Stalked (Rogues Shifter #2) (9 page)

“What class are we taking?”

“English History. It’s taught by the new teacher who we think might be Brina.”

“It could be worse. It could be trig.”

“I like math. It makes sense.”

“I did fine with most
of it, but trig was hard.” We’d walked several blocks to a small park and took possession of a generic bench in the center of things. I sent out my mental fingers, but no luck at finding a fae.

“So you graduated early?” Garrett asked.

“A year early. I took a lot of summer classes and I skipped ahead. It got me out of the house." My diploma had come in the mail to Rob's house, sent by my adopted parents, the Crawfords. Garrett had framed it and put it up in my room.

“Were you going to college?”

“I was thinking about just going to the local community college. I was really happy living with Justin and Maggie and figured I’d take a year there and then transfer somewhere like UCLA or USC or maybe Berkeley.”

“Rob made me get my GED
, so I was thinking about enrolling in the local community college this fall myself. Maybe we could take a couple of classes together.”

“That would be great.”

After ten minutes of sitting and chatting, two shifter females came over to us. “Hi,” the blonde said. “Are you guys new around here?” She was petite, a little plump and very pretty, with perfect skin and large blue eyes, dressed casually in capris and a peasant shirt. 

“I’m Sherrie and this is Bridgett.” She was eyeing Ethan like he was a Hershey bar. I took a whiff and smell
ed cougar mixed with pine. I grinned at Ethan and he wrinkled his brow as if to say,
what
? He couldn't tell she was another cougar.

Bridgett was Sherrie’s polar opposite in looks and behavior. She was too thin, wit
h dyed jet black hair and walnut brown eyes. She had a tattoo on her forearm of a phoenix rising from the ashes and a brass stud in her lip which might have made her edgy, only she was looking down at the ground like she was afraid to look us in the eye .She wore black jeans and a tank top which emphasized the thinness of her arms.

“Hi.
I’m Sam and this is my sister, Melanie“ Ethan smiled his warmest smile and Sherrie’s red aura brightened. “We moved here last week from Sacramento.”

“So where do you live?” Sherrie
was a curious little cat. I guessed that Gasquet wasn’t really a hotbed of new gossip, so we were possibly a dream come true for a bored teen.

“Over
on Oakcrest.” Rob had called to tell us that the house was all set up and that the key was under the planter.

I was listening to Ethan and Sherrie
chat but I couldn’t stop watching Bridgett. Her aura was a muddy yellow, which wasn’t too far from the Faerie gold a daughter of an Elder might wear. Brina could have disguised her scent to smell like a shifter. Bridgett stole a glance at Ethan when he laughed and then looked down at the ground again. I decided to see what I could find out about her.

Very carefully I extended my mental probes in her direction and came smack up against a solid mental wall. I quickly p
ulled back, but she’d already noticed. She raised her head slowly to look at Ethan curiously, then at me. Our eyes locked for a moment as we assessed each other. We both took in a slow breath. I smelled jaguar, but something else. Cheetah. Cheetah and the sharp smell of newly cut grass. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise when she caught my scent, but she shifted her gaze quickly back down to the ground. She was afraid of something.

“Are you two taking a summer class? We’re in English History at 11:00.” Ethan was still talking to Sherrie, although he’d caught the looks tha
t Bridgett and I had exchanged.

“Not me, but Bridgett is taking calculus at 11:00. She failed and has to take it over.”
Huh, some friend.

I touched Bridgett's arm so she'd look at me.
“I did really well in calculus. If you’re having trouble I’d be happy to help.” I wanted to learn as much as possible about this girl. If she was actually Brina in disguise, then she could change her scent, but why would she choose two shifter scents? It didn’t make sense to me.

“Thanks.” Her voice
was so soft I barely heard her.

“I like your tattoo. Is it a phoenix?”

“Yeah.”

