Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jerrit’s breath caught as she unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck.  He closed his eyes reveling in the feel of her bare skin against his neck.  She let out a soft sigh that he felt against his shoulder as she laid her head against it.  He took a deep breath becoming intoxicated by her scent.  The faint smell of vanilla mixed with another aroma that was completely unique to the woman in his arms.

“What happened?”  The shrill voice brought Jerrit’s eyes open.  “Is she alright?”

“She’s fine.  She just turned around too quickly.  With how much alcohol is in her system, I’m surprised that she was still standing at all.  She just needs a little fresh air.”

“You’re right.  Will you help me get her outside?”

Jerrit looked toward the bartender who was eying them suspiciously.  “You still have to settle up the tab.”  He turned his attention back to the frantic woman.  “I’ll take her outside while you do that.”

“Like hell.  I don’t know you and I sure as hell am not leaving her alone with you.”

Jerrit kept his expression calm as his nerves mounted.  He was running out of time.  “I understand your concern, but she is not going to last much longer.  I would say that she has about two minutes left before she empties her stomach all over the floor.”

The girl’s eyes flit from the bar to the door.  He could see her grappling with her decision.  He held his breath waiting for her answer, not that it would matter what she said, but it was his last chance to get her out the door without harming anyone.  The woman was standing between a smooth mission and a messy one.

“Fine,” she ceded.  “But if anything happens to her, and I mean anything at all, you will regret it.  I will hunt you down and make you wish that I had killed you by the time that I’m done.  Your chances of procreating will go right out the window.  Do you understand me?”

Jerrit did not doubt the threat.  What he doubted was her ability to carry it out.  She would definitely try, but her success would be a miracle.  The little auburn woman was feisty, and given different circumstances, he probably would have liked her.

He put on a soothing smile in an attempt to placate her.  “I have no intention of harming her.  You have my word on that.  But you will find that I do not respond well to threats.  Consider that your first warning.  We will be waiting for you out back.”

Without waiting for her to argue, he made his way to the back exit.  He just hoped that he would make it in time.  He had scant moments before she caused a scene.

The door opened of it’s own volition as he approached.  It closed behind him after he made it outside.  He let out a sigh of relief as his phone went off once more signaling midnight.  Jerrit looked up at the full moon.  The weight in his arms lightened, significantly.  He looked back at the woman only to find her clothes.  As he readjusted them the shirt fell to the ground revealing a small cat curled up in a ball in his arms.  The animal’s fur was the same honey color as the woman’s hair.

“This is…different,” he said aloud.  The transformation had happened as it was supposed to but she was not supposed to be feline.  Something must have gone wrong.

The doorknob behind him began to turn.  Jerrit kept the door closed with is powers , but it would not last long.  He looked around quickly trying to find some place to hide the cat.  He laid the small creature on the ground behind the door, hiding it from view of whoever was coming out of the club.  He grabbed the shirt and threw it over the cat along with the rest of the clothes, hoping that the feline would not be disturbed.  He straightened attempting to figure out what he was going to tell her friend, whom he knew was about to come barreling out of the club in a foul mood.

Jerrit let go of the door.  It burst open and the girl’s friend stumbled out.  “Damn door,” She muttered as it slid shut behind her.  She glanced at Jerrit’s empty arms and rage burned in her eyes.  Her voice was pure venom as she spoke through gritted teeth.  “Where is she?”

Jerrit looked around.  There was an alley not too far away, that disappeared around a corner giving Jerrit an idea.

“She came around just as we got outside.  She wanted to, um, hurl in private so I stayed here while she went around the corner, to do her business.”

“You let her go alone?!  You idiot!  It’s midnight in Greeley, anything could happen to her!”  She rushed around the corner.  Jerrit followed more slowly.  When she found the alley empty she rounded on him.  Before he could react, Jerrit felt her fist collide with his jaw.  The blow took him by surprise and he staggered back a step before regaining his balance.  She was strong, he would give her that.  “You son of a bitch, you lost her!”

