Jayce: Shifters of Timber Rock Page 3

  “Oh. I’ve met quite a few shifters back home, but none were like those men. I’ve never seen any of them shift either.” I took the water and guzzled nearly half the glass down. “Thank you.”

  He dropped the bottle of painkillers in my hand. “I had these in a first aid kit.”

  “Where am I?” I asked, taking the meds.

  “This is my home. My name is Jayce Pembroke.”

  “Thanks for helping me, Jayce.”

  “What do I call you?”

  “Violet.”

  He stared at me for a long moment. “Violet,” he repeated. “Your eyes…”

  “Yes.” I smiled. “My eyes are violet.”

  “They’re beautiful. I mean…you’re beautiful,” he stuttered. “I apologize if I’m making you uncomfortable. I just can’t believe I found you like this.”

  “I can’t believe I’m in this predicament myself,” I said, laughing nervously.

  “I know a lot of people get lost out here thinking they can use a map, but most of them are outdated. Why were you in the woods?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I was kidnapped. I’m still shocked, really. I think I need to call the police. Do you have a phone?”

  All expression left his face.

  “You can call the police if you like, Violet, but I won’t be able to talk to them about anything that happened at this point.”

  “I see. Is it because of what you are?”

  He nodded and then asked, “Did you know any of your kidnappers? Have you seen those men before?”

  “They were watching me at the truck stop. I was pumping gas when they grabbed me and threw me into a van. I tried to get out, but I couldn’t. They drove for some time and then I was in the woods. They told me to run. They told me they’d catch me and…and…”

  “It’s okay. Take your time. You said there were six of them.”

  “I think so. There were two who kidnapped me from the gas station and then all of them started chasing me through the woods. One was called Alpha. He seemed like their leader.” I rubbed my forehead, wincing when pain seized my right shoulder.

  “Did they say why they took you?”

  “They said they were going to breed me.”

  A look of disgust crossed Jayce’s features.

  “If I call the cops, you won’t get in trouble. You helped me in self-defense. You killed those rogue things in self-defense,” I told him.

  “The cops won’t help me, Violet. There are things you don’t know…”

  “I should call Janet,” I said, looking at my wristwatch. “She was expecting me this evening.”

  “You may call whoever you like. I’ll even let you use my cell phone to do it.”

  My stomach growled low and Jayce stared down at my belly. I was hoping he hadn’t heard it. “Would you like something to eat? Your stomach has been growling since I brought you here.”

  “Probably because I’ve been running off peanut butter crackers all day. For breakfast and lunch. I’m low on caffeine too, in case you couldn’t tell.”

  “Peanut butter crackers?” he gawked. “What kind of meal is that?”

  I giggled. “Trust me. I was going to chow down as soon as I made it to Mill Valley.”

  “Mill Valley? Is that where your friend lives?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “That’s just under two hours from here.”

  I straightened up some more in the chair. “It is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where am I anyway? I saw the mountains, but I don’t remember any other landmarks.”

  “Arrow Lake. You’re about two hours away from the mountains.”

  “Yes. I remember now. That’s what the exit sign said when I got off the interstate to get gas.”

  “You’re safe in my home, Violet. I promise. It’s getting pretty late. I’m sure the sheriff would come out to get you if you called him, but…”

  “But you don’t want me to call the police, do you?”

  He reached down into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and dropped it in my hand. “I won’t prevent you from calling the cops, just know that when it comes to shifters, there’s nothing the humans can or will do for us. We enforce our own pack laws. In fact, that’s my job. I’m an enforcer.”

  “So you’re like a pack police?”

  He grinned. “Kind of.”

  “You’re a little young to be a kind-of cop, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a couple months over thirty. I don’t think that’s too young. Plus, I kind of had it coming. My grandpa was an enforcer and his father was too.”

  “And your father?”

  “He was human. I haven’t seen him in Arrow Lake for a long time.”

  “Oh…well…okay.”

  He seemed a bit sad talking about his father, so I said no more.

  “He left when I was a kid. No hard feelings towards him or anything like that. He wasn’t made for this life, so he left me with my pack. My mom was young. My grandpa raised me.”

  “Your grandpa raised a good man,” I said.

  Jayce blushed. “I hope so.”

  “I think I understand. Like I said, the area that I grew up in has a small shifter population as far as I know, but they live way out in the woods. On an unincorporated settlement. Some of them barely even come to the city. Whenever someone in their community did something bad, the cops would hand the culprit over to someone they called an Alpha. And that would be the last we heard of the crime. I guess they had their own way of holding their members accountable.”

  “Probably. But what you went through wasn’t a simple misdemeanor, Violet. Those rogue wolves weren’t a part of my pack. What they did to you and intended to do to you is a criminal offense. I promise you we’ll figure this out and catch the rest of them,” he said.

  “I hope so,” I said softly. “I’m stronger than I look, you know. I did karate for three years, and I took self-defense. I think I just froze up when I saw that the men were…animals.”

  “Well, they’re not exactly your size. They were men and they should have known better than to mess with a woman at all.”

  I shrugged. “Some men are jerks. I learned that long ago.”

