Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon: Nope. SUNRISE

LEVI - “Where’s the Alpha?” I ask, the smell of E.B. Wallace hovers faintly around me.

“Over here,” Mr Wolfe calls from a distant bush. He winces, “But not all of him.”

“I think … yep. Some of him over here,” Hank points around him at the opposite side of meadow.

“Where’s the rest of him?” Mr. Wolfe asks meeting myself and Wolf-Sterling where Trinity sits. Her eyes hadn’t opened since she first turned toward the sun but she was listening.

Lifting her finger she points upward into the trees. I choose not to look up. With Hank’s startled reaction and Mr. Wolfe’s grimace, I get the gist of it.

My eyes stay on Ity. Her appearance was back to normal. No blue veins, claws or silver hair. Just her long thick eyelashes, warm skin and dark chocolate lochs lay messy across her shoulders. A part of me wonders if she really is back to normal, while the other part is on guard in case she attacks.

Having felt my gaze her eyebrows wrinkle before her sharp green eyes open directly at me. My face flushes with fear, but like a rabbit, I don’t move.

Oblivious to me, Cassidy kneels down blocking my view of Ity. “What’s wrong with you?”

Trinity avoids Cassidy’s prying eyes and redirects her attention to her own hand. Opening and closing it in front of her face she studies it.“Something’s different,” she says.

“Yeah, you turned into a demon on a blood thirsty rampage.” says Cassidy

However, the snotty remark doesn’t affect Trinity. She merely continues to watch her fingers flex. “No. I’m always that demon. But something was different this time.” Ity shakes her hand as if trying to remove a sticky substance from her skin, and finally looks at Cassidy for the first time. “Who are you?”

“I’m Cassidy. You tried to kill my parents.”

“She also tried to me and kill my parents.” Hank corrects.

“I tried to kill everyone.” Ity says lacking what I felt was any level of empathy.

“And you succeeded in killing most.” Mr. Wolfe adds reminding us all that he was still present. I could feel the weight of his authority as he towers over us. Yet, appearing unaffected, Trinity stands and looks him in the eyes.

“You prompted me to attack. Did you know?” she asks, her hands still flexing at her sides.

Mr. Wolfe shakes his head, “I foolishly suspected the bite had altered you as it did Levi.”

“Still, the way you stayed out of my reach and protected your own against me. It reminded me of a very calculated General I know.” She looks him over briefly before stepping away from the Alpha’s looming shadow back into the sunlight. “It was admirable.”

My body tightens as she moves. I was noticing new things about Trinity. Her human smell was completely gone, but even the wolf smell no longer clings to her. She smells of blood and the way she moves was not awkward and cute like I remember. But cold.

Has she always been that way?

“What happened to the cubs and your mother?” Mr. Wolfe asks. He crouches down to Wolf-Sterling and places he hand on the young Wolfe’s head. It was a quiet response but even I felt a rush of relief as Alpha-Wolfe give’s his son a tight squeeze. “Thank you both, for taking care of her.” He said, he returned to collecting Rory.

Picking the human form of his son, easily off the ground the Alpha places him on his broad back. Rory’s long lanky frame is dwarfed by his father’s large build. He easily secures his good arm around his father’s collar, while his face twists in pain from the awkward pressure on his wounds.

It’s clear Demon Trinity had done a number on Rory. She must have hated him more than I thought. I glance in her direction, and see Ity’s eyes look to her feet where she deliberately steps away from a reaching shadow.

From the looks of it, those of E.B Wallace’s Pack that had survived, were long gone. But the strongest of their pack did not make it clear of the massacre. Cassidy and Hank had pulled branches from the forest, to cover remains of both Werewolves, plus Katie, and Clyde. It was more as a reminder to return and dispose of them later, than of respect.

“Hank stay and help your brother search the area,” Mr. Wolfe ordered and then rushed from the sight to care for the battered teenager.

“What are we searching for?” I ask.

“Rhydian.” Hank answers, “I haven’t found any signs of his body.” I fought back the wave of nausea that came with the thought.

“Omega’s don’t wait around to see who won.” Cassidy says, “After you broke his arm, he probably ran for it.”

“But could he escape her?” Hank motions to Trinity. Surprisingly Trinity shows a moment of hesitation by scratching the back of her ear.

“I had three Alpha’s in the area,” She states and out of habit I add my two cents.

“You had no reason to focus on an Omega. Especially since you had his power source.” My support of her strategy may have gone over better if I weren’t still in werewolf form but for some reason I couldn’t change.

“Why haven’t either one of you changed back?” Hank growls, “Are you that weak?”

“I’ve been trying.” I insist pulling at my face, hopeful to tear away the mask that refuses to move. “I’m stuck.”

