusion, maybe she had been given a drug that was making her see things. Crap, if she could just think of a good, explainable theory for what she had seen. Then, she could laugh, go about her life, and not really care one way or the other how this man felt. As it stood, she was drawn to him, and his crazy story, the ‘what if’s’ were too much for her to not stay.
She sat in the chair and looked out over the city she had come to love. Denver had been her solace when her mother had kicked her out of the house. When she was on the streets of other cities, she had been so scared and alone. When she arrived in Denver on a chance bus ride, she had spent her first night at the bus stop. A man had come through, sat, and talked with her about living in Colorado. His face had lit up when he spoke about the mountains. Curious, she hitchhiked to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Walking the trails and looking at the terrain, she had made the most important decision of her life, to stay somewhere. She found a job as a housekeeper at a hotel. It had been the height of tourist season, so she’d been given lodging, and food, as well as a solid paycheck. For the first time, she did not feel like things were hopeless.
The owner of the hotel had taken a liking to her and kept he
r on even in the off months. She saved her money and applied for college, never really thinking she would get in. When the acceptance letter arrived from the community college, she’d cried. Cami worked hard to keep up with her studies, and make something of her life. She had been a good student while growing up, surprisingly enough. It was the one place she could escape her reality. It was the same with books. They were her solace. Being able to lose herself in the world of books was the only reason she hadn’t gone crazy.
When her stepfather first started to pay attention to her, she had tried to stay away from him. Night after night, her mom would pass out on the couch and he would seek her out to talk. It would weird her out when he would lean in and breathe his disgusting beer breath in her face. Then he would find reasons to touch her. Soon, it became very obvious the man was going to be a problem. She tried to avoid him, but it never worked. On her sixteenth birthday, he came to her room to give her a present. At least that was his excuse. He wanted to give her a gift all right; the problem was Cami didn’t feel that sex was really a gift she wanted to have. He had pushed her on her bed and lain on top of her, groping and pinching her body, all the while telling her she was a woman now and needed to be ‘broken in’. Cami had screamed, and pushed him, but to no avail. When he had to rise up to try to pull her clothes off, she kicked him in the balls. She could still hear the screams of frustration and pain as she ran down the hallway. When she woke her drunken mother to tell her what happened, she had been even more degraded.
Her mother yelled at her for trying to lure her boyfriend into her bedroom. She blamed her for it all; wearing slutty clothes had been her reason. When she slapped her across the face, and told her to get out, Cami thought she had reached her low point. Her second night on the streets had proved her wrong.
Not knowing where to go, she had climbed to the roof of her apartment building and stayed up there. She went to school the next morning, hoping to find a friend who would be willing to let her stay with them. Not being able to find anyone, she had gone to the homeless shelter and checked in for the night. The counselor promised to help her gain her GED and get her a job. Thinking she had finally caught a break, she agreed to stay. When the male counselor told her if she gave him a blowjob, he would make sure she was at the top of the waiting list for testing. She realized she had no clue how she was going to survive.
Cami found one friend who was willing to hide her; unfortunately, Jo had been in a worse situation than she had been. Jo’s father found her living in the closet and kicked her out. Cami had been worried about her friend, her father had obviously been abusing her, but she had no other choice. Jo was the only person from her childhood she kept in touch with.
Cami moved from city to city, hitchhiking, trying to find someplace or someone that would give her a break. When she found the Rockies, she had found a home. It felt right to be here, surrounded by the wilderness. She’d studied local folklore in college, and knew many cultures believed in shape shifters. For many different reasons, they fascinated her. Thinking someone would have the ability to change form, and hunt or protect themselves, had been amazing. The more that she thought about it, she was starting to believe what Quin had told her. There were werewolves, and he was one of them. Holy crap, she was actually thinking it was the truth.
She knew that wolves traveled in Packs and mated for life. The males would only take one mate. The Alpha was always the strongest of the Pack, the one that makes the rules the Pack follows. She thought about all she knew about wolves and decided she was going to have to research a little more. If all of this was true, she really wanted to understand it. Finding out fantasy was reality was a little hard to grasp, but it was also extremely cool.
Cami sat, and thought, as the sun began rising. She was shocked to realize she had sat in the same chair all night thinking. Feeling a little more comfortable now that she had thought about what she saw, Cami rose and went to the bathroom. After cleaning up and brushing her teeth, she decided it was time to get some more information.
She opened the door slowly, and looked out into the hallway. No one was waiting for her, or guarding the door as she had feared. She thought when Quin had told her she had to stay, that she was virtually a prisoner. Obviously, she had over reacted again. She smelled breakfast being cooked, and followed her nose until she ended up in the kitchen. A small woman stood at the stove, cooking what looked like bacon and eggs.
“Excuse me?” Cami said softly.
