I hung up and set my phone on the seat. My chest hurt.
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “He wants me to take you home so I don’t tell you what I am.”
I rolled my eyes, way past my fill of mansplaining. “You’re a veterinarian, not an obstetrician.”
He chuckled, but the smile never reached his eyes. “True.” He glanced at me and back to the road. “You know how pissed you are right now?”
“Super pissed at you and my brother.”
He nodded without looking at me. “Ready to be even more pissed and maybe a little afraid.”
Afraid? Of what? Chandler’s comment about protecting me echoed through my mind.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Why would I be scared of you?”
He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “I hope you won’t be, but judging how you reacted to the idea that maybe someone could reach you with telepathy, I’m guessing my news might tempt you to jump out of my truck.”
He had to be joking, but a muscle jumped in his cheek, and when he stole a look at me, regret shone in his eyes. Instinctively, I reached over to squeeze his leg. The urge to comfort him made no sense, but the desire to ease his pain came from a primal part of me that I’d never realized existed.
“Even if the voice I heard on my run came from you, I wouldn’t leap out of a moving vehicle.”
He smirked, bringing one hand down to cover mine. “I can’t speak to you through mental telepathy.” His voice dropped an octave. “But I had no trouble hearing your entire conversation with your brother on the phone. My senses are heightened.”
I blinked. “What’s that supposed to mean exactly?”
“I’m not human, Madison.”
My eyes widened, and before I could stop myself, I laughed. The nervous, panicky sound shook me. I closed my mouth and looked over at him. “You are not an alien.”
“You’re right.” He finally slowed the truck as we came up on a roundabout in the road. “I’m a werewolf. So is Wendy. That’s why I’m delivering the babies.”
Okay, he was right. I did want to jump out of the truck. I looked at him, prepared to tell him off for being such an ass, but then he glanced over and the expression on his face stopped my heart. “Wait. You’re…serious?”
“As a heart attack.” He made the turn and glanced over at me again. “That’s how I knew you were scared when I picked you up today. Fear has a scent.”
Impossible. “Does Chandler know you think you and Wendy are…”
“Werewolves. Yeah.” He turned left, and the vet clinic loomed in the distance. “Your brother was bitten by a jaguar shifter a few years ago when he was visiting you in Lake Tahoe. He’s part of my pack here in Sedona now.”
Oh god. It couldn’t be…
But Chandler had been attacked by a jungle cat in a coffee shop with Vivi. He’d gone with her to meet with an informant about a story. He’d vanished for a while after that. I’d worried that he had a drug problem. I’d never imagined it was something like this.
Cole drove into the lot and parked beside Chandler’s black Z car before killing the truck’s engine. “You can wait here if you want to.”
My brother got out and came toward us. He stopped cold when he saw me in the cab. Cole got out and slammed the door. Their voices were muffled at first, then Chandler shoved Cole backward, the force knocking him all the way back into the truck. The jolt as his body slammed against the hood made me scream.
Chandler ran to my door and opened it. “Madison, I swear I’ll tell you everything.”
Cole slid off the hood and turned around to face me, his gaze locked on mine through the windshield. I focused on my brother and shook my head. “How could you lie to me? Did you tell everyone at the shower today to lie, too? Those little boys were telling the truth, weren’t they?”
Chandler cursed under his breath. “You don’t know what’s at stake.”
“Stop arguing and get these out of me!” Wendy shouted from the other car.
Cole’s eyes lingered on me for one last moment, like he was memorizing my face in case he never saw me again, and then he was on the move. The two men helped Wendy out of the car and into the back entrance of the vet clinic.
The twins were…shifters? Humans? What?
I was lost in a mental fog. My favorite books in high school were fish-out-of-water stories. Reading about someone traveling through time or stepping through a portal into another world had fascinated me then. I’d root for them to embrace the new reality, to adapt. I’d never dreamed I’d be that fish.
My legs wobbled as my feet hit the ground outside the truck. This had to be a dream. People didn’t really shift into animals. How could I adapt to something so impossible? I’d spent my whole life grounded in concrete facts that could be explained by math and science and sales graphs.
This couldn’t be real.
I needed to talk to someone, but who could I tell? No one would believe me, and if they did, I’d risk exposing Cole, and my brother and his new family to the world as…shifters.
I took out my phone and pressed Vivi’s name before I could overthink it. Yes, my best friend was a journalist and a publicist for her husband’s rock band, but she’d been with Chandler that night he was attacked by a jaguar. Maybe she could give me some answers. I’d be careful.
She answered on the first ring.
“Hey, stranger! How’s Sedona?”
God, it was good to hear her voice. “Hey, Vivi. Uh…” Suddenly I had no idea how to have this conversation. “Remember the night Chandler was attacked?”
There was a long pause. “Yeah.”
“Do you think it’s possible that the jaguar that bit him was…more?” I waited, holding my breath.
“What’s going on?” Vivi lowered her voice. “Are you okay?”
This was a mistake. “Yeah. I just…learned some things about my brother that I’m…struggling with.”
“What did he tell you?”
Okay, this was a big mistake, but now I was hip deep and sinking fast. “Something unbelievable about the night that jaguar bit him. I just needed to talk to someone, but it’s not really my secret to share. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
She sighed. “I’m glad you called. And I’m relieved he finally told you. You deserve to know.”
“Wait.” I frowned. “You’ve known this whole time?”
“If we’re talking about what I think we’re talking about, then yes.”
I lowered my voice. “Do you believe all this? That people can turn into animals?”
“Yes.” Her tone softened. “Chandler was bitten by a jaguar shifter, which made him one too. I wanted to tell you everything, but it’s dangerous so he begged us to protect you from it.”
“Us?” I blinked.
“Shit.” She groaned. “He didn’t tell you about the Reno Pack?”
“No. Like…werewolf pack?”
“Yeah. Logan and I are part of it, so are Taryn and Jared.”
My jaw slackened. “My old boss and her husband are werewolves? Your boyfriend…wait, are you?”