Her Wolf: A Why Choose Urban Fantasy Romance (Silver Shifter Book 1) Read online

  “Looks like you’ve got a little problem on your hands,” Jett said. “I’m going to enjoy watching you try to fix this, Maximus.”

  “Like it or not, this is not just my problem,” Maximus said. “We all need the Silver Shifter.”

  “What are you going to do about her?” Cash asked. “Stick her back in that cage?”

  I snarled, taking satisfaction in watching all the men jump a little.

  “You can’t put her in a cage,” Owen said. “You saw how she reacted.”

  I decided he was my favorite.

  It doesn’t matter, wolfie, I tried to reason with myself. Your mate has to be a wolf.

  “If she’s too stubborn to reason with us, maybe that’s where she belongs,” Maximus said.

  But does it have to be him?

  “If she’s been in a cage for a long time, putting her back there is not going to help,” Owen said, his voice a low rumble. “It’s no wonder she’s pissed. You’re treating her like you’re her master, not her mate.”

  Maximus scowled. “Got any better ideas?”

  “She needs time to adjust to all of this,” Owen said.

  I bristled a little. Even though he was being kind, I was tired of people deciding what I needed.

  “We don’t have time,” Cash said. “It’s a miracle the clans haven’t declared all-out war by now.”

  “You going to tell her to get her shit together?” Jett asked, still grinning his fool head off. “I want to be around to see that.”

  “We need to be in agreement,” Maximus said. “We’ve got to decide what to do about her today. You’re right, Owen. She doesn’t belong to me. She’s my mate, though, so she stays here.”

  “You can have her,” Jett said, holding up both hands. “I don’t need more crazy in my life.”

  “She’s not crazy,” Owen said. “She’s broken.”

  “And she’ll stay here until she’s healed,” Maximus said matter-of-factly.

  Okay, that was it. I’d had it with all of them. I shifted back into my human form with words already rolling off my tongue. “Stop talking about me like I’m not even here,” I snapped. “I don’t need any of you deciding where to keep me. In fact, if it weren’t for your bossy asses, I’d be out in the forest and off your hands.”

  “Whoa,” Owen said, his mouth falling open as he ogled me.

  I was too mad to be embarrassed. “And stop acting like I’m too delicate to handle myself. I am neither crazy nor broken.”

  “She graces us with her presence at last,” Jett said with a smirk.

  “Always a pleasure,” Maximus said dryly.

  “I’m right here,” I said, throwing my arms up and resisting the urge to stamp my foot.

  “Yes, you are,” Cash said, obviously enjoying my human form more than I was.

  I snatched the clothes from Maximus's hand and pulled the T-shirt over my head. I tugged on the jeans without bothering to pull on the underwear provided. Now that I was dressed, I was even more aware of how naked I’d been. In front of all of them. Cash was staring at me like a cat eyeing a bowl of milk. I gulped, hugging myself.

  “Ready to talk like a civilized human being?” Maximus asked.

  “I am a civilized human being.”

  “Then act like one.”

  God, he was insufferable. And so freaking gorgeous. Even as a human, without my instinctual wolf side drooling over him, I couldn’t help but be drawn in by those hazel eyes. He’d been kind to me, even if he had stuck me in a damn cage.

  Stop excusing what he did just because he’s hot, I scolded myself. Maybe my human hormones were going nuts to make up for lost time. I’d been a wolf for so long that maybe my human hormones were choosing now to flood my body.

  That doesn’t explain my wolf calling them all her mates…

  “Can we go upstairs and get out of this cave?” Jett said. “Owen might be a bear, but panthers don’t live in dens.”

  “You’re a panther?” I asked, turning to Jett as Maximus started up the stairs.

  “Yeah,” Jett said, giving me an incredulous look. “And you’re supposedly our savior.”

  “I’m getting really tired of people telling me what I am.”

  “No one’s trying to tell you that,” Owen said, his big hand falling gently on my lower back as he ushered me ahead of him towards the steps.

