Chapter 70

CALEB

Standing in the alley, hidden by the shadow of a huge dumpster, I watched carefully for any movement. I was feeling lucky. Something told me, deep in my bones, that I’d get some kind of hint about the creature that night.

Megan still hadn’t been down yet, but I can’t say I was surprised by that. I just barely touched her arm yesterday and she freaked out. She must have felt it, too. We were fated mates, of fucking course! I wasn’t keen on seers, I mean she had a rockin’ body and she was fucking funny and smart, but there’s no way I’d go for a seer in any other circumstance.

Part of me just wanted to ignore it, move on with my life, and pretend that I never felt it.

Hell, I think I felt it the first time I met her.

I just tried to push it off as a seer thing because I didn’t want it to be true.

Seers were why my childhood best friend was dead.

When I was just barely drinking age, a group of them came into town, four or five of them, and started predicting so many things about people's lives. A couple would predict only good things, while others would predict bad things, but tell people how to correct them.

So many things they predicted were correct.

They saved a little girl's life, helped a couple of fated mates find each other, and even helped a mother find her child who had wandered too far into the woods.

They were like saints, coming through our town and blessing us with knowledge.

After about six months, their predictions started getting stranger.

One of them, a bear-shifter seer, claimed that the bank had to throw out a couple hundred thousand dollars because if they didn't the computer would malfunction, and every account would get ruined. Another said that everyone who lived in a certain house and wasn't a seer would die an untimely death within a matter of weeks.

She, of course, volunteered herself as the person to stay and live in the place.

You can guess who the money went to as well.

After that, there was pushback from the Carved Flames. Our leader at the time, the current leader’s father, Ricky, was quick to cast doubts on them. He saw they were using people and decided to say something about it.

They turned on the Club.

They pointed a finger at my best friend, the man I’d known since before we could walk, and said that he was going to kill his mate. They said if the town didn’t stop him, he’d turn on everyone. He was a dragon shifter, so immediately they assumed the seers were right.

He was locked up, they had witches steal away his ability to shift. He didn’t survive it.

They did similar things to other members, casting doubts on them until the whole town almost tried to kick us out. Then, without warning, as though they’d had all the fun they needed. they left. Three shifters from the club were dead or gone.

They stole money, power, possessions.

Anything they could get, making people believe that they were doing them a favor by stealing from them.

This was only about six years ago. It was still fresh in my memory.

There was a chance that she could be different.

I just knew that seers were rare, and the only ones I met before her couldn't help themselves but use their powers for their gain.

I heard footsteps coming towards me and it pulled me out of my thoughts.

Speak of the devil.

She was running quickly, a couple of trash bags in her hands. She was wearing short shorts, and her top was low enough that when she ran, I got to see her boobs jiggle. Her being a seer was completely wiped from my mind,

I wanted her. Forget if she could see the future, that just meant she could see how good I was going to fuck her the second she wanted me, too.

“It’s tonight! Move!” she shouted.

I looked into the alley and there was something huge there. Impossibly big.

I shifted, feeling my clothes rip off of me, and she did the same. What a waste of short shorts.

The thing charged at us, it looked like an oversized lion, but down its sides were striping. Its claws were shaped hip and huge, and it went for my throat. I was able to dodge.

It could have killed me if she didn’t warn me. It would have easily ripped my throat out.

She angrily howled and barked at it, distracting it from me, and made it follow her back down the alley. I chased behind them, I had to jump to get my teeth into its hindquarters. I’m a large wolf when I’m shifted, and this thing was like chasing down a truck.

It was gaining on her, there was no way in hell I was going to let it get her.

Fuck that, she had to live.

I aimed for the gut now, going for his stomach so that I could just tear him open. The damn thing yowled at me, making such a loud noise that it was almost deafening. Shifters appeared from everywhere, coming to see what the noise was.

I recognized a couple of the Carved Flame members and barked at them to join us.

We reached the woods before anyone else could do anything, and it was gone.

It ran past Megan and vanished.

I shifted back and ran to her to make sure she was okay.

