Chosen: Shifters of London Read online

He nudged my bag out of his way and leaned very close to me again. “No more screaming. I know ways to keep you silent without covering your mouth.”

  I lowered my eyebrows at him to imply I thought that was a very crude threat. He looked quite amused and tolerant as if I was a child having a fit at the local Sainbury’s.

  He moved his hand away.

  I screamed while staring straight at him.

  I didn’t see him move, but a sharp pain flared right in the throat. Needless to say, I was right about the violent bit.

  I choked immediately after the throat jab, holding my throat with both hands and giving him a most grievous look. I was surrounded by so many bloody dodgy people!

  “I warned you.” He shrugged and shook a finger at the stick shift. “On the up-and-up, you’re going to have to drive. I never learned how drive one.”

  Not sure if he meant a car or a manual, but I would show him driving. Sending a mental apology to my car for what I was about to do, I yanked the stick into first gear with purpose.

  “Woah!” He snatched at my wrist, nearly making me stall.

  He pinned my wrist to the steering wheel, slanting a suspicious look my way. “You have a very expressive face, you know that?”

  I blinked innocently, but quickly gave it up and simply glared at him. I killed the engine savagely once he released me.

  “Bloodthirsty little thing,” he murmured.

  I didn’t see his fingers until he was touching my right temple lightly, and I flinched away. “Don’t--”

  He turned my head back toward him sharply with two fingers. He wasn’t staring at both my eyes anymore, just the one. “Look at that...what are you?”

  “At the moment, a victim,” I muttered.

  “You’re clever, aren’t you? I really did come to talk, but we can’t here. It’s not safe.” He picked up my bag and started to unzip it.

  “Boundaries!” I grabbed for it, but he was very quick. It was on the other side of his lap, and I wasn’t feeling comfortable enough to reach so far.

  “I was just curious. We should leave before they come back.”

  “Who?”

  “The Hunters.” He slanted a look at me, one eyebrow raised. “You met them earlier, didn’t you?”

  A chill ran down my back. I had a feeling this bloke wasn’t Heath’s friend, but I still had so many questions.

  He was trying to peek into my bag while I waffled about my next decision.

  “Fine. I’ll talk to you. In a public place.” I eyed his lack of a seatbelt as I cautiously restarted my car. At least if he tried to grab me again while I was driving, I would make sure he exited out the window this time.

  Chapter 3

  There was always a Bill’s’s nearby, and I had no idea what else was open this morning. I hadn’t been conscious this hour once since moving out.

  My passenger hadn’t made any more trouble, not exactly. However, I couldn’t stop him from trying to angle a good look inside my bag since he kept it out of arm’s reach. I gave up eventually. What’s the worst thing he would see, my knickers? He wouldn’t even be the first bloke this morning.

  “Don’t make me pull this car over,” I warned him, making another fruitless grab for it. This time I was bolder, and most definitely groped his upper thigh when I missed.

  He turned more toward me, giving me an adorable lopsided grin. “Pulling the car over would be safer if you’re going to do that,” he purred.

  I stared straight ahead after that, cheeks flaming hot. He could paw at the clothes all he wanted, it was as close as he was getting to anyone’s knickers. I thought about telling him just that, but we were already to the cafe.

  “Get out,” I said once I parked.

  He opened the door and stepped out immediately. However, he did lean his head back in with a grin. “I’ll buy breakfast.”

  “You bet you are,” I muttered as I climbed out the car and locked it.

  The place was fairly busy on a Saturday morning, but we didn’t have to wait were seated quickly.

  I always ordered the same thing, and he barely glanced at the menu before placing it aside. The server was some cute girl my age, and she smiled quite brightly at...huh.

  “What’s your name?” I whispered while scooting close, waiting until after she left so we didn’t look utterly crazy.

  “Ryland,” he whispered back, lips nearly brushing my ear. “Yours?”

  I frowned and pulled back. “You don’t even know my name and you were going to kidnap me?”

