Slow Shift by Nazarea Andrews (best ereader for pdf .TXT) 📗

the next, sitting nestled between Ezra and Joseph as she sips her water and watches Chase and Tyler. Her sharp eyes are bright, and she reminds him, almost painfully, of his sisters—of Chelsea, before the accident took everything and changed her, and Leslie, wild, fierce, and needy for affection.

He adores them, and wants, with a startling desperation, to make them his, to bind them to the Pack and never let them leave, to coax Ezra out of his shell and put Jessica on a pedestal next to Aurora so she can shine, to watch Joseph play chess with Lucas and quietly defeat him.

He wants them, and it’s terrifying.

~*~

“I like them,” Aurora murmurs. Lucas’s grip on her waist tightens. They’re in the kitchen, and she’s squeezing lemon into his drink while he watches and inhales the delightful scent of her.

“Do you like them enough to invite them into our Pack?”

Aurora twists, pressing the drink into his hand. “Chase does. So does Tyler.”

Lucas doesn’t look away. “Do you?”

She takes a breath. “I don’t want to scream around them. I... I want to sing.” She blinks, her voice soft. “I want to sing the kind of wailing song I only hear in our dreams.”

Lucas kisses her forehead and says, “Then let’s tell them, shall we?”

~*~

Jessica sits across from Chase in an adorable little house in the woods, and she eyes him. He’s been acting a little squirrely, but he’s been undeniably excited since they had that cookout at Aurora’s.

She isn’t here, now. It’s just Chase and Tyler, busy in the kitchen.

“I need to tell you something,” Chase says, and he sounds serious, more serious than he’s ever sounded. It makes her anxious, seeing the way he glances over at Tyler.

The older man is already watching, moving toward Chase like he can predict the boy’s needs and desires, and it makes her ache.

She knows that Tyler and Chase are special, that they’ve been together longer than she can fathom, that they’re a forever kind of love, and she adores it. She flirts and teases, but it’s only because it doesn’t mean anything, because Chase is so far off the market he’s never really been on it.

She wants that, the love and awareness and completeness she sees in them when they’re together, the quiet devotion in Tyler’s gaze and the wild adoration in Chase’s.

“I need you to listen,” Chase says, and Tyler moves closer to her. “And really pay attention to what we can offer you.”

So she does. She listens, and she doesn’t believe it, because no one can offer her what they are, no one can cure epilepsy, but that’s what they’re saying, and she wants that even more fiercely than she wants a love story as perfect and epic as theirs.

“How,” she asks.

Chase looks at Tyler. He nods once, as he slips around the table to catch her hands.

“Ok, don’t hit him,” Chase says, and Tyler—

Tyler transforms. Jessica screams.

~*~

“She was terrified,” Tyler whispers.

Chase pets his hair and presses a kiss to his forehead. “You’re kind intimidating as a wolf, big guy. But don't worry—she’ll come around. They all will.”

Tyler stares at him, curious. “You really believe that.”

Chase nods, his expression quiet and peaceful. “Yeah. I do.”

~*~

Ezra comes back first, his face bruised and his lip bleeding. He stands at the front door to the Pack house only a few weeks after the werewolf reveal. Chase stands at Tyler’s side while Lucas touches the boy’s lip and says, his voice deadly sweet, “Was it your father?”

Ezra flinches away, his head ducking, and Chase makes a sharp noise that makes Lucas step back.

“I went over to see him, and—he just—I made him mad—” Ezra chokes off, then takes a gasping breath. “Will—I’ll be stronger, if I do this?”

Tyler nods and glances at the Left Hand. “But Ezra—you don’t have to. If you’re only doing it to be strong, to be safe—”

“Your father won’t touch you again, pup,” Lucas says, voice remarkably even.

It steadies Ezra, makes his stiffness ease and his head come up. “It’s not the only reason.”

Some of the tension drains out of Tyler and Chase grins as he tugs Ezra in, brushing Lucas aside, and says, “Great. Good. So we have a spare room and you can use it until Joseph and Jessica decide what they’re doing.” He tosses over his shoulder casually, “Lucas, no killing. Dad will be pissed if he has to do paperwork.”

There’s a clear smile and affection in Lucas’s voice. “I know, pup. I know.”

~*~

The other two come, on their own terms and in their own time. Having Ezra close and training with them helps settle some of Tyler’s nerves, and he trusts Chase more when he says confidently, “They’ll come, Ty, trust me.”

It takes time—two more weeks for Joseph and a whole month for Jessica—but eventually, they do.

Chase looks at them sitting in the Pack house, wary but resolute, and nods. “I’ll call Lewis.”

~*~

Tyler holds Chase in their bed the night before, too aware of the very human heartbeats in the house, of the Lewis Alpha in their territory, of Chase’s magic burning against his tattoos. The boy is sleepy and limp against his chest, fucked out and smiling, and Tyler asks before he can talk himself out of it. “Have you ever thought of it? Of taking the Bite?”

Chase blinks up at him. “Of course, dude. I’ve been hanging out with werewolves since I was fucking fourteen. Yeah, I’ve thought about it.”

Tyler bites his lip and looks away. Chase hasn’t mentioned actually wanting it, hasn’t mentioned taking the Bite, even if he has thought of it.

“Tyler,” Chase says, sitting up. “I like being human. And I love you, love what you and Lucas are—but I don’t need to be that to be strong, or useful, or Pack.” He pauses. “Do you want me to be a ‘wolf?”

“I want you to be happy,” Tyler says immediately, “I don’t—I don’t care what you are, as long as you’re here and you’re happy.”

Chase smiles and kisses him softly. “I am,