The girl turned away from him looking around frantically.  Before she could run down the alley he touched her arm softly, gaining her attention.  She glared at him as he tested his jaw to make sure that there was no damage.

“This is your second warning, darling, you threaten me one more time, and I will not be held accountable for what I do to you.”

The girl moved away from him.  He could sense her fear of him even if she did not show it.  “Technically, that wasn’t a threat.  I simply took action rather than wasting my time with empty words.  They apparently confuse you too much.”

“Technicalities do not matter to me.  You are out of chances, little one.  Still, I take responsibility for my mistakes so I will help you look for your friend.  You should go and check the car.  It’s possible that when she woke up and found me rather than you she freaked out and went to find something familiar.  If she is not there then you should check the club again.  I’ll make a circuit around the building and see if there is any sign of her.  Try her phone as well.  She could be perfectly fine and you are panicking over nothing.”

The girl took a deep breath.  “Alright, I need to calm down.  Freaking out and beating the shit out of you will not help Dawn no matter how much better it makes me feel.  I will meet you at the front door of the club in fifteen minutes.  Do not be late.”

Jerrit watched the girl as she rushed down the alley pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.  That girl was going to cause him a great deal of trouble.  He shook his head and turned to head back to the door.

Jerrit knelt down and gently pulled the shirt away from the still sleeping cat.  She was curled into a ball, resting easy amongst the discarded clothing.  He lightly stroked the beautiful animal’s fur, careful not to wake her.

He had to get her out of here.  It wouldn’t be long before she recovered.  he wanted to make sure that she was safely trapped inside before that happened.  It was not easy to open a door without opposable thumbs and he did not need her running off before he had a chance to explain what was going on.  Of course, he would have to figure that out for himself first.  She was in enough trouble having just shifted, let alone into an animal that couldn’t do much more than claw someone.  He was not about to leave her vulnerable like that.  If anything happened to the girl then there were far more dangerous and frightening people to answer to than her feisty little friend.

A scream brought Jerrit around, crouching in a fighting stance.  As if his night wasn’t bad enough.  What else could possibly happen?

Jerrit did not have a chance to move before something much larger than a cat bounded past him.  Was that a tiger?  He didn’t have to look to know that the cat was no longer passed out.  She was rushing around the corner, no longer defenseless.

What was going on?  The girl was not supposed to be feline at all and now she was changing shapes.  Even in the insane world that he lived in, such a thing was not possible.  Were-animals only had one shape that they could shift into and that was predetermined by genetics.  Given those rules the girl should be a wolf, and only a wolf.

Jerrit rushed after the now enlarged cat but stopped when he rounded the corner.  Four men were surrounding the tiger.  She prowled protectively in front of a figure laying motionless on the pavement.  The men spread out, trying to draw her attention in several different directions, but she stayed close to the mass on the ground.

None of the men were particularly large, but they all shared the same greasy dark hair which contrasted their abnormally pale skin.  Two of the men wore their hair long, one in a pony-tail while the other let his hang loose.  The other two men had their hair cropped short.  It just figured that the creatures of the night would be stalking his mark only moments after she had shifted.  They had to have been tracking her.

One of the men tried to kick the tiger, but she ducked out of the way with a menacing growl.  She let out an angry roar, causing the men to step back, hesitantly.  The man with the pony-tail shook his head in disgust tinged with fear.

“She is just a new Were, you cowards.  If we cannot take her out then we do not deserve to call ourselves hunters.”

“She doesn’t seem like she is new to it,” one of the men with short hair replied, with a thick Hispanic accent.  “She is too focused to have just shifted.”

“New or not, it is just a Were.  Destroy her!”

Not even pony-tail moved when the tiger crouched, ready for the attack.  The girl definitely did not seem new to her form.  She was so natural as a big cat that, if Jerrit didn’t know better, he would have thought that the girl had been shifting her entire life.  He could fully understand why the hunters were too afraid to make good on their threat.  The group was obviously not the most well-trained of their kind, and had probably just hoped for an easy kill to boast about.  Too bad they were tracking the wrong Were.  She was not going down without a fight.