“She got into soooo much trouble with her dad when she got it. “ I was liking Sherrie less every time she opened her mouth. A couple of guys walked over to see who Sherrie and Bridgett were talking to.

“Oh, hi! This is Sam and his sister Melanie. They just moved to town and are taking a summer class next session. This is Darren and Frank. They’re seniors too.”

Darren was good looking and knew it. He was tall and broad with dark blonde wavy hair and light blue eyes. He wore tan shorts and a
black tee shirt that said "WTF!" over his well muscled chest. He smelled like a bear shifter with a hint of birch and I knew from the way he stared at me that he was arrogant.

Frank was dark skinned, lean and graceful. He had gorgeous dark eyes
, a great smile and curly black hair. I knew what he was before I even took a sniff; black leopard like Rob, mixed with tangy lime.  He wore a tan button down shirt unbuttoned with a green tank underneath, and jeans. Frank’s aura was turquoise, like Ethan’s.

“Hi,” I said looking at Frank, but watching Darren out of the corner of my eye.

“Hi,” said Frank with a warm smile.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Melanie, Sam.” Darren actually held out his hand so I shook it. He held mine just a little bit too long before he let go and shook Ethan’s. “What class are you taking?”

“AP English History.”

“So are we.” He was grinning. “We could start a study group.” Oh yeah that sounded like so much fun. This guy was going to be
hitting on me the whole summer.

“You’re both seniors? Are you twins?” asked Frank.

“Yeah, I’m older though,” said Ethan. I rolled my eyes. Here we go.

“By 12 minutes, asshole.” I shoved his shoulder.

He grinned, enjoying the game. “I got all the healthy brain cells.”

“It doesn’t matter how many you have if you don’t use them.” That made Sherrie and Frank laugh.

“I’m a much better bowler.” He arched an eyebrow.
Hmmm…bowling is a good idea, Ethan
.

I looked at Darren and Sherrie staring at each of us. “How about we put that theory to a test right now? I saw a bowling alley two blocks back near the pizza place. Any of you want to come? We could make it guy
s against girls.” Ethan seemed pleased that I'd picked up on his idea and run with it. A bowling alley would be an ideal place to hang out and be seen by the locals.

“Frank and I are in, but I’d rather be on
your
team Melanie.” I just bet he would.

“Yeah,
let's go.” Sherrie was grabbing Bridgett’s arm and starting to walk in the direction of the bowling alley.

Bridgett pulled away. “I’m pretty broke right now. You guys go ahead.”

I wasn't letting her get away so easily.“I’ll lay out the money, you can pay me back. I’d like to have at least one friend at the school.” I looked at Sherrie and pointed toward the guys. ”And don’t you want to kick their butts?” I saw the look she gave Ethan as he walked away talking to Frank and Darren and realized that kicking wasn’t what she had in mind for Ethan. I sighed. He’s too hot for his own good.

After a few more prods we were eventually able to get Bridgett to come along with us. We caught up to the boys, paid and went in search of bowling balls, giving me a chance to talk to Ethan privately.

“Bridgett’s a cheetah, but she’s tried to hide it under a Jaguar scent. Plus she has a strong wall up protecting her thoughts, so she can use the lines. I’m sticking close to her. She’s definitely a Brina candidate. Darren’s a bear, Frank is a black leopard and,” I smiled, “Sherrie’s a cute little cougar.”

Because I was a cheetah, my senses were more acute, so even though Ethan could tell that they were all shifters, I could tell what kind of animal they shifted into. I could also see their auras, which would come in handy if Brina couldn’t mask hers.

Ethan smiled back at me. “Darren’s not so subtle about what he wants either. Should be an interesting few games. Oh, and I
am
going to beat you, Mel.”

“Give it your best shot, Sammy.” We grinned toothily at each other and then went to do battle, the gauntlet having been thrown down and picked up.

