Page 97 of Shrouded in the Dark
“She’s fine, Gary. As far as I can tell, she’s adjusted naturally to the enhanced senses. I doubt she barely notices it. I’m planning on working with her later with shifting into her different animal forms.” I grabbed the razor I found in the medicine cupboard with the shaving cream. I started to apply the cream to my face.
“Good. Thank you for being there. I owe you one. I’m dropping the kids and wife off at home later today. I’ll head up right after.” He sounded exhausted.
I paused as I placed the phone on the counter. With my hearing, I didn’t need it on speaker. “Gary, it might be a good idea for you to wait a few more days. I’d like some time to work with her alone, not to mention,” I winced as I nicked some skin but it started to heal right away. “She’s in heat, Gary.” I smirked at the curse he yelled out. “Sorry, but it might make it awkward for you to be here. Let us work this out and then we can all meet up and decide what we’re going to do moving forward.”
“We?” Gary hissed. “Wyn, what do you mean ‘we’?”
Oh, this was just too fun. “I’m one of her mates, apparently.” I finished shaving as Gary continued to curse in the background. “So, does this mean I can call you ‘dad’?”
He hung up abruptly as I burst out laughing.
I had just finished wiping my face with a washcloth when a knock sounded on the room door. I stepped out of the bathroom. Whoever it was had been quiet enough that I hadn’t heard anything. My bet was on the wolf or the fox.
“Enter.”
I was wrong. It was Becca.
* * *
Becca
The argument I’d had within myself would have been funny if anyone had been able to listen in. Jasper had been concerned when I’d gone quiet after our talk, but I had smiled at him and told him it was nothing.
I argued with myself about coming up to talk to Wyn alone. I knew the guys may not approve of it because they didn’t know him, but I did. Kind of. My animal trusted him and he’d not done anything to show that he was untrustworthy.
That’s how I’d found myself outside of his door on the third floor. He’d been talking to someone on the phone, but it had been muffled, I couldn’t hear clearly. When he’d laughed, jealousy shot through me like lightning. I knocked right after.
“Enter.” His voice affected me like Seth’s. His voice was a little harder, a soldier taking on the world. He was standing just outside of the bathroom door in just jeans.
My brain short circuited briefly. I took in the muscles of his chest, the clear and defined Adonis belt that dipped below his waistline. But what stood out the most, were the scars that littered his skin. Most looked older, faded. A few were newer and angry looking. I stepped up to him without realizing it and ran my index finger along a pink scar that ran along his collar bone.
“I thought our animals healed us. How come you have so many?” My brows furrowed in concern for him. “These look like they were painful.”
He stared down at me quietly, letting me touch him. When I met his eyes, they softened somewhat.
“It might be a hybrid thing. I heal the same as shifters, but bad injuries tend to scar.” He still hadn’t moved as I continued to explore his scars with my hands. “The same reason why you have the scar on your hand now.”
One large scar started at the middle of his stomach and wrapped around his back. I followed it, ducking under the arm he held up so I could keep contact on his skin. The gasp that came from me was soft. His back was worse than his front.
Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes. “How can you stand it?”
He lowered his arm, looking at me over his shoulder. He offered a self deprecating smile. “I don’t have much of a choice, kitten.” He turned to face me. “Sometimes shifters don’t trust a Venandi who is promising to help them.”
His expression was tired. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and he’d been dealing with this all on his own. My arms went around his waist, offering him my strength and comfort. It was really all I could do. When his arms wrapped around my back hesitantly, I relaxed.
I’d been worried that he wouldn’t want my touch. Silly, now that I thought of it. He’d been nothing but kind since I’d first met him. Even before this summer, he’d helped me with the smallest thing that had made all the difference to me.
“Becca,” that rough voice softened. “I know this is all new to you. I live in a violent world. It’s only going to get more violent. I know that our animals have accepted each other, but if this is going to be too much for you, I’ll walk away as soon as Gary gets here.”
It felt like a knife jerked itself into my heart and twisted. My animal hissed. My arms squeezed his waist as I looked up at him.
“Do you not want this?” I wouldn’t force anyone, even if my animal was persistent.
He’d shaven, and his jaw clear of hair made him seem younger. I resisted the urge to touch it.
“Of course I do.” He shook his head. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in this life, and it scares me. When I met you at your dorm room? I was drawn to you. Not just now. There’s just something about you that screams ‘home’ to me. I don’t want you to get hurt because you’re with me. I don’t think you quite understand how dangerous my life is.”
Stepping away from his arms, I started to pace along the floor. “Look. I get that the Venandi are bad news. I get that you used to be one and now work with Gary to try to stop them. All that means to me is that you’re a good person. You’ve made mistakes. You’re trying to save people. I want to be able to help you. Isn’t that why you’re going to help train me?” I stopped pacing, placing my hands on my hips. “I’ve changed. I’m not stupid. I can feel how my animal wants to rip her teeth into anyone who could hurt you or the others.” I looked down at my hands, spreading my fingers. “Before, I would have been terrified of these thoughts that flash through my mind. Now? I want to help her. I want to help you.”