Jerrit had to admit that he was impressed.  He let out a soft chuckle.

The small noise was just loud enough to draw the attention of the short hair who hadn’t spoken.  His eyes widened when he saw Jerrit.  They had really picked the wrong Were.  Jerrit gave the man an evil smile as, one-by-one, the hunters turned their attention toward him.  A part of him was itching for a fight and hoped that the men would be stupid enough to try.  As he saw recognition dawn on each of their faces, he knew that he would not get to scratch tonight.

Without a word to one another, the men all made a mad rush for their freedom at the other end of the alley.  It was almost comical to watch them trip over each other to get away.  Jerrit did not make any move to follow.  There were more important things to worry about.

Jerrit moved to check on the figure the tiger had been guarding.  The auburn girls chest was rising and falling in strong even breaths.  She was perfectly fine, outside of a couple of bumps and bruises she would have from her fall.

A growl brought Jerrit around to find the tiger was in human form, and she was completely naked.  Her eyes were full of an anger so intense that Jerrit could almost feel the heat of it.  Jerrit could not look away from those intensely emotional eyes, even to enjoy the full figure that she was not even trying to hide.

Dawn glared at the man standing over Crystal.  He could not have been older than twenty-five.  His dark hair hung long enough to obscure his bright blue eyes, then tapered down to brush his shoulders.  His attractive features were strong and eerily perfect.  He wore a long black coat that hid God only knew what.  Judging by the slight creak that it made when the man moved it was made of leather.  She could not help but notice that there was a well-chiseled body underneath that black sheath of leather.  Were it not for the situation Dawn would have thought he was gorgeous and because of that she would have begun to babble and embarrass herself.  But, as it was, she was not going to allow attraction to distract her from protecting Crystal.

The man made no move to attack, but he did not back away either.  He simply stood casually keeping his gaze fixed with hers.  A sly smile played at the corner of his lip but his eyes never wandered to her naked body.  She gave him credit for that given that she was completely exposed.

Out of nowhere a wave of nausea swept over her.

Jerrit cringed as the girl fell to her knees and vomited onto the pavement.  He moved toward her cautiously.  When she did not shy away from his approach, he removed his coat and placed it over her bare shoulders.  She stayed on all fours breathing heavily from the exertion of emptying her stomach.

Jerrit did not speak until he was sure that she was done.  “You know that every time that you’ve looked at me, you have ended up swooning.”

Dawn let out an amused breath.  “It’s not you, trust me.  I have a copious amount of alcohol in me that is wreaking havoc on my stomach.”  She sat back on her heals, moving slowly toward the clubs outer wall.  Every movement sent pain through her entire body.  She pulled the man’s coat closed in an attempt at modesty as she leaned her head back against the cold brick wall.  “Where are my clothes?”

“Around the corner.  Do you think that you can keep an eye on your friend while I go and get them?”

Dawn remembered Crystal with a jolt.  She regretted snapping her head up as another wave of nausea assaulted her.  Stupid Alcohol!  She closed her eyes and swallowed hard in an attempt to keep the bile down.

“Is she alright?”

“She’s fine. As far as I can tell there isn’t a scratch on her.  Just sit here in case she wakes up.  It will be good for her to see a friendly face rather than mine.  I’ll be right back.”

Dawn nodded as she relaxed her head back against the hard wall.  Now she understood what a hangover felt like.  She had always heard that throwing up made people feel better but it just seemed to make her ache more.

Jerrit watched as the tension eased out of the girl’s muscles.  He was relieved that she was trusting him, even if it was only to get her clothes.  He took his time gathering her clothes.  She deserved a moment to gain her composure and clear her head.  He could use a moment himself.  As if the night hadn’t been bad enough, he was now fighting to keep himself from thinking about how good that body of hers would feel against his.  The shape of her soft curves under his hand as he traced his way down to...Jerrit closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  He could definitely use a quick minute.

