MacDougal snorted and finally strode from the house. Watching him, Rory knew one day he’d have to do something about him. He wouldn’t continue to allow challenges to his leadership. His father would have already killed MacDougal by now. His thoughts were interrupted by Shay scrambling away from him. As soon as she gained her feet, she scampered off, running up the stairs. She never looked back.
Rory flinched at the sound of an upstairs door slamming.
What had he done? He looked at his hands with the claws still extended and thought back on all the times he’d seen his father do this very same thing to his mother. A man he’d sworn he’d never be like. With a cry of self-directed fury, Rory slammed his fists on the floor.
Slowly, cold resolve filled his being. It was his responsibility—no, his duty—to protect his mate, even from himself. Knowing what he had to do, he went to the kitchen wall phone and jabbed in a number. As he’d hoped, Kiesha answered the phone.
“Come get your bitch of a cousin. I no longer want her,” he snarled into the receiver and slammed the phone down before she could respond.
His beast let out a mournful howl that Rory refused to give voice to. He forced himself to walk out the door, shifted to wolf, and took off running into the woods surrounding the house, trying to exhaust himself enough to forget that he’d just sent away the best thing that ever happened to him.
Shayla rested her flaming cheeks on the cold tile of the shower while hot water poured over her. She, who didn’t embarrass easily, was mortified. She’d had sex—in front of witnesses!—and she’d never been so turned on in her life.
She groaned and brought her hands up to cover her face.
For all her bold speaking and thinking, she knew she really wasn’t the sexual libertine she pretended to herself and everyone else to be. Despite how brazenly she acted, this was over the top, even for her. Her sexually free attitude was simply a facade to keep men away. Most guys were intimidated by a more sexually experienced woman, afraid they couldn’t measure up and not willing to take the risk. The ones who were attracted to the challenge Shay managed to scare off in other ways.
With the exception of Rory, the guys she’d previously allowed into her bed were major geeks and nerds like herself. Maybe they were a bit immature, but they didn’t think her weird or strange because they were weird themselves. They’d have never considered turning sex into a spectator sport. Well, they might have considered it but definitely wouldn’t have the balls to do it.
Shay didn’t know which embarrassed her most: the way she’d literally preened under the lustful gaze of those two guys seeing her naked, or her reaction to Rory spurting his seed all over her body. She shuddered, but not in revulsion. He’d scent marked her to show his possession of her—something she’d read about in her study of werewolves—and she’d reveled in it. Almost turned and begged him to do it again.
Shay shook her head. And to think at the wedding reception they’d said that stuff she’d found on the Internet was pure fiction.
Kiesha had explained that as a result of her mating with Alex, she was slowly becoming a shifter. Hell, Conor had explained the process to Shay long before Kiesha knew who Alex was, back when she’d thought Conor was an amusing older gentleman who told the most fascinating stories. While Shay knew to expect the change in her DNA, no one had warned her that her very personality might change. That’s the only explanation she could find for her odd behavior.
She’d been acting like a bitch in heat ever since Rory first laid his hands on her.
Even now she didn’t want to wash his scent off, choosing instead to rinse the semen off. She reluctantly left the shower, knowing she couldn’t hide in here forever. She would have to face the man at some point. Once again it was time to put her game face on. It wouldn’t do to let Rory know the effect he had on her. The braggart would never let her live it down.
Shay wrapped a towel around her body and exited the bathroom, expecting to find Rory waiting for her. Instead the bedroom was empty and her cell phone was ringing. She lifted it off the bedside table and glanced at the display. Shannon. “Hey! Are you calling to see if your brother and I managed to kill each other yet?”
“What the hell is going on there?” Kee blasted, almost piercing her eardrum. “Pack your bags. We’re on our way.”
“Kee? Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon? And why are you calling from Shannon’s phone?” Shay asked, confused.
“We’re not going anywhere until we find out what’s happening,” she heard Alex say.
Alex was on the phone too?
“I’ll be there as soon as someone tells me how the hell to get there. If you won’t go with me, Alex Wolfe, I’ll take some of the guys,” Kiesha snarled.
“Kiesha, before you go running off, let’s find out what the situation is,” Shannon stated calmly.
“Kiesha, I can’t allow you to do that. You’ll start a pack war if you do,” Alex reasoned.
Situation? Pack war? Huh?
“Fuck that! This is my cousin we’re talking about. If you and Shannon won’t tell me how to get to her, I’ll find someone who will. Someone has to know where that fucker lives,” Kee said.
“Hey, watch it! That ‘fucker’ is my brother,” Shannon protested.
“Kee, be reasonable,” Alex cautioned.
“That’s easy for you to say. She’s not your kin,” Kiesha shouted.
“No, but Rory’s mine and I know he wouldn’t hurt Shayla,” Shannon argued. “Especially not when she’s carrying his cub.”
“Guys, what—” Shay said.
“Oh, but he has no problems doing it when she’s not?” Kee sarcastically questioned.
“Ladies, we still don’t know—” Alex began.
“I can’t believe you said that,” Shannon said on a growl.
“I should have followed my first instinct and castrated the bastard when I found out Shay was pregnant,” Kiesha snarled.
Okay, this was rapidly getting out of hand. Shay put her fingers between her lips and let out a shrill whistle into the phone. Her action gained immediate silence. Before anyone could say something else, she asked in a calm voice, “Would someone care to tell me what this is all about?”
When both Kiesha and Shannon began to make a heated response, she cut them off. “Alex, you tell me since you seem to be the only reasonable one at the moment.”
“Rory called Kiesha and told her to come and get you,” was his reply.
“No, he didn’t. First he called her a bitch, and then he told me to come get her. That he didn’t want her,’” Kiesha snarled.
“He said what?” Shay asked, her voice faint with shock.
“You heard me. He doesn’t want you there. I told these two…two…”
She heard Alex growl a warning.
“I told them what he said. However, neither one of them will tell me how to get to you, and they refuse to come and get you themselves,” Kiesha finished angrily.
Someone took a deep breath; then Shannon said, “Shayla, why would Rory tell Kiesha such a lie? I know he wants you. The man mourned the whole time you were gone. I’ve never seen him as content as when he’s with you. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out,” Shay said as bewilderment gave way to anger.
“Who cares why he said it? The fact is he did, and I don’t want her there,” Kiesha said.