The boys started off strong. All three of them could bowl and got strikes and spares the first three frames. Sherrie and I held our own, but Bridgett rolled the ball into the gutter or only knocked down a few pins, almost as if she was trying to mess up.  Her yellow aura would waver and then her ball would go wide. She was doing it on purpose and I was not happy. Heck, if she had the power to construct a mental wall, then she could put in the energy to get a strike.

I took a chance and pushed a little magic at her, managing to break a chink out of her wall. “
Why are you trying to roll gutter balls?”

I heard her gasp and look at me
with startled eyes. Her strong mental defenses had suddenly crashed and burned as waves of fear poured from her mind, so she twisted away and ran into the ladies room, tears already streaking her cheeks. Crap, I hadn't meant to scare her.

Sherrie stood up looking confused, but I motioned for her to sit down again. “It’s your turn next after Sammy. I’ll go see what’s up. Make sure he doesn’t cheat.” Sherrie nodded with a smile, relieved tha
t she could stay with
Sammy
. Ethan gave me a curious look but I scratched behind my ear, our signal that I was good to deal with the situation alone. He nodded and got up to bowl.

I walked quickly to the restroom
, hoping to repair any damage I might have caused. Bridgett was in a stall sniffing and blowing her nose. Her wall was back up so I couldn’t really tell what was upsetting her. “Hey Bridgett, what’s the matter? It’s ok that you’re not a good bowler. We’re all having fun, right?”

“Fuck you! You’re the problem. You’re going to mess everything up.”

Huh…shy little Bridgett just had a personality downgrade. I chose to ignore it. “Come out. We’ll get a soda and talk.”

The stall door opened and she walked out, glaring at me with angry brown eyes. “If you tell anyone, I’ll beat the shit out of you.” She'd stormed over to me and was trying to be all
in my face
, but she was so petite that she was more—in my clavicle. I had to hold back a smile so she wouldn't get any angrier. I didn't doubt that she could hurt me if she focused that anger.

“I won’t tell anyone that you were crying. You can trust me.”

“No dumbass.” She lowered her voice.”You can’t tell anyone that I’m a cheetah.”

Ok it was getting harder to be nice. Still I wanted to get more info, so I asked
calmly, “Why are you hiding it?”

“None of your fucking business!” She hissed out.

I felt my hands clench, but managed to hold back the desire to punch her by reasoning it out. She was frightened by something. Her anger was probably related to that. She's another cheetah. Maybe I can get her to trust me.

“I won’t talk
if you promise not to tell anyone that
I’m
a cheetah.” My cover would be blown before class even started. Not a stellar performance for me as a new member of our team.

That stopped her tirade, at least for a moment. She looked at me suspiciously then crossed her arms and asked, “Why are
you
hiding it?”

“Same answer as yours.”

She smiled a little then. “It’s not so easy is it? We’re freaks.”

“Aren’t your parents cheetahs?” It occurred to me that they might
have known my parents, so I moved closer.

“No. My mom is dead. My dad’s a wolf, she was too.”

Suddenly the fear made sense. I remembered what Sinc had told us about her adopted werewolf parents. They couldn’t accept a shifter kid and so they'd sent her away. Bridgett was apparently going through the same kind of thing, only her parents had kept her around. I didn't want to delve into her personal life, since she obviously wasn't Brina, so I let it go for now. Instead I asked,  “Why do you mess up your rolls on purpose? You could bowl well if you put your energy into it.”

“I can’t draw any attention to myself.”

“Messing up that badly draws more attention to you than if you just got an average score. Everyone knows you're some kind of a shifter, right? Shifters are pretty coordinated."

She looked at me with narrowed eyes.
”I guess so.”

“What do you tell people your animal is?”

“Jaguar.”

“Me too.”
Ethan and I had decided that jaguar was rare enough that no one would question it. Obviously I hadn’t counted on another cheetah with a great nose to pin me out. “Why don’t we go back? Just relax and have some fun. I swear to you that I won’t say anything to Sherrie or Darren or Frank or anyone at the school.”