  “I won’t argue with that one.” He grinned. “It’ll be morning soon. I can’t tell you what to do, but I agree that you should call your friend, so she doesn’t worry about you. You said they grabbed you from a gas station?”

  “Yes. A truck stop. Right off the interstate. My purse and everything are sitting in my car still.”

  “I think I know the one,” he said.

  “You do?” I leaned forward and grabbed his forearm without thinking. “My car’s still there. It’s the only car I have. I’d hate for it to be towed away or anything like that.”

  “I’ll have someone tow your car to you here. What about that?”

  I sighed. “That would be great. Then I can leave. That’s it. I’ll just tell Janet that I broke down on the highway. If I told her that I was nearly eaten by a group of wolf shifting males, she wouldn’t believe me. The last thing I want her to do is to tip my parents or fiancé off about where I am. They’d freak out and go to extremes if they knew something like this happened. These past few weeks have been…” I released a ragged breath. “…rough.”

  “Fiancé?”

  “Oh…no…I meant ex-fiancé. I broke my wedding off a month ago. My parents were devastated. Most of my family is upset with me. My friends think I’m insane for not marrying him. And my ex-fiancé won’t leave me the hell alone. No one gives a shit about what I want. I had to get away. They don’t know that I’ll be staying with Janet these next couple of weeks and I’d like to keep it that way. Jeez, I could have been dead. I left the city and didn’t tell anyone. What would they have thought if I had shown up in a morgue?” I frowned. “Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m just babbling.”

  Jayce smiled. “No, you’re not babbling. Doesn’t it feel good to get it all out?”

  I smiled. �
�Yes. Thanks for not judging me.”

  My stomach grumbled, loudly this time. “Did you say you had food?”

  Jayce chuckled softly. “Yes I do, and I’m just as hungry as you are, so let’s get to it, shall we?”

  “I…uh…I need to clean up a bit. I know it looks and smells like I haven’t taken a bath in years,” I said.

  “You’re gorgeous actually and you smell very nice.” He stood. “I’ll grab you some fresh towels. I bought a new toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste from the farmer’s market just today, so you’re in luck. I don’t have any woman’s clothes, though, but I’ll see what I can find for you.”

  “I appreciate this, Jayce.”

  “Us shifters get a bad rap sometimes. We’re not all bad. We’re not all rogues either.”

  I swallowed. “No, you’re not bad at all. You saved my life.”

  He handed me his cell phone. “Well, here you go. I’m sure your friend is worried. The towels are in the dryer down in the basement. I’ll be right back.”

  Reluctantly, I used Jayce’s cell phone to call Janet. I felt terrible about the little white lie I was about to tell her, but the last thing I needed was my parents or ex-fiancé coming after me trying to convince me of why this marriage was beneficial. I had no plans to marry Donovan. I didn’t care how rich he was. I didn’t care about his reputation in the press. This wasn’t about his past wrongdoings. I had forgiven him for all of that. This was about me and what I wanted.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  JAYCE

  I figured I had some time with Violet taking a shower. My dinner had been ready on the stove way before I found her in the woods. Just like her, I was hungry as hell, but I’d wait until I knew she was done to warm everything up.

  I grabbed my cell phone and walked into my master suite and closed the door.

  I was a pack enforcer, and I had a duty to report any and all strange occurrences to my Alpha, and this incident was quite earth-shattering.

  “Yeah?” the Alpha answered the phone in a gruff voice.

  “Draven, I know you’re out of town, but something happened out on the borderline tonight. There’s going to be a problem. I can guarantee that,” I told him.

  “What the hell happened, Jayce?”

  I relayed all the details to the Alpha as I witnessed them. As I suspected, the Alpha wanted to come to check the woman out right away. He was several hours away from Arrow Lake, but he promised he’d be there as soon as he could.

  “You’ve gotta try to keep her there,” Draven stated. “If the humans find out that shifters were chasing her down, they’re going to start pointing fingers every which way. Again.”

  “I know, Draven…I know,” I breathed, pacing the floor and looking over my shoulder at the closed bedroom door.

  “Who is she? Does she look like she’s going to run off? Does it sound like she’s going to run to the cops?”

  “She’s calm right now, but she’s only a human. She doesn’t know our laws. All I can do is assure her that she’s safe in my house. I can’t hold her against her will though. I won’t. But I will protect her.”

  “Alright. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “What do you think this is? What are the Black Ridge rogues up to?”

  There was a long silence on the other end. “I don’t know, Jayce. I have some ideas, but I need to check a few things out first.”

  “Okay. Get here as soon as you can,” I said.

  “In the meantime, I need you to see if Eddie knows anything or has seen anything strange on his side of the valley,” the Alpha commanded.

  “Got it.”

  “Do that now, Jayce. Tonight, if you can. If this is as bad as I think it is, there’s going to be problems.”

  I disconnected the call, paged through my contacts list, found the cell number for one of the other enforcers in our pack and sent him a text message to be on the lookout for Black Ridge wolves in the area looking to cause problems.

  After taking care of business, I rummaged through my closet and drawers in search of something that would fit my new houseguest.

  The human woman had somehow become my first priority.