But a minute would not be enough to get that fantasy out of his head, so he just headed back.  The girl’s eyes were still closed and she had not moved an inch.  She did not seem to notice his return.  She must have passed out again, not that he could blame her.  Her soft, delicate features were unmarred by the pain that he knew she was feeling.  She was strong, much stronger than the others had been, and they had not been attacked on their first night as a supernatural being.

Her golden hair glimmered in the moonlight.  She seemed even more beautiful than she had been when he had first seen her in the club.  She still had the same innocent face, but there was a new quality to it that gave away her age.  She was already beginning to show the indefinable beauty that went with being preternatural.  There was a distinctive aura that surrounded her that he could not describe.

Something deep within him reacted to her.  The way that her lips parted slightly made him yearn for a taste of them.  The way that his large coat clung to her body made his mouth water with desire.  He was grateful that her eyes were closed so that he did not have to endure the agony of her beautiful brown gaze.  Resisting his urge to throw caution to the winds and take just one kiss from her was excruciating, but he knew that he would not be sated by a mere sample of the girl.  Better to leave her be and not know what he was missing.

“Are you going to give me my clothes or are you just going to stand there staring at me?”

Dawn’s eyes opened slowly.  She pierced him with a sly stare.  Her brown eyes held a knowing look that sent a shiver down his spine.  Surely she didn’t know what he was thinking.  But that sly smile she wore made him wonder.  She truly was a beguiling creature.

Jerrit handed her clothes to her without a word.  He wasn’t sure that he would be able to speak if he tried.

“Thank you.”

It sounded so dumb to her to thank a stranger for no other reason than to speak to him.  When the man smiled a gorgeous smile in response, she was glad that she was not standing or her knees might have given out.  She accepted the bundle that he offered her without really caring what it was.  As long as he was offering it, Dawn was going to take it.

Dawn did not know why she was trusting the man.  He had done nothing to make her think that he would do her harm, but she had always been hesitant around new people.  Still, for some reason, she felt comfortable with him.  There was something about him that put Dawn at ease and made her feel safe.

The easy feeling did not last.  “How is it that you are not freaked out by me?”

He sat down next to her, resting his arms on his bent knees.  He was careful to keep a a comfortable amount of space between them.  He looked around the alley, no doubt pretending to keep an eye out for trouble, while avoiding eye contact with her.  “What do you mean?”

“Well, you just watched me transform from…whatever the hell I was, into a human, but you don’t seem concerned about it at all.”  Dawn gestured toward Crystal.  “She fainted at the site of me when I rushed around the corner and she didn’t even know that it was me.  You haven’t so much as batted an eye.”

“I am a little concerned to tell you the truth, but it’s not because you shifted.  I have seen too many Were-animals to take notice of that.  I’m more worried about what you became.”  He glance at Dawn.  “And surprised by how calm you are about it.  I would imagine that most people would panic if they found out that they were part animal.”

Dawn closed her eyes again with a smile.  “Don’t let my calm exterior fool you.  I am actually going insane with panic right now, but I am having enough trouble focusing, So I really don’t have the energy to show it.  I’m barely staying conscious at the moment.  Maybe tomorrow you’ll get the reaction you’re looking for.”  Dawn turned her head to look at Jerrit once more.  “Not to mention I am very intoxicated right now, so I’m still kinda hoping that this is some sort of messed up dream.”

“I truly wish that I could reassure you of that, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.  This is just something that you’ll have to learn to accept…like your sisters did.”

Dawn frowned at him.  “Who are you?”

“Jerrit…Jerrit Serenity.”

“And how do you know my sisters, Jer-rit Ser-en-i-ty?”  Dawn over-annunciated his name

“Let’s just say that I’m an old friend of the family, Dawn, and leave it at that.”

Dawn pushed herself away from the wall, attempting to stand.  “Remind me to have you elaborate on that when I will actually remember what is going on.”  She paused to stare at him.  “I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised that you know my name, huh?”

