Tail 'Em: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Jailbreak Book 1), page 6
“Pinky and the Brain?”
“Warner Brothers’ cartoon? ‘Gee, Brain, what are we gonna do tonight? The same thing we do every night, try to take over the world!’”
“I don’t think I’ve seen that before,” Janey said.
“Well, let’s just say if the guy starts breaking out in an evil plan monologue while zapping us with fricking lasers, I wouldn’t be shocked. I like the HG Vets. I like my clients. I like you guys.”
“But it looks like that wasn’t on the cards for long anyway.”
We both sighed as Nick ambled over.
“What do you think?” I asked. “Does any of that make sense to you?”
“It’s beyond my pay grade,” he said with a shake of his head. “I got halfway through my vets qualifications, but fuck, I focussed on farm animals not genetic splicing.”
“Splicing?” Janey asked.
“He’s talking about adding genetic material from more common animals to the rare species to try and ‘reinvigorate the line.’ Makes sense. It’s what breeders do when they’re finding their blood lines are weakening in pedigree dogs or whatever but this… Like it’d be exciting to be administering anaesthetic to a Siberian bloody tiger, but…”
“But you’d be just as happy with the Jones’ cavoodle?” I asked.
“Yep, yappy little bastard. This…”
Nick just shook his head, and we all looked around the room with reluctant eyes.
“So I know you’ll need some time to talk things over with your team,” Hollingsworth said with a smug smile as he and Stuart rejoined us. “But I think you can see that the Capricorn Institute is somewhere you’ll be able to make a difference in animal conservation. I look forward to hearing from you, Stuart.”
“So the offer is generous, much more generous than I’ll ever be able to offer you. They’re permanent positions as well.” Back at the practice, Stuart slid the job descriptions and contracts across the table to each one of us. “We may be able to split our hours between the clinic and the institute, at least initially, or there’s talk of creating a new practice within the institute grounds.”
“You talked to Hollingsworth before today?” I asked, knowing what he just described was not what the man had discussed while we were at the institute.
“We went out for drinks last night.” Stuart looked a little sheepish at that. “I needed to feel him out, see if it was even worth pursuing. He was throwing around some big figures when you and I talked to him. I wanted to see if there was a catch.”
“And was there?” Janey said.
“Not as far as I can tell. Apart from a standard non-disclosure clause, it all seems to be on the up and up. We can insist on a trial period, to try the place out, see if it's a good fit for us, and then reject the offer if we wish.” Stuart’s eyes dropped to his lap. “But I’ve gotta say, what Hollingsworth said, about the future of this place… He’s right. It doesn’t have one, not without his money. Dad kept it going well past its use by date, racking up debt after… Look, those details don’t matter. It’s basically this, or you find work elsewhere. I’m sorry, but it is what it is.”
My brain raced at the thought of that. I’d been working for the vets since I got out of school. This place… My eyes took in the faded photographs on the pin boards and the overflowing biscuit jar Janey always kept well stocked. We’d sat around this table, talking shit and processing tough days for over five years of my life. The thought of this all being taken away, painted over, cleaned up, and sold off to someone else…
“Look, no one needs to make a decision yet, but I’d like to hear your first thoughts about the offer. Yea or nay?”
He pointed to Nick, who said, “Yea.” He didn’t look pleased about it, but what option did he have? He had older parents who needed looking after, and he had to stay in town. Stuart turned to Janey, who said the same. I felt their collective gaze on my skin as everyone turned to me.
“Nay,” I said, feeling the need to explain but stopping my lips from moving. I sat there, weathering the disappointed or incredulous looks, but Stuart just nodded.
“That’s cool, Shan. I get it. What they’re offering is very different to here, and you might not want to engage with that.” That wasn’t it, but I wasn’t about to tell him why. Those animals, there was something about them that just didn’t feel right. “But there is a proviso that Hollingsworth didn’t tell you about. It’s all in, the entire team, or it’s none of us. I don’t know why, I tried to talk him around, but he was adamant. We come as a team, or he starts looking around for another one to take the position.”
