Feral Ch. 04

Sean's black 1969 Dodge Charger was parked on the curb. Tianna walked him around the side of the car to the driver's side door. He fingered his keys pensively before leaning back against his car door and pulling her against him crushing her breasts against his muscular chest, his heavily tattooed arms going around her. He watched surprise flickered in her dark eyes as he held her securely in place.

Her glance darted towards the house, certain that Ethan was watching whether she could see him or not.

"Tia," Sean gently wrapped his hand around her hair and forced her to meet his serious gaze. "Call me and I'll come get you. No questions asked, okay?"

"Yeah," she swallowed thickly. "Of course." Not a chance in hell.

He wrapped her in a tight hug before pressing a kiss to her brow and running a hand over her dark hair.

The car door slammed, the engine roared to life before settling into a low rumble and he was gone. Tianna stood momentarily in the street, watching him turn the corner before striding back into the house.

Ethan was still sitting on the couch. She was sure his relaxed posture was feigned. The TV clicked off and he set the remote on the couch. Tianna was going to ignore him completely when he spoke. "So what's up with you and the meat boy?"

Tianna shot him a scathing look as she halted in the doorway. "Don't be melodramatic. You guys don't eat people."

Ethan leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. He grinned, displaying elongated canines. "I could make an exception, sweetheart," he drawled.

Tianna snorted, gave him the middle finger and strode upstairs to sort through her things and pack up.

Her bedroom felt odd, as though it were somehow tainted by the presence of some unknown stranger. She could smell him on her clothes as she shoved them into a suitcase. There was no way she was going to wear any of them until they'd been washed. The idea made her queasy.

Sighing she made her way across the hallway to the guest bedroom which had been left untouched and opened the closet.

Her best friend Eva came to Shendaken often. Eva was from Manhattan and had been Tianna's best friend since birth. She worried incessantly about Tianna moving out into what Eva called "the middle of nowhere bumfuck," so she was a regular visitor and kept a small wardrobe there. Considering the circumstances, Tianna was sure Eva wouldn't mind if she borrowed a couple things.

Stripping off of her scuffed leathers, she pulled on a pair of Eva's black faux leather leggings and an oversized cable knit sweater before shoving her feet back into her motorcycle boots.

Her unease growing, she picked up her suitcase, took one final look over her decimated room and went to join Ethan downstairs.

Ethan reached for her bag but she jerked it away from him. "I got it." She snarled and tossed it into the back of the Range Rover.

Just as she was about to get in the SUV when the Porsche Boxter screeched to a halt behind them. Trent and Nick emerged.

Nick was grinning broadly. "We came for your car."

Rolling her eyes, Tianna handed him her keys. "Don't drive it like you drive your penis on wheels."

Nick laughed. "Actually, it's Ethan's car."

"Figures," she grumbled climbing into the Range Rover. "The garage remote is on the keychain."

She slumped in the front seat and watched Nick climb into her brand new maroon Jeep Rubicon. Ethan climbed into the driver's seat of the Range.

"You know I could drive my own car," she grumbled.

Ethan lifted a flaxen brow. "I'm not really in the mood for a car chase today, darlin'," he drawled. "You have a habit of fleeing."

Tianna said nothing but stared out the window as he pulled out of her driveway. If possible the ride back to Greystone was even more silent and uncomfortable than before.

Tianna leaned her brow against the cool glass of the window and watched the green of the trees blur past.

The cold sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach was spreading through her chest, freezing her lungs. She squeezed her eyes just and concentrated on breathing deeply and fighting down the panic. She didn't like feeling out of control, like her life's course was being snatched from her own hands.

Ethan glanced at her as he drove. His gaze roved over the smooth golden brown curve of her cheek and the dark hair that fell in loose wild curls around her shoulders. He could hear her heart beating rapidly, her breath coming in low shallow gasps. Her thickly lashed eyelids were pressed shut.

"Tianna, are you alright?"

Her eyelids snapped open but she didn't look at him. Her mouth thinned into a tight line. "I'm fine."

Ethan shook his head. She was scared, he understood that. Beneath all her bravado, she was still very young. At twenty-one, she was eight years his junior but she was lifetimes behind him when it came to pack life. He understood that Dominic had wanted to shield his daughter and yet give into her demands for freedom. But Tianna Moore wasn't just any young woman. She was the first of her kind in centuries and as such there would always be those that would seek her out. The sooner she understood that her very existence was dangerous the better.

When the caravan of vehicles pulled up in front of Greystone manor she was out of the car before he could say another word to her.

Tianna was retreating, fighting back tears and steadying her breath until she was behind closed doors. But the scent that hit her as she entered the huge home stopped her dead in her tracks. The heady scent of citrus and ginger was more familiar to her than anything. She dropped her bag in the foyer.

"Mom?" She ran towards the study. "Mom!"

Alaina Ralston appeared in doorway to the study. She looked decidedly unsettled but smiled a genuine smile when she saw her daughter.

Tianna flung herself into her mother's arms and held on for dear life.