She was human again, too, leaning against a light pole on the edge of the forest, catching her breath. I was so damn happy she was alive, I wanted to grab her and hold her, but since we were both still naked from the shift, I didn’t think it would be right.

“How far did we go?” she asked as she panted. “Almost two miles,” I nodded.

"I was able to nip at its face as it passed if anyone shows up to the hospital with that tomorrow, they can turn him in," she said.

I nodded dumbly, not able to focus on all of these other shifters and men around while she was bare to the world.

“Let’s shift to walk back,” I offered.

I was going to tear out someone’s throat if they tried to make a move on her.

She nodded, not fighting it, and let me lead her back to her apartment

complex. When we got there, she motioned for me to follow her up to her apartment.

She disappeared into her room and came out a moment later in pajama pants and a tee-shirt.

“Here, it’ll probably be too small for you, but they’re the largest things I own.”

She handed me a large men's shirt and a pair of loose basketball shorts. “Are these your boyfriends’?” I asked without thinking.

“No, they’re mine, that shirt is big enough to be a nightgown one me,” she laughed. I nodded, and she looked away while I dressed. She was single, thank God! I didn’t need any other wrenches being thrown in the way.

“What the fuck was that thing?”

"A liger, I think," she walked over to her fridge and got out a couple of cans of beer.

Oh, my God, I love this woman.

She handed me one and I cracked it open to drink it. “What the hell is a liger?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” she laughed. “A lion and a tiger, I mean, did you see it?”

I nodded and looked her over. She seemed unharmed. “How did you know I was down there?”

“I saw it in a vision,” she admitted. “Well, kinda. I saw you with a huge neck scar, didn’t think it was a good look.”

She laughed, just to ease the tension, and I smiled. “Well, damn, thank you.”

“Of course,” she smiled. “Why can’t I join the Club?” She brought it up again and I felt guilty.

The reason felt so weird now, she wasn’t like them.

“I can’t say if they’ll let you in now,” I admitted. “Their reasoning, and what used to be mine, is a handful of seers came through town, caused

some deaths, and stole using their powers. I don’t see you being that kind of girl, but pain runs deep.”

“Ah,” she nodded and looked down at the ground between us.

“So, yours only works if you look someone in the eyes?” I’d noticed she was avoiding my eyes that first night. Now when I looked at her it drove me crazy.

“Yeah,” she nodded. Wait.

“How did you have a vision of my future if you never looked me in the eyes?”

Her face tinged red a little, it was cute as hell on her.

“I caught my own eyes in the mirror. It was a vision about me, to be honest.”

“What was it about?”

I didn’t mean to press, but with how she was acting it left me curious. “Does this town believe in fated mates?”

Before she could say anything else, before I could answer her, I was kissing her. I pulled her against me and was relieved when she kissed me back. It was incredible, so much more than just a simple kiss should be, my body reacted like I was already mating her like she was already mine.

She fisted her little hands in the shirt she gave me, keeping me close to her.

Tilting my head, I deepened the kiss and let our tongues slide against each other.

I moved my hands from her hips down to her ass, and she moaned against my mouth.

If I didn’t mate her soon I felt like I was going to die. She was mine.

Before I could take it any further, she pushed me away a little. “Wait, wait,” she said softly.

“What?” I kissed her again and was pleased when she kissed me back.

“Your phone is buzzing,” she said softly and motioned over to the desk. I’d grabbed it on the way up and just kind of slung it there. If this wasn’t important I was going to murder somebody.

“Hello?”

“Caleb, we have the thing cornered, get out here if you can, so you can ID it’s the right thing.” It was my club leader.

“Alright, text me the address, I’ll be there in a minute,” I sighed. I didn’t want to stop this. “We could always just finish what we started here first,” I teased. I knew I was thinking with my dick, but, God, she made it hard not to.

“If I have you, I …” her voice trailed off, “I’m not sure I’ll want to leave the bed for hours,” she admitted.

That went straight to my cock if she hadn't had me riled up already, I sure as hell was now.

She was right, though, there were other priorities.

“Alright,” I kissed her one more time before backing down. “You’re mine, though.”

Her face was almost the red color of her hair at this point. “Let’s take care of that God-damned cat."