Well, fuck.
Chapter 9
“Hey, Jai’s here for you,” Janey said as I grabbed my bag at the end of the day.
I busied myself with sorting through the contents, looking for my car keys, anything to keep the damn flush from showing in my face.
“Yeah, I sent him a text.” I tossed her my car keys. “You good to take the car and feed the dogs?”
“Sure.” I looked up to see a grin she’d obviously been fighting to hold back spread across her face. “You gonna be out for a while?”
“Janey…”
“What? He’s freaking gorgeous and so—”
“Please don’t finish that sentence,” I said with a sigh.
“OK, yep, I know. Sensitive subject.” She held out her hands in surrender. “So, you’re going out for drinks or…?”
“I’ve gotta go back to Aunty Beth’s for a bit and then…” I shrugged.
“Well,” she said, looking out through the big front window as he ambled up, cool as a cucumber and conscious of our gaze, if the small smile on his face was anything to go by. “He’s only got eyes for you, Shan.”
“Eyes? Maybe,” I said, swinging my bag over my shoulder. “It’s everything else I worry about.”
She grinned and wrapped an arm around me, bringing me in for a quick hug.
“It’ll be OK. You’re amazing, and any bloke who doesn’t see that needs his arse kicked. I’ll be first in line to administer it.”
“Is this about sticking up for me, or checking out his arse?” I asked, pulling free with a wry smile.
“Both, girlfriend,” she said with a bright grin. “I’m all about the multi-tasking.”
Damn, Jai was a good-looking guy. His jeans clung to his thighs, showcasing the powerful muscles there, and his worn looking work shirt hugged those broad shoulders. He held himself with that same loose grace pack men always had. For centuries, men like him wrangled horses and cattle, hunted down prey, held children in their capable hands. Now? Those big hands held a bunch of cellophane wrapped flowers.
“This isn’t a date,” I said.
“Hey, Shan,” he said, his voice low and so bloody warm, I felt like I could slide down into it like a hot bath. He placed the bouquet in my limp fingers, closing them when I was slow to respond. “I thought we’d go to—”
“I need to go see Beth and Rob,” I said, cutting through the big speech I could see he had prepared. “I told you that.”
“That you did.” He dropped his eyes and nodded. “Let's go then.”
I jerked when he took up a position by my side, placing a hand on my shoulder, sliding his hand down to the small of my back. I shot him a dark look, and he met it head on with a cheeky smirk. Typical Jai, do what you want and then smile your way through it, daring people to tell you not to.
And I didn’t, did I? Because a part of me liked that warm weight, familiar and close, leaving me to wonder what it would feel like if it dropped lower. His eyes jerked over at that thought, his nostrils flaring.
Shit, the pack could smell intense reactions to things—anger, fear and… I swallowed hard, moving to open the door of his ute when we reached it, but his hand was on the handle before I could. He paused and bent over me, drowning me in that scent of his, making me take a step backwards.
“So, we’re doing…this?” I said, gesturing limply. “When Rob or Beth used to take me and the girls somewhere, you boys used to shove us out the way to get in the front. I’m fairly sure I ate dirt at least once.”
He straightened up, looking down at me, cocking an eyebrow.
“You gonna hold every stupid thing I did as a kid against me? Didn’t I try to force you girls to eat mud pies when we were little?”
“Shit, you did! Beth was wild and—”
“Told my mum, who belted me so hard, I couldn’t sit down for days. I know.” He opened the door, then leaned over the frame, crowding me in against the car. “I’m not a kid anymore, Shannon.” His eyes slid down my body with studied slowness. “And neither are you. If you still want me to pull your pigtails…” I froze when one long finger curled a strand of my hair around it, then pulled it slowly tighter. “I don’t mind.”
I jammed the flowers into his chest, pushing them and him away to the sound of his chuckles. He clutched them dramatically, feigning a wounded stagger away, and then walked around to his side of the car.