Alaina closed her daughter tightly in her arms and gently stroked her dark hair. "Oh sweetheart, sweetheart..." She held her trembling daughter in her arms, shooting Aaron Thorne a dark look. Her daughter had not cried in her arms since she was a child and Aaron Thorne would pay dearly for whatever he had done to Tianna to elicit such out of character behavior. Alaina Ralston took her daughter's face in her hands, her amber eyes roving over Tianna's features. "Oh, sweetheart, are you alright?"

Tianna swallowed back a sob and nodded mutely. No, she was not alright but she was not going to distress her mother further. "Mom, what's going on? No one will tell me anything."

Alaina looped her arm around her daughter's waist and faced Aaron Thorne. "And we're going to remedy that right now, aren't we Aaron?"

Tianna's demeanor quickly shifted, her face growing impassive and cold when she noticed Aaron standing in the doorway of the study.

Her mother glared at him. "If you've mishandled my daughter in any way, you will be sorry for it Thorne."

Aaron inclined his head. "I assure you, Alaina, that any mishaps along the way were purely accidental and unintended. For that I apologize. Please," he stepped aside and gestured for them to enter the study before him.

Alaina grasped her daughter's hand and the two women entered the study, seating themselves in the two overstuffed armchairs facing the Alpha's desk.

Aaron seated himself behind the desk while Ethan came to stand at his shoulder.

Aaron looked intently at Tianna. "Im sorry that things got out of hand when we came to collect you. Ethan is not known for his finesse."

Tianna glanced at Ethan to watch him shrug indifferently and felt fury causing her hands to curl tensely around the arms of the chair. She'd like nothing better than to smack that smirk off his handsome face.

"Here," Aaron slid a rumpled, stained manila envelope across the table.

Lifting her brows in question, Tianna opened the envelope and reached inside to pull out a stack of color photographs, her unease growing as she slowly sifted through them.

Each was a photograph of her; at the grocery store, the bar, on her bike, hanging out with Sean. She lifted an angry gaze to Aaron. "You've been following me?"

Aaron shrugged. "Of course, we've been keeping track of you but we didn't take those photos. We're not sure who did."

Tianna's brows drew together in confusion. "What do you mean you're not sure?"

Aaron sighed. "Ethan took the Boxter into town last week to get some supplies. When he came out of the grocery store the envelope was on the seat of the car."

Tianna frowned. "I haven't smelled any other wolves, haven't sensed them. No other weres have been lurking around my house. I would know. It's just some human creeper, and 'human' I can handle.

Aaron leaned forward. "I've no doubt that you can handle yourself against a human threat, Tianna, but we don't think that is the case."

Tianna shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Aaron continued. "If it were simply a human threat then why give the photos to Ethan? Why make that connection? How?"

Tianna was silent, uncertain.

Aaron leaned back in his chair armchair. "The mutts have been congregating, seeming to put aside their differences. And there are rumors that Drake has returned."

A gasp escaped Alaina's lips. "Drake?"

Tianna blinked, her father's recollections flooding her mind. Drake, the former pack werewolf expelled after attempting to usurp the former Alpha by less than honorable means. He'd then gone one to rally the mutts against the old order, resulting in decades of violence and bloodshed.

"Why now?" Tianna asked

Aaron was silent, his mouth thinning as he seemed to consider his words carefully.

Ethan spoke in a low voice. "Perhaps we have something he wants."

Tianna and Ethan stared at one another. "Something..." Tianna murmured, feeling dread well in the pit of her stomach.

Alaina reached over and grabbed her daughter's hand. Tianna could feel everyone's eyes on her.

Aaron's voice was also low when he spoke. "It isn't as if men and mystic women haven't..." he glanced at Alaina, "been involved intimately before, but there has never been offspring. We have generally come to believe that we are not genetically compatible. Once again, Tianna, you are an exception to the rule." Watching her intently he seemed reluctant to speak his next words. "Do you know what you smell like to our kind Tianna?"

Tianna blinked and stared at him, recalling the mutt who had dragging her into an alley, intent on raping and mating her against her will. "You smell like a bitch in heat," he had growled.

Tianna sqeezed her eyes shut leaned forward burying her face in her hands, and let out a shuddering breath.

She lifted her gaze to Aaron. "But I scented no wolves."

Aaron nodded. "True, if a mutt or Drake had been there, you would have known. We would have known. We think that they're using a human to track you." he made a small shrug of his shoulders. "Of course we could be mistaken, but the photographs and the break in would suggest a distinct interest in you."

Tianna lowered her gaze t her scuffed boot tips. All of her life she had revelled in the power, strength and freedom of her heritage. Now, she had never wished more than anything to be just a normal twenty-one year old. "So I'm stuck here," she ground out, once more meeting Aaron's dark gaze.

"Tia honey," Alaina began. "I think it would be best if you stayed with the pack, not just one their land. For the time being anyway."

Tianna nodded absently as she slumped in her seat.

Alaina glanced at the two werewolves. "Could I have a moment with my daughter?"

Aaron and nodded silently and rose from his seat. He and Ethan left them, closing the study door behind them.

Alaina turned to her daughter and took her hands in her own. "Listen, honey," she began.

"You don't actually believe them do you?" Tianna was incredulous.

