Shifting Alliance: A Shifting Fate Novel

Chapter 9: Secrets in the Dark

Ava

I sit on the roof of the compound, the moon high overhead and luminescent clouds shifting over it.

It's a cold and windy night, but I don't care. I needed to get out and breathe. Since we returned from the ruins of Samuel's pack, I haven't been able to get the smell of cooked flesh from my mind.

Nathan Jacobs. Jacobs? Devon said Jacobs was his name. Could there be a connection? Do I really want to know if there is?

When I asked James who the Filiis Lunae were, he said their leader had once been part of a large pack but was ousted because he couldn't conform to their laws. So, he had created his own pack, becoming a powerful alpha in the process.

He and his followers believed that shifters were supreme beings and humans were meant to be ruled by them. However, up until recently, they have been quiet, not so much as stirring a feather. The reason for their sudden uprise is still unknown.

There had been rumors of other attacks, but none as devastating as what had happened to Samuel's pack.

The fact that numerous people there had been killed with magic did nothing to settle our nerves. It could only mean that Nathan Jacobs had witches on his side. Only one other shifter had used witches like that, and that was my grandfather.

I want nothing more than to climb back into my warm bed and forget this whole ordeal, but I know I can't.

My limbs revolt against me when I try and convince them to move, to climb down, and to see him again. I had vowed that I would not return to him or go outside the boundary again.

Whoever attacked Samuel and his pack could still be out there. It's not safe. And yet, I need answers.

Devon had told me to go and find evidence.

I pull the medallion from my jacket pocket, the wolf's red eyes blazing like two flames. Well, I found it.

Unable to find an excuse to go back inside, I settle my nerves and jump from the roof, flying through the air before my feet hit the ground with a thud. I roll into a somersault and come up, running toward to boundary.

Devon's rather pathetic lean-to is exactly where I left it, but its owner is nowhere to be found. I find remnants of a chocolate bar wrapper crumpled on the ground. I wonder where he got that?

“I didn't think you would come back."

Startled, I whip around with a raised fist. When I see it's Devon, I slowly lower my hand to my side.

“Neither did I," I respond.

“So, why did you?" he asks, stepping closer. I only now realize that he is completely shirtless.

Despite the length of time he's spent outdoors, or because of it, his muscles are perfectly chiseled and defined. They seem to overlap each other, creating ripples in the skin that make him look massive yet wonderfully toned.

He wears jeans that are much too small and tighten over the bulge between....

I shake my head. No. I won't get sucked in. I can't.

“I came because of this," I say and take out the silver medallion.

When the moon's light glints on the metal, Devon takes in a sharp breath.

“Where did you get that?" he asks in a hushed whisper.

“From the ruins of the attack. I was told that it belonged to the leader of the Filiis Lunae, a rogue pack that believes in the superiority of shifters. Do you know what this leader's name is?"

Devon says nothing but takes a deep inhale and gulps, sweat building on his brow.

I look him in the eyes, ensuring that I have his attention.

“His name is Nathan. Nathan Jacobs. You don't happen to have any connection with him, do you? You two seem to share the same last name," I say the words with a sharp snap, letting them sink deeper.

Devon takes a step back, trembling. “I- I…" he stammers.

“Say something!" I don't speak loudly but forcefully. “Who is he to you?"

Devon stops moving and drops his hands to his sides. “He's....he's my father." He looks at me with his round blue eyes, filled with remorse and hatred, not for me but for the man who once possessed the medallion in my hand.

I speak low, my voice barely carrying on the slight breeze. “Your father?"

He nods.

“Did you have anything to do with the attack?"

He shakes his head.

“Then why was your father here, and why did he attack those people?"

He doesn't say anything for a long time but then finally speaks with a bitter voice.

“It's all part of his grand plan to overthrow all the alphas of all the packs and to create one massive pack. He wants to overrun the humans and to make shifters the only true power on Earth."

“And why are you here?"

He's quicker to speak now and looks directly at me. “I was kicked out of my pack for going against his orders. I didn't think as they did and was banished because of it. That was six years ago.

“At first, I thought I was just wandering aimlessly with no direction, moving from town to town, not really having a place to call home. Then, as I neared these mountains, I felt....well, I felt you. I had to come, and now, I can't leave."

I stand in shocked silence, unsure what to believe. But as I look at how he holds himself, shoulders sagging in defeat, face filled with the agony of familial betrayal, I find that I more than believe him.

I step toward him, studying how the moonlight casts shadows on his pale face. I reach a hand up and gently pull it through his ragged clumps of hair.

He doesn't stink as I would expect, but he has a strangely appealing musk that makes me shiver with need.

I pull my hand away, but he pulls it back, taking it to his mouth. He smells my hand, his eyes closed and lips parted. He puts one of my fingers in his mouth and gently sucks on it.

My heart is thundering in my chest, and I'm sure the world is spinning, about to fall in around me.

He can't. No! I can't let him!

I think that he's going to do it, that he's going to make his mark. He opens his mouth further, his teeth sharp in the night, but just as he's about to move again, he pulls back. My hand falls unceremoniously to my side.

A shift in the wind draws my attention behind him. There, leaning against a tall oak and carrying a shotgun in one hand, is my father, and he isn't happy.