Fuck, I thought. Shoulda got Janey to get a lift home with Nick and taken my own car.
“Get in the car, Shannon.”
“Fucking bossy shifters…” I muttered, getting in the car.
“I heard that,” he said, shooting me a grin as he reached over me, grabbing my seat belt and clipping me in like you would a child.
“I don’t want Shannon at that place,” Beth said.
We were sitting around her big dining room table, plates heaped with food as per usual, Jai by my side.
“Beth…” Rob rumbled.
“Captive animals, gene splicing…” She waved her hand in the air. “What are they doing up there in that place?”
“That’s what we need to find out. The boys tried a frontal assault and didn’t get too far. Those animals, the lions and tigers you talked about?” Rob said.
“A lion and a jaguar,” I replied.
“Those. You ever had an animal you couldn’t touch with that twist of yours?” My ‘twist’ is what they called my bond with animals. I shook my head, taking a bite of the melt in your mouth roast lamb. “Y’see. That’s not right. Whatever this is, they’ve come into our territory, built that place on our land. Maybe it is exactly as they say, a sperm bank for foreign creatures but…what if it's not?” Rob’s eyes scanned the table, everyone staying very quiet and still. “What if they’re…”
“Like us?” Jai asked.
“That’s what I’m worried about. Not the first time governments or organisations have used us as lab rats. If they… We’re the strongest shifters within NSW, and they chose to build that place right here, on our land. You need to take that job, Shannon. Be our inside man.”
I put my cutlery down on either side of the plate, my appetite killed as I remembered the waves of harsh feeling rolling off those animals. When I looked up, I saw every eye was on me.
It took me a little bit to put it all together, but Beth’s anxious expression was a giveaway. That, and when I looked sideways at Jai, his eyes were on his fork as he pushed his food around.
Things changed after graduation. I’d focussed on Nan when she was sick, seeing Beth and the other women mostly when they came around to help with her care, but rarely the boys. And then when she was gone, the pack had clustered around me, the women sitting with me and keeping me fed, the men helping with the upkeep of my property. But like wolves, they were mostly unseen. I’d turn around and find things done and know it was them. But Nan had been gone a couple of years now.
They’d kept inviting me to all the same pack events like they had Nan, but it’d felt like a formality. I wasn’t a kid anymore, left to play with the others. Seeing Jaz was painful because it reminded me of… Instead, I’d started building a life and a following at the vets, away from the pack and out from under Nan’s shadow. When they requested my presence formally, I went, as was agreed, but apart from regular Sunday night dinner’s at Beth and Rob’s, I saw few of my former family.
Until now.
The boys being sent around, the talking with the alphas, Jai… I pushed my chair away from the table.
Don’t make connections, don’t get tied down, Nan had said. Or if you do, keep them light. You need to be able to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice. You have to keep the line alive. You can’t sacrifice what we are for relationships.
“Thanks for dinner, Aunty,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even and only partly succeeding. “The food was amazing as per usual, but I need to go.”
“Shannon…” Rob growled, but I pushed my chair in, took my plate, and scraped the remains of my meal into the scraps bin for the animals. My hearing started to dull, then go all echoey, the sound of the tap as I rinsed off my dish a cacophonous roar. I slipped it into the dishwasher and then grabbed my bag.
“Love…” Beth said, but I shook my head. She was standing now, so I gave her a quick hug, tugging free when she tried to hold me, and then went for the door.
“Shannon!”
My steps dragged at Rob’s shout, his will bearing down on mine, making it harder and harder to move.
“You’re hurting her, you old bastard!” Beth cried, and his hold on me loosened. “Even more than you already have.”
Why do I always feel relief when I get out of here? I thought as I walked down the front steps. I fished out my phone, my thumb shaking as I cued up my contacts. Janey would come and get me. She’d just be vegging in front of the TV.
“Shan!”
God, this was just like the other night, I thought, bringing up Janey’s number. Same shouts, same—
Jai’s hands landed on my arms as he loomed over me.