Alaina sighed. "Our own people have noticed that something is going on with the mutts. And even we have heard the rumors of Drake's return."

Tianna groaned.

"Your father and I don't agree on much," Alaina told her. "But we will always agree on your safety."

"Here at Greystone?"

Alain nodded. "Yes, here at Greystone."

Tianna was silently considering this when her mother rose from her seat. "Are you going already?" she blurted, fighting the rapidly rising sense of panic.

Alaina looked apologetic. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but I've got to let the council know what's going on." And then she was gone, slipping out silently.

Tianna stood frozen, fighting the unease and fear that swelled in her chest. She gritted her teeth. Feeling as though she might scream she took off, flinging open the study door and stopping short when she saw Ethan and Aaron standing and waiting expectantly.

"Tianna--" Aaron began but Tianna skirted around him sprinted swiftly up the stairs to the bedroom assigned to her, slamming the door behind her.

Growling, she paced as she felt the wolf in her rebelling at the sense of confinement. She snarled at the hesitant knock on the door. "Go away, Ethan."

The door was cautiously pushed open to reveal Nick looking a bit apprehensive. "Can I come in?"

Tianna's gaze was wary as she searched his face for any hint of malice or deception. Finding none, she nodded.

Nick entered the room, closing the door slightly behind him though not allowing the lock to click closed. He didn't want any misconceptions about what he was doing there. "May I?" He nodded to the armchair beside the bed.

She nodded and glanced at the bed but decided to remain standing instead.

Nick smiled ruefully, noting her preference.

He leaned forward, elbows and knees, hands clasped. "I just wanted to talk to you," he said, his face earnest. "I wanted to let you know that I know what you're going through."

Tianna snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, shooting him a skeptical glare. "You know what it's like to be the only one of your kind and to smell like walking sex to every male werewolf who you come into contact with?"

Nick only smiled at her prickliness and shook his head. "No, but I know what it's like to run from the pack, and to fight tooth and nail to get out of it."

Tianna stared at him, reading the veracity in his hazel gaze. She sat on the edge of the bed facing him. "You weren't always pack? But your father is pack."

Nick shook his head. "Yes, my father is pack but he knocked my mother up and she split before he even knew she was pregnant. I was eight by the time he tracked me down. My mother had been dead for the past three years and I had been living with my grandparents ever since." He shrugged. "I was a handful, prone to outbursts and getting into trouble. When a man --of whom I was the spitting image—showed up claiming to be my father, they practically handed me right over without so much as a peep. He brought me here to Greystone like any other pack son. But my father was distant and pretty tough on me. To be honest I don't think he really cared for me much."

Tianna's brow furrowed. "Then why find you at all?"

"Because it's pack law." He answered. "If a pack member fathers a son, that son will be a wolf and that son must be brought to the pack."

"So what did you do?"

"I ran," he answered. "I ran away at every opportunity, but he always brought me back."

Tianna studied him, "And yet here you are. What changed?"

Nick grimaced. "College. I met this girl, Kate."

Tianna cocked her head at the way he said the name, with awe and adoration but laden with regret. Undoubtedly there was regret there.

Nick hesitated as if he was unsure of what he wanted to tell her.

Tianna scoot back further on the bed. She kicked off her boots and pulled her legs up beneath her. "So what happened?"

Nick shrugged. "She was human." He stared at the tips of his black wingtips, his voice growing absent. "We were engaged after senior year. I had to keep a secret from the pack. It's forbidden. But I decided to reveal myself to her."

His gaze shot to Tianna's shocked face at her audible sharp intake of breath. "But--" she stopped herself. "What happened?"

Nick lowered his gaze. "I had thought that she loved me so much that she would love me no matter what I was. I wasn't like the others. I wasn't raised knowing what would happen to me when I hit puberty. I rejected it, fought my changes when I could. More than anything, I just wanted a normal life. But Kate...I wanted her know who I really was...all of me..." His voice trailed off.

"She ran," Tianna murmured, watching flickers of emotion pass over his face.

Nick glanced at her. Her features were as soft as he'd ever seen them. It caught him slightly off guard. The girl was far too beautiful for her own good. He felt his loins tighten again his will. He gave a mental curse. 'No wonder she always had her hackles up,' he thought and pushed the lust down. He swallowed. "Yeah, she ran." He grimaced. "She called me a monster. Didn't want anything to do with me."

Tianna let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry, Nick," murmured, fully meaning it.

Nick nodded, examining the floral patterns in the carpet. "I learned then that the pack was my family. They would be there for me unconditionally. Once I accepted that, they became my brothers. We protect each other with our lives. There's nothing we wouldn't do to defend the pack."

Tianna leaned back on her hands, regarding him critically. "Is this the part where you pitch that I could be a part of that too?"

Nick grinned, a rueful smile on his handsome face. "Yeah, basically."

Tianna smirked. "Nice try, but I don't think I fit into the whole 'brotherhood' scheme of things."

She smiled tightly as Nick rose. "Think about it, Tianna. You felt like I did. You've never belonged anywhere. You could belong here."

Tianna studiously examined her fingernails as Nick left the room.