  He settled back against his seat as well, clearing his throat in embarrassment. “Well, I knew who you were and what you looked like. I wasn’t going to...do that, really.”

  I crossed my arms. “Gemma. And I think it’s time for you to tell me what is going on.”

  “All right.” He tapped his long fingers on the table idly as he thought. “It’s like this. My cousin, Pandorea, kept sneaking off to meet with someone. She says she’s not, but it’s obvious. Last night one of ours came back and said he saw her with one of yours.”

  “One of my what?” So he was part of the controlling family Kurt told me about. What a shame.

  “Family? The wolves.”

  I must have looked surprised because he started to say something, but the server interrupted as she placed a steaming hot coffee pot.

  I waited until she stopped making eyes at Ryland and left. “Wolves? What exactly are you all referring to?”

  He busied himself pouring himself a cup and adding three spoonfuls of sugar. I was sure he wasn’t going to answer me either.

  “You don’t know? But you have…” He put the cup down and reached out slowly. He touched the apple of my cheek, staring intently at my eye. “They’ve kept you in the dark.” His voice was hushed, almost reverent.

  “About what?” I whispered back. So it wasn’t just slang. It didn’t bother me Kurt hadn’t been truthful, but what about Heath? I thought he trusted me.

  Ryland smiled as he took a sip of his coffee and clearly enjoying this. “It begun centuries ago, when our kind left their mountain towns and reclusive life. They discovered that your kind had years and years of practice assimilating. Jealous and territorial, ours decided they would eliminate yours. This led to...a lack of success since they were vastly outnumbered, and now they just Hunt for fun. But dating outside the family is strictly forbidden..”

  I listened, somewhat intrigued by the vague history. So a group failed ridding themselves of their competition, and now one of their women were being stolen. It did sound mafia like, but that seemed so fantastical. “Are you also upset about it?”

  “I think,” he said seriously, “that li’l Pandy should be happy. It doesn’t matter who she finds it with.”

  “That’s quite supportive of you.” I approved of this. “Now, are you going to tell me what the big mystery is?”

  I thought perhaps it might refer to ethnicity. I wasn’t raised at all religious, and neither had Heath as far as I knew. What ethnicity though? I had brown curls and light skin and freckles. They were common enough traits that could have came from anywhere. I’d never seen a family tree either, never cared enough to ask.

  Ryland sighed in pleasure, his grey eyes showing his delight in stringing me along. “Have you--”

  “Here’s your breakfast!” The server chirped as she started piling our table with food.

  I ordered Bill’s Breakfast with the three additional sides to make a Full Monty. It had everything, even black pudding. I dug in immediately, overlooking the earliness of the day for getting a hot cooked meal. It was almost worth the fright of the sort-of abduction.

  Ryland was much more sedate as he cut into his eggs benedict. “This morning I heard Pandy’s secret love had a cousin, and your physical traits were...mentioned. I wanted to talk to you before they came to a decision. I hoped you knew where my cousin was.”

  “I wish I knew, but he won’t answer his phone.. I’ve been calling since meeting Rose and her entourage. I
s that who you overheard talking about me?” I just wanted to be sure.

  “Rose and her entourage, yes. Very dedicated to family values, that lot."

  “Oh? And what exactly does family entail?”

  He smirked, but then he set down his silverware and folded his hands like looking serious was new to him. He took a deep breath. “Gemma, you’re a werewolf.”

  I blinked. “You’re not taking this seriously at all.”

  “Well you’re not a full one, obviously, but your family is. Haven’t you ever noticed your cousin disappears at the full moon?”

  I opened my mouth to argue, then stopped. “He goes out plenty of nights. He’s a popular bloke.” I couldn’t confirm the timing though, I had no idea when the moon phases were.

  Wait, was I considering what he said?

  “I mean, there’s no such thing as...as that thing you said.” It wasn’t the most clever response, but I didn’t know what else to say.

