SWNOVELS A Dark Shifter Chapter 15
Juliet
We have coffee and oatmeal, followed by second breakfast with Natalie and her admittedly delicious scrambles. Then Natali places an untraceable call to the authorities about Mr. Loomis and we load into her car.
The long day of driving passes quickly, filled with stories of Lost Moon trials past and tips from Natalie on how best to prepare ourselves for the testing.
“Make friends as quickly as you can,” she says. “You'll need allies in your house to back you up when you're not together. Most of the trials are campus wide, but there are occasionally tests that take place within your dorm, where you'll only have your new clan to depend on for support.”
“We won't be in the same house?” Ford asks from the back seat.
He insisted I sit by Natalie, to promote reconciliation between us, I assume, but he needn't have bothered. I'm actually okay with Natalie, now that she's come clean, and she seems okay with me, too. We might actually become real friends someday, once I'm absolutely sure I can trust her.
“sadly, no," Natalie says, her lips turning down. “Wolves are in one dorm, big cats in another, and all other species and variants in the third. But your dorm is my favorite, Juliet,’ she adds, flashing a smile my way. “The Variant House is the most fun. They're such a welcoming, warm, and wonderful group. The fact that they all know what it feels like to be the odd one out bonds them together from the start. As long as you can avoid scaring or pushing them away, you'll have an instant family, ready to defend and protect you no matter what."
“I'll do my best," I say, nodding back toward Ford, who's leaned in until his face is hovering between our seats. “And what about him?”
Natalie shrugs. “Wolves are a little trickier. More competitive by nature, as you know, and I'm sure some of the Alphas will be threatened by your size and...intensity. So, you should avoid glaring, too. But don't back down too easily. You'll need to toe the line between making it clear you don't want to disrupt the established order and proving you're a force to be respected and reckoned with.’
“Or you could just beat the shit out of everyone on day one and make it clear you're the boss," I say.
Natalie slaps my knee. “Don’t give him any ideas.”
“You forget, I'm a wolf, too” I say. “I might have a different shifter form, but I was born to wolves and raised in a pack. I know the fastest way to the top is by bloodying anyone who tries to top you. And I can't imagine anyone there can top Ford." “Flattered, but I'l try it the diplomatic way first,” he says. “I'm tired of fighting and I'd rather have allies I won with trust not fear”
“Exactly” Natalie says. “Now, let's work on cover stories for you both. I have something prepared, but I thought you might want to have some input on your new last names, history, connection to each other, etcetera.”
“Juliet and I are childhood sweethearts,” Ford jumps in before I can say a word. “But our families were from warring packs and were determined to keep us apart. So, we tried to run away together, but she took some poison that made it look like she was dead and I ended up stabbing myself and almost bleeding out on her tomb. We lost touch in the ensuring chaos after our parents found us and are just now reclaiming our lives and our love."
“Ha, ha," I deadpan. “But a backstory based on Romeo and Juliet, might be stretching the incredulity of our new friends a little too far. And we're not pretending to be a couple. That's a non-starter for me."
“And limits your options,” Natalie adds, surprising me. “You don't want to alienate people who might be interested in
supporting you simply because you're both beautiful and they'd like to get you in the sack. But I wouldn't say you're family,
either. That would lead to questions about why you don't have a wolf form, juliet, and could make it easier to track down
who you really are and where you came from."
“Old friends, then?" I ask, glancing at Ford out of the corner of my eye. “We went to camp together in the summers, he bullied me because I was younger, but we ended up becoming friends when I was in high school, and Ford was..."
“Working for a logging operation in Alaska, where we're both from,” he supplies. “No one’s from Alaska so hopefully we won’; run into people who think they should know either of us."
“We do have a graduate student from Alaska,” Natalie cuts in. “But he's doing a research project abroad this semester, so we'll have time before we need to worry about him. But John's a darling, so if it comes to letting him in on our secret, I'd fee comfortable doing so. He's a mink shifter, Juliet, so he'll be one of the elders in your dorm when he returns. The elders are a great resource for both of you. They'll be there when you need advice or guidance or help settling a conflict with a dorm mate so don't be afraid to reach out to them.” She taps the steering wheel with both hands. “Now, we just need names! like Laurent for you, Juliet. It's from the French word for the laurel crowns their rulers wore in ancient times. It hints at your nobl background and is so elegant rolling off the tongue.”
Ishrug. “Fine. I was thinking about learning French, anyway, and I have family there. What about Ford? I like Cornfoot. Or Dankworth.”
His head shifts my way, and I fight a smile.
“No, thanks,” he says. “I'll take something normal and forgettable that won't attract attention.”
“But it could be smart to give you a horrible last name," I say. “Help distract from how perfect you seem otherwise, make people feel sorry for you even though you're a big bulky Alpha with piercing silver-gray eyes like an Artic Sea.”
“I think you might both be poets in the making,” Natalie says. “And I think you might be right, Juliet. Our boy should have something wrong with him. It doesn't pay to be too perfect.”
Ford sits back with a sigh. “Fine. I guess flattery really will get you anywhere. I'm Bradford Ignatius Titsworth, first of his name.”
I snort-laugh and Natalie giggles like a kid, making me soften toward her a bit more. It's hard not to like a woman who finds “Titsworth” amusing.
“I can hear the jokes now, Mr. Titsworth," I say, with a happy sigh. “It's going to be a beautiful thing?’
We chat a bit more about mine and Ford's fictional shared history, deciding I was putting off college for a few years to take care of a sick cousin and he's headed to school after making a killing in the lumber business. We'll both claim to be orphaned shifters without a pack, and therefore a good fit for Lost Moon.
“Perfect,” Natalie praises as she takes the next exit off the highway, aiming us toward our final stop before we arrive at Lost Moon tomorrow. “Now, you just need to decide what you'd like to study.”
“English Literature with a focus on poetry,” Ford says, making my brows shoot up. “A nice, nerdy degree that will make the rest of the Alphas consider me less of a threat.”
“And all the women fall madly in love with you," Natalie says with a dreamy sigh.
“Gross,” I say, making her laugh again.
“Oh, it's not gross. It's natural. Nothing sexier than a big strong man with a tender, poetic side.” She casts a narrow glance my way. “And for you...chemistry, maybe? Show off that big brain of yours, and win you points with the honor’s society students You could also continue your social work degree. We'd just have to change your backstory a bit and the name of the college where you started your studies to keep people from finding out who you really are.”
“No," I say, feeling strongly that social work isn't where I belong anymore. I'm too dark inside to bring other people hope right now. “I think I'll join the military school. Nothing sexier than a petite woman with a badass side and a big gun, right?” “Hell, yeah, I'd tap that,” Ford says, earning a swat over my shoulder. “Ow! You hit my nose.”
“Sorry,” I say, without looking back. “Just getting in touch with my militant side”
Natalie makes an uncertain sound. “All right. If that's where you feel compelled to direct your focus. But feel free to change your mind. I've seen your grades, Juliet. Earning a 4.0 at Pepperdine is no easy feat. You're a brilliant girl and your mind could do great things for your people and the world at large. You could even be the person to discover how to give variant shifters a choice in forms. They're working on that now in Cambridge, on a treatment that could allow people like you to decide whether to keep their variant form or rewire their DNA to be wolves like their parents.”
“I'll think about it," I say, but hours spent in a lab don't interest me right now. I need a place to put all the feral energy inside me to use, a place to funnel it so it will be too tired to t*****e me during my normal life. And military knowledge and experience could come in useful when it's time to destroy my father.
That's all I really care about.
Finding the career path that speaks to my soul will have to wait until I've annihilated the man who stole it from me.
Before it's too late.