Jerrit gave her a tight-lipped smile as he stood up.  He offered his hand to her to help her stand.  Dawn glared at him for being coy with her.  She hated that, and yet on Jerrit, coy looked really good.  She reluctantly took his hand to leverage herself up off the ground.

Jerrit tried to ignore the sensation that swept through him at Dawn’s touch, but when she stood, she was standing so close that there was no avoiding her scent.  It was not marred by alcohol like it should have been.  At least then he might have had a chance, but there was no way he could stop himself with such a purely intoxicating aroma.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, filling his senses.

Dawn was both unnerved and flattered by the look of total ecstasy on Jerrit’s face.  Whatever was going on inside of him made him shudder.  She watched his handsome features soften when he inhaled deeply.  Having a face like that should be illegal.  Dawn could not deny her attraction to the man, no matter how much she might want to.  His very presence had an effect on her.  Considering how like she had known the man, that was not a good thing.  He could still turn out to be some kind of psychopath.

That would be just her luck.  She finally finds the man of her dreams, but there are bones buried in the foundation of his home.  Or worse, she finds out that she is some mythological creature and gets attacked and has to be rescued by him...oh wait...yep, just her luck.

Jerrit’s eyes opened. Dawn stood mesmerized by his stare.  Something passed between them.  In her groggy state, she could almost believe in love at first sight.  She imagined that she had a chance with a guy like Jerrit.  He certainly seemed to be attracted to her.  Why not?  She was just as good as any other woman, and even better than a few.

Dawn pulled her hand free of Jerrit’s.  She had to control her emotions, at least until she got her friend to safety.

“I should get Crystal home.”

Dawn took a step away from Jerrit, but swayed dangerously.  He caught her around the waist before she could meet the concrete.  It was hard enough to suppress the fantasy of Jerrit wrapped around her, now she had a smal sample of what it would actually feel like.

“There is no way that i am letting you drive.  I don’t need that accident on my conscience.  I will take you both back to my place.  I have a spare room that you two can share.”

“Yes, because going hoe with a complete stranger would not be the craziet thing that I have done tonight.  I don’t even know you.  You could be some kind of freak, or something.  For all I know, you prowl the streets at night looking for unsuspecting women who get attacked in alleyways.  You could take them home and tue them up in your basement.”

“I guarantee you that no one gets tied up in my home without being fully consensual, and they always leave much happier than when they arrived.”

Dawn let out a soft snort.  She could appreciate a good innuendo.

“I am open to suggestions if you have any.  Although, before you say your place or your friend’s, I feel inclined to point out that your roommate will probably handle all of this about as well as your little friend did.  I also don’t think that waltzing into the dorms with one of their Resident Assistants passed out is the smartest plan.”

The man had a point.  She didn’t need to panic her roommate any more than necessary and she had no idea how to explain Crystal’s condition to the dorm staff.  Still, she had to have some other options.

“I am pretty sure that I had more friends here tonight.  I am sure thatI could get a ride with one of them.”

“You could, except that you still have your little shape-shifting problem to try to explain.  As drunk as you are, I doubt that you could do that without scaring the hell out of them.  If it will make you feel better, I will swear on whatever will convince you that nothing will happen to you while you are in my care.”

Without any real logic behind the decision, Dawn knew that she was going to give in to him.  He had done nothing to prove himself to her except that he hadn’t done anything to hurt her.  What really made up her mind was the feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her that everything was going to be alright as long as she trusted Jerrit.  No matter how much she usually ignored them, her instincts were always right.

“Alright.  We will go with you...but only because I am too stupid to think of a reason not to.”

Jerrit gave her a sly smile.  “I guess that it’s a good thing that I’m trustworthy, then, huh?”

Dawn stared into those eyes that captivated her.  Without a doubt, she was going to put her faith in this man.  She just hoped that she was doing the right thing.  “We’ll see.”