“We don’t get stuck, you get weak,” Hank says. I only suspect he’s speaking from experience.

“No, Levi’s stuck. It happens,” Ity says though her eyes look down at Wolf-Sterling. “He just needs to be reminded.”

“Remind me of what?” I ask. A growl unintentionally following my words.

“That you’re actually human.” She says.

“I know I’m human, but I still have claws!” I say growing more impatient with every moment. Until suddenly, Cassidy stands up in front of me. Before I realize what’s happening her hand slips behind my neck, she pulls me in and her lips press against mine.

My hands fly up in surrender and ignorance because I have no idea where to put them. Do I put them on her shoulders, on her waist, on her head … on my head? More absurd thoughts spin through my mind until finally...

I close my eyes and lean into the kiss. Heat washes over my body as I taste her. Peaches, swirled with raspberry ice cream, fill my body and I want more. So I take it. Time around me fades into meaningless silence and then Cassidy’s hands push back on my face and she pulls away.

A cool breeze sweeps across my warmed lips and my eyes flutter open to see the brown swirls in her eyes looking me over.

I blink, unsure of what is happening.

“Done.” She declares, breaking completely away from my hold, leaving my mouth gaping.

“I could go for more.” I say without first getting permission from my brain.

Unamused, Cassidy turns again to face me, “I meant your condition.”

I look down at my hands. The claws are gone, my normal fingernails, dirty but intact. I feel my face next. The extra hair is gone, my forehead smooth, ears normal, and my smile has also returned.

“H-How?” Are the only two words that manage to form.

“It will happen again.” Ity says still not looking at me.

“The kiss?” I ask, regret flushes through my face.

“The demon was right,” Cassidy answers. “You’d forgotten you were human. You just needed a little incentive to return.”

My eyes connect with Cassidy’s as she smiles. My fingers unconsciously touch my lips, as I wonder when the next time might be and an excited prickle runs straight through my heart and down my arms. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome.” Cassidy casually answers.

I force myself to look away from Cassidy and for the second time, I see Ity’s feet shuffle away from the shadow on the ground. The light of the sun reflects off her pinked skin. “Does the sun make you feel that way?” I ask.

Confused by my question, Ity’s eyes dance between me and Cassidy, “Does the sun make me feel like I’m making out with a 16 year old boy?”

My face flushes again and I know I really should quit speaking but I’m obviously trapped now. “No. Does the sun remind you that you’re human?”

Ity looks down at her shoes recognizing that her conscious effort to remain in the light had been noticed. She looks skeptically at her hands as she again turns to face the light. “I don’t know what it feels like to be human.” She looks back at me. “But I did wonder for a moment if we were like you. Though, I was wrong. In the way of camouflage, we are more like the wolves than a werewolf.”

A dark feeling followed her words. She was suggesting she was always a demon hiding among humans by taking on the appearance of a human. Just as the wolves had done for many years.

“How could I not know?” I say. She looks down at her hand, wiping the blood way from the skin to reveal all of Sterlings bite marks gone.

“I’ve had practice,” she says.

“But you did help us. A demon wouldn’t have done that.” I insist. At this point I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince her or myself. “I followed you for weeks.”

“Months.” She corrects. But I continue to look at her through furrowed expression, “All you need to understand is I meant no harm nor did I intend to cause this. It was Wallace’s cunning that pulled me in. Otherwise I would have remained hidden. I would not have gotten involved.”

Hank shifted his weight as he considered her words, “Even Wallace didn’t know about you?”

“It’s best no one does.” Said Ity.

Levi still seemed to be in denial, “Ity we had conversations. We laughed. We became friends. That kindness can’t be faked.”

“This is not a supernatural romance novel,” Ity says with no emotion in her words. “In this world if a demon is kind, it is directly related to your usefulness to them … or their very bored.”

She was convincing, but all those months, when she could have killed me at anytime ... “Sterling back me up. All that time in the treehouse together ... Shift back and help me. Tell her Demon theory is wrong.”

Wolf-Sterling whimpers and buries his head beneath his paws.

“Sterling? What’s wrong?”

“He’s been trying to shift back but he can’t.” Ity says, this time she crouches down and look Wolf-Sterling in the eyes.

“How do you know?” Hank asks slightly taken back by the fact he hadn’t noticed.

“While Levi’s been campaigning and making out, I’ve been wondering,” We allow her to pause while I take a look at Sterling. His eyes wide and full of sadness. He doesn’t look at me. He barely glances up at Ity when she finishes her thought. “Where did the stone go, Sterling?”

A deep whimper comes from wolf-sterling. His ears sink farther down and puts his head remorsefully on the ground.

CHAPTER END