“Why do you always fucking run?” he snapped. “Come inside, talk this out. Tell Rob to get fucked. But stop bloody running.”
“I’m not running. I don’t want to be here, I don’t want…this,” I said, waving my hand vaguely. “Not the job, not Rob, not you.”
Jai jerked back as if slapped. “What…?”
“You told me to watch you, wait to see if you’re for real. Well, I did Jai. The flowers, the…” My fingers went to my lips when I felt the ghost of his kisses. “It was all bullshit. Why now? Why all of a sudden?” My smile twisted hard. “You need an inside man. That’s why you reached out, started…whatever this is. Fuck, Jai, you’re playing me all over again.”
“No, no, no, Shan,” Jai said edging towards me, but I wasn’t having that. I backed up, turned, ready to walk the whole damn way home if that’s what it took, but his hand slapped down over my wrist and he yanked me close. “The old fellas, they didn’t want you for me. They don’t like it when the pack take outsiders for mates, you know that, and your Uncle Rob? He’s got his own ideas for you.”
“He’s not my fucking uncle.” I spat the words out but felt an automatic fear that came with them. It was that feeling of hubris, of declaring yourself equal to the gods or something. You might want to say it, but doing it felt wrong somehow. “He’s a family friend.”
“Well, that’s not how it works for us,” Jai snapped. “You’re in or you're out. One of us or an outsider.”
“So?”
“So, we don’t follow the old ways like we should, but everything here, in HG, we see how it fits in with the pack, including you. Your nan, she made a connection with us when she came here, and Uncle Rob was the custodian of that. The old fellas, they see the strength you women have. They see that and want it with us, not turned against us. Your Mum, she was supposed to marry Rob.”
“What?”
“She wouldn’t have it. She was wilder than you, they say. Found her own mate and then had you.” He lifted a hand to my cheek, stroking a thumb across it before I yanked it away. “They had ideas for me, for you, for all of the younger ones. A way to keep the pack strong.” He drew his hand away, but he didn’t look happy about it. “You weren’t for me, they told me, after graduation. We’d had our little moment and…”
He shook his head, staring at the ground, seeing something I couldn’t see there.
“Then this place was built. The alphas don’t like it. They hear strange howls on the wind, animals that don’t belong here, maybe don’t belong anywhere. They send us in, and we fail. Have to run on home with our tails between our legs. But then I tell them about you.”
“And how do you know about me?”
“Small town, everyone talks, and anyone who knows me knows that information about Shannon falls on a friendly ear. They tell me about the animals you help, the people you see.” His eyes flicked up, hardening for a moment. “The men you go out with.”
I frowned, backing up but unable to look away from those golden-brown eyes.
“They tell me about Stuart and his problems and the men who are offering him everything he needs, men in that place on the ridge. I tell the alphas about it, let them weigh it all up, those plans they have for me or you, and then…” The same Jai smirk reasserts itself, but just for a moment. “Then they become plans for me and you. I’m not lying to you, not playing. With the pack, I had to work the long game, but I’ve been on this for years, Shannon. Wolves are patient, waiting, ready to strike when the moment comes.” I watched his eyes shine in the low light. “That’s how I got them to make that connection between me and you.”
He moved in closer, slowly, like the predator he is, taking my wrists in gentler hands now, rubbing his thumbs across the soft inner skin, daring me to pull away.
“They can’t take it back now, so if you don’t want to go into that place again, I’ll fight every damn one of them to make sure that doesn’t happen.” His hand stroked through my hair, and damn if I didn’t want to rest my cheek within it. “You’re not there yet, don’t want me like I want you, but, Shan…” I looked up when I heard his voice break. “It’s you, always you for me.”
When he pulled me into his chest, I let him. Because my heart hurt and it eased when I felt him against me. Because drowning in the scent of him, I couldn’t hear my nan’s admonitions. Because when he stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head and I wrapped my arms around him, I could imagine I was back, five years ago and under the gum trees, the sounds of the leaves rustling in my ears.