  “I have to go, duckie. It was nice changing your life.” He fished out a small wad of pounds from his jacket and threw them on the table. “ Wish me luck on finding my naughty cousin.” And with that he walked out of the cafe.

  I finished my breakfast alone and counted out the money. He didn’t lie, it was more than enough to cover our meals. Everything else was clearly a lie though.

  How gullible did he think I was?

  Chapter 4

  I stared at the people walking dogs as I went down the street with hands shoved in my pockets. I don’t know what I expected to see them do, animals had never acted funny around me. That’s what happened in all the movies.

  Obviously he was having a laugh at my expense. There was no such thing as werewolves. I’d know if my parents were. I’d know if they existed period, that seemed like a hard truth to hide.

  A memory rose up uneasily of a little girl knocking and knocking on a bedroom door in the middle of the night. Huh. I hadn’t thought about that in years.

  I had left the cafe hours ago and drove to the local shopping centre. I strolled inside and out, not entirely sure what else to do with myself. It was the beginning of the weekend, and my plans normally involved homework and social media.

  By now I was dragging my feet in exhaustion. It had been a long day, especially taking into account my early morning wake-up. I was not looking forward to sleeping in my tiny vehicle. I should have grabbed a pillow or blankets, especially since buying new ones was out of the question.

  One of my coats and my pack filled with clothes would have to do for a blanket and a pillow. By the time I climbed into the backseat of my car that night, I could barely keep my eyes open. I didn’t have any dreams that I could remember.

  Morning came in a painful way, I must have shifted the pack out from under my head at one point, and my neck ached. I groaned as I sat up, feeling the rumpled curls on top of my head. It was going to be a real mess to detangle without any products.

  The memories of the previous day came in a rush and I groaned again, this time at my own stupidity. He probably went away thinking I was utterly barmy for not laughing in his face.

  Werewolves. Who even went around claiming they were real?

  I grabbed the jacket that fell off me and searched through the pockets for my phone. While I was searching, my fingers touched a crumpled up piece of paper. It was a receipt from the grocers, but there was something handwritten on it. I unfolded it, puzzled by the phone number.

  I tried to figure out which person might have slipped it in my pocket. Kurt did mention the possibility of us communicating after Heath was found but left before giving me a way to reach him. On the other hand, Ryland seemed to be the more sneaky of the two.

  A cold shiver ran through me as I considered my mysterious number might belong to one of the four from yesterday. My jacket had been hanging right by the door, and I certainly would have missed if one of them decided to slip a small item into it.

  I shoved the paper in my jeans pocket and pulled on my shoes. A walk would help with any lingering stiffness from sleeping in such a position. My neck would just have to suffer since I hadn’t thought to grab any pain pills.

  I normally never forgot to have pain pills on hand, being quite necessary for that time of the month. It always hurt, not just in my lower abdomen but in all my joints.

  Huh. I pulled my mobile out my pocket and checked which days I had marked. I kept track of my monthly curse to lessen the chance of being caught unaware during the next cycle. Murmuring the dates to myself, I pulled up a site that had moon phases of the last several months.

  It was a perfect match every month. Of course it was just a coincidence, the moon was full in cycles that happened to match mine.

  I looked at the small slip of paper again, then pulled out my phone. I didn’t have any missed calls, and this time when I dialed my cousin it went straight to the message.

  I didn’t want to risk calling a potentially dangerous number for my own phone, so I drive around until I found a phone booth.

  I dialed the mystery number.

  It rang a few times before a male answered, “Hullo?”

  I wasn’t familiar enough with any of the males I just met to accurately guess this one’s identity, but it definitely wasn’t growly enough for Kurt.

  “Ryland?”

  “This is him.”

  Oh, praise the Queen that it wasn’t Marius. He gave me the willies. “Have you found your cousin?”

  “Who is this?” Suddenly he was all heat and anger, amusement gone.

  I hesitated, feeling unusually timid about now. “Mine is missing too.”

  There was a long pause. “Gemma?”