  “Then maybe you should start by explaining what all of this is about.”

  “That’s what we’re trying to do,” Maximus said as I stepped through the doorway into the kitchen. “If you’d calm down and stop running long enough to hear us out.”

  “Fine,” I said, planting my hands on my hips and turning to face them. “Explain.”

  “You’re the Silver Shifter,” Maximus said. “Do you know what that is?”

  “Does it look like I know what that is?”

  “Let’s all sit down and talk about this,” Owen said in that low, rumbling voice. It sent an involuntary tremor through me, like he was an earthquake brewing deep below the surface of my conscience. I had a feeling that Earthquake Owen could shake up my life in ways I could only imagine.

  We took our seats around the table. As my eyes moved from one man to the next, a second of hesitation gripped me. What if the truth was worse than the life I’d already known?

  My anxiety was quickly overpowered by my need to know. I couldn’t imagine a life worse than the mindless survival of my past. If these four beautiful men held the key to a different future, I was ready.

  “Okay,” I said, folding my hands on the table in front of me. “Tell me everything.”

  8

  Ariana

  “The Silver Shifter is a being born every hundred years,” Cash began.

  I was surprised Maximus hadn’t started, but instead he went to the fridge and then a cupboard. With his large shoulders in the way, I couldn’t tell what he was doing.

  “Normally, you’d be born inside one of the clans. We’d know who you were from the second you were born,” Cash continued. He raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

  I snapped my attention away from whatever Maximus was up to and looked back at the Indian man in front of me. “Why wasn’t I born inside the clans then?”

  A pang of uncertainty gripped my heart. What would it have been like to grow up as part of a pack? Would I have had friends? Would my family still be alive? My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to imagine a life in which I had never been owned. I wasn’t sure what that was like. In one way or another, someone was always telling me what to do, where to go, what I could and couldn’t do. Even before Dante’s father had died, we’d still had to adhere to a strict schedule with specific playtime outdoors, mealtimes, and bedtimes.

  Did packs run the same way?

  “The last of your kind, the Silver Dragon, had a rare power,” Cash said. “She was an oracle. She predicted a lot about her successor.”

  “Me?”

  Owen nodded as Cash went on. “She prophesied you would be born outside the clans, that you’d be found in your twenties, and your transition to the clans would be...difficult.”

  Did she also predict I’d be locked in more damn cages the second I was found?

  I barely held back the snarky comment, biting down on my tongue before I made things worse.

  “All Silver Shifters have a unique ability,” Jett added, almost as if an afterthought. His gaze trailed over my face and down my baggy t-shirt, making my cheeks heat. “I’m sure we’ll find out what yours is eventually.”

  “Okay,” I said. I wasn’t sure what else to say or what to make of this.

  “Here.” Maximus appeared at my side suddenly, and I jumped like a skittish rabbit. He placed a tall glass of brown liquid in front of me.

  “Chocolate milk?” I reached for it, licking my lips. I could already taste the sweet, glorious chocolate.

  Maximus nodded curtly and took a seat beside me. He laid an arm across the back of my chair and didn’t meet my eyes, even as I inspected his f
ace for far longer than was appropriate.

  While my wolf hummed her approval, unease twisted my gut. What did he want in return for this kindness?

  “So...” Owen’s voice cut through the awkward silence.

  I forced my gaze away from Maximus and wrapped my fingers around the cool glass. No matter how suspicious the gesture was, I couldn’t resist the offering.

  “Do you know anything about the New York Clans?” Owen asked. His face was kind and open. He didn’t sneer like Jett or smirk like Cash. It was much easier to relax under his calm blue gaze, so I focused on him while I sipped my drink.

  “Nothing,” I mumbled between sips.

  “Well, there are four clans, as you might have guessed.” Owen glanced at the other alphas. Jett inspected his nails like he was too good for this conversation while Maximus looked out the window. Only Cash seemed to be paying attention. “There are wolves, dragons, bears, and panthers.”

  He gestured at them each in turn, though I’d already guessed from process of elimination that Owen had to be the bear. It suited him. He was tall and broad, the largest of the four men.

  “The clans have been at war on and off for as long as anyone can remember. At some point, the Silver Shifter was born. Each time the female being appeared, the warring stopped until she died. Each one has brought some sense of peace to the clans. She usually travels between them or holds meetings with the alphas. She acts kind of like a mediator for shifter business.”

  “A mediator?” I raised my eyebrows.

  “Yes,” Cash said. “The Silver Dragon was particularly good at this. She installed a few long term solutions that have kept us all in check…. So far.” He shot a loaded glance at Maximus, but the wolf alpha said nothing.

  “What happened to her?” I asked.

  No one answered right away. Cash avoided my gaze.

  “She was killed,” Jett said. For once, a sneer didn’t grace his face.

  I froze. “Murdered?”

  They all nodded. The air in the room felt suddenly thick, heavy on my shoulders and sticky on my skin. They expected me to take up the mantle of a murdered prophet? I didn’t have any special skills besides, ironically, killing. I was particularly good at that.

  “Who killed her?” I asked.

  “No one knows,” Cash said. His deep voice was laced with regret.

  Each of them regarded each other with distrust. It seemed I’d opened an old wound. The alphas looked ready to lunge at the other’s throats.

  “You want me to replace her?” I had to ask.

  Maximus shot me a surprised look. His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned. “No. Each Silver Shifter is her own person and has her own way of handling things.”

  “But I’ll be expected to...what? Broker peace between all of you?”

  “That’s the simplest way of putting it.” Cash sighed and ran a hand through his curly black hair.

  I didn’t know if I was up for that. I didn’t know anything about their world or why they were fighting. There was something they weren’t telling me even still. I could feel it.

  “What else?” I asked tentatively.

  “What else?” Jett scoffed. “This shit ain’t enough for you?”

  “What aren’t you saying?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at the panther alpha.

  He grinned, flashing a dazzling set of teeth, but didn’t say anything more. I looked at the others, but they were all remaining tight-lipped.

  “If you want me to be your damn Silver Shifter, someone better talk right now.”

  Owen sighed. “The oracle… She had one last prophecy you should know about.”

  “Okay.” My heart raced with anticipation. “What is it?”

  Owen glanced at the others as if asking for permission. When he received a couple shrugs, he finally met my gaze again. “The Silver Dragon’s last prediction was that you would be the uniter of clans and the last Silver Shifter.”

  My eyes widened. “What?”

  Before I could help myself, I’d stood, pushing away from the table. “Are you serious?”

  Maximus regarded me like I was about to make a run for it again. He shifted to stop me, but I held up a hand. I wasn’t going to run away. Not now at least.

  “You want me—me!—to be your savior? To stop all of you from bickering? To unite the lot of you for the rest of time?” The words sounded even stupider coming out of my mouth than theirs. What the hell were they thinking? What was I thinking? This wasn’t a new home or a fresh start. They wanted someone I could never be. I wasn’t a savior, a mediator, or anything like the woman they wanted. If they’d chosen me, they’d chosen wrong.

  “And you thought I was crazy?” I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This was just so ridiculous.

  The four of them looked back at me with wide eyes. It was almost comical, especially with Jett’s grin wiped from his face.

  “We know you’re not crazy,” Owen said quietly.

  “Speak for your own damn self,” Jett said.

  Owen shot him a glare that could wither bone. “Shut up, Jett.”

  “Enough,” Maximus growled. He turned to face me. “Yes, you are supposed to be the savior of the clans and unite us all for the rest of eternity. But you aren’t expected to do it alone.”

  “And we don’t expect you to do it right this minute,” Cash added.

  I looked between the two of them, mildly surprised by Maximus’s attempt to soothe me without being condescending or calling me an animal. My wolf hummed her approval as I assessed the man who was supposed to be my mate. For the first time, he wasn’t being a giant jerk.

  “But I get why you’d doubt it,” he said.

  He just had to go and ruin it.

  I narrowed my eyes at him and barely held back a growl. Whether the chocolate milk had been a peace offering or some attempt at bribery, I suddenly wanted to throw the delicious drink in his smug face. If I had more than a mouthful left, I might have.

  I took a deep breath to calm myself, tearing away from Maximus's gaze. “So what happens now?”

  “You stay here,” Maximus said immediately.

  I resisted rolling my eyes. I still wasn’t sure if I was okay with that, though I doubted I had much of a choice. If I was some sort of mystic shifter prophesied to save the clans, they’d never let me get far on my own. And the more time I spent under their intense gazes, the more I was warming to the idea of staying. Even as my confusing wolf continued to chant mine, mine, mine, mine as I looked at each of them, my heart clenched with uncertainty.

  “It couldn’t hurt to stay for awhile,” I said.

  Maximus's warm exhale hit my arm, even with more than a foot between us. The others exchanged relieved glances, and even Jett seemed to relax.

  “But, I have some conditions.”

  Maximus froze like a deer in headlights. “Conditions?”

  “Yes.” I sat back down and crossed my arms. “No more cages is the first.”

  “Of course,” Owen answered for Maximus, who shot him a glare.

  “Agreed?” I prodded.

  Maximus sighed. “As long as you don’t go feral or try to run off again.”

  “Fine.” I pursed my lips as I thought of what else I might want. “I want to be able to come and go from the lodge as I please.”

  Maximus opened his mouth to protest.

  I beat him to it, my temper flaring. “I should be every bit as free as you.”

  “You are,” Owen said.

  I stared down Maximus. “I won’t go too far, but I won’t stay locked up. If you treat me like a prisoner, I’ll act like one. Which means I’ll try to escape every chance I get.”

  “What else?” Maximus asked.

  I smiled. “I want chocolate milk every morning.”

  His lips twitched at the corners, but before he could smile, he pushed it back with a scowl. “Is that all?”

  I looked up as I thought, taking a few more moments than necessary just to make him sweat. “That’s all.” I ga
ve him a serene smile before adding, “For now.”

  “If that’s it,” Cash said, “Then I think it’s time we discuss a plan to visit the other clans’ territories.”

  “Already?” Maximus grumbled.

  “It’s customary,” Cash said.

  I looked between them, excitement bubbling inside me. In the pits, I knew I’d been missing out on a lot. When my wolf took over, I could sometimes smell the distant scent of pine trees and the salt of the sea. I’d never pictured a world where I’d be free, able to travel and see things beyond my tiny cell. And here they were discussing a trip like it was nothing.

  My fingers tightened around the hem of my t-shirt, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling too widely. It was just hitting me, but I could already almost believe it. I was finally free.

  9

  Ariana

  After the meeting, Jett took his leave pretty quickly. The other two alphas seemed reluctant to go.

  “You need all the protection you can get around here,” Owen said. “You don’t know if Dante will send someone after her. He must be pissed that he’s losing money without her.”

  “He was risking her life every night,” Maximus said. “He shouldn’t be too torn up about it.”

  “I’m right here, guys,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “What do you think?” Owen asked, turning his kind eyes on me.

  I paused, surprised. No one had asked what I thought about any of this. I was their prized political pawn, apparently, but so far, that hadn’t led to a whole lot of respect.

  “Dante won’t give up his claim that easily,” I said. “He owned me because I was born while my parents were his property. That makes me his property. He probably wouldn’t kill me if he found me here, but he’d kill you.”

  “Seems like everyone wants a piece of our Ari,” Cash said with a wink.

  His comment spread through me like warm honey, sweetening my blood.

  “My Ari,” Maximus snapped.

  My wolf growled back at him. Maximus may have thought I was his, but my wolf thought the ownership went the other way.

  “She’s your mate,” Owen said, holding up both hands in surrender. “No one’s denying that.”