Come Out Swinging (Reach for the Moon Book 2), Sam Hall [leveled readers .TXT] 📗

ulva,” the older woman replied before sitting down at the table, the other women doing the same. “They are rising too. They’re no longer willing to be contained, constrained, to have the different aspects of their spirits lopped off to fit the mould pushed upon them.” Her eyes met mine, and her gaze had an almost oppressive weight to it. I didn’t know what she actually saw, but it felt like she could see deep into my soul, catching everything. An odd sense of relief washed over me when she smiled. “You’ve been touched.”

Hell yeah, I had, but I didn’t exactly want to talk about that with someone’s nanna.

“Eine Beschutzerin,” she said in a low voice, her German accent so much stronger now. Her eyes narrowed, as if that would help her see me more clearly. Her focus shifted to Jake, speaking to him now in a rapid flurry of German, his expression growing sterner and sterner. Margaret’s wasn’t much better. Her eyes flicked from them to me and back again.

“Paige, this is Greta, the matriarch I said it would be good to talk to. You need to stick around, talk to her, and work out what the hell is going on with your pack,” she said.

“Let me be clear, there’s no choice here,” Jake said. As he leaned back in the chair, my pack growled. “This is gonna cost me a lot of time, money, and effort to clean up. I’ll send some of my men to close up the gym, retrieve anything you need, but you’re staying here. Creating that kind of uproar when you were just going to a theme park?” He shook his head. “We’ll handle it, but we can’t afford another incident like this so soon after the last.”

“So you’re making an executive decision?” Zack snapped. “To close my business, to keep us here?”

“To keep the shifter community safe,” Jake replied. “Another incident like this? I won’t be able to smother it. If you can assure me nothing like that would happen again?” He waited for a reply, and when he didn’t get it, his eyes flicked to Gavin. “You’re from the local roo mob, right?” The man at my cousin’s side nodded slowly. “You can go. From the sounds of it, you weren’t involved in this. Neither was your date.”

The kangaroo shifter got to his feet slowly, then reached down to take my cousin’s hand.

“This was fucking wild, even before giant wolves started appearing,” he said with a cheeky grin. “If you’re keen, I’d love to take you out for dinner.”

“Oh…” I watched Bridget flush. “Well, yeah, that’d be awesome. You’ve got my number.”

“I can drop you home if you like?”

I saw her muscles tense, like she was about to get to her feet and do just that, but she shook her head in the end.

“I’ve gotta stay with my cousin.”

“Bridge, you don’t have to,” I said. “You can keep an eye on the gym, go out with Gavin. Explore the city.” I gave her a long look, hopefully communicating that having someone on the outside would be a good thing right now. She nodded slowly in response.

“OK, then yeah, Gav, I’d appreciate that.”

I felt her arms go around me, hugging me tight, and for a moment, I just leant into it. Then we talked briefly about the accounts she had access to and money she might need.

“I’ll be fine because you’ll be home shortly,” she said, eyeing the others before finally pulling away. I watched her leave, feeling a pull, a pang, but I stayed where I was because Jake had some of it right. We were unpredictable, and we couldn’t guarantee this wouldn’t happen again. When the door was closed behind them, I turned to face the strangers in front of me.

“So, what the hell are the Eine Beschutzerin when they’re at home?”

“Those who watch,” Greta said. “The ones who keep the balance between humans and shifters. Between all the factions.”

“This,” Margaret said, pulling up her phone and quickly googling something before putting the image in front of us, which stilled me instantly. The guys took their cues from me, seeing my frozen state and leaning over to take a look.

She’d been drawn differently, the stiff medieval illustration unable to convey her personality all that well, but with her long hair and strangely tilted eyes, I could see clearly who this was. But how could it be? The drawing, with its finely drawn calligraphic lines and gold leaf, made it clear it was an illustration from an illuminated manuscript, the date below it confirming it.

“Fuck, that’s Stevie,” Declan said.

Chapter 36

“Eine Beschutzerin are those who watch,” Greta said as she led us out of the house towards one of the many cottages dotting the property. Jake had handed our care over to her, making it clear we weren’t to leave.

“If you can guarantee that this won’t happen again, that you won’t cause another incident, you’re free to go,” he’d said. “But lemme just say, if this shit continues, if you put me and mine at risk, I’ll have no choice to treat you like the threat you are.”

I’d forgotten what it was like, having the will of an alpha beating down on you, having last experienced it when I’d seriously pissed off Dad. I felt like my body was pushed up hard against the back of my chair, like when a car accelerates too fast. The guys had quibbled, but Jake paid them no mind, just waiting me out. Implied in his words was a threat, a deadly one. He wouldn’t hesitate to put us down like dogs if we became too much of a risk to his pack. Finally, I’d nodded, and he’d instructed the others to set us up in a cottage.

“Here,” Greta said, coming to a stop in front of quite a large home. “This one, this will be good for your pack.”

“So the ulva…” I started to ask, but as Margaret drew up next to us, my voice