  CHAPTER SIX

  VIOLET

  The steamy hot shower was just what I needed. I washed everything away. The dirt. My attacker’s blood. The pain of my failed relationship. The guilt of wanting to leave my whole life behind. I allowed myself to be free of those burdens for just a moment. I’d traveled away from home to find peace. Despite what happened, I had to believe there was still hope for me.

  I wrapped the plush, white towel tightly around me. With my savior being such a big fellow, one would have thought he’d have gotten me a bigger towel, but the towel barely reached the midpoint of my thighs. There was no way I was going out into the living room in a towel, and he still hadn’t come back with spare clothes.

  My phone call to Janet went smoother than I thought once I calmed her down and convinced her that I was okay. She had already called the police, but they had told her they weren’t able to report an adult missing until a certain amount of hours had passed or foul play was suspected. Thank God she hadn’t called my parents asking for me and ticking them off that I was taking a mini vacation instead of going to my counseling sessions with Donovan. I promised Janet that as soon as I got my car back that I’d be headed her way again.

  I sighed and fussed around with my hair, trying to finger my strands into shape. My curls were still damp. My hair would probably remain wet for the rest of the night since Jayce didn’t own a blow-dryer. Since his shampoo didn’t work on my hair like the expensive brands I usually bought back home, I took a rubber band and pulled my strands up into an unruly bun.

  After taking a look at my reflection in the mirror, I examined the bite. I took the bandage off before entering the shower so I could clean it, but there was nothing to clean. The bite was almost healed. While volunteering at an animal shelter, I was once bitten by a puppy, so I knew an animal’s bite took time to heal. But not this bite. The process seemed almost lightning fast. Then I remembered what Jayce said about the healing process after a bite from their species was quicker. They had so much of an advantage over humans. I almost wondered if humans had somehow shifted down toward the bottom of the food chain. Was this why the shifter species was so fear? Could this have been the reason why many of them chose not to reveal their shifter status?

  There was a knock on the bathroom door.

  “Yes,” I called out softly.

  “I finally found something that might fit you. Can I slip it through the door?” Jayce asked.

  I swallowed. “Um…just leave it there. I’ll get it.”

  There was silence and then he said, “Okay. I’m going to go heat up the food.”

  I waited until I was sure he was gone, opened the door a pinch, and then snatched up the clothes from the floor. I peered out into the hallway and thought I saw a dark shadow lingering there. The shadow moved closer. I slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it again.

  I lifted up the big oversized t-shirt which smelled so much like him. Masculine and woodsy. I pulled it over me, and it felt warm and cozy against my skin. At least the shirt came all the way down to my knees. I took one look at the blue pair of running shorts and knew it wasn’t going to fit me. I pulled it on and tried to tighten the waistband, but despite my best efforts, the shorts keep falling right off my hips. I wasn’t the slimmest chick around, but the shorts were just too loose. After utilizing the drawstring from the waistband to tie around my waist like a belt, I folded the shorts neatly and placed them on the counter.

  I then took my panties and used some of Jayce’s shampoo to wash it in the sink. I did my best to dry the panties by wringing it tightly with the towel. It was better than no underwear at all.

  I could smell the aroma of something good wafting under the bathroom door. Hungry as hell, I unlocked the door and walked cautiously down the hallway and back out into the living room area. The cabin was
a pretty good size and very spacious from what I could see. Besides Jayce’s bedroom and the guest bedroom where I would be staying, I wondered how many other rooms there were. I had spotted a short staircase leading up to a small second level earlier. From my view, I made out a bookcase lining one of the walls with dozens of leather-bound books.

  Jayce peeked his head around a wall. “Come on in the kitchen. I’m just setting the table.”

  Even the kitchen was spacier than I thought. There was a wooden table with four chairs, a large center island, and a massive pantry off to the left side. The pantry door was open, revealing rows of shelf-stable food inside.

  “Your home is…nice,” I said.

  “Thanks. I’ve been out here all my life. I bought the place from my uncle a few years back.”

  “Do you live alone?”

  “Yes. But I’m not really alone. Plenty of us live out here. We’re just scattered. I like it that way, anyway,” he said, pulling out a couple plates from the cabinet. “How did your friend Janet take the news?”

  “She’s good. Everything’s fine. When I get my car back tomorrow, I can be on my way. I have a full tank of gas now so I won’t have to stop again.” I meant the last bit to come out as a joke, but being kidnapped, threatened, and then attacked wasn’t amusing at all. “I know you shifters have your own laws and stuff, so I’ll do my best to give you a description of the other three. They need to be caught and locked up so they can’t do anything like that again.”

  “Look. I’m sorry about what happened to you. I’d want to get out of here as fast as I could too.”

  “Thanks for all your hospitality. I’m hoping there are more people around here like you.”

  “Yeah. Sure there are,” he said, opening the refrigerator. “I don’t have many options for drinks. Beer. Whiskey. Water. I could whip up some coffee or hot tea if you like.”

  “Water is fine. The food smells good.”

  “It’s chili spaghetti. I made it earlier.”

  He closed the distance between us and placed his hand against my back. “Sit.” He led me to the table.