Perfect Tales of the Were - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,26
on. Cody knew that meant Cassie had won over his sister with her charm and wit. He reached for her hand in the dark of the truck cab.
“Thanks for putting Megan at ease, Cassie. She usually isn’t so open with new people, but I had a feeling you’d hit it off,” he said into the darkness.
“She’s really nice, Cody. I’m just glad she liked me,” Cassie replied.
“Everybody loves you, Cass. Including me.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm, holding her gaze for a timeless breath. The only light that from the dashboard.
There it was. He’d just said he loved her, albeit in a roundabout way. Cassie seemed breathless, but she didn’t reply before he pulled up in front of her house, shutting off the ignition.
He let the silence go on. The last thing Cody wanted was to push her too far—which he might have just done. Silently, he escorted her out of the truck and up the steps to her front porch before pulling her into his arms. The nearly full moon lit his face as he looked down into her eyes, and he knew he had to say something to put her more at ease.
“I know I overwhelmed you tonight, sweetheart. I’m sorry about that, but there’s a lot you needed to know,” he told her quietly.
“I understand,” she said. “It’s just a lot to take in. And, mostly… I’m okay with it all. It’s just going to take some getting used to.”
“Isn’t that sweet?”
The man’s voice came out of the darkness seconds before Pepe stepped into view around the corner of the house. Upwind. If not for that, Cody would have scented his presence long before now.
“Something we can help you with?” Cody asked, putting Cassie behind him as Pepe moved closer.
A fresh scent from the other direction alerted Cody to the fact that Jones had come around the other corner of the house and was moving closer. A quick glance told him that both men were armed, and Cody caught the whiff of silver on the wind. Sonuva… They’d come loaded for shifter.
Only now, Cody realized he’d been completely set up. Pepe and Jones had been waiting for a shifter to show up after their bizarre staging of an animal sacrifice on Cassie’s land, and sure enough, one had. They had to have been watching Cody a lot closer than he’d realized if they knew enough to load their guns with silver. They either suspected—or worse, had actually seen him shift—and now, they were springing their trap.
“I have to give you two credit. I actually underestimated you both. I thought you were as stupid as you look,” Cody said quietly as the men flanked him, each one on the ground beneath the porch, about three yards from him, on either side.
“We saw you shift,” Jones said in triumph. “The other night, we saw you climb out your window in the dark and turn into a wolf.”
Damn. “You have proof of this?” Cody asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Saw it with our own eyes,” Pepe replied.
“If you think I’m a wolf, aren’t you afraid of getting mauled?” Cody taunted them, wanting to find out what they knew.
“There’s two of us. Even if you shift, one of us can shoot you before you injure the other,” Jones said. “We thought of that. Now, you can come quietly, or we can shoot you just enough to make you docile. Either way, we get paid, so I’d just as soon put a few holes in you, but Pepe said we should give you the chance to come along quietly.”
“You’re all heart.” Cody directed a disgusted look at Pepe. “So, just out of curiosity, is that all you know about shifters?”
“That’s all we need to know,” Pepe countered. “You’re human or you’re el lobo—a wolf. What more is there?”
“Well, there’s this,” Cody said, allowing the change to take him even as he moved.
He launched himself off the porch at his opponents in full battle form. It was the half-way point between man and wolf that had the deadly properties of both. Battle form was something young shifters trained to use because it could save their lives in just these kinds of situations, but only the strongest of shifters could hold the shift for longer than a few seconds.
Cody was a strong shifter. An Alpha of his own business empire. Joe was the Pack Alpha, but he kept others of various talents and abilities working for the good of the