“Oh dear!” the older woman exclaimed and turned around quickly. “I was trying to be quiet and get your breakfast ready before you woke.”
“Uh, I haven’t been to sleep yet, but thank you for that. Do you know where Quin is?” she said blushing at the look the woman was giving her. She certainly hoped the woman did not think she was a slut. She looked like the grandma she never had, and for some reason, she didn’t want the woman to think badly of her.
“He is in the office a floor below. He slept there last night after he called me to come and stay in the spare bedroom. Don’t worry; he explained the situation to me. I understand you may have some questions?” she said and began putting food on the table that was set for two. “Come on then, we can’t discuss this on an empty stomach. My name is Grace; I am the unofficial grandma of the Pack. I am cousin to Quin's mama. She asked me to come and help take care of these helpless men ten years ago. Trust me, if the big oaf screwed up the explanation, I will set it right.”
Cami smiled and sat down at the table and watched as the woman served her a huge helping of eggs, potatoes, and bacon. It was more food than she usually ate in the morning, but she didn’t complain; it looked wonderful. Cami waited as the woman filled a cup with coffee, and a glass of juice, and then set them before her. Finally, she settled into the chair across from her, and started eating and talking.
“First of all, this Pack was started by a much larger Pack in France. The Gevaudan Pack, originated in southern France when there was rumored to be a monster living in the woods eating people of a small town. Of course, it was not true, but it was a good cover for a small Pack that lived in the woods. They used the people’s fears to keep them out of the woods. The Pack grew steadily when people heard there was a place Weres could roam freely in the woods and not worry about being killed. The Alpha at the time was an excellent financier, and the Pack flourished. When my cousin and her mate took over, they were one of the most successful Packs in Europe. Aris and Thon are Quin's parents. They are very well respected in the shifter community, first for their amazing strength, and second for their compassion. When visitors from the United States would come to Europe to be changed, or their own wolves would rise, it became a concern that there were so few Packs in the States to help them. Aris and Thon went to the Council in Europe and asked them to set up a Council in the United States. It was not a popular stance to take because the wolves in Europe tend to be a little snobby. Once there was word that Rogues were attacking small Packs, they decided the time had come to send someone over to help set up the hierarchy. Quin was set to be the next Alpha of the Gevaudan Pack. He was the strongest and the oldest of their children. Quin has four brothers, all Alphas, and all pains in the ass, but that is another story. His parents asked him to come over to the States and establish a smaller Gevaudan Pack. Always up for a challenge, he accepted knowing that his mate was probably in Europe, and he would have to wait for years, if not decades, in order to find her. You see, when an Alpha is unclaimed, he does not have the same strength as one that has his mate. Together they lead the Pack, and Quin has had to deal with everything on his own for the last ten years. It has been hard on him to be alone. He told me you are his mate. I’m sure you have a lot of questions you want answered, but let us get the most important out of the way first. No, you will not become a wolf.” The woman smiled at her. Cami blushed again because that is what she had been thinking.
“What did you mean when you said some people would come over to Europe to discover their inner wolf???
? Cami said.
“Well, that is a little more difficult to explain. Most Weres are born and raised in a Pack. Some of the others who refuse to accept their wolf ignore the call and never change. They make a life, and never speak about what they are. Those people have children and never tell them their true heritage. When a wolf comes in close contact with other wolves, they tend to try to push to the surface. In the United States, there are a lot of wolves who do not even know they are wolves. Their families immigrated in order to get away from a Pack, and they didn’t tell their children. There are many people who are wolves, but don’t know it yet. They have buried their wolves, or don’t know how to call to them. They will feel it though,” the old lady said.
Cami nodded and thought for a minute before speaking. “So, since I’m not a wolf, what does that mean for Quin? I mean, I can never be what he is, how will I ever help him if I can’t change?”
“Dear, just being by his side will give him what he needs. You don’t have to be a wolf to share with one. You will be just as important, if not more so. You will be his calm in the storm. He could change you if you decided to. Of course, that would be a little harder on Quin, since newly changed wolves are unpredictable. You are the Alpha mate, one of the leaders; it would not be good to have you running willy-nilly all over the place. If you want my opinion, stay a human. You can decide later if you feel the need to change,” Grace said, stood, and cleared the table.
Cami jumped up to help. “How does all this work? If I am the leader, is that all there is? I mean, I have dreams too. I wanted to open a bookstore and travel.”
“First, you will have to get used to being the Alpha female. You don’t clean up your stuff, you have others do that for you. You can own a bookstore too. I’m sure some of the Pack would be willing to help you set it up, and work in the store. You will be like a manager, work, Pack, and Quin,” she explained. “It takes some getting used to, but I think you are just the woman for the job. So do the spirits or they never would’ve chosen you for Quin.”