  I nodded, and then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yes. Have you heard anything yet?”

  “No, not yet. Want to come over for breakfast?”

  I stared at the clunky receiver, uncertain and suspicious.

  I was back in my car within minutes, reciting the address to myself over and over. If I could get ahold of Heath’s actual friend I would, but the concerned relative of Heath’s girlfriend would have to do. That’s all it was. Plus, I had to read him the riot act for thinking I would really believe him.

  I slowed as I got closer, staring at the gated row of flats, which were brick-front, two stories’ tall, and much nicer than ours. I felt somewhat out of my depth, but I walked up to the proper door and knocked firmly.

  Ryland answered, his mussed blonde hair and sleepy smile still outrageously attractive. Probably knew it too, the cheeky bugger.

  “Gemma, I haven’t seen you in ages!” he greeted cheerfully as he took a step back.

  If I weren’t so busy avoiding staring at his bare chest, which was muscled and smooth, I might’ve not noticed the long dagger propped against a hallway door. “That’s quite a blade.” I shrugged off my jacket, heading toward that particular door.

  “I’ll get that for you.” He practically yanked the coat away, scooping up the dagger with one easy move and throwing them both in the closet without even looking.

  All right, that was strange. I had an uneasy feeling about my hasty decision to come here. “Thanks?”

  “I made some tea for us.” He gestured me to the open doorway at the end of the sitting room.

  Listening carefully for any unusual sounds, I slowly followed him into the kitchen. All the furniture was sturdy and well-made, and he had quite a few long paintings of forests on the walls.

  The kitchen was clean and utilitarian, and he took a seat at a small dining table. It told me he didn’t worry about visitors much, or perhaps didn’t want to encourage them to hang about.

  “Is that mine?” I pointed at the full cup of tea in front of the empty chair.

  “Unless you brought friends.”

  I raised an eyebrow and took a seat, wrapping my fingers around the small cup. “Thanks.” I took a sip, it was very sweet, just how I took it. “So...you’re a werewolf too?”

  He splayed his fingers over his chest in exaggerated outra
ge, gray eyes going wide. “Oh no, not me. I’m no dog.”

  I think I would have been offended, had I believed him in the first place. “What are you then?”

  “A werepanther. Meow.” He curled his fingers and swiped playfully.

  Right. I wasn’t sure if that was worse or better. I closed my eyes and said quickly, “Show me then.”

  “I can’t.”

  I peeked an eye open. “Why not?”

  “It’s not the right time of the month.”

  I stifled a smirk. Obviously he wouldn’t be able to. The problem was that my mind kept searching for ways it wasn’t true, as if it being impossible wasn’t enough.

  “Haven’t you ever had anything unexplainable happen to you, or anyone around you?” he asked suddenly.

  I started to shake my head, but hesitated. Of course there were, but everyone had a story of random occurrences where they couldn’t explain how it happened.

  Those memories were quite personal though.

  “I suppose. I hardly think it proves the existence of werewolves though.”

  “You’d be surprised,” he muttered.

  I frowned. For now, I just drank my tea and waited for my explanation.

  “It’s genetic, the Change,” he began. “My parents were shifters, and their parents and so forth. Not everyone born to it is a full-fledged shifter, but they can be Turned by another shifter. It’s a messy process though, and it involves a lot of blood.”

  I set aside my tea, making a face.

  “The Turned somewhat shunned, you know, unless their benefactor is powerful.” He toyed with his drink.

  “Is that common, shifters who don’t change?”

  “In a large community it’s common enough. My cousin Pandorea, she’s a mongrel. That’s what they’re called.”

  I looked at my empty cup, realizing what that meant. If, if I was related to werewolves, and I hadn’t ever changed…

  “You’re not a mongrel,” he said dryly, watching my face. “You’re special. I think I already mentioned that.”

  “But how am I special?” I’ve never been anything to anyone but my parents, who seemed to think I was so special